How Many Recensions of Avicenna\u2019s Kitab al-\u160ifa'?

The article discusses the possibility that Avicenna\u2019s magnum opus in philosophy might have had multiple recensions, either by the author himself, or in a very early phase of its manuscript transmission, possibly as a result of scholarly discussions within Avicenna\u2019s school. As test case, the fifth treatise of the metaphysical section (Il\u101hiyy\u101t) of the Kit\u101b al-\u160if\u101\u2be is chosen: in some very ancient testimonia, this treatise presents an arrangement of chapters that is coherent and straightforward, but sensibly different \u2013 both in the number and the disposition of chapters \u2013 from the mainstream version transmitted by the current printed editions of the work. Some hypotheses on the origin of these variations \u2013 which cannot be classified as simple accidents of transmission, on account of their rational and macroscopic character \u2013 are finally advanced. Appendix B fixes to six the number of codices employed in the standard edition of the Il\u101hiyy\u101t published in Cairo in 1960