Alfarabi and the foundation of Islamic political philosophy /

Alfarabi and the foundation of Islamic political philosophy /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Mahdi, Muhsin, author.
Imprint:Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2001.
Description:1 online resource
Language:English
Subject:
Fārābī.
Fārābī.
Islamic philosophy.
Political science -- Philosophy.
Islamic philosophy.
Political science -- Philosophy.
Electronic books.
Format: E-Resource Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/12316045
Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:9780226774664
022677466X
0226501868
9780226501864
Summary:"In this work, Muhsin Mahdi 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 begins 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." "An philosophical engagement with the writings of and about this great thinker, Alfarabi and the Foundation of Islami Political Philosophy is essential reading for anyone interested in medieval political philosophy."--Jacket.
Other form:Original 0226501868 9780226501864
Table of Contents:
  • Intro
  • Contents
  • Foreword
  • Introduction
  • Part One
  • Orientation: Philosophy, Jurisprudence, and Theology
  • 1. 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
  • 2. 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
  • 3. The Foundation of Islamic Philosophy
  • Alfarabi, al-Kindı, and al-Razı
  • Alfarabi's On the Rise of Philosophy
  • Political Philosophy and Metaphysics
  • City, Soul, and Cosmos
  • The Question of Realization
  • Part Two
  • The Virtuous City
  • 4. 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
  • 5. Political Philosophy and Religion
  • What Is Religion?
  • The Size of the Group
  • The Founder: His Purpose
  • The Founder: His Art
  • Opinions
  • Actions
  • Definitions
  • Religion and Philosophy
  • Dialectic and Rhetoric
  • Jurisprudence, Religion, and Philosophy
  • Political Science: The City, the Universe, and Human Beings
  • Alfarabi's Political Corpus
  • 6. 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
  • 7. 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
  • 8. The Attainment of Happiness
  • Interlude
  • The Investigator and the Prince
  • Prince, Philosopher, Legislator, and Imam
  • 9. On Aristotle's Starting Point
  • The Question of Human Perfection
  • Brutish Beginnings and Human Excellence
  • 10. 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
  • 11. Religion and the Cyclical View of History
  • Aristotle's and Aristoteles/Aristocles' Accounts
  • Exploration, Perfection, and Loss (Metaphysics, Lambda 8.1074b1 ff.)
  • The Five Phases of the Cycle (Aristoteles/Aristocles, On Philosophy, frag. 8 Ross)
  • Alfarabi's On the Rise of Philosophy and Book of Letters
  • Alfarabi's Successors
  • The New Perspective: Machiavelli and Nietzsche
  • References
  • Acknowledgments
  • Index

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