Farabi

The dissolution of the Western-dominated Postwar Order, and the Eurocentric myths that sustain it, presents a unique opportunity to ponder an old question posed by every new generation: How can philosophy, which Islamic and ancient Greek learning traditions have long defined as the pursuit of “wisdom,” resume its millennial civilizing role? This paper looks beyond passing political events to reconsider why philosophy was viewed in this role. As different as al-Fārābī, Ibn Sīnā, Ibn Khaldūn, Mullā Ṣadrā, Hegel and Heidegger are from each other, they all approached the question of civilization philosophically by way of the fundamental question of beingness (mawjūdiyya) and existence (wujūd). Moreover, they strove for “completeness” of thinking with the “practical,” where, however, they resisted the temptation to reduce man to his practical or biological functions. Given the magnitude of the present challenges we all face, no dialogue across cultural boundaries can ignore the caution with which philosophical tradition has laid out the terms of this completeness in being.

Abu Nasr Farabi focuses on influence of the music on emotions and emotional problems including extreme emotions and moods. But how effective is music in changing a specific emotional issue? This essay reports what is probably the first scientific study of the effect of music on a precise extreme mood. Using a randomized experiment, we measure how a music affects sexism. More specifically, the experiment measures the extent to which a piece of music that we have created weakens the belief among some Muslims that women are not as suitable as men for positions of chairmanship. We find that the music reduces sexism by 22.48 percent, compared to a control treatment that presents the same argument and story verbally. Results, moreover, indicate that prejudice against women is not an inherent feature of Islam and is rather a function of the descriptive beliefs that prevail in some Islamic societies regarding women’s capabilities.

Does it sound plausible to obtain a strategy for global peace in Farabi’s political philosophy? Put another way, could we procure a common language leading to peace among all cultures and religions, according to Farabi? Farabi’s utopia (al-madīnat al-fāḍila), literally meaning ‘the excellent state’, consists of five levels. On the first level stands the philosopher (fīlsūf) or the prophet (nabī). The second level includes poets (shuʿarā), music composers (mulaḥḥinūn), writers (kuttāb) and the likes. Farabi strongly believes in the power of imagination (khīyāl) and that most people are under the influence of their imaginative faculty (al-quwwat al-mutakhayyila). This faculty has an important outcome which influences his view on religion (milla), prophet, and their relation with the public (jumhūr): imagination, in his view, is the most powerful tool of influencing the public. Regarding this principle, it could be concluded that there is a shared function between the poet and the prophet. Farabian theory of peace may well be identified, based on the shared function between the poet and the prophet. In other words, for Farabi rational truth and rational happiness is fixed and one, having only one denotation, while its connotations, that is, sensory images and imagery forms are more than one—possibly many more. That being the case, various and sundry cultures and religions might well have different ways to pursue the same knowledge, truth, and contentment.

Al-Farabi has discussed language in his philosophical discussions, albeit here and there. His discussions are especially about syntax and logic. Most existing studies have dealt only with the connection between this syntax and logic, and with the conventionality or naturalness of language in al-Farabi’s thought. The question of this article is what are the political implications of al-Farabi's discussions on language? The results of the study, based on the method of content analysis of al-Farabi’s works, indicate that Farabi specifically related the logic and logical crafts to his political thought; In such a way he expects the realization of the virtuous city on the basis of demonstration (Alborhan); And explains the existence of non-virtuous cities with crafts such as rhetoric, dialectic, poetry and sophistry. In other words, it is the expression which forms the city. These findings help us to analyze al-Farabi's thought in our own time and ask ourselves what does al-Farabi's thought has for us? By trying to come closer to the answer of this question I conclude the article with this claim that al-Farabi's idea of non-virtuous cities is relevant to us today. What remains is our retainment.

Rationality or relativity? In which one does Farabi believe? How does it relate to imagination and the permanent, if at all? For Farabi, people come to grasp rational truths mostly through the use of their imagination. Furthermore, the arousal of people’s feelings and emotions often originates in their imagination via imagery forms. The ultimate utopian goal is to drive the public to achieve rational happiness. Since the public, based on their nature and general habits, in effect cannot perceive the rational truths, the path to rational happiness must be represented via their imagination. Moreover, their imaginary concepts and forms should be made the permanent. So bringing rational happiness to people's minds through their imagination, the media of each society should represent rational truths through the sensory and imagery forms familiar to that society. The Farabian theory of cognition shares aspects of relativity as well as rationality. To Farabi, rational truth and rational happiness is fixed and one, having only one denotation, while its connotations, say, images and imagery forms are various and sundry. That being the case, different communities can have different ways to perceive the same truth, working toward the same goal.

With a rational reflection on possible beings, Farabi presents an analysis of the relationship between existence and essence, which requires a new philosophical system distinct from Greek philosophy. In his view, all possible beings are composed of two metaphysical aspects, i.e. existence and essence. By distinguishing constituents (muqawwamāt) from accidental things (‘araḍiyyāt) and using terms such as ‘āriḍ and lāzim, Farabi explores the structure of possible beings. In possible beings, existence is not the same or a part of essence; rather, it is an accident of essence, and since any accidental thing is subject to causality (mu‘allal), thus the possible things require something out of themselves for their existence. The main point is that the container of this distinction is not merely the world of the mind or the objective world; rather, it is the product of rational analysis. In other words, the distinction of existence and essence is neither a mental distinction nor a physical one; rather, it is a rational distinction which is called, in today’s metaphysics, metaphysical distinction. In metaphysical distinction, the existence and essence of the possible beings are two ontological principles and two metaphysical modes of the being that compose its identity. The metaphysical distinction designs the foundation of the non-Greek philosophical system based on which one can explain, from the theological viewpoint, proving the existence of the Necessary Being, the evolution of the ultimate causality, natural agency with the agentive causality and divine agency; from the cosmological viewpoint, proving the essential contingency of the universe and the philosophical explanation of the creation; from the ontological viewpoint, dividing beings into necessary and possible, and explaining the structure of possible beings; and from the epistemological viewpoint, evolution in dividing knowledge. This article is an applied study that attempts, by relying on the descriptive-analytical method with an exploration of the metaphysical distinction between existence and essence, to deal with applying that distinction in Farabi’s philosophical system and its products and results.

Utopian thoughts have precedence as old as human history. Islamic civilization utopian thought owes its progress to the Farabi&rsquos utopian concept and expansion and academic study of utopian term in west owes to the Thomas More Utopia book. Theoretically, Farabi&rsquos utopian thoughts influenced development of utopian system in both Islam and Western civilizations. By emphasis on Farabi&rsquos Utopia as an example of utopian ideas in Islamic civilization, and Thomas More&rsquos Utopia as an example of utopian though in the western civilization, this research tries to investigate the commonalties and differences of these utopias. The architectural and urban building spaces of these examples were studied in the conceptual viewpoint. Thomas More Utopia consists of fifty four similar cities. All of the cities have been constructed well according to the same plan as possible as. The nearest cities have approximately twenty four miles distance, and the furthest ones are not so far from each other so that the people can travel less than one day. Because of similarities in the cities, only one of them has been referred in the &ldquoUtopia&rdquo this city is Amaurot. Each city sends three wise old men to Amaurot every year to negotiate on their common affairs. Amaurot is the main city of the island and it is near the center of the island. &ldquoThe opinions of the Utopians&rdquo and &ldquoThe Policy of the City&rdquo are two books of Farabi. He expresses the political and philosophical systems of Utopia comprehensively. He divides communities qualitatively and in addition, there are cities in contrary to Utopia. He pays attention to the quality of communities from perfectionism and auspicious perspective. In other words, the goal of the city determines type of the city. Farabi likens utopia to a creature that has independent existence beyond the members of the city. The comparison of the architectural and urban building spaces of Farabi&rsquos utopia and Thomas More&rsquos utopia showed that both of the cities are placed in the defined space from urban structure perspective both of them have defined volume and level, and the difference is that Thomas More&rsquos utopia is located in an islands and Farabi&rsquos utopia is universal. The More&rsquos city has a defied localization but Farabi&rsquos city does not posse this characteristic. Farabi has referred to the market space and transaction regarding to the urban micro spaces while Thomas More has referred to passages, hospitals, market and hall and other specification, situations and services. More has not explained the social and geographical divisions, but Farabi divides his utopia into complete and incompetent city and offers subcategories of human communities. Thomas More has emphasized on the urban divisions on streets and fragmentation of the city and also has referred to details like type of material, material used and entrance of city while, in Farabi&rsquos utopia has no references to the details of the architectural spaces and he has emphasized on educational and social goals.

Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Al Farabi is the founder of Islamic philosophy and the greatest philosopher of the Islamic world. Though, among Islamic thinkers, Farabi should be considered as a group of thinkers seeking harmony between reason and religion, but with a description of the earthly divine wisdom of man, inspired by the souls of the grace of the Plotinus, the intellect transcends the intellect beyond the imagination, and compares it with the religious version of the divine intellect and puts it to a higher rank than the creed. The study of political rationality in the sense of understanding the type of role and the flow of reason in the pillars of the political system with this Aristotelian philosopher shows that the starting point of his theory of reason is Aristotle’s book “On the Soul”; but the idealist Farabi is in favor of a unified system in utopia. Using the use of Islam and Platonic and Neoplatonic philosophy, he describes the characteristics of a desirable society, a higher classification of society and the problems of the utopian system, Everywhere reason  rules  over other things, a rationale that compared with faith and religion(shariah) has some privilages. Farabi regards happiness as the ultimate goal of the political community and emphasizes the importance of intellect in individual and political ethics. The main question of the article is what is the role of reason in al-Farabi’s philosophical theorem, and how does Farabi make a relation between reason and religion in his political theory? The findings of the article show that reason and rationality play a pivotal role in theoretical philosophy of al-Farabi, being pivotal, descending, ultimate, and along with the revelation and even beyond it in Farabi’s political thought, and religion has a secondary role. Farabi’s approach in this way is philosophical.

According to Thomas Hobbes, public should and they normally accept what they find in place just because the alternative is destabilization and chaos. In this paper, I will argue that in Farabi’s theory the government actually would put its pace forward. As Farabi saw it, the state not only is the source of some benefits but also should be and is the source of human beings’ virtue and happiness. For Farabi, the first governor of the state resembles the heart in a body, or a physician in a city. Farabi’s utopia literally meaning ‘the excellent state’, consists of five levels. On the first level stands the philosopher or the prophet. The second level includes poets, music composers, writers and the likes of them. Farabi strongly believes in the power of imagination and that most people are under the influence of their imaginative faculty. This notion has an important outcome which influences his view on religion, prophet, and their relation with the public: images, in his view, are the most powerful means of influencing the public.

Al-Farabi's practical philosophy is one of the most important pillars of his thought on the relationship between knowledge, politics, and human happiness. This article examines Al-Farabi's reading of Greek practical philosophy, especially the ideas of Aristotle and Plato, in the context of Islamic thought. Al-Farabi, as the founder of Islamic philosophy and a second teacher, attempted to reinterpret the Greek rational system within the framework of the religious Medina. by accepting the epistemological and ontological foundations of Greek philosophy, he attempted to create a synthesis between practical philosophy and the Islamic civil system. This research is conducted using a descriptive-analytical method and examines Farabi's practical philosophy and its relationship with the concept of "Mellah". It uses content analysis to examine key concepts such as "Medina Fazeleh", "Rais awwal" and "Mellah" in Farabi's works. The findings of the research show that by introducing the first head (philosopher-prophet), Al-Farabi is trying to design a social system in which reason and revelation are aligned with a common goal (realization of Qasavi's happiness) and social relations and civil order are regulated and mapped on the natural order. In this system, philosophy and religion complement each other as two paths for the transmission of rational knowledge and public persuasion in society. The results of the research show that Al-Farabi designed an independent system that, although inspired by Greek philosophy, has an independent logic within its intellectual framework.

This study examines Farabi's perspective on international relations, focusing on the concept of the Virtuous City (al-Madīna al-Fāḍila) and the Non-Virtuous Cities. The research method is based on textual and comparative analysis of Farabi's works, particularly The Principles of the Views of the People of the Virtuous City (Ārā' Ahl al-Madīna al-Fāḍila), Civil Policy (al-Siyāsa al-Madanīya), and Selected Aphorisms (Fuṣūl Muntaza‘a). This analysis emphasizes a comparison with the views of Plato in the Republic and Laws, and Thucydides' Melian Dialogue in the History of the Peloponnesian War. Influenced by Plato, Farabi defines the Virtuous City as a just society guided toward happiness (sa'āda) by a chief-philosopher. He categorizes the Non-Virtuous Cities into three types: Ignorant (Jāhila), Immoral (Fāsiqa), or Erring/Straying (Ḍālla), with the Vicious City (al-Madīna al-Taghallubīya) serving as their core, dominated by the motive of superiority/dominance (taghallub). The study indicates that the beliefs of the inhabitants of the Ignorant Cities, particularly regarding justice and dominance, reflect Thucydides' views (as articulated by the Athenians in the Melian Dialogue, that "the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must"). Farabi considers just war to involve defense, securing legitimate rights, or guiding others toward the good (khayr), while unjust war arises solely from dominance and a lust for superiority (taghallub). This study argues that, for Farabi, the survival of the Virtuous City amidst dominant cities necessitates a strong defense, and the expansion of the Virtuous City into a Virtuous Nation (al-Umma al-Fāḍila) and a Virtuous World (al-Ma‘mūra al-Fāḍila) is a prerequisite for eliminating war and achieving true happiness.

Farabi, as a philosopher who presented the Aristotelian tradition in the Islamic world in a distinctive way, combining it with Neoplatonism and Platonism, also retained a large part of Aristotelian epistemology in his own cognitive system. Just as Aristotle, according to modern epistemological interpretations, is largely considered an evidentialist, so is Farabi. Evidentialism means that the only acceptable criterion for adopting beliefs is valid rational or empirical reasons appropriate to that belief. However, in Iran, many, especially some admirers of the Illuminationist  and Mulla Sadra's traditions, attempt to somehow discover a kind of intuitionism or at least evidence against evidentialism in Farabi. This judgment contradicts the view of some major specialists in Islamic philosophy, such as Dimitri Gutas. This issue is very important because the shift in Islamic epistemology from evidentialism to other directions played a very significant role in changing the nature of this philosophy. Accordingly, in this article, we will attempt to show based on which evidence Farabi is an evidentialist, and how he is largely indebted to Aristotle in this evidentialism, and we will also examine the evidence against Farabi's evidentialism. Given that the term "evidentialism" is an expression from contemporary Western epistemology, we will look at Farabi's philosophy from the perspective of this branch of philosophy. In this article, we will primarily view the matter from the perspective of Western specialists in Islamic philosophy, as their language is close to the language of contemporary epistemology. Our research method is descriptive and analytical, and comparative where appropriate. The findings of this research indicate that Farabi is largely an evidentialist, but a moderate one. This finding is very important in relation to determining the place and role of Farabi's epistemology in Islamic philosophy, as well as the later introduction of intuitionism into Islamic philosophy.