The Political Writings of Alfarabi, published by Cornell University Press, consists of two entire volumes, each of which contains multiple works by the famed philosopher. The first volume is entitled "Selected Aphorisms" and Other Texts, and the second is called "Political Regime" and "Summary of Plato's Laws."
"Selected Aphorisms" is a compilation of 96 proverbial sayings by Alfarabi, who is considered to be the foremost political philosopher in the entirety of the Islamic cultural tradition. Each of these sayings conveys some great truth, and they can generally be organized into an outline of sections dealing with various subjects. Interestingly, Alfarabi attributes these ideas to the "Ancients," whom the reader will recognize as Plato and Aristotle, arguably the two greatest influences on Western philosophical thought. These aphorisms are Alfarabi's attempt to summarize many of their lessons in a concise, pithy, culturally relevant way, and he includes many similar principles to those in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and Plato's Republic.
The "Other Texts" in the first volume are "Enumeration of the Sciences," "Book of Religion," and "The Harmonization of the Two Opinions of the Two Sages: Plato the Divine and Aristotle." In "Enumeration of the Sciences," Alfarabi takes a distinctly Aristotelian approach and divides the sciences into five categories, each of which he covers in a distinct chapter. All of science he divides into five categories: language, logic, mathematics, physical science, and political science. For each of these categories, Alfarabi gives a description, an analysis, and several principles of application. The only chapter of this work represented in the first volume of the collected Political Writings is Chapter 5, the one dealing with political science and jurisprudence. In this chapter, Alfarabi argues that political science deals not only with politics, but also with broader issues of philosophy, which impact politics (a very similar attitude to both Plato and Aristotle).
"Book of Religion" is Alfarabi's attempt to give his reader an idea of the compatibility of religion and philosophy, and how each should play out in the political sphere. It seems the two are at odds, because religion claims to bestow superhuman knowledge unattainable by mere philosophical reflection. In this work, Alfarabi argues that virtuous religion should rule over society, but this religion must be subject to philosophy, which covers all of life. This is an unusual view of religion, and it is especially notable that this work, despite being called "Book of Religion," deals more with political science than it does with religion itself.
The final work in the first volume is a major selection from Alfarabi's work "The Harmonization of the Two Opinions of the Two Sages: Plato the Divine and Aristotle." In this book, Alfarabi attempts to reconcile the seemingly irreconcilable differences between the two greatest Western philosophers, Plato and Aristotle (both of whom hailed from Greece). The writings of these two intellectual giants often seem to be at odds with one another, but Alfarabi's mission is to prove how, despite these differences, Plato and Aristotle agree with each other about the fundamental principles of life and reality. This is an important goal for Alfarabi to achieve, as he draws significantly on both of them throughout all the writings of his canon.
The "Political Regime" is the first of the two books represented in the second volume of Cornell's compilation, and it is a vital one for understanding Alfarabi's view of the universe. The book opens with a description, drawing heavily on the works of Plato and earning the title "Neoplatonic," of the ultimate order of the universe as seen through the consistent motion and hierarchy of the celestial bodies. The second part of the book then deals with people and the regimes that govern them, noting that, despite this overarching order, governmental regimes never actually realize this harmonic hierarchy. The question of why is never fully answered, and contemplation of this question is relegated to the back of the book. As a whole, however, the "political regime" is Alfarabi's tribute to Platonic philosophy as well as an explication of his own views about the nature of reality.
The final work represented in this duology is "Summary of Plato's Laws." In this work, as the title suggests, Alfarabi gives his own summary of Plato's quintessential work Laws. In this summarization, Alfarabi gives an introduction to Plato's style of writing and philosophy, a summary of the first nine books of the Laws, and a conclusion that ties everything together. From this work, the reader will learn the fundaments of Plato's epic series of reflections as well as a significant amount about Alfarabi's own philosophy, which clearly draws heavily from the philosopher he spent years reading and researching. Despite the clear preference for writing about Plato's works demonstrated in these two volumes, Alfarabi actually drew heavily upon both of these philosophical giants throughout his life.
