Authority and power in al-F?r?b?’s practical philosophy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25145/j.cemyr.2024.32.20Keywords:
Al-F?r?b?, practical philosophy, politics, ethics, authority, powerAbstract
Al-F?r?b? is responsible for laying the foundations of political philosophy in the lands of islam. In The virtous city, his key political text, the notion of “authority” (riyasa) occupies a central rol as it explains that, from its union with the agent intellect, virtous actions are projected onto citizens by which civic order is ensured and happiness is achieved as the ultimate goal of the ideal society. In this paper we will analyze the ways in which such actions are engendered in citizens through the concepts of “kingly crafts” (al-mihan al-malakiya) and “[royal] power” (al-mulk) undertood as faculties of the “authority” (riyasa) and attending to its role in the configuration of the “virtous city” and in the general framework of al-F?r?b?’s political thought.
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