&gt;One important &quot;fact&quot; people do not know is much of the western philosophical works (and other disciplines) we know today (from Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, etc...) are from Arabic writings<p>This statement greatly distorts the truth. Almost all extant Greek philosophical texts can be traced to 17 Byzantine manuscripts.<p>The book reviewed here has much more information about the transmission of Greek philosophy (the review is well-worth reading too):<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;bmcr.brynmawr.edu&#x2F;2009&#x2F;2009-01-31.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;bmcr.brynmawr.edu&#x2F;2009&#x2F;2009-01-31.html</a>