Encyclopedia of Philosophy: al-Farabi, Abu Nasr

« fully justifies Fakhry's characterization of al-Farabi, cited earlier, as 'the founder of Arab Neo-Platonism'.

3 Epistemology Farabian epistemology has both a Neoplatonic and an Aristotelian dimension.

Much of the former has already been surveyed in our examination of al-Farabi's metaphysics, and thus our attention turns now to theAristotelian dimension.

Our three primary Arabic sources for this are al-Farabi's Kitab ihsa' al-'ulum , Risala fi'l-'aql and Kitab al-huruf .

It is the second of these works, Risala fi'l-'aql , which provides perhaps the most useful key to al- Farabi's complex theories of intellection.

In this work he divides 'aql (intellect or reason) into six major categories in an attempt to elaborate the various meanings of the Arabic word 'aql .

First, there is what might be termed discernment or prudence; the individual who acts for the good is characterized by this faculty, and there is clearlysome overlap with the fourth kind of intellect, described below.

The second of al-Farabi's intellects is that whichhas been identified with common sense; this intellect has connotations of 'obviousness' and 'immediate recognition'associated with it.

Al-Farabi's third intellect is natural perception.

He traces its source to Aristotle's Posterior Analytics , and it is this intellect which allows us to be certain about fundamental truths.

It is not a skill derived from the study of logic, but it may well be inborn.

The fourth of the six intellects may be characterized as 'conscience':this is drawn by the philosopher from Book VI of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics .

It is a quality whereby good might be distinguished from evil and results from considerable experience of life.

Al-Farabi's fifth intellect is both the mostdifficult and the most important.

He gives most space to its description in his Risala fi'l-'aql and considers it to be of four different types: potential intellect, actual intellect, acquired intellect and agent or active intellect.

'Aql bi'l- quwwa (potential intellect) is the intellect which, in Fakhry's words, has the capacity 'of abstracting the forms of existing entities with which it is ultimately identified' (Fakhry 1983: 121 ).

Potential intellect can thus become 'aql bi'l-fi'l (actual intellect).

In its relationship to the actual intellect, the third sub-species of intellect, 'aql mustafad (acquired intellect) is, to use Fakhry's words again, the 'the agent of actualization' to the actualized object.

Finally,there is the 'aql al-fa''al (agent or active intellect), which was described in §2 above and need not be elaborated upon again.

The sixth and last of the major intellects is Divine Reason or God himself, the source of all intellectualenergy and power.

Even this brief presentation of Farabian intellection must appear complex; however, given thecomplexity of the subject itself, there is little option.

The best source for al-Farabi's classification of knowledge ishis Kitab ihsa' al-'ulum .

This work illustrates neatly al-Farabi's beliefs both about what can be known and the sheer range of that knowledge.

Here he leaves aside the division into theological and philosophical sciences which otherIslamic thinkers would use, and divides his material instead into five major chapters.

Through all of them runs aprimary Aristotelian stress on the importance of knowledge.

Chapter 1 deals with the 'science of language', Chapter2 formally covers the 'science of logic', Chapter 3 is devoted to the 'mathematical sciences', Chapter 4 surveysphysics and metaphysics, and the final chapter encompasses 'civil science' (some prefer the term 'political science'),jurisprudence and scholastic theology.

A brief examination of these chapter headings shows that a total of eightmain subjects are covered; not surprisingly, there are further subdivisions as well.

To give just one example, thethird chapter on the mathematical sciences embraces the seven subdivisions of arithmetic, geometry, optics,astronomy, music, weights and 'mechanical artifices'; these subdivisions in turn have their own subdivisions.

Thusal-Farabi's epistemology, from what has been described both in this section and §2 above, may be said to beencyclopedic in range and complex in articulation, with that articulation using both a Neoplatonic and an Aristotelianvoice.

4 Political philosophy The best known Arabic source for al-Farabi's political philosophy is al-Madina al-fadila . While this work undoubtedly embraces Platonic themes, it is in no way an Arabic clone of Plato's Republic .

This becomes very clear right at the beginning of al-Farabi's work, with its description of the First Cause (Chapters 1-2)and the emanation of 'the Second' from 'The First' (Chapter 3).

Later in the work, however, al-Farabi lays down inPlatonic fashion the qualities necessary for the ruler: he should be predisposed to rule by virtue of an innatedisposition and exhibit the right attitude for such rule.

He will have perfected himself and be a good orator, and hissoul will be, as it were, united to the active intellect.

He will have a strong physique, a good understanding andmemory, love learning and truth and be above the materialism of this world.

Other qualities are enumerated by al-Farabi as well, and it is clear that here his ideal ruler is akin to Plato's classical philosopher-king.

Al-Farabi has anumber of political divisions for his world.

He identifies, for example, three types of society which are perfect andgrades these according to size.

His ideal virtuous city, which gives its name to the whole volume, is that whichwholeheartedly embraces the pursuit of goodness and happiness and where the virtues will clearly abound.

Thisvirtuous city is compared in its function to the limbs of a perfectly healthy body.

By stark contrast, al-Farabiidentifies four different types of corrupt city: these are the ignorant city ( al-madina al-jahiliyya ), the dissolute city (al-madina al-fasiqa ), the turncoat city ( al-madina al-mubaddala ) and the straying city ( al-madina al-dalla ).

The souls of many of the inhabitants of such cities face ultimate extinction, while those who have been the cause oftheir fall face eternal torment.

In itemizing four corrupt societies, al-Farabi was surely aware of Plato's own fourfolddivision of imperfect societies in the Republic into timarchy, oligarchy, democracy and tyranny.

The resemblance,however, is more one of structure (four divisions) rather than of content.

At the heart of al-Farabi's politicalphilosophy is the concept of happiness ( sa'ada ).

The virtuous society ( al-ijtima' al-fadil ) is defined as that in which people cooperate to gain happiness.

The virtuous city ( al-madina al-fadila ) is one where there is cooperation in achieving happiness.

The virtuous world ( al-ma'mura al-fadila ) will only occur when all its constituent nations collaborate to achieve happiness.

Walzer reminds us that both Plato and Aristotle held that supreme happiness wasonly to be gained by those who philosophized in the right manner.

Al-Farabi followed the Greek paradigm and thehighest rank of happiness was allocated to his ideal sovereign whose soul was 'united as it were with the ActiveIntellect'.

But Walzer goes on to stress that al-Farabi 'does not confine his interest to the felicity of the first ruler:he is equally concerned with the felicity of all the five classes which make up the perfect state' (Walzer, inintroduction to al-Madina al-fadila (1985: 409-10 )).

Farabian political philosophy, then, sits astride the saddle of Greek eudaimonia , and a soteriological dimension may easily be deduced from this emphasis on happiness.

For if salvation in some form is reserved for the inhabitants of the virtuous city, and if the essence of that city ishappiness, then it is no exaggeration to say that salvation is the reward of those who cooperate in theachievement of human happiness.

Eudaimonia /sa'ada becomes a soteriological raft or steed.

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