A PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS OF AL-FARAB？’S EPISTLE ON INTELLECT

The article consists of two parts. The first part deals with the place of Epistle on Intellect written by Al Farabi in the tradition of epistles on intellect. In the second part the epistle is analyzed in the context of the main concepts. Because the thorough study of Epistle requires more comprehensive study, more central topics of Epistle such as construction of knowledge, abstraction and degrees of intellect are discussed and partly compared to the ideas of commentators such as Alexander Aphrodisias and Themistius. The aim of this article is to scrutinize these three important topics placing the theory of abstraction at the centre. In this context, the main claim of the article is that Substance (Zat), Principle (Mabda), Abstraction (Intiza’) are the main concepts of Epistle. The concept of ‘abstraction’ (intiza) is both an original contribution and key for the explanation of the perfection of intellect which begins in the process of acquisition of knowledge. Therefore, the focal point of article is the problems related to the process of abstraction which starts at the beginning of knowledge acquisition and continues till the unification with active intellect. Secondly, by inventing concepts ‘substance (zat) and ‘certain principle’ to explain human reason it is argued that Al Farabi made an important addition to Aristotle’s definition of intellect in Posterior Analytics