An Inquiry into Galston's Interpretation of Farabi's Political Philosophy

The present paper investigates Miriam Galston's interpretation of Farabi's political philosophy. Having made a contrastive study of Farabi's four main works (Madina Fazelah [Utopia], Siyasat Madaniyyah [Civil Politics], Tahsil al-Saadah [Realization of Happiness], and Fusool Montazaah [Abstracted chapters]), Galston tries to come up with a new conception of Farabi's political philosophy. The attention given to Aristotelian principles by Farabi's political philosophy is an interesting feature which characterizes Galston's interpretation. However, the in attention to the difference between Aristotelian philosophy and Platonic philosophy and the fact that Farabi's political philosophy is influenced by Islamic doctrines has not only led to Galston's failure to prove his claim but also to finally affirm the famous approach adopted by the interpreters of Islamic political philosophy who hold that Farabi's political philosophy is influenced by Platonic philosophy. The present paper elaborates on this point, using an analytical-documentary approach.