Description
Book SynopsisThe only comprehensive introduction to al-Farabi - the first Islamic philosopher to translate the works of Plato and Aristotle. This new survey from a leading scholar documents the philosopher's life, writings and achievements.
Table of ContentsPreface
Introduction
1 LIFE AND WORKS
2 AL-FĀRĀBI AND THE GREEK LEGACY
The genesis of philosophy
Philosophy and religion
Presocratics, stoics and peripatetics
Plato and his philosophy
The philosophy of Aristotle
The harmony of Plato and Aristotle
3 THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE SCIENCES
The interrelation of the sciences
Logic and mathematics
Physics and metaphysics
Ethics and politics
The Islamic sciences
4 AL-FĀRĀBI AS LOGICIAN
The logical corpus
The analysis of logical terms
The demonstrative art
Rhetoric and poetics
5 THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
The nature of scientific knowledge
The various senses of the term ‘intellect’ (‘aql)
The Active Intellect
6 EMANATION VERSUS CREATION
The Neoplatonic legacy
The nature of the First Being or the One
The intellect, as the first emanation
The heavenly bodies
The material world
The human soul and its faculties
Prophecy and the imaginative faculty
7 ETHICAL THEORY
The attainment of happiness
The moral virtues and their acquisition
Evil and not-being
Justice and friendship
8 POLITICAL THEORY
The principles of political association
The master organ and the master ruler (ra’īs)
The qualification of the chief ruler (ra’īs)
The virtuous city
The non-virtuous cities
The outgrowths (nawābit) as a hybrid class
Lawlessness and discord
Political justice and religious piety
The fate of the soul after death
9 AL-FĀRĀBI AND MUSIC
10 AL-FĀRĀBI IN HISTORY
The triumph of Neoplatonism
Al-Fārābi’s philosophical legacy
Al-Ghazāli’s onslaught on Al-Fārābi and Ibn Sīna
Ibn Bājjah and the Andalusian interlude
Ibn Rushd (Averroes)
Neoplatonism and Sufism
Al-Fārābi and the West
Conclusion
Appendix
Bibliography
Index
