Essay/Term paper: Alfarabi and aristotle: the four causes and the four stages of the doctrine of the intelligence

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Philosophy

Alfarabi and Aristotle: The Four Causes and The Four Stages of The Doctrine of
The Intelligence


Alfarabi was raised as a young boy in Baghdad. His early life was spent
studying the art of linguistics, philosophy, and logic. His teachers were
Syrian Christians experts in Greek philosophy. He studied Aristotle and Plato in
detail, and it became evident in his later writings that they were a strong
influence on him. He became quite a prolific writer, and he wrote more than 100
works, many of which have unfortunately been lost including his a lot of his
commentaries on Aristotle. He was one of the earliest Islamic thinkers to
transmit to the world of his time the doctrines of Plato and Aristotle. He is
considered by many to be the founder of an authentic philosophy. His writings
created a lot of support, debate, and controversy. He contributed materials on
the proof of the existence of the First Principle, and on the theory of
emanation, as well as the theory of knowledge, in addition to his commentaries
on Greek philosophers.
The Greek influence is clearly present in his works, especially with his
Opinions of the Inhabitants of a Virtuous City, where he laid down a
philosophical, religious, and social system for the humanity at large; a system
that sought to break barriers and facilitate relations among people and nations.
This work sounded very similar to the work presented by Plato in Plato's
Republic. They both took into consideration the matter of city/state, who was
to govern, who was to be governed, how this governing was to take place, how it
was to be enforced, and so on. It also appears clear that he was influenced
greatly by Aristotle. This influence is present in his "Doctrine of the
Intellect". The Doctrine of the intellect was Alfarabi's approach to giving his
own interpretation to the intellect.
There are strong similarities between Alfarabi's Doctrine of the
Intellect and Aristotle's "Four Causes". Needless to say that they each are
comprised of four stages, but the stages seem very similar, they seem to be
representative of one another, almost to the point of defining one another. It
will be demonstrated that Alfarabi used Aristotle's "Four Causes" to derive and
support the Doctrine of the Intellect. Alfarabi draws off of Aristotle's
distinction among four causes; material, formal, efficient, and final. An
object's "material cause" is the substance out of which it is made, the "formal
cause" is its shape or nature, its "efficient cause" is the most immediate force
to bring it into existence, and its "final cause"is its purpose. Thus the
Doctrine of the Intellect's "material cause" is latent thought, it's "formal
cause" is the active thought, it's "efficient cause" is conscience thought of
one's mind, and it's "final cause" is to rationalize everything and to be able
to make the first transition to the last spiritual emanation from God.
The first cause of Aristotle was called "material" or natural matter.
Aristotle borrowed this from the early Greeks. The main question asked by this
cause is: "By what is anything made of?" Alfarabi embraces this cause and
relates it to the Doctrine of the Intellect as his first stage. The stage in
which describes the capability for thinking. Alfarabi argues that this is latent
thought, similar to a dry sponge, that is ready to absorb quiddities or whatness.
This is the preconscience grabbing of forms, allowing for no differentiation of
thought, reason, or abstract sensing. Therefore the essence of one, is the same
thing as the essence of other objects. This requires mind and form. The mind
sees the forms and collects them merely as forms. Here with Aristotle the first
stage is a gatherer. The mind, though not defined what it is, is defined by the
function that it has.
The second cause for Aristotle was called "formal" or life force.
Aristotle borrowed this form from Plato. The main question asked by this cause
is: "What is it's identity or what is its name?" This is also the second stage
of the Doctrine of the Intellect for Alfarabi. Alfarabi considers this to be the
active stage where the sponge is filled with objects. As the objects enter it
the process of abstracting out forms begins. This brings on the concept of
dualism, once again supplying a strong Greek influence from Plato. The forms are
in us, we collect the forms and the objects. The forms are contributing to our
thought process, latent to active, dried to wet, the dried sponge is now
latently wet. There is no real thought process yet, this is simply just the
gathering stages.
This is the differentiation between forms and objects. The forms are in
us, this is not a consideration of time and space, but rather a consideration of
universals. Universals like blue, red, hot, cold, the forms are quazzi things.
Object for the object of thought. Things that are recognized as separate. Here
with Aristotle we begin to get some separation of the objects, images, and forms.
We begin to see differences.
The third cause for Aristotle was called "efficient" or natural process.
Aristotle borrowed this concept from Democritus. The main question asked by this
cause is: "Who changed it from nothing to something, so that it is the way it
is?" This concept allows for absence, starting with nothing and now having
something. This is the thinking of itself, similar to the squeezing of the
sponge. The actual actualizing and using the forms. Thinking about the forms,
and the forms that were not abstracted from the objects. These ideas and
concepts belong to us, they are in us. This is our mind at work, at this stage
it is still very active with the thought of what these forms are and begins to
see functions.
The fourth cause for Aristotle was called "final" or to achieve
excellence in the city in politics, art, athletics, war, science, or philosophy.
This was Aristotle's own contribution. The main question asked by this cause is:
"What is its purpose?" For Alfarabi this is the union of the spiritual world to
the world of human beings. This is the last emanation of God, and the first step
in which man begins to embrace the spiritual world. This is the actual
reflection of man, looking upon his own thought process, seeing how his active
rational mind works. It is this rationale that allows for the move from the
first cause/stage to the second cause/stage, from the second cause/stage to the
third cause/stage, and so on. This is the stage at which true thinking about
thinking takes place. A very cognitive approach.
The only confusion that is presented by Alfarabi's doctrine is: is it
really that of Alfarabi? There seems to be contradictions in some of his views
and some of the works that have been credited to him, are not actually his. Some
interpreters have come to the conclusion that he was honestly trying to unite
Islamic doctrines with philosophical teachings. While others thought he was
committed to philosophy that was based upon a religious body that would be used
mostly as a political resource.
Regardless of these interpretations, if these writings are actually
those of Alfarabi, then it is clear that there was a strong Aristotelianism
influence on Alfarabi. This is evident in several of the writings such as in his
mentions of the four senses, intellect in potentiality, intellect in actuality,
acquired intellect, and with the agent intellect. There are several other
writings that are credited to Alfarabi that were based on Plato and Aristotle,
so there is no real reason to assume that these writings were not those of
Alfarabi.
It appears that Alfarabi uses the basic principles of Aristotle and has
applied them to his principles of the Doctrine of the Intellect in order to
rationalize his philosophy. Alfarabi was a philosopher that grabbed new ideas
and harnessed them with some of the greatest philosophical minds known to man.
He took Aristotle to a new level, doesn't any true philosopher? He embodied the
thoughts of previous minds, and united them with his own and became a very
powerful influence on Islamic philosophy.
It is clear that Aristotle was used to develop his Doctrine of the
Intellect. The similarities, the context, and the rational are too similar to
belong to anyone else.