6 - The Differing Places of Metaphysics in Alfarabi and Thomas Aquinas

Summary

According to chapters 1 and 3, the most widely accepted interpretation of Alfarabi is that he grounds his politics on his metaphysics. And as we saw in chapter 3, E. I. J. Rosenthal argued that Alfarabi's “political thought … is only a part of a whole philosophy … [and his Virtuous City] is indicative of this dependence of politics on philosophy as a whole.” Indeed, it would appear that the Virtuous City, by placing metaphysics before politics, confirms Rosenthal's suggestion. Majid Fakhry has gone on much more recently to affirm that Alfarabi's politics is “an extension or development of metaphysics or its highest manifestation, theology.” By similarly devoting the opening portions of his Political Regime to metaphysics, Alfarabi seems to confirm the impression left by the Virtuous City that metaphysics provides the ground for politics.

Since I titled my first book Metaphysics as Rhetoric, I have sought to raise doubts about this prevailing interpretation of Alfarabi. In that book, I spoke in a postmodern vein, not because I was myself a postmodernist but because I hoped to catch the attention of postmodern readers. I never argued that Alfarabi does not have any metaphysical views or that metaphysics is ultimately irrelevant. Rather, I sought to raise doubts about whether Alfarabi intended the openings of the Virtuous City and the Political Regime as demonstrative metaphysical grounds for his politics. The most obvious evidence in support of the claim that Alfarabi grounds his politics on metaphysics is that metaphysics precedes politics in Virtuous City and Political Regime. Since Rosenthal argued as he did, however, another writing by Alfarabi has come to light, his Book of Religion. In that work Alfarabi reverses the order of metaphysics and politics, placing politics before metaphysics.

Although the order of presentation of metaphysics and politics is not sufficient for determining Alfarabi's views, it remains a crucial clue in this inquiry into the relation between metaphysics and politics. In addition to considering the significance of this clue, we will need to determine, among other things, the following: Why did he present metaphysics before politics in Virtuous City and Political Regime but politics before metaphysics in the Book of Religion? What is the status and character of these different works?