On the Perfect State

Undergraduate / Graduate

Abu Nasr al-Farabi (d. 950) is considered the first (political) philosopher of the Islamic tradition, as well the 'second teacher' (after Aristotle) to medieval philosophy. His magnum opus, On the Perfect State, weaves together an original cosmology with his influential accounts of religion, ethics, and politics. In this class, we will consider these central threads of the text both in conversation with al-Farabi's larger corpus, and with an eye toward their enduring legacy in political thought beyond the Islamic tradition.