Philosopher

al-Farabi

c. 870 – c. 950 CE

Also known as Abu Nasr al-Farabi, Alpharabius

Called the 'Second Teacher' after Aristotle, he established the Arabic tradition of Aristotelian logic and wrote on the ideal, virtuous city.

Woodcut of a bearded man in a cap raising one hand, labelled “Alpharabius phus” — Woodcut from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493. Its portraits are imaginary, and many of its woodblocks were reused for different people. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.Rijksmuseum · CC0 1.0 · See the original

Al-Fārābī worked mainly in Baghdad, and later in Damascus, where he died. He wrote extensive commentaries on Aristotle’s logic and was so highly regarded that he became known as the “Second Teacher”, after Aristotle. In his political philosophy he drew on Plato’s Republic to describe a virtuous city led by a philosopher-ruler, and asked how philosophy relates to religion.

Tradition: Arabic and Islamic
Region: Baghdad and Damascus
Period: Classical Islamic
Influenced by: Plato; Aristotle
Influenced: Avicenna

Key works

The Virtuous City (Mabadi' ara' ahl al-madina al-fadila)

Sources

Therese-Anne Druart, al-Farabi, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy