Developing Political Theory: The State for Farabi vs. Hobbes

According to Thomas Hobbes, public should and they normally accept what they find in place just because the alternative is destabilization and chaos. In this paper, I will argue that in Farabi’s theory the government actually would put its pace forward. As Farabi saw it, the state not only is the source of some benefits but also should be and is the source of human beings’ virtue and happiness. For Farabi, the first governor of the state resembles the heart in a body, or a physician in a city. Farabi’s utopia literally meaning ‘the excellent state’, consists of five levels. On the first level stands the philosopher or the prophet. The second level includes poets, music composers, writers and the likes of them. Farabi strongly believes in the power of imagination and that most people are under the influence of their imaginative faculty. This notion has an important outcome which influences his view on religion, prophet, and their relation with the public: images, in his view, are the most powerful means of influencing the public.

کلیدواژه ها:

Farabi ، Utopia ، Imagination ، State ، Hobbes