Abstract

From a long time ago, happiness has been one of the basic questions of morality and moral philosophy, and it has been paid attention by thinkers of different ethical perspectives. According to Al-Farabi, happiness is divided into two types: real and unreal. In his view, real happiness is not a simple concept but is a complex one, which is goal of goals, goodness for itself, absolute goodness, and perfect end, and whose pleasure is intellectual and enduring. He suggests that three elements of free will, speculative faculty of speech, and common nature are only necessary prerequisites, rather than sufficient conditions; in fact, realization of happiness needs programming. Also, from his viewpoint, real happiness is an analogous entity, whose highest stage is existential nearness to God. The recent point in his opinions indicates that he was under the influential of religious sources.