Alfarabi and the Foundation of Islamic Political Philosophy

Alfarabi and the Foundation of Islamic Political Philosophy

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Author: Muhsin S Mahdi
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 264
ISBN/UPC (if available): 978-0-19-579804-3

Description

In this much-anticipated work, Muhsin Mahdi-widely regarded as the preeminent scholar of medieval Islamic political philosophy-distills more than four decades of research to offer an authoritative analysis of the work of Alfarabi, the founder of Islamic political philosophy.

Mahdi, whose research brought to light writings of Alfarabi previously known only through medieval bibliographical references, presents this great thinker as his contemporaries and followers would have seen him: as a philosopher who sought to lay the foundations for a new understanding of revealed religion and its relation to the tradition of political philosophy.

Mahdi beings with a survey of Islamic philosophy and a discussion of its historical background. He then gives a general sense of the philosophical debate, or an introduction, to the interrelated spheres of philosophy, political thought, theology, and jurisprudence within Islam and, more particularly, within medieval Islam at the time of Alfarabi.

Mahdi turns to Alfarabi’s concept of the virtuous city in the second part of the book. Here, philosophy is distinguished from science on the one hand and religion on the other. Mahdi concludes with an examination of the work that is key to understanding Alfarabi’s political thought, the trilogy known as the Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle.

REVIEW

This is the magisterial work of an extraordinary scholar. Muhsin Mohdi has spent a lifetime editing, translating, and interpreting Alfarabi. In Mahdi’s presentation. Alfarabi becomes one of the greatest minds of the Middle Ages, whose original ideas on philosophy and religion, on theology and jurisprudence, are relevant to contemporary discussions.
-Joel L Kraemer, the Joh Henry Barrows
Professor in the Divinity School and the Committee on Social Thought,
University of Chicago

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

PART ONE: ORIENTATION; PHILOSOPHY, JURISPRUDENCE, AND THEOLOGY

THE POLITICAL ORIENTATION OF ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy and the Divine Law
Islamic Jurisprudence and Theology
Nature and Convention
Philosophy and Mysticism
The Divine Law and Philosophy

PHILOSOPHY AND POLITICAL THOUGHT
The Challenge of the Revealed Religions
Implications for Philosophy
The Problem
Jurisprudence and Political Philosophy
Theology: Natural and Revealed
Theology and Jurisprudence

THE FOUNDATION OF ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY
Alfarabi, al-Kindi, and al-Razi
Alfarabi’s On the Rise of Philosophy
Political Philosophy and Metaphysics
City, Soul, and Cosmos
The Question of Realization

PART TWO: THE VIRTUOUS CITY
SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY, AND RELIGION
Science, Art, and Philosophy
Natural, Divine, and Political Science
Political Science 1 and 2
Jurisprudence and Theology
The Lawgiver, Religion, and Political Science
The Philosophic Science of Religion

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
What Is Religion?
The Size of the Group
The Founder: His Purpose
The Founder: His Art
Opinions
Actions
Definition
Religion and Philosophy
Dialectic and Rhetoric
Jurisprudence, Religion, and Philosophy
Political Science: The City, the Universe, and Human Beings
Alfarabi’s Political Corpus

THE VIRTUOUS CITY
Divine and Political Science
The Virtuous Regime
The Philosopher-King and the Prophet-Legislator
Law and Living Wisdom
War and the Limitations of Law
Democracy and the Virtuous Regime

PROPHECY AND REVELATION
Human Religions
The Active Intellect and the Human Imagination
Virtuous City 1
Virtuous City 2
Revelation
The Political Dimension
Novel Doctrine
Concluding Remarks

PART THREE: ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF PLATO AND ARISTOTLE
THE ATTAINMENT OF HAPPINESS
Interlude
The Investigator and the Prince
Prince, Philosopher, Legislator, and Imam

ON ARISTOTLE’S STARTING POINT
The Question of Human Perfection
Brutish Beginnings and Human Excellence

ON PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
The Syllogistic Arts: Five Stages of Their Development
Philosophy and Religion: Internal Development
Philosophy and Religion: Cross-national Movements
Alliance between Religion and Demonstrative Philosophy

RELIGION AND THE CYCLICAL VIEW OF HISTORY
Aristotle’s and Aristoteles / Aristocles Accounts
Exploration, Perfection, and Loss
The Five Phases of the Cycle
Alfarabi’s On the Rise of Philosophy and Book of Letters
Alfarabi’s Successors
The New Perspective: Machiavelli and Nietzsche

References

Acknowledgements

Index