Alfarabi and Aristotle: The Four Causes and The Four Stages of The Doctrine of
The Intelligence
Alfarabi was raised as a young boy in Baghdad. His early life was spent
studying the art of linguistics, philosophy, and logic. His teachers were
Syrian Christians experts in Greek philosophy. He studied Aristotle and Plato in
detail, and it became evident in his later writings that they were a strong
influence on him. He became quite a prolific writer, and he wrote more than 100
works, many of which have unfortunately been lost including his a lot of his
commentaries on Aristotle. He was one of the earliest Islamic thinkers to
transmit to the world of his time the doctrines of Plato and Aristotle. He is
considered by many to be the founder of an authentic philosophy. His writings
created a lot of support, debate, and controversy. He contributed materials on
the proof of the existence of the First Principle, and on the theory of
emanation, as well as the theory of knowledge, in addition to his commentaries
on Greek philosophers.
The Greek influence is clearly present in his works, especially with his
Opinions of the Inhabitants of a Virtuous City, where he laid down a
philosophical, religious, and social system for the humanity at large; a system
that sought to break barriers and facilitate relations among people and nations.
This work sounded very similar to the work presented by Plato in Plato's
Republic. They both took into consideration the matter of city/state, who was
to govern, who was to be governed, how this governing was to take place, how it
was to be enforced, and so on. It also appears clear that he was influenced
greatly by Aristot ...