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This book provides a detailed description of how the Islamic philosophers, Alfarabi, Ibn Bajja, and Averroes, adapted Plato's Republic to address the challenges of their own time.
Scholarship has researched the material transmission of Plato in the medieval Islamic world, but Islamic philosophers' interpretations of the Greek master have yet to be fully examined. This book helps to fill that gap by showing how Alfarabi, Ibn Bajja, and Averroes reworked Plato's Republic from beginning to end. It consists of three journeys through this influential work, each guided by one of the three philosophers.
Alfarabi seeks to soften and dilute the Republic to make its teaching more appealing to his contemporaries. The city is enlarged, its guardians transformed into warriors capable of offensive war, and its private property and private families preserved. The philosopher kings share rule with warriors, Islamic Law, and judges, 'the Cave' is easier to escape, and the bad cities are transformed into contemporary regimes. Ibn Bajja abandons the city of the Republic altogether, reinterpreting its themes to consider the question of the relationship between philosophy and politics without ever seeking to establish a city. He develops Plato's theory of intellect and associates it with the afterlife. Averroes revisits the Platonic city, describing and justifying its educational and social reforms in terms even stricter than Plato. Yet he ultimately embraces a city similar to Alfarabi's and compatible with Muslim institutions. He concludes by showing how Plato's account of the regimes addresses the crisis of his time.
Scholarship has researched the material transmission of Plato in the medieval Islamic world, but Islamic philosophers' interpretations of the Greek master have yet to be fully examined. This book helps to fill that gap by showing how Alfarabi, Ibn Bajja, and Averroes reworked Plato's Republic from beginning to end. It consists of three journeys through this influential work, each guided by one of the three philosophers.
Alfarabi seeks to soften and dilute the Republic to make its teaching more appealing to his contemporaries. The city is enlarged, its guardians transformed into warriors capable of offensive war, and its private property and private families preserved. The philosopher kings share rule with warriors, Islamic Law, and judges, 'the Cave' is easier to escape, and the bad cities are transformed into contemporary regimes. Ibn Bajja abandons the city of the Republic altogether, reinterpreting its themes to consider the question of the relationship between philosophy and politics without ever seeking to establish a city. He develops Plato's theory of intellect and associates it with the afterlife. Averroes revisits the Platonic city, describing and justifying its educational and social reforms in terms even stricter than Plato. Yet he ultimately embraces a city similar to Alfarabi's and compatible with Muslim institutions. He concludes by showing how Plato's account of the regimes addresses the crisis of his time.
Price: $130.00
Pages: 304
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc.
Imprint: University of Rochester Press
Series: Rochester Studies in Medieval Political Thought
Publication Date:
24 November 2026
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9781648251795
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
PHILOSOPHY / History & Surveys / Medieval, Islamic and Arab philosophy, RELIGION / Philosophy, HISTORY / Europe / Medieval, Social and political philosophy, Political science and theory, Ancient, classical and medieval texts, Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Note on Citations and Abbreviations
Part I: Making Plato Respectable Again: Alfarabi's Softer, Gentler, and more Flexible Republic
1. The Search for Justice
2. An Expanded City and Army
3. Education for the Warriors
4. Private Property is Needed in the City
5. Subordinating the Household to the City
6. Accepting Non-Philosophers as Rulers
7. Encouraging Philosophy, Preserving Religion
8. Tyranny and Eros in the Ignorant Cities
9. Human Happiness and the Next Life
Part II: Plato without the Platonic City: Ibn Bajja Reexamines the Relationship between Philosophy and Politics
1. A Correct and Perfect City without Justice
2. A Non-Territorial City That Denigrates War
3. War, Dhikr, and Philosophy
4. Money for the Sake of Dhikr
5. Convention, Human Diversity, and the Household
6. A New Kind of Participation by Philosophers in Politics
7. Philosophy as an Ascent Toward Pure Intellection
8. Searching for Signs of Spiritual Forms in the Four Cities
9. Afterlife, Intellect, and Law
Part III: Averroes's Paradox: A City More Severe, and More Flexible, than Plato's
1. Demonstrating Platonic Justice
2. Spreading Platonic Cities Throughout the World
3. Guardians Even Tougher than Plato's
4. Outdoing Plato on Property Reform
5. Gendering Equality and Eugenics, to the Breaking Point
6. Philosopher Kings and Counselors
7. Replacing the Idea of the Good with Intellect
8. Platonic Criticism of the Andalusian Governments
9. Rejecting the Myth of Er, Preserving the Afterlife
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Introduction
Note on Citations and Abbreviations
Part I: Making Plato Respectable Again: Alfarabi's Softer, Gentler, and more Flexible Republic
1. The Search for Justice
2. An Expanded City and Army
3. Education for the Warriors
4. Private Property is Needed in the City
5. Subordinating the Household to the City
6. Accepting Non-Philosophers as Rulers
7. Encouraging Philosophy, Preserving Religion
8. Tyranny and Eros in the Ignorant Cities
9. Human Happiness and the Next Life
Part II: Plato without the Platonic City: Ibn Bajja Reexamines the Relationship between Philosophy and Politics
1. A Correct and Perfect City without Justice
2. A Non-Territorial City That Denigrates War
3. War, Dhikr, and Philosophy
4. Money for the Sake of Dhikr
5. Convention, Human Diversity, and the Household
6. A New Kind of Participation by Philosophers in Politics
7. Philosophy as an Ascent Toward Pure Intellection
8. Searching for Signs of Spiritual Forms in the Four Cities
9. Afterlife, Intellect, and Law
Part III: Averroes's Paradox: A City More Severe, and More Flexible, than Plato's
1. Demonstrating Platonic Justice
2. Spreading Platonic Cities Throughout the World
3. Guardians Even Tougher than Plato's
4. Outdoing Plato on Property Reform
5. Gendering Equality and Eugenics, to the Breaking Point
6. Philosopher Kings and Counselors
7. Replacing the Idea of the Good with Intellect
8. Platonic Criticism of the Andalusian Governments
9. Rejecting the Myth of Er, Preserving the Afterlife
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index