Әл-Фараби туралы шет тілі сабағына арналған материал

Al-Farabi

We know little that is really reliable about al-Fârâbî’s life. Abû Nasr al-Fârâbî was probably born in 870 CE (AH 257) in a place called Farab or Farayb. In his youth he moved to Iraq and Baghdad. In 943 CE (AH 331) he went to Syria and Damascus. He may have gone to Egypt but died in Damascus in December 950 CE or January 951 CE (AH 339). Scholars have disputed his ethnic origin. Some claimed he was Turkish but more recent research points to him being a Persian (Rudolph 2012: 363–74).

Al-Fârâbî had two main interests:

Philosophy and logic in particular. Such interest explains why he is known as “the second master” (the first one, of course, being Aristotle) and

Music. His huge Kitâb al-musiqâ al-kabîr or Great Book of Music is the most important medieval musical treatise in Islamic lands and also includes sophisticated philosophical sections.

Beginning in the 1980s, much has happened in Farabian scholarship. New and better editions of his works as well as new and better translations have led to deeper studies of his thought and to some interesting and lively controversies. More current bibliographies allow for more detailed research. We still lack critical editions, full English translations—and even, at times, translation in any language of several texts—as well as a solid introduction to al-Fârâbî’s philosophy. More research is also needed to better understand the relation between his philosophical and musical interests.

One can find the most recent and detailed listings of al-Fârâbî’s works and their translations in Ulrich Rudolph, “Abû Nasr al-Fârâbî” (2012: 374–457), and Philippe Vallat (2004: 379–87). Also, Jon McGinnis & David. C. Reisman translated a series of Farabian texts in their Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Sources (2007: 54–120).

1. Enumeration of the Sciences

2. Language

3. Logic

4. Mathematics and Music

5. Physics

1. Enumeration of the Sciences

In what follows we will underline important scholarly developments of the last thirty years and add useful complements to these listings. In order to highlight these scholarly developments we will follow the traditional order of the Aristotelian sciences that al-Fârâbî himself offers in his Enumeration of the sciences, ‘Ihsâ’ al-‘ulûm, one of his most famous texts, as its Medieval Latin versions had much influence in the West. There is no full English translation of this text, but Amor Cherni (2015) published an edition with French translation and commentaries. Recently, new critical editions with German translation of the two Medieval Latin versions have come out: Über die Wissenschaften (de scientiis) Dominicus Gundissalinus’ version (2006) and Über die Wissenschaften (de scientiis) Gerard of Cremona’s version (2005a). Brepols Publisher (Turnhout) announces a forthcoming critical edition of the latter with French translation by A. Galonnier (forthcoming). Following this traditional theoretical order makes much sense since we know very little about the chronological order of al-Fârâbî’s works, even if there is some indication that The Opinions of the People of the Virtuous City, a

2. Language

In the Enumeration of the Sciences al-Fârâbî first focuses on language, grammar, metrics, etc. His Kitâb al-Hurûf (Book of Letters) or Particles, gives us much information on his views on language. Muhsin Mahdi, who published the first edition of this text in 1969a, later on found another Arabic manuscript but could not complete a new edition. Making use of the new material already gathered by Mahdi, Charles Butterworth is preparing a second edition with facing full English translation. Muhammad Ali Khalidi gave a partial English translation covering the middle section (2005). Thérèse-Anne Druart (2010) began studying al-Fârâbî’s innovative views of language. In Freiburg-im-Brisgau Nadja Germann and her team are working on language and logic in classical Arabic and are more and more impressed by the sophistication of al-Fârâbî’s positions. As for al-Fârâbî, music is at the service of speech, the last section of the Great Book of Music explains how technically to fit music to speech, i.e., poetry, in order to enhance the meaning of a text. Azza Abd al-Hamid Madian’s 1992 Ph. D. dissertation for Cornell University, Language-music relationships in al-Fârâbî’s “Grand Book of Music”, in

3. Logic

Next to the study of language, al-Fârâbî considers logic. For a long time the possibility of a serious study of al-Fârâbî’s logic remained somewhat elusive. Editions and translations of his logical works, except for his [‘Long’] Commentary on Aristotle’s De Interpretatione (Zimmerman 1981), were scattered in various journals and collective works often difficult to access. Many of these texts were more critically edited and gathered in al-mantiq ‘inda al-Fârâbî, ed. by Rafîq al-‘Ajam and Majid Fakhry in 4 vol. (1985–87). In 1987–89 Muhammad Taqî Dânishpazuh published in Qumm a more complete collection of logical texts, including a newly discovered part of a long commentary on the Prior Analytics. Though a fair number of these texts remain untranslated, two books on Farabian logic followed: Shukri B. Abed, Aristotelian Logic and the Arabic Language in Alfârâbî(1991) and Joep Lameer, Al-Fârâbî & Aristotelian Syllogistics: Greek Theory & Islamic Practice(1994). More recently Mauro Zonta (2006) published fragments of a long commentary on the Categories in Hebrew, Arabic, and English translation. More scholars now, such as Khaled El-Rouayheh, Wilfrid Hodges, Tony Street, and Paul Thom, s

Some issues dealt with in logic are also relevant to ethics and metaphysics. One of them concerns future contingents. If the truth value of statements on future contingents is immediately determined, i.e., before the event happens, then everything is predetermined…