Major Works

• Plato’s Laws

  - Parens, Joshua and Joseph Macfarland, "Plato's Laws," in Medieval Political Philosophy: A Sourcebook. Cornell University Press, Ithica, NY, 2011.
  Excerpt from Alfarabi’s introduction: “Our purpose in making this introduction is this: the wise Plato did not feel free to reveal and uncover every kind of knowledge for all people. Therefore he followed the practice of using symbols, riddles,… More

• Philosophy of Aristotle

  - Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. Trans. Muhsin Mahdi. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1962.
  Excerpt: “1. Aristotle sees the perfection of man as Plato sees it and more. However, because man’s perfection is not self-evident or easy to explain by a demonstration leading to certainty, he saw fit to start from a position anterior to that… More

• Harmonization of the Opinions of the Two Sages: Plato the Divine and Aristotle

  - Alfarabi: The Political Writings. Trans. Charles Butterworth. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001.

• Book of the Opinions of the Inhabitants of the Virtuous City

  - Recommended edition: Al Farabi. Alfarabi on the Perfect State. Trans. Walzer, Richard. New York, NY. Oxford University Press, 1985.
  From Book Review: “Farabi is Islam’s first and, pace Ibn Sina, perhaps greatest Islamic Neoplatonist. He is certainly more original than his successor who leaned heavily upon him. Farabi in The Virtuous City produced a work “written by a… More

• The Book of Letters

  - Medieval Islamic Philosophical Writings. Ed. Muhammad Ali Khalidi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
  Excerpt: “The capacities for dialectic, sophistry, and for the uncertain or dubious philosophy must precede the capacity for the certain philosophy, which is demonstrative philosophy, since one becomes aware of demonstrations after these others (i.e.… More

• Book of Religion

  - Alfarabi: The Political Writings. Trans. Charles Butterworth. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001.
  Excerpt: “1. 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.… More

• The Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle

  - Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. Trans. Muhsin Mahdi. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1962.
  Excerpt: “1. First he investigated the human things that make man enviable as to which of them constitutes the perfection of man as man, for every being has a perfection. Thus he investigated whether man’s perfection consists only in his having… More

• Selected Aphorisms

  - Alfarabi: The Political Writings. Trans. Charles Butterworth. Contains Selected Aphorisms. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001.
  Introduction by Translator: “In the Selected Aphorisms, Al Farabi begins with, then develops, a comparison between the health of the soul and that of the body. That is, somewhat abruptly, he starts his exposition by defining the health of each and… More

• Political Regime

  - Part one found in:   Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Sources. Trans. Jon McGinnis and David C. Reisman. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co. Inc., 2007. Part two found in:   Medieval Political Philosophy: A Sourcebook. 2nd. Edition. Eds. Joshua Parens and Joseph C. MacFarland. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2011.
  Excerpt: “1. The principles by which the six types of bodies and accidents subsist are divided into six major levels, each one comprising a single kind. The First Cause is in the first level. The secondary causes are in the second. The active intellect… More

• Enumeration of the Sciences

  - Alfarabi: The Political Writings. Trans. Charles Butterworth. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001.
  Excerpt: “1. Political science investigates the sorts of voluntary actions and ways of life; the dispositions, moral habits, inclination, and states of character from which those actions and ways of ife come about; the goals for the sake of which they… More

Other Works

• Epistle on the Canons of Poetry

  - Epistle on the Canons of Poetry (Risālah fi Qawanīn Ṣinā’at al-Shi‘r). Trans. A.J. Arberry. In Rivista degli Studi Orientali 17 (1938), pp. 267-78.
  Could not find link to book on Google.

• Directing the Attention to the Way to Happiness

  - Medieval Political Philosophy: A Sourcebook. 2nd. Edition. Eds. Joshua Parens and Joseph C. MacFarland. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2011. pp. 13-53.
  Excerpt: “1. The human things through which nations and citizens of cities attain earthly happiness in this life and supreme happiness in the life beyond are of four kinds: theoretical virtues, deliberative virtues, moral virtues, and practical arts. 2.… More

Commentary

• Alfarabius: De Platonis Philosophia

  - Rosenthal, Franz, and Walzer, Richard. Alfarabius: De Platonis Philosophia. London: Warburg Institute, 1943.
  Overview:  The original, pioneering edition of the Philosophy of Plato, translated into, and even introduced in, Latin. The introduction contains some useful historical information, as well as example of the same source-hunting approach that Walzer would… More

• Aristotle’s Politics in Arabic Philosophy

  - Pines, Shlomo. “Aristotle’s Politics in Arabic philosophy.” In Israel Oriental Studies, Vol. V, 1975, pp. 150-160.
  Overview: A famous scholar provides a characteristically erudite account of the uncertain presence of Aristotle’s Politics in medieval Islam, shedding light on a couple of important passages of Alfarabi in the process.

• Alfarabi

  - Muhsin Mahdi, "Alfarabi" in History of Political Philosophy, eds. Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), 1987.
  Excerpt: “Alfarabi was the first philosopher who sought to confront, to relate, and as far as possible to harmonize classical political philosophy with Islam – a religion that was revealed through a prophet-legislator (Muhammed) in the form of a… More

• Can a Tenth Century Aristotelian Help us Understand Plato’s Laws? by Steven Harvey

  - Harvey, Steven. "Can a Tenth Century Aristotelian Help us Understand Plato's Laws?" in Plato's Laws: From Theory of Practice. Eds. Samuel Scolnicov and Luc Brisson. Sankt Augustin: Akademica Verlag, 2003.  
  Overview: Argues that even if Alfarabi did not have access to the same Platonic text that we possess, he can still help us understand Plato’s Laws. Volume Description: The articles of this volume are a selection of the papers presented at the Sixth… More

• Al-Fārābi’s Kitāb al-Ḥurūf and his Analysis of the Senses of Being

  - Menn, Stephen. “Al-Fārābi’s Kitāb al-Ḥurūf and his Analysis of the Senses of Being.” Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, vol. 18, pp. 59-97.
  Overview: An admirable effort by a leading professor of Greek philosophy to drum up interest in Alfarabi in his field. It attempts to explain some very difficult, and hitherto rarely examined, discussions of being in the Book of Letters. Abstract:… More