Alfarabi’s Conversion of Plato’s Republic

Mahmood N. Khoshnaw

College of Languages, Salahaddin University/Hawler, Erbil, Iraq.

DOI: 10.4236/als.2014.21002                

Abstract

It might not be very inspiring to do an introduction to Alfarabi’s (870-950 A.D.) philosophy and works through his On the Perfect State. This is because of the obvious dependence and extensive borrowing from Plato’s Republic which might undermine the rich philosophy he presents in his other major and more known works. Besides, and similar to Plato, many of the philosophical views presented and raised in the On the Perfect State are detailed in his other works. Nonetheless, and as it will be shown below, he distinguished a number of his ideas from Plato and modelled them to suit his Islamic perspectives and audience. This article attempts to illustrate a number of Plato’s ideas that Alfarabi has remodelled.

Keywords

Alfarabi; Plato; Republic; Perfect State

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Al-Farabi (1998). On the Perfect State (R. Walzer, Ed. & Trans.) New York: Oxford University Press, Kazi Publications.
[2]	Al-Talbi, A. (1993). AL-FARABI. Prospects: Quarterly review of comparative education, 1, 353-372.
[3]	Colmo, C. (1992). Theory and Practice: Alfarabi’s Plato Revisited. The American Political Science Review, 86, 966-976. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1964348
[4]	(1998). Alfarabi on the Prudence of Founders. The Review of Politics, 60, 719-741. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0034670500050865
[5]	Parens, J. (1994). Multiculturalism and the problem of particularism. American Political Science Review, 88, 169-181. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2944889
[6]	Kabadayi, T. (2004). The Perfect State in Plato and Al-Farabi. AKü SOSYAL B?L?MLER DERG?S?, 2, 237-248.
[7]	Strauss, L. (1945). Farabi’s Plato. American Academy for Jewish Research, Louis Ginzberg, Jubilee Volume, 357-393.
[8]	Azadpur, M. (2003). Review of the Book Alfarabi and the Foundation of Islamic Political Philosophy by Muhsin S. Mahdi. Medieval Academy of America Review, 78, 566-568.
[9]	Khalidi, M. A. (2003). Alfarabi on the Democratic City. British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 11, 379-394. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0960878032000119637
[10]	Bonelli, M. (2009). Farabi’s Virtuous City and the Plotinian World Soul: A New Reading of Farabi’s Mabadi’ Ara’ Ahl Al-Madina Al-Fadila. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Montreal: The Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University.
[11]	Plato (2003). The Republic (2nd ed., D. Lee, Ed. & Trans.). New York, NY: Penguin Books.
[12]	Zimmerman, F. W. (1981). Al-Farabi’s Commentary and Short Treatise on Aristotle’s De Interpretations. London: Oxford University Press.