Philosophical Thought
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Volume 4, Issue 2 (2024)
J Clin Care Skill 2024, 4(2): 185-199 |
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History
Received: 2024/03/10 | Accepted: 2024/06/29 | Published: 2024/08/15
Received: 2024/03/10 | Accepted: 2024/06/29 | Published: 2024/08/15
How to cite this article
Salem M. Pathology of Culture Transmission in al-Fārābī Viewpoint. J Clin Care Skill 2024; 4 (2) :185-199
URL: http://jpt.modares.ac.ir/article-6-73786-en.html
URL: http://jpt.modares.ac.ir/article-6-73786-en.html
Department of Philosophy and Theology, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehrarn, Iran
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Introduction
Examining the history of Islamic civilization in the first to fifth centuries of the Hijri can identify the harms and benefits of the influence of Greek culture. al-Fārābī (870-951 C.), a creative philosopher and Islamic pathologist, understood the pathology of cultural transfer, especially through the Translation Movement in the Arab world in the 9th to 10th centuries, and provided theoretical and practical solutions to mitigate the damage and capitalize on opportunities. He and al-Kindī (801–873 C.) were the beginning of an effort to establish the necessary rational grounds for the excellence of Islamic culture and its non-vanishing in the face of imported foreign cultures. In this article, al-Fārābī's view on the formation of culture’s components and the pathology of cultural transmission is examined. Despite the many valuable works on al-Fārābī's opinions, the pathology of cultural transfer remains an important issue that has been neglected.
The way of emergence of key components of culture in society
Undoubtedly, language, religion, and philosophy are important elements of a culture. The creation of verbal and sign language is a skill belonging to primitive people, who invented it to convey mental meanings and to structure language according to the structure of external phenomena through meanings [al-Fārābī, 1990: 76, 138-139]. As humans developed the ability to understand deep meanings, the structure of their language also became more complex and nuanced. With different language games, they were able to create rhetoric and poetry [al-Fārābī, 1990: 141-142], and a science called linguistics to carefully monitor the evolution of language [al-Fārābī, 1990: 138, 145]. With the expansion of human knowledge and people's freeing themselves from basic needs and realizing the complex relationships among external phenomena, such as causality, people were able to use new techniques and skills and widen the range of meanings and words. In this way, theoretical syllogisms that were used in philosophy were created. At first, only rhetoric and poetry were used in these techniques, but over time, dialectical methods were also employed to consolidate and prove claims and to replace sophistry. By achieving certain premises in the dialectical argument and bringing it closer to certainty, which happened with Plato, the way was prepared for the emergence of demonstration, and mankind achieved the most complete method to achieve certain knowledge. This method was established by Aristotle. In this way, people developed many techniques to prove their claims to common people through rhetoric and dialectical argument, and to scholars through demonstration.
The leader of the human community should establish laws according to the understanding and ability of the members of the society to guide them toward happiness. These laws are religion (millah), which is conditional opinions and actions that are determined by the first leader of a society, so that by applying them, the society will reach the goal that exists in these opinions and actions and is limited to them [al-Fārābī, 1991: 43]. According to al-Fārābī, religion has such a dependence on philosophy that if it exists based on the logical course of techniques and as a result of the evolution of philosophy and its complete certainty, it will be a very good and correct religion, but if this religion exists based on illusory philosophy, become false and corrupt, and false opinions will arise in it [al-Fārābī, 1990: 153-154].
Therefore, the place of philosophy and religion in culture is so important. Philosophy lays down the theoretical foundations of culture, and religion is responsible for the methods of understanding these foundations and teaching theoretical and practical matters. Religion is a philosophical tool, as it is based on it [al-Fārābī, 1990: 132]. Suppose the philosophy is true and the philosopher acquires rational perceptions by connecting to the Active Intellect and considers the happiness of society as similar to God. In that case, the religion will be virtues and revelation [al-Fārābī, 1995a: 121; al-Fārābī, 1996b: 88-89]. Therefore, according to al-Fārābī, the best leader of a community is a true philosopher, who is a Prophet or Imam.
The transfer of cultures and the damage caused by it
According to al-Fārābī, as was said, language, philosophy, and religion are created within the society by its members, so that they are specific to that society. However, since the collision and interference of cultures are inevitable, these cultural components can be transferred from one society to another and can promote or degrade the destination culture. While explaining the method of transferring these components, al-Fārābī believes that this transfer will lead to the growth of the destination society's culture if, firstly, true philosophy and the religion based on it are transmitted, and secondly, there is an evolutionary process in the destination society, and it reaches the true philosophy and religion, like the original society. If suspicious philosophy and sophistry are transferred to the target society that has sublime philosophy and religion, or true philosophy and religion are transferred to a society that is in suspicion and has no understanding of true philosophy’s facts, the culture of the destination society is in complete contrast with the imported culture, and true philosophy and religion are destroyed [al-Fārābī, 1990: 154-156].
Al-Fārābī mentions important points about language transmission; Because with the transfer of cultures, the language also enters the society, and the entry of foreign words may increase so much that the language of the destination society is destroyed [al-Fārābī, 1990: 145]. Therefore, al-Fārābī offers solutions to preserve the target language [al-Fārābī, 1990: 158-160; al-Fārābī, 1995a: 53-54; al-Fārābī, 1991: 43].
In the era of al-Fārābī, when the Translation Movement was almost in its final stages, and most of the works of Greek thinkers had been translated into Arabic, the elites had the duty to provide the necessary foundations with all their power so that the imported philosophy, which had made Christianity or Neoplatonism as tools for education, would not be immediately denied by the members of the society. Since the Arab society had a complete religion and a sublime culture, the duty of the elites was not only to imitate and blindly acquire concepts and ideas, but also to understand and analyze opinions very carefully and transform them based on the sublime thought of the Islamic society. The incidents that occurred in the 2nd to 5th centuries AD, as described by Islamic scholars such as al-Kindi, al-Fārābī, and Ibn Sīnā, provide a very important model for elites, who, in the process of translating and transferring cultures, avoid eclecticism and localize ideas.
Conclusion
Al-Fārābī considers religion a law established by the head of society to educate people and bring them to the ultimate happiness of humans. Religion can guide people with persuasive methods when it is based on a certain philosophy and is established by a true philosopher who has reached the level of Acquired Intellect and is connected with Active Intellect; otherwise, this religion will be misguided. Therefore, a civilized society with a sublime culture that easily leads to supreme happiness is one grounded in certain thoughts and a religion based on certainty, which, according to al-Fārābī, is a revealed religion.
As a result of the exchange of cultures, which is inevitable, the religion and philosophy that uses religion to achieve its purpose and the language through which religion and philosophy are expressed may not be transmitted correctly. In this case, the religion that was a leader in the society of origin and the culture that was sublime in that society becomes a deviant religion and a low culture in the society of destination. Therefore, in the transfer of cultures, care should be taken to ensure that, if the necessary background is not provided, the culture and civilization of the destination society will be seriously damaged.
Examining the history of Islamic civilization in the first to fifth centuries of the Hijri can identify the harms and benefits of the influence of Greek culture. al-Fārābī (870-951 C.), a creative philosopher and Islamic pathologist, understood the pathology of cultural transfer, especially through the Translation Movement in the Arab world in the 9th to 10th centuries, and provided theoretical and practical solutions to mitigate the damage and capitalize on opportunities. He and al-Kindī (801–873 C.) were the beginning of an effort to establish the necessary rational grounds for the excellence of Islamic culture and its non-vanishing in the face of imported foreign cultures. In this article, al-Fārābī's view on the formation of culture’s components and the pathology of cultural transmission is examined. Despite the many valuable works on al-Fārābī's opinions, the pathology of cultural transfer remains an important issue that has been neglected.
The way of emergence of key components of culture in society
Undoubtedly, language, religion, and philosophy are important elements of a culture. The creation of verbal and sign language is a skill belonging to primitive people, who invented it to convey mental meanings and to structure language according to the structure of external phenomena through meanings [al-Fārābī, 1990: 76, 138-139]. As humans developed the ability to understand deep meanings, the structure of their language also became more complex and nuanced. With different language games, they were able to create rhetoric and poetry [al-Fārābī, 1990: 141-142], and a science called linguistics to carefully monitor the evolution of language [al-Fārābī, 1990: 138, 145]. With the expansion of human knowledge and people's freeing themselves from basic needs and realizing the complex relationships among external phenomena, such as causality, people were able to use new techniques and skills and widen the range of meanings and words. In this way, theoretical syllogisms that were used in philosophy were created. At first, only rhetoric and poetry were used in these techniques, but over time, dialectical methods were also employed to consolidate and prove claims and to replace sophistry. By achieving certain premises in the dialectical argument and bringing it closer to certainty, which happened with Plato, the way was prepared for the emergence of demonstration, and mankind achieved the most complete method to achieve certain knowledge. This method was established by Aristotle. In this way, people developed many techniques to prove their claims to common people through rhetoric and dialectical argument, and to scholars through demonstration.
The leader of the human community should establish laws according to the understanding and ability of the members of the society to guide them toward happiness. These laws are religion (millah), which is conditional opinions and actions that are determined by the first leader of a society, so that by applying them, the society will reach the goal that exists in these opinions and actions and is limited to them [al-Fārābī, 1991: 43]. According to al-Fārābī, religion has such a dependence on philosophy that if it exists based on the logical course of techniques and as a result of the evolution of philosophy and its complete certainty, it will be a very good and correct religion, but if this religion exists based on illusory philosophy, become false and corrupt, and false opinions will arise in it [al-Fārābī, 1990: 153-154].
Therefore, the place of philosophy and religion in culture is so important. Philosophy lays down the theoretical foundations of culture, and religion is responsible for the methods of understanding these foundations and teaching theoretical and practical matters. Religion is a philosophical tool, as it is based on it [al-Fārābī, 1990: 132]. Suppose the philosophy is true and the philosopher acquires rational perceptions by connecting to the Active Intellect and considers the happiness of society as similar to God. In that case, the religion will be virtues and revelation [al-Fārābī, 1995a: 121; al-Fārābī, 1996b: 88-89]. Therefore, according to al-Fārābī, the best leader of a community is a true philosopher, who is a Prophet or Imam.
The transfer of cultures and the damage caused by it
According to al-Fārābī, as was said, language, philosophy, and religion are created within the society by its members, so that they are specific to that society. However, since the collision and interference of cultures are inevitable, these cultural components can be transferred from one society to another and can promote or degrade the destination culture. While explaining the method of transferring these components, al-Fārābī believes that this transfer will lead to the growth of the destination society's culture if, firstly, true philosophy and the religion based on it are transmitted, and secondly, there is an evolutionary process in the destination society, and it reaches the true philosophy and religion, like the original society. If suspicious philosophy and sophistry are transferred to the target society that has sublime philosophy and religion, or true philosophy and religion are transferred to a society that is in suspicion and has no understanding of true philosophy’s facts, the culture of the destination society is in complete contrast with the imported culture, and true philosophy and religion are destroyed [al-Fārābī, 1990: 154-156].
Al-Fārābī mentions important points about language transmission; Because with the transfer of cultures, the language also enters the society, and the entry of foreign words may increase so much that the language of the destination society is destroyed [al-Fārābī, 1990: 145]. Therefore, al-Fārābī offers solutions to preserve the target language [al-Fārābī, 1990: 158-160; al-Fārābī, 1995a: 53-54; al-Fārābī, 1991: 43].
In the era of al-Fārābī, when the Translation Movement was almost in its final stages, and most of the works of Greek thinkers had been translated into Arabic, the elites had the duty to provide the necessary foundations with all their power so that the imported philosophy, which had made Christianity or Neoplatonism as tools for education, would not be immediately denied by the members of the society. Since the Arab society had a complete religion and a sublime culture, the duty of the elites was not only to imitate and blindly acquire concepts and ideas, but also to understand and analyze opinions very carefully and transform them based on the sublime thought of the Islamic society. The incidents that occurred in the 2nd to 5th centuries AD, as described by Islamic scholars such as al-Kindi, al-Fārābī, and Ibn Sīnā, provide a very important model for elites, who, in the process of translating and transferring cultures, avoid eclecticism and localize ideas.
Conclusion
Al-Fārābī considers religion a law established by the head of society to educate people and bring them to the ultimate happiness of humans. Religion can guide people with persuasive methods when it is based on a certain philosophy and is established by a true philosopher who has reached the level of Acquired Intellect and is connected with Active Intellect; otherwise, this religion will be misguided. Therefore, a civilized society with a sublime culture that easily leads to supreme happiness is one grounded in certain thoughts and a religion based on certainty, which, according to al-Fārābī, is a revealed religion.
As a result of the exchange of cultures, which is inevitable, the religion and philosophy that uses religion to achieve its purpose and the language through which religion and philosophy are expressed may not be transmitted correctly. In this case, the religion that was a leader in the society of origin and the culture that was sublime in that society becomes a deviant religion and a low culture in the society of destination. Therefore, in the transfer of cultures, care should be taken to ensure that, if the necessary background is not provided, the culture and civilization of the destination society will be seriously damaged.