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Life
The Second Teacher (after Aristotle). He mapped out the perfect city and placed the philosopher at its head.
A child prodigy who mastered medicine at sixteen and philosophy by eighteen. He wandered Persia, writing the books that shaped medieval thought.
Connection
Al-Farabi foundational influence Ibn Sina — Ibn Sina read Al-Farabi's commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics and said it finally opened the text to him.
Ideas
Words
“The virtuous city is one in which people help each other to attain happiness.”
“The knowledge of anything, since all things have causes, is not acquired until one knows the causes.”
“The world is divided into men who have wit and no religion, and men who have religion and no wit.”
Key Moments
c. 901 CE
Studies in Baghdad
c. 920 CE
The Second Teacher
c. 940 CE
The Virtuous City
950 CE
Death in Damascus
980 CE
Born near Bukhara
c. 996 CE
Mastering Medicine by Sixteen
c. 1012 CE
The Canon of Medicine and The Book of Healing
1037 CE
Death in Isfahan
Works
The Virtuous City
The Book of Healing