Rationality vis-à-vis Relativity: Accounted for Imagination and ‘the Permanent’ in Farabi’s Philosophy

Document Type : Original Research

Authors
Nadia Maftouni 1
Fataneh Tavanapanah 2
1 Associate Professor at University of Tehran
2 University of Tehran
Abstract
Rationality or relativity? In which one does Farabi believe? How does it relate to imagination and the permanent, if at all? For Farabi, people come to grasp rational truths mostly through the use of their imagination. Furthermore, the arousal of people’s feelings and emotions often originates in their imagination via imagery forms. The ultimate utopian goal is to drive the public to achieve rational happiness. Since the public, based on their nature and general habits, in effect cannot perceive the rational truths, the path to rational happiness must be represented via their imagination. Moreover, their imaginary concepts and forms should be made the permanent. So bringing rational happiness to people's minds through their imagination, the media of each society should represent rational truths through the sensory and imagery forms familiar to that society. The Farabian theory of cognition shares aspects of relativity as well as rationality. To Farabi, rational truth and rational happiness is fixed and one, having only one denotation, while its connotations, say, images and imagery forms are various and sundry. That being the case, different communities can have different ways to perceive the same truth, working toward the same goal.

Keywords

Subjects

Aristotle, The Complete Works of Aristotle, ed., J. Barnes (Princeton University Press: 1995.
Black, D. L. “Al-Farabi”, History of Islamic Philosophy, ed. S. H. Nasr and O. Leaman, London and New York: Routledge, 1996.
Farabi, A. Ara Ahl al-Madinah al-Fadilah wa Mudadatiha, ed., A. Bumelham, Beirut: Dar wa Maktaba al-Hilal, 2003.
Farabi, A. al-Fusul al-Muntaza‛ah. ed., H. Malikshahi, Tehran: Sorush, 2004.
Farabi, A. Ihsa’ al-Ulum, trans., H. Khadivjam, Tehran: Elmifarhangi, 2002.
Farabi, A. Kitab al-Musiqi al-Kabir, trans. A. Azarnush, Tehran: Pajuheshgah ‘Ulum Insani va Mutale’at Farhangi, 1998.
Farabi, A. al-Mantiqiat, (Vol. 1), ed., M. Danishpajuh, Qom: Maktaba al-Marashi, 1987.
Farabi, A. al-Millah wa Nusus Ukhra, ed., M. Mahdi, Beirut: Dar al-Mashriq, 1991.
Farabi, A. Risalah fi al-Aql, ed., M. Bouyges, Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique, 1984.
Farabi, A. al-Siasah al-Madaniah, ed., H. Malikshahi, Tehran: Surush, 1997.
Farabi, A. al-Tanbih ala Sabil al-Sa‛adah wa al-Ta‛liqat wa Risalatan Phalsaphiyatan, ed., J. Yasin, Tehran: Hikmat, 1992.
Geertz, Clifford, Available Light: Anthropological Reflections on Philosophical Topics, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2000.
Hollis Martin, Steven Lukes, Rationality and Relativism, Cambridge, MIT Press, 1982.
Krausz, Michael, "Art and Its Mythologies: A Relativist View". In: Margolis J., Krausz M., Burian R.M. (eds) Rationality, Relativism and the Human Sciences. Studies of the Greater Philadelphia Philosophy Consortium, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht, 1986.
Mehr Mohammadi M, Hosseini Khah A. “A Comparative Analysis of Ghazali and Egan’s Views on Imagination and Education: the Mythic Understanding and Children Learning.” The International Journal of Humanities, Vol 18, Issue 2 (2011), pp. 19-35.
URL: http://eijh.modares.ac.ir/article-27-7606-en.html
Mahmudkelayeh, Zahra, Reza Akbarian, Mohammad Saeedimehr, “Rationality from Mulla Sadra’s Viewpoint.” The International Journal of Humanities, Vol 24, Issue 2 (2017), pp. 41-53.
Margolis, Joseph, Krausz, A.S., Burian, R. (Eds.), Rationality, Relativism and the Human Sciences, Springer, Dordrecht, 1986.
Jarvie, I. C. “Rationality and Relativism.” The British Journal of Sociology, vol. 34, no. 1, 1983, pp. 44–60. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/590608.
Nielsen, Kai, “Rationality and Relativism”, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Vol 4, Issue 4, pp. 313 - 331
First Published December 1, 1974, https://doi.org/10.1177/004839317400400309.
Rezai H, Imani A. “Analyzing the Concept of Common Good in the Political Thought of Muslim Thinkers: Emphasis on the Views of Farabi and Ibn Miskawayh.” The International Journal of Humanities, Vol 29, Issue 1, 2022, 85-114.
Simon, Lawrence H. “Rationality and cultural relativism”, 1998, doi:10.4324/9780415249126-R024-1. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Taylor and Francis, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/rationality-and-cultural-relativism/v-1.
Sadi, M. Kulliat Sadi. ed., M. A. Furughi, Tehran: Behzad, 2009.
The International Journal of Humanities
Volume 30, Issue 3
Spring 2023
Pages 1-11