## 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-Farabi himself offers in his *Enumeration of
the sciences*, *'Ihsa'
al-'ulum*, 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, a new critical edition with German translation of one of the two
Medieval Latin versions have come out: *Uber die
Wissenschaften (de scientiis)* Dominicus Gundissalinus'
version (2006). Alain Galonnier published a critical edition, French translation and study of the other Medieval latin version: Le De scientiis Alfarabii de Gerard de Cremone (2016). Following this
traditional theoretical order makes much sense since we know very
little about the chronological order of
al-Farabi's works, even if there is some
indication that *The Opinions of the People of the Virtuous
City*, also known as *The Perfect State*, and *The
Political Regime*, also known as *The Principles of the
Beings*, may be among his latest works. The paucity of serious
information about the chronological order of
al-Farabi's works makes it difficult to
determine whether some inconsistencies and tensions between different
works result from an evolution in his thought, as Damien Janos claims (2019, pp. 166-70), or hint at a distinction
between exoteric and esoteric treatises or simply arise from
limitations inherent to human nature that affect even the greatest
philosophers. As al-Farabi understood philosophy as
all-encompassing and attempted to present coherent views, some works
straddle several philosophical disciplines and so we will indicate
when such is the case. Al-Farabi's knowledge
of Aristotle's works is extensive, and even includes some of his
zoological treatises.


## 2. Language



In the *Enumeration of the Sciences*
al-Farabi first focuses on language, grammar,
metrics, etc. His *Kitab al-Huruf* (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 based on a single manuscript, later on found two other manuscripts but could not complete a new edition. Making
use of the new material already gathered by Mahdi, Charles Butterworth
has prepared a second edition with facing full English
translation to be published by Cornell University Press. Muhammad Ali Khalidi gave a partial English translation
covering the middle section (2005). Therese-Anne Druart
(2010) began studying al-Farabi's innovative
views of language. In Freiburg-im-Brisgau Nadja Germann (2015-16) and her team
have been working on language and logic in classical Arabic and are more and
more impressed by the sophistication of
al-Farabi's positions. As for
al-Farabi, 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-Farabi's "Grand Book of
Music"*, includes an English translation of this section.


## 3. Logic



Next to the study of language, al-Farabi considers
logic. For a long time the possibility of a serious study of
al-Farabi'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-Farabi*, ed. by
Rafiq al-'Ajam and Majid Fakhry in 4
vol. (1985-87). In 1987-89 Muhammad Taqi
Danishpazuh published in Qumm a more complete collection of
logical texts, including a newly discovered part of a long commentary
on the *Prior Analytics*. Soon afterwards, two books on Farabian logic followed: Shukri
B. Abed, *Aristotelian Logic and the Arabic Language in
Alfarabi* (1991) and Joep
Lameer, *Al-Farabi & Aristotelian
Syllogistics: Greek Theory & Islamic Practice* (1994). In 2006 Mauro Zonta published fragments of a long commentary
on the *Categories* in Hebrew, Arabic, and English translation. John
Watt (2008) assessed the influence of the Syriac organon on
al-Farabi and Kamran Karimullah (2014) dedicated a
lengthy article to al-Farabi's views on
conditionals. Translations now are coming out: Alfarabi's Book of Dialectic (Kitab al-Jadal) (David M. Di Pasquale, 2019), and Al-Farabi, Syllogism (Wilfird Hodges & Saloua Chatti, forthcoming), as well as further studies of al-Farabi's logic by Saloua Chatti (2019) and papers by Terrence J. Kleven (2013) and Riccardo Strobino (2019).



Some issues dealt with in logic are also relevant to ethics and
metaphysics. Al-Farabi sees logic as the path to happiness (Germann, 2015). He also discusses the issue of future contingents. If the truth
value of statements on future contingents is immediately determined,
i.e., before the event happens, then everything is predetermined and
freewill is an illusion. Aristotle treats of this issue in *On
Interpretation*, 9. Al-Farabi discusses more
complex aspects of this issue as he adds a consideration of
God's foreknowledge and defends human freewill against some
theologians (see Peter Adamson (2006), "The Arabic Sea Battle:
al-Farabi on the Problem of future
Contingents").



As Deborah L. Black (1990) showed, following the Alexandrian
tradition, philosophers in Islamic lands consider *Rhetoric*
and *Poetics* as integral to logic proper and so parts of
Aristotle's *Organon*. Lahcen E. Ezzaher (2008:
347-91) translated the short commentary on the Rhetoric.
Frederique Woerther (2018) & Maroun Aouad are preparing a
new edition of some of al-Farabi's texts on
rhetoric. Stephane Diebler in *Philosopher a Bagdad
au Xe siecle* (2007) [in fact a very useful collection of
translations of short Farabian works] gave a French translation of the
three very brief treatises al-Farabi dedicated to
Poetics. Geert Jan van Gelder & Marle Hammond (2008:
15-23) translated one of these treatises, *The Book of
Poetics*, into English, as well as a brief relevant passage in the
first part of *The Great Book of Music*. Terrence J. Kleven (2019) studies The Canons of Poetry. Scholars interested in
political philosophy have highlighted the distinctions
al-Farabi makes between (1) demonstrative discourse,
reflecting Aristotle's positions in the *Posterior
Analytics* (in Arabic this text is known as *The Book of
Demonstration*), and which alone is philosophical *stricto
sensu*, (2) dialectical discourse, typical of the
"*mutakallimun*" or theologians and linked to
Aristotle's *Topics*, and (3) rhetorical and poetical
discourse, used in the Qur'an or Jewish and Christian
Scriptures in order to address ordinary people. 



Great respect for Aristotle's theory of demonstration led
al-Farabi to attempt to fit any theoretical
discipline in its framework, though some of them, such as music, do
not exclusively rest on necessary and universal primary principles, as
they also include principles derived from empirical observations
(Miriam Galston, 2019). As music is dear to
al-Farabi, it is in the first part of his *Great
Book on Music* that we find the most extensive consideration of
primary empirical principles and their derivation from careful
examination of practice, i.e., in this case of musical
performances.


## 4. Mathematics and Music



After logic comes mathematics. For al-Farabi
mathematical sciences include arithmetic, geometry, optics, astronomy,
music, the science of weights and mechanics. Only recently has more
attention be paid to this aspect of Farabian thought. Gad Freudenthal
(1988) focused on al-Farabi's views on
geometry. Except for pointing to al-Farabi's
rejection, in contradistinction to al-Kindi, of the validity of
what we now call astrology, scholars had neglected his views on
astronomy and cosmology. Damien Janos's *Method, Structure,
and Development in al-Farabi's Cosmology*
(2012) has filled this gap. His book throws new light on various
aspects of al-Farabi's astronomy, cosmology,
and philosophy of nature. It also highlights the link between
cosmology and metaphysics. Johannes Thomann (2010-11) pointed to
a newly discovered commentary on the Almagest attributed to
al-Farabi (Ms. Tehran Maglis 6531).



In the *Enumeration* al-Farabi follows the
traditional classification of music under mathematics. In *The
Great Book of Music* he certainly indicates that music derives
some of its principles from mathematics but he also insists, as we
said above, on the importance of performance for determining its
empirical principles. On some points the ear, rather than theoretical
reflections, is the ultimate judge, even if at times the ear
contradicts some mathematical principle. For instance, he is well
aware that a semitone is not exactly the half of a tone. Of *The
Great book of Music* there exists only one full translation, that
of Rodolphe d'Erlanger into French (originally published in
1930-35 before the Arabic text was edited; reprint 2001). Only
partial English translations exist. I referred to two of them: one in
the section on language and one in the logic section under poetics.
George Dimitri Sawa (2009) translated the two chapters on rhythm.
Alison Laywine (McGill University), both a philosopher with excellent
knowledge of Greek musical theories and a 'Oud player, is
preparing a full English translation of this complex and lengthy text.
Yet, *The Great Book* is not the only text
al-Farabi dedicated to music. After having written
it, dissatisfied with his explanation of rhythms, he subsequently
wrote two shorter texts on rhythms (English translation of both by Sawa
2009). Apparently al-Farabi invented a system of
notation for rhythms. In his *Philosophies of Music in Medieval
Islam* Fadlou Shehadi (1995) dedicates his third chapter to
al-Farabi. Therese-Anne Druart (2020) shows how al-Farabi links music to language, logic and even politics.


## 5. Physics



After mathematics comes physics. We have only a few Farabian texts
dealing with physics taken in the broadest sense and covering the
whole of natural philosophy. Paul Lettinck addresses some of
al-Farabi's views on physics in his
*Aristotle's Physics and its Reception in the Arabic
World* (1994) and Janos (2012) also does so. Marwan Rashed (2008)
attempted a reconstruction of a lost treatise on changing beings.



Al-Farabi wrote a little treatise rejecting the
existence of the vacuum by means of an experiment. Necati Lugal & Aydin Sayili (1951)
published the Arabic with an English translation.



The substantive *Refutation of Galen's Critique of
Aristotle's Views on Human Organs* merits serious studies.
'Abdurrahman Badawi edited it in his *Traites
philosophiques* (1983: 38-107). It shows
al-Farabi's interest in Aristotle's
zoological works and develops interesting parallels between the
hierarchical structure of the organs of the human body, that of
cosmology, that of emanation, and that of the ideal state. Badr El-Fakkak (2017) explains these parallels and Jawdath Jadour (2018) studies the structure of this text, which remains untranslated, and presents a new edition of al-Farabi's Epistle on medicine. 



Physics includes Aristotle's *On the soul* and scholars
have paid much attention to al-Farabi's little
treatise *On intellect* (ed. by M. Bouyges, 1983). A full
English translation of this important treatise, of which there exist
two Medieval Latin versions, was finally given by McGinnis &
Reisman in their *Classical Arabic Philosophy* (2007:
68-78). Philippe Vallat published an extensive study of al-Farabi's views on the intellect (2019a). The issue of the soul and the intellect is linked to logic, ethics, cosmology, and metaphysics. It also gives rise to a
debate. Earlier scholars considered that for
al-Farabi universals are acquired by emanation from
the Agent Intellect, which for him is the tenth and last Intelligence,
even if in many passages the second master uses the language of
abstraction. Recently, Richard Taylor (2006 & 2010) argued that,
on the contrary, there is genuine abstraction in
al-Farabi, even if in some ways it involves the
emanative power of the Agent Intellect.


## 6. Metaphysics



Metaphysics follows physics. It is not easy to assess
al-Farabi's understanding of metaphysics. The
very brief treatise, *The Aims of Aristotle's
Metaphysics*, insists that, contrary to what most people assume,
metaphysics is not a theological science but rather investigates
whatever is common to all existing beings, such as being and unity.
McGinnis and Reisman provide a full English translation in their
*Classical Arabic Philosophy* (2007: 78-81). In 1989
Muhsin Mahdi published the Arabic text of a short treatise *On One
and Unity*. It is still untranslated but Damien Janos (2017) explained its structure and contents and Philippe Vallat (2019b) studied it. Many passages of *The Book of Letters* are of
great metaphysical import as Stephen Menn (2008) showed. These texts
raise the question of the exact relation between logic and
metaphysics, as, for instance, both disciplines treat of the
categories (see Therese-Anne Druart (2007) & Kristell Trego (2018)). Such texts
present an Aristotelian outlook focusing on ontology that sharply
distinguishes metaphysics from Kalam and seem to leave limited
space for philosophical theology and Neo-Platonic descent in
particular.



On the other hand, both *The Opinions of the People of the Perfect
City* and *The Political Regime* or *The Principles of
Beings* begin with a metaphysical part presented as a Neo-Platonic
descent followed by a second part dealing with the organization of the
city or state and do not treat of being and unity as the most
universal notions. The hierarchical structure of the ideal state
mirrors the hierarchical emanationist structure presented in the first
part. Walzer edited the former with an English translation under the
title *The Perfect State* (1985) and Fauzi M. Najjar edited the
latter (1964). Charles Butterworth (2015) provided the first full
English translation of *The Political Regime* in *The
Political Writings*, vol. II, pp. 27-94. The question of how
exactly the ontology relates to the Neo-Platonic descent or emanation
has not yet been fully clarified, though *The Enumeration of the
Sciences* addresses both aspects. Furthermore, whether the
Neo-Platonic descent grounds the political philosophy or metaphysics
is simply a rhetorical appeal to make
al-Farabi's controversial political and
philosophical views palatable to religious authorities and ordinary
people is a hotly debated issue. Disciples of Leo Strauss and of
Muhsin Mahdi divide al-Farabi's views into
exoteric ones for a broad audience and esoteric ones written for an
intellectual elite. The exoteric are more compatible with the
religious views and speak, for instance, of an immortality of the
human soul, whereas such views are deliberately muted in esoteric
writings (below we will see that a lost treatise of
al-Farabi may have denied the immortality of the
soul). Among the most recent "Straussian" positions on
this debate one can find two papers by Charles E. Butterworth: (1)
"How to Read Alafarabi" (2013), and (2)
"Alfarabi's Goal: Political Philosophy, Not Political
Theology" (2011). Recently, Philippe Vallat (2019c) attempted to clarify what al-Farabi means by "esoterism," Some other scholars such as Dimitri Gutas, S. Menn
and Th.-A. Druart take Farabian metaphysics, including the
Neo-Platonic descent as at the core of
al-Farabi's works, even if in his
*Philosophy of Aristotle*, al-Farabi treats
little of metaphysics. We will say more on this controversy in
presenting ethics and politics, which in the Farabian classification
of sciences, follow metaphysics.


##  7. Ethics and Politics



Al-Farabi dealt little with ethics, but part of the
controversy stems from what we may know of his lost *Commentary on
the Nicomachean Ethics*, his main foray in Ethics. Despite the
existence of an Arabic translation of Aristotle's
*Nicomachean Ethics* (ed. by A. A. Akasoy & A. Fidora with
an English translation by D.M. Dunlop, 2005), we see few signs of its
influence in al-Farabi's extant writings. Yet,
al-Farabi wrote on it a lost commentary, to which
three Andalusian philosophers, Ibn Bajja, Ibn Tufayl and
Averroes, refer. According to them, therein
al-Farabi denied the immortality of the human soul
as well as the possibility of any conjunction with the active or Agent
Intellect, considering them tall tales. Yet, in many other works, such
as the *Treatise on the Intellect*, the *Opinions*, and
the *Political Regime*, he claims that this conjunction is
possible and constitutes ultimate happiness. If what the Andalusian
philosophers report, presents an accurate reading of this lost text,
then the disciples of Leo Strauss may have some justification in reading
al-Farabi's works as divided between exoteric
and esoteric ones since the content of this work would contradict
views in more popular texts, such as the *Opinions* in which
the Neo-Platonic influence is the strongest. Neo-Platonic metaphysics,
construed mainly as the descent and emanation, would provide an
exoteric view good for a more general public, but denied in the
esoteric works reserved for an intellectual elite. Chaim
Meir Neria (2013) published two quotations from this commentary (in
Hebrew translation and with English translation) that have been newly
discovered and gave a summary of the issue. 



Though we do not have any ethical text from
al-Farabi relying mainly on the *Nicomachean
Ethics*, Marwan Rashed (2019) discussed his ethical outlook in relying on the Attainment of Happiness. We do have a brief ethical treatise in the tradition of
Hellenistic ethics, *Directing Attention to the Way of
Happiness* or *Tanbih* (not to be confused with the
*Attainment of Happiness* or *Tahsil*), which is
propaedeutic to the study of philosophy proper and of logic in
particular (English translation in McGinnis & Reisman's
*Classical Arabic Philosophy* (2007: 104-20)). This
treatise (1) incites the student to curb his passions in order to be
able to focus on his studies and (2) encourages him to begin the study
of philosophy and of logic in particular. It is obviously
pre-philosophical and serves as introduction to a Farabian elementary
introduction to logic *The Utterances Employed in Logic*
(Mahdi's edition, 1968;
no English translation). Al-Farabi's
conception of truly philosophical ethics remains unclear as we have so
little extended textual basis to establish it. Janne Mattila (2017) compared the philosopher's ethical progression in al-Farabi and in al-Razi. Ethics, when treating of our relations with other people, implies intersubjectivity, but al-Farabi, though not treating it much in what concerns this life, offers an interesting picture of it in the afterlife (Druart, 2017).



Al-Farabi's political philosophy fared much better
and has attracted much attention from many scholars. According to
*The Enumeration*, it also includes *kalam*, i.e.,
non-philosophical theology, and *fiqh* or Islamic law. Many
Farabian political works have been translated into English. Muhsin
Mahdi translated three of them in *Philosophy of Plato and
Aristotle* (1969b; reprint 2001), which contains *The Attainment
of Happiness*, *The Philosophy of Plato*, and *The
Philosophy of Aristotle*. These three texts form a trilogy.
Charles E. Butterworth in, *The Political Writings*, vol. I
(2001), translated *Selected Aphorisms*, part V of *The
Enumeration of the Sciences*, *Book of Religion*, and
*The Harmonization of the Two Opinions of the Two Sages: Plato the
Divine and Aristotle* and in vol. II (2015), *Political
Regime* and *Summary of Plato's Laws*. 



Al-Farabi does not take inspiration from
Aristotle's *Politics* (a text which does not seem to
have been translated or summarized into Arabic) but rather takes some
inspiration from Plato's *Republic* and *Laws*,
even if his access to these two texts may have been rather limited, as
there is some doubt that a full Arabic translation of them ever
existed. Though Averroes wrote a commentary of sort on the
*Republic*, its brevity and content do not testify to an
in-depth knowledge of the whole text. Yet, David C. Reisman (2004)
discovered an Arabic translation of a single passage from the
*Republic* (VI, 506d3-509b10). As for the *Laws*,
we certainly have al-Farabi's *Summary of
Plato's Laws*, but this text (Arabic ed. by Th.-A. Druart
(1998) and English translation by Butterworth, in *The Political
Writings*, II, (2015: 129-73)) is very brief and covers only
the first eight books. Whether this summary relies on a full or
partial Arabic translation of the *Laws* or on a translation of
a Greek summary, possibly that of Galen (lost in Greek), at this stage
cannot be determined. For the latest *status quaestionis* about
Arabic translations of Plato's works and their paucity, see
Dimitri Gutas (2012). Al-Farabi's own brief
*Philosophy of Plato* does not exhibit detailed knowledge of
Plato's works.



Though al-Farabi's political philosophy takes
some inspiration from Plato, it much transforms it in important and
interesting ways to reflect a very different world and adapt it to it.
Instead of a monolingual and monoethnic city state,
al-Farabi envisions a vast multicultural,
multilingual, and multireligious empire (Alexander Orwin, 2017). He also sees the necessity to
make of the philosopher king a philosopher prophet ruler. 



Al-Farabi's *Summary of Plato's
Laws* caused much controversy, which Butterworth narrates in the
introduction to his translation (2015: 97-127). In 1995 Joshua
Parens, making use of a draft of Druart's edition, published
*Metaphysics as Rhetoric: Alfarabi's* Summary of
Plato's "Laws". He argued that
al-Farabi takes metaphysics, or maybe more exactly
special metaphysics or the Neo-Platonic descent, i.e., what treats of
immaterial beings rather than ontology, as a form of rhetoric, and
that such was already the case for Plato. Whether or not we should
read Plato as Parens and other Straussians claim
al-Farabi understood him is a hotly debated
question. 



Marwan Rashed (2009) introduced a new element in the controversy by
putting into serious doubt the authenticity of
al-Farabi's *Harmonization of the Opinions
of the Two Sages*. Following an Alexandrian tradition, this
treatise (for Butterworth's 2001 English translation, see above)
argues that, despite a series of issues on which Aristotle and Plato
seem to contradict each other, there is remarkable harmony between
these two sages, as one can easily resolve such contradictions. This
text also refers (1) to the so-called *Aristotle's
Theology*, which in fact Aristotle never wrote, as it derives from
Plotinus, and (2) to Proclus Arabus, as Peter Adamson (forthcoming)
shows. On the other hand, Cecilia Martini Bonadeo, in her 2008
critical edition and Italian translation of this text
(al-Farabi, *L'armonia delle opinioni dei
due sapienti, il divino Platone e Aristotele*), argued for the
Farabian authenticity of this text. Whether one accepts the Farabian
authorship of this text affects one's understanding of the whole
controversy of how to read al-Farabi, as well as
one's understanding of the relationship between his
Aristotelianism and his Neo-Platonism. It also makes the whole issue
of the relationship between his metaphysics and his political
philosophy still more complex and convoluted.



Among the most recent developments, expressed in various articles, on
the Straussian side, let us point to Butterworth's "How to
Read Alfarabi" (2013) and "Alfarabi's Goal:
Political Philosophy, Not Political Theology" (2011) to which I
referred earlier. On the other side, we can point to Charles
Genequand's "Theologie et philosophie. La
providence chez al-Farabi et
l'authenticite de l'*Harmonie des opinions des
deux sages*" (2012), which objects to M. Rashed's
declaring the *Harmonization* inauthentic, and his (2013)
"Le Platon d'al-Farabi". Amor
Cherni (2015), on the other hand, published a book on the
relation between politics and metaphysics in
al-Farabi (*La cite et ses opinions:
Politique et metaphysique ches Abu Nasr
al-Farabi*), which includes an appendix
rejecting the authenticity of *The Harmonization*. 


## 8. Conclusion



Though we now have more decent editions of
al-Farabi's texts and more complete
translations, in English and in French in particular, many such
editions and translations are scattered in various books and journals.
Gathering all of al-Farabi's available texts
is no mean accomplishment. If Oxford University Press would publish
*The Philosophical Works of al-Farabi*, as it
did for al-Kindi in 2012 (one volume, ed. by P. Adamson &
P.E. Pormann), beginning with those still untranslated or not fully
translated into English, as well as those whose English translation is
hidden in rare books or unusual journals, we would be eternally
grateful, but we are well aware that it would require several volumes
and much time. 



Some texts still need to be better edited. Some texts are not
translated at all into any European language or not yet into English.
Scholars do not always seem fully aware of what is available and what
other scholars have said. Much more work still needs to be done, but a
clearer and more complex picture of
al-Farabi's works is emerging. It highlights
their breadth and sophistication, even if we still have trouble
piecing together all the parts.