Galileo's definition of cause is probably inspired by Alhacen's one from his "Theory of Visual Perception". The Latin translation of Alhacen's definition of cause is:
"Sed causa est illud quod, quando destreutur, destruetur causatum; et quando revertitur, revertetur causatum" http://kewerner.name/p1/doc01.I.html]
The English translation goes like:
"Now a cause is such that, when it ceases to operate, what it causes ceases to exist; and when it is brought back to bear, what it causes comes back into existence." [
Does anyone have access to the original quote in Arabic and/or could provide the original definition of cause in Arabic with a translation to English? I am curious about whether in Arabic "causatum"/"causa" share the same etymology as in the Latin translation.
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