Farabi's philosophy in the middle of abstract and concrete: A model for philosophical thinking and cultural policymaking

Abstract

Farabi's philosophy, in the most accurate meaning, is a problem-oriented and worldly philosophy. This statement is against the claim that Farabi's philosophy is completely abstract and unrelated to the concrete issues of his life, or even if he believes in such a connection, the proposed philosophical model is considered to be fundamentally unrealizable in this world and that philosophy in many aspects i.e. anthropology, politics, ethics, etc., is considered to be the highest part of a person's soul. In contrast to this claim, which has many supporters, this article claims that not only Farabi's philosophy is basically born from the concrete political, religious, cultural and social contexts of his lifetime, but his solution to the problems of the time, unlike other one-sided solutions, is based on the distinct but related ideal-real duality. According to the latter aspect, Farabi tried to bring together the ancient tradition and the contemporary requirements and to help the intellectuals of the world solve the problems of the Islamic society of his time. In this article, while analyzing these fields including Farabi's response to the issues and crises of the time, it tries to propose this way as a model for philosophical thinking and cultural policy-making, which recognizes the two real and ideal situations at the same time.

Keywords

• political philosophy
• culture
• ideal city
• philosophy
• politics