Life and Works
Alfarabi,
Muhammad Ben Tarkhan Abu Nasr Alfarabi, was born in Farb (now Otrar) toward the
end of the ninth century of our era. Though of Turkish descent, he received his
philosopher, Yuhanna Ben Hailan. Later he went to Baghdad, at that time the
center Greek philosophy. Going to Aleppo, he lived at the court of Seif-Eddaula
Ali Ben Hamdan, arousing the admiration of all by his skill in dialectics.
After a lengthy stay at Aleppo he went to Damascus with his patron, where he
died in December of the year 950 A.D.
In logic he wrote Introduction to
Logic and Abridgment of Logic. In the natural sciences he wrote
commentaries on Aristotle’s Physics, Meteorology, De Coelo et Mundo. He
also wrote an essay on The Movement of the Heavenly Spheres.
In Phychology he wrote a commentary on
Alexander of Aphrodisias’ De Anima as well as various treaties on the Soul,
the Power of the Soul, the Unity and the One, on the Intelligence
and the Intelligible (i.e on the various meanings of the world “intellect” as found in Aristotle.)
In Metaphysics he wrote essays on Substance,
Time, Space and Measure, and various treaties entitled The Gems of
Wisdom, A Letter in Reply to Certain Questions, The Sources of Questions, The
Knowledge of the Creator.
In Ethics he wrote a commentary on the Nicomachean
Ethics of Aristotle. Of his original works the following are best known :
Encyclopedia, in which he
gives a brief account and definition of all branches of science and art.
Political Regime, which is
known as the Book of Principles. The reading of this book is recommended
by Maimonides in these terms : “I recommend you to read no works on Logic other
than those of the philosopher Abu Nasr Alfarabi, since all that he wrote,
especially the Book of Principles, is as fine flour.”[1]
Alfarabi is a
Neo-Platonist inasmuch as his mystic tendencies are numerous in his
Metaphysics, Psychology and Political thought. As a Neo-Platonist, he follows
the groundwork of the Neo-Platonic doctrine made of religious Mysticism and
Emanatist Monism. Thus, Alfarabi’s philosophy is entirely theocentric in the
sense that it holds God as the center of the universe. God is One; this One is
the Absolute which transcends everything. From the One flows the plurality of
things gradually coming down the scale of perfection to the existence of
matter. The goal of man is to return to God. This return is to be accomplished
by virtue and philosophical thought.
Like the Neo-Platonists, Alfarabi
holds in the treatise on The Agreement Between Plato and Aristotle, that
there is no essential difference between the philosophy of Plato and that of
Aristotle. Therefore, the Emanatist Monism as well as the reconciliation of
Plato and Aristotle may be regarded as the outstanding features which make
Alfarabi’s philosophy depend on that of Plotinus. But outside of these
Neo-Platonic features, all the philosophy of Alfarabi may be said to be
saturated with Aristotelism which, by its empirical method, suited better his scientific
mind.
Alfarabi does not agree with the
opinion of his contemporaries who hold that Aristotle believed in the existence
of the world, while Plato did not. According to him, the true teaching
Aristotle was that time is the measurement of the motion of the world, and
consenquently, the product of motion. That explains why he was obliged to
believe that God created the world without time, and that time is the result of
the motion of the world.
DEFINITION AND
DIVISION OF PHILOSOPHY
For Alfarabi,
philosophy is nothing else than thought, that is, the science of concepts. The
end of philosophy is to know God as the Creator of heaven and earth. Alfarabi’s
philosophy can be divided into Logic, Theoretical philosophy and Practical
philosophy. The Theoretical could be subdivided into Metaphysics and
Psychology, while the Practical philosophy into Ethics and Politics.
Logic
In Logic
Alfarabi follows Aristotle. He has, however, his own original views. His Logic
deals with concepts, judgements and reasoning.
Mental Operations
According to
Alfarabi, a concept is an idea that represents the objective essence or the
essential notes of a thing. It is the object of the first mental operation,
called conception. “Concepts” what a thing is. Through definition concepts are
so arranged and systematized that they imply one another until we arrive at the
most universal ones, which do not presuppose others, such as Being, Necessary
Being, Contingent Being. Such concepts are self-evident. A man’s mind may be
directed to them and his soul may be cognizant of them, but they cannot be
demostracted to him. Nor can they be explained by deriving them from what is
known, since they are already clear in themselves and that with the highest
degree of certitude.
For Alfarabi, judgement is the
combination of a particular entity with a universal idea. The synthesis of the
particular with the universal is never evident of itself. That explains why we
must seek a second universal with which the first universal and the particular
agree. Once we find a second universal with which the two terms of the
judgement agree, both of these will agree too, between themselves, according to
the principle which is the supreme law of every syllogism, “Two things which
are equal to the same thing, are equal to each other.” Thus, for instance, the
judgement, “The world is made” is not so clear as to permit the union of the
particular “world” with the universal “made”. There is a term of mediation for
both, and this is the universal “Composed”.
In Alfarabi’s opinion, the process
of reasoning by which we start from what is known and well established and
proceed to a knowledge of the unknown, is Logic strictly speaking. Philosophy,
therefore, is mediation, reasoning and demonstration. Is philosophy only that
and nothing else? Certainly not. There is something that cannot be mediated or
demonstrated, namely, the First Principles.
The First Principles are those of
Contradiction, Causality and of Excluded Middle. Such principles are
self-evident, because they have in themselves their own demonstration.
METAPHYSICS
“ Particular
sciences,” says AlFarabi, “restrict themselves to one or several department of
being. For instance, physics is the science of being as affected by physical
properties. Mathematics is the science of being which deals with quantities and
numbers . Medicine is the science of
being insofar as it is healthy or sick.
Metaphysics, however, knows no such restrictions. Its field is all reality,
namely, Being. And it is all equally extensive with the concept of Being ( One
, true, Good)
Metaphysics
, in the opinion of Alfarabi, treats of
things which are separate from matter. In this connection he distinguishes two
kinds of immaterial: the first, immaterial quoadesse or immaterial beings, such
as God and the human soul, which exist without matter; and the second,
immaterial quoadconceptum, or concepts, such as substance, accident, cause,
quality, the content of which is free from all matter.
Metaphysics,
insofar as it treats of immaterial concepts, of those general notions in which
matter is not included, may be called General Metaphysics or Ontology, that is,
the science of Being. And because it treats of immaterial beings, it may be
called Special Metaphysics. It could then be divided into three part:
Metaphysics Theology, which deals with God and His attributes; Methapysics
Cosmology, which treats of the ultimate
principles of the universe; and finally Metaphysical Psychology, which treats
of the human soul.
Since Alfarabu
holds that immaterial may be quoadesse and quoadconceptum, his whole
metaphysical thought maybe divided accordingly, that is, into Ontology,
Metaphysical Theology, Metaphysical Cosmology and Metaphysical Psychology.
PSYCHOLOGY
“The human
soul”, says Alfarabi, “is a unity in difference. This means that the soul is
one, and that its unity is the basis for
certain differences or power. The powers of the soul are multiple but can be
reduced ti three kinds: vegetative, sensitive and intellective’.
Political Society
Man needs the help
of his fellowmen to attain the perfection proper to his nature. Unlike the
brute, man is not equipped by nature with all the necessary for the
preservation and development of his being. It is only, through society that he
finds a complete satisfaction of his physical, intellectual and moral needs.
Hence, it follows, that society is natural to man.
These
are Alfarabi’s words. And according to him society is either perfect or
imperfect. Perfect society is of three kinds : the highest, the intermediate and
the lowest. The highest is the whole inhabited earth coming under one political
organization. The intermediate is a nation occupying a specific place of the
inhabited earth. The lowest is a city which represents a fraction of the
territory of a nation.
Imperfect
society is of three kinds : the village, the suburb of a city and the home.
These are merely steps leading to the organization of the state.[2]
