Comments to the Ukrainian translation of al-Farabi’s treatise “Epistle Indicating the Way to Happiness”

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22240/sent36.01.105

Keywords:

Al-Farabi, Arabic Neoplatonism, Ethics, Virtues, Virtuous City

Abstract

The commentary dwells on certain features of al-Farabi’s work Risala fi Tanbih ‘ala Sabil al-Saadah and first of all the “Islamic” and universalist visions of the text. It explores the essential ethical doctrine of al-Farabi: the notions of “good deeds”, “appropriate states of soul” and, finally, “good distinction”. The strict observance of these "means" in pursuit of happiness leads, according to al-Farabi, to perfection of one’s virtues. It is concuded that al-Farabi links rationality and ethics placing his logical views in the context of eudemonism. The translation and commentary show that al-Farabi's ethics is integrated in his project  of making “virtuos city” (al-madinah al-fadhilah). The commentary also elucidates the meanings of  al-Farabi’s therms.

Author Biography

Mykhaylo Yakubovych, Національний університет «Острозька академія»

кандидат історичних наук, старший науковий співробітник

References

Al-Farabi. (1926). Kitab al-Tanbih ‘ala Sabil al-Sa’adah. [In Arabic]. Hyderabad: Da’iratu l-Ma’arif.

Al-Farabi. (1987). Risalah al-Tanbih ‘ala Sabil al-Sa’adah li-Abi Nasr al-Farabi (pp. 178-224). (Ed. S. Khalifat). [In Arabic]. Amman: Jami’ah al-Urduniyah.

Al-Farabi. (1995). Ara Ahl al-Madinatu al-Fadhilah. (Ed. A. Bumelham). [In Arabic]. Beirut: Dar wa Maktabah al-Hilal.

Ali Yassin, J. (1985). Al-Farabi fi Rusumihi wa Hududihi. [In Arabic]. Beirut: ‘Alam al-Kutub.

Aristotle. (2002). Nicomachean Ethics. (V. Stavniuk, Trans.). [In Ukrainian]. Kyiv: Akvilon-Plus.

Butterworth, C. E. (2013). How to read AlFarabi. In P. Fodor et al. (Eds.), More modoque: die Wurzeln der europäischen Kultur und deren Rezeption im Orient und Okzident. Festschrift für Miklos Maroth zum siebzigsten Geburtstag (pp. 333-341). Budapest: Forschungszentrum für Humanwissenschaften der Ungarischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Campanini, M. (2005). Felicità e politica in Al~Fàràbi e Avempace (Ibn Bàjjab). In M. Bettetini, F. D. Paparella (Eds.). Le Felicità Nel Medioevo (pp. 277-313). Milano: Società Italiana Per Lo Studio Del Pensiero.

Ibn Manzur. (1990). Lisan al-‘Arab (vol. 1-15). Beirut: Dar Sader.
Moses Maimonides. (1872). Translation of An Epistle Addressed by R. Moses Maimonides to R. Samuel b. Tibbon. In R. A. Löwy (Ed.), Miscellany of Hebrew Literature (pp. 223-235). London: Trübner.

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Published

2017-06-16

How to Cite

Yakubovych, M. (2017). Comments to the Ukrainian translation of al-Farabi’s treatise “Epistle Indicating the Way to Happiness”. Sententiae, 36(1), 105–108. https://doi.org/10.22240/sent36.01.105

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TRANSLATIONS

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