Political Philosophy
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Al-FarabiAbuNasrc.pptxAl-Farabi, Abu Nasr (870-950)
Al-Farabi was known to the Arabs as the 'Second Master' (after Aristotle), and with good reason.
A philosopher, logician and musician, he was also a major political scientist.
Al-Farabi has left us no autobiography and consequently, relatively little is known for certain about his life. His philosophical legacy, however, is large. Al-Madina al-fadila (The Virtuous City)is far from being a copy or a clone of Plato's Republic, it is imbued with the Neoplatonic concept of God. Of course, al-Madina al-fadila has undeniable Platonic elements but its theology, as opposed to its politics, places it outside the mainstream of pure Platonism.
On Human Happiness and Perfection
In line with Aristotle, al-Farabi leaves no doubt whatsoever that there is one kind of happiness which constitutes the telos of every human being.
In contrast to Aristotle’s notion of eudaimonia, al-Farabi’s ultimate happiness is a state associated with the afterlife, when, according to his theory of the soul, the soul has separated from the body
Human perfection is defined by humanity’s place within the cosmic order. Prior to death, human beings are hybrids—corporeal entities, on the one hand, yet also immaterial, on the other, due to their intellects, that is, the rational faculty of their souls which survives death—and as such exposed to two sets of powers.
… [the active intellect] gives the human being a faculty and a principle by which to strive, or by which the human being is able to strive on his own for the rest of the perfections that remain for him. That principle is the primary sciences and the primary intelligibles attained in the rational part of the soul. (Political Regime B, 1, 68: 62)
Human beings, hence, are born with the natural obligation to perfect their rational faculty. While they are equipped by the active intellect with this faculty and the principles of thought, their task consists in actualizing this potential, i.e., their intellects, “by which a human being is a human being”
The role of religion in politics
The difference between Philosophy and science: religion conveys symbolic representation of reality, where as philosophy conveys realty as it is.
Religion is opinions and actions, determined and restricted with stipulations and prescribed for a community by their first ruler, who seeks to obtain through their practicing it a specific purpose with respect to them or by means of them
Religion is thus the tool to the realization of human perfection and the active intellect
The natural ruler of the excellent city, nation, or “union of all the societies in the inhabitable world” someone who is at once an accomplished philosopher, prophet, supreme ruler, lawgiver, and imam.
This person truly understands reality and its underlying principles and is able to verify her knowledge demonstratively. However, he/she also has the ability to ‘translate’ her/his knowledge into metaphors and symbolic representations and present them
Religion, embracing a doctrinal as well as a legal branch, is thus the most important element of rulership. It is an enterprise that must be carried on beyond the death of the first ruler.
A ruler is a savant who in a given society is situated fairly high in the natural hierarchy, being intelligent and erudite themselves, and thus ‘naturally’ in charge of disseminating the knowledge required for happiness.
However, if subsequently there is nowhere in the madina a single person incorporating these qualities, several people with complementary properties should team up and henceforth guide the community. This clearly exhibits that al-Farabi was not particularly interested in concrete political structures and systems.
The Types of Corrupt Cities
Al-Farabi identifies four different types of corrupt city: these are
the ignorant city (al-madina al-jahiliyya),
the immoral city (al-madina al-fasiqa),
the erring city (al-madina al-dalla).
Roughly speaking, the difference between ignorant cities and immoral cities is that the citizens of the former simply lack knowledge of virtue and happiness, whereas the citizens of the latter once believed in happiness and were guided toward it, but they did not adhere to this goal and came to desire one of the non-virtuous goals (for example, honor, domination, pleasure, and so on)
Meanwhile, the erring cities are those whose citizens are given representations of happiness and virtue that differ from the true representations. This occurs because the rulers of such
cities deceive their citizens into pursuing goals that differ from virtue
The souls of many of the inhabitants of such cities face ultimate extinction, while those who have been the cause of their fall face eternal torment.
