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PHILOSOPHIA ISLAMICA

Al-Fārābī

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Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī (259-339 AH / 870-950 AD) is one of the foremost Islamic Philosopher /Logician.

Biography:

Original Source Biography: al-Farabi from Ibn abī-ʿUṣība’s Ṭabaqāt al-‘iṭbia (Arabic html)

Supplementary Material:

  1. Al-Farabi: from History of Muslim Philosophy. (E-text) in PDF format only.
  2. Al-Farabi: Founder of Islamic Neoplatonism, Majid Fakhry (link) Oxford: Oneworld, 2002.
  3. Brief outline of his life and contributions. (link)
  4. Encyclopedia Iranica’s articles. (comprehensive overview) (link)
  5. Important entry in French about the musical side of al-Farabi. (link)
  6. al-Farabi (SEP) by Prof. Therese-Anne Druart (link)

His Works:

  • Kitāb taḥṣīl al-Saʿāda (attainment of Happiness) Ed. Bumelham Arabic PDF.
  • Araʾ ahl al-Madīna al-Fāḍila (Opinions of people of the Perfect state) Ed. Bumelham Arabic PDF.
  • Kitab ‘Ihsa’ al-Ulūm (Categories of Science) Ed. Bumelham Arabic PDF format.
  • Kitab al-Siysah al-Madinyah (Public Administration) Ed. Bumelham Arabic PDF format.
  • Kitab al-Huruf (Book of letters) Arabic E-text. Also in word file format.
  • al-tahsil Arabic word file.
  • The Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. Mahdi, M. English E-text PDF format.  Also the Arabic Original (Ed. Bumelham Arabic PDF format.)
  • Fusul al-Madani: Aphorisms of the Statesman, Dunlop, D. M. University of Cambridge Oriental Publications 1961.
  • Alfarabi: The Political Writings: Selected Aphorisms And Other Texts, Butterworth, Charles E. Cornell University Press, 2001, ISBN: 0801438578
  • Risalat fī’l-‘aql (Epistle on the Intellect), M. Bouyges (ed.), Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique, 1938.
  • Iḥṣā’ al-Ulūm (Enumeration of the Sciences), González Palencia (ed.), Madrid/Granada: CSIC, 1953.
  • “Introductory Risalah on Logic”, D. M. Dunlop (trans.), The Islamic Quarterly, 3 (1956–57): 224–235.
  • Kitāb al-siyāsa al-madaniyya (also Known as the Treatise on the Principles of Beings) [or Political Regime], F. M. Najjar (ed.), Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique, 1964.
  • “The Letter Concerning the Intellect”, A. Hyman (trans.), in Philosophy in the Middle Ages. The Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Traditions, Indianapolis & Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, 1973, pp. 215–221.
  • Mabādi’ ārā’ ahl al-madīnah al-fāḍilah (al-Farabi on the Perfect State) [also known as The Virtuous City], R. Walzer (trans.), Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985.
  • Kitāb al-Burhān wa Kitāb Šarā’iṭ al-yaqīn (Book of Demonstration and Book on the Conditions of Certitude), M. Fakhry (ed.), Beirut: Dar el-Machreq, 1986–1987.
  • “Selections from Book of Demonstration”, J. McGinnis & D. C. Reisman (trans.), in Classical Arabic Philosophy. An Anthology of Sources, Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2007, pp. 63–68.
  • “On the Intellect”, J. McGinnis & D. C. Reisman (trans.), in Classical Arabic Philosophy. An Anthology of Sources, Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2007, pp. 68–78.
  • “Political Regime”, C. E. Butterworth (trans.), in The Political Writings II. “Political Regime” and “Summary of Plato’s Laws”, Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2015, pp. 27–94.
  • al-‘Ajam, Rafîq & Majid Fakhry (eds.), 1985–87, al-Fârâbî, al-mantiq ‘inda al-Fârâbî, in 4 volumes, Beirut: Dar al-Mashriq.
  • Badawi, ‘Abdurrahman, 1983, Traites philosophiques par al-Kindi, al-Farabi, Ibn Bajjah & Ibn ‘Adyy, 3rd edition, Beirut: Dar Al-Andaloss.
  • Dânishpazuh, Muhammad Taqî (ed.), 1987–89, al-Fârâbî, al-mantiqiyyât lilfârâbî, 3 volumes, Qumm: Matba‘at Bahman.
  • DiPasquale, David M. (trans.), 2019, Alfarabi’s Book of Dialectic (Kitab al-Jadal): On the Starting Point of Islamic Philosophy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Works about his thought:

  • Al-Farabi: An Annotated Bibliography. Rescher, N. Pittsburgh (University of Pittsburgh Press), 1962.
  • Al-Farabi’s Short Commentary on Aristotle’s “Prior Analytics.” Rescher, N. Translated from the Arabic, with Introduction and Notes. Pittsburgh (University of Pittsburgh Press), 1963.
  • Tahafut al-Falasifa (Incoherence of philosophers) His most famous philosophical work. 
  • The degrees of the abstraction according to al-Farabi. (Arabic word file) by Lotfi Khayrallah. 
  • Argument of Alfarabi’s Book of Religion by: Paul M. Bushmiller (link)
  • Al-Fârâbî on Logic and the Sciences by: Dr Peter Adamson. 
  • al-Farabi’s Philosophy of Society and Religion by: Nadja Germann (link)
  • al-Farabi’s Psychology and Epistemology by: Luis Xavier López-Farjeat (link)
  • al-Fārābī’s Epistemology (audio) from the historyofphilosophy site (link)
  • “Al-Fārābī on Meno’s Paradox.” In P. Adamson, ed. In the Age of al-Fārābī: Arabic Philosophy in the Fourth/Tenth Century. London: Warburg Institute, 2008, pp. 15-34. (PDF)
  • “Knowledge (ʿilm) and Certitude (yaqīn) in Al-Fārābī’s Epistemology.” Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 16.1 (March 2006): 11–46. (PDF)

Related Philosophers & Muslim Scholars:

  • Ibn Sina  the Muslim philosopher who made him famous.
  • Al-Ghazali the Muslim theologian who refuted him and Ibn Sina. 
  • Ibn Rushd, one of the Muslim philosophers that tried to return Islamic Philosophy to pure Aristotlianism.
  • Ibn Taymiyah, he had interesting opinions on philosophy . Site

Manuscripts:

Multimedia (Audio & Video):