Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle

This long-awaited reissue of the 1969 cornell edition of alfarabi's philosophy of plato and aristotle contains muhsin mahdi's substantial original introduction and a new foreword by charles e. butterworth and thomas l. pangle. the three parts of the book, "attainment of happiness," "philosophy of plato," and "philosophy of aristotle," provide a philosophical foundation for alfarabi's political works. review "alfarabi is now considered to be the founder of muslim philosophy, and proves to be not simply the bridge for carrying over the thought of aristotle and plato into western thought but a man of great originality. . . . muhsin mahdi makes clear that alfarabi is not a popularizer but a man of great subtlety of thought and one who discerns the significance of plato unmixed with neo-platonic philosophy."―choice"alfarabi's philosophy of plato and aristotle will be of incomparable value to those who are interested in the way in which the major ideas of plato and aristotle had been accepted, understood, and developed by the muslim thinkers within the confines of the islamic cultural milieu before these great philosophical ideas were introduced into the mainstream of scholastic philosophy in the west."―philosophy east and west muhsin mahdi is james richard jewett professor of arabic, emeritus, in the harvard university department of near eastern languages and civilization. charles e. butterworth is professor of government and politics at the university of maryland. thomas l. pangle is the joe r. long chair in democratic studies at the university of texas at austin.