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Why did medieval scholars mistakenly attribute Liber de causis to Aristotle?

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Medieval philosophy Image of St. Ambrose, detail from a stained-glass window in a Roman Catholic church in Antwerp, Belgium.

Medieval scholars mistakenly attributed the anonymous Liber de causis ("Book of Causes") to Aristotle because it was translated into Latin from Arabic alongside other works that were part of the Aristotelian tradition.1

The text was actually excerpted from the Elements of Theology (Stiocheiōsis theologikē) by the Neoplatonist philosopher Proclus. Because the work was circulated in a context where Aristotelian doctrines were being introduced and interpreted through Arabic commentaries, its Neoplatonic content was incorrectly associated with Aristotle's philosophy. This misattribution persisted for some time, lending a Neoplatonic cast to the understanding of Aristotle's thought in the Latin West until the true origin of the work was eventually discovered by St. Thomas Aquinas.12