Abstract

Surely the least familiar area of the generally unfamiliar subject of medieval philosophy is that of Islamic classical philosophy. This is the first appearance in the non-Arabic world of Al-Färäbï's lively three-part work on the nature of philosophy and the reconciliation of the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle. The present translation is from the newly recovered Arabic text. It seems designed to appeal to a wider audience than that of students of medieval philosophy, Islamic or otherwise. Yet it does serve the valuable purpose of calling attention to an unjustly neglected tradition in the history of western philosophy and to one of the founders of that tradition.--W. G. E.