My research concerns the history of political philosophy with a specialization in the reception and adaptation of classical political thought in the medieval Islamic civilization. I am also interested in how such investigations in the history of political thought can help us to address questions concerning the West today: To what extent can liberal societies accommodate religious minorities? To what extent can minority cultures in liberal societies embrace liberal citizenship?
Dissertation:
My dissertation, titled The City, Man, and Religion: Alfarabi’s Islamic Political Philosophy, is an attempt to provide a comprehensive account of Alfarabi’s political philosophy in four of his major political works: the Enumeration of the Sciences, Book of Religion, Political Regime, and Virtuous City. My overarching theory is that Alfarabi provides his accounts of political science and political philosophy in the first wo texts upon which the latter two treatises should be interpreted. My dissertation is composed of four chapters, each exploring a fundamental theme in Alfarabi’s political philosophy: Political Science and Political Philosophy, Religion, Man, and the City.
photo credit: Amir Pashaei
My first chapter, “Political Science and Political Philosophy,” focuses on Alfarabi’s Enumeration of the Science and Book of Religion, the two texts in which he provides systematic accounts of his political science and political philosophy. I show that both accounts explore the same themes. However, political science takes a practical approach while political philosophy involves theoretical investigations, including a political cosmology and a political theology. I conclude that there are three fundamental themes in Alfarabi’s political science and philosophy: the city, man, and religion. The second chapter provides a comprehensive account of Alfarabi’s philosophy of religion in the Book of Religion. Alfarabi is the first major political philosopher in the history of political philosophy who systematically engages with a monotheistic, revealed religion. I show that unlike other medieval thinkers, he subordinates religion, jurisprudence, and theology to political science and philosophy. The third and fourth chapters of my dissertation explores Alfarabi's accounts of the human being's body and soul and the virtuous city in two of his greatest political works, the Political Regime and the Virtuous City. In chapter three, “Man,” I expound how Alfarabi provides a political interpretation of human being’s body and soul, on the one hand, and their place in the cosmos, on the other, which can be imitated in the structure of the city. In the final chapter, “The City,” I demonstrate how Alfarabi’s virtuous city is patterned after man and the cosmos.
Papers in Progress:
Making Islam Safe for Politics: Alfarabi’s Account of Religion in the Book of Religion
Alfarabi’s Greco-Persian Political Philosophy