This is a dissertation project on medieval Arabic rhetoric and philosophy that focuses on the innovative nature of the knowledge produced while translating and commenting on foreign works of science and philosophy in Abbasid Baghdad. Chapter One challenges colonial attitudes toward the Translation Movement as exclusively imitative and preservative. The chapter shows that the translations had practical and ideological purposes to fulfill, not simply archival ones. Translation genres are discussed to show how deletions, additions, and new material were introduced during the translation process to ensure that that translation work met the goals of the sponsors. The work of the most renowned translator, Hunayn Ibn Ishaq is discussed in some detail to illustrate the process of translation and to show that translation overlapped with knowledge making. The chapter also covers the translation done in fields such as medicine, astronomy, and philosophy. Chapter Two covers how the work of theorists such as Edward Said, Michel Foucault, and Mikhail Bakhtin enabled me to challenge an Orientalist attitude toward medieval Arabic philosophy as was as show its innovative nature. In Chapter Three, I provide a translation of al-Kindi's "A Statement on the Soul," followed by an analysis of the epistemological and persuasive significance of the treatise. The chapter illustrates how the Arabic engagement with Greek and Neo-Platonic knowledge was dialogic in nature. Chapter Four is a translation of al-Farabi's book of rhetoric. Chapter Five is an analysis of al-Farabi's theory of rhetoric that is based on the previous chapter. It focuses on his understanding of rhetoric as a logical art, how logical and rhetorical terms acquired new meanings when translated from Greek to Arabic in his work, and the rhetorical nature of his work as he adapted Platonic and Aristotelian models to suit his monotheistic context.

Tesis para optar al grado de Doctor en Filosofía con mención en Filosofía Moral y Política / Lo que en esta tesis queremos proponer es que, Al-Farabi resulta un pensador decisivo para los problemas presentes expresados en el diagnóstico foucaultiano de la “gubernamentalidad”, en cuanto presenta, desde la misma herencia aristotélica, una concepción totalmente diferente del hombre, y por lo tanto del sujeto y su relación con los otros, y en general, lo otro, todo cuerpo que nos interpela; es un modo diferente de concebir la existencia sensible. De hecho, una de las vías que ha seguido este diagnóstico foucaultiano es la del filósofo italiano Giorgio Agamben, haciendo a lo largo de toda su obra, referencia a filósofos tanto árabes como judíos, lo que no es un mero gesto erudito, sino que son referencias que resultan fundamentales para sus planteamientos. Y la presente investigación, en cierta medida se inserta en esa vía que Agamben abre como posibilidad al evocar a Averroes y el averroísmo como contraparte del paradigma a través del cual se ha constituido al sujeto en occidente.

This thesis offers an interpretation of Al-Farabi’s Book of Religion, in which the tenth- century philosopher addresses more directly than in any of his other works the relationship between human and divine wisdom. Believing Farabi to be a philosopher in the full sense of the term, I attempt to approach his writing in the spirit of his own approach to the writings of Plato and Aristotle. I argue that the discussions of religion, philosophy, and political science found in the text constitute a single teaching, through which Farabi addresses some of the most fundamental questions facing man as both a political and spiritual animal. / text

Though relatively unknown to non-specialists, Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī is a fundamental member of the community of Muslims who founded Islamic Philosophy. In his tenth-century work, On the Perfect State, al-Fārābī tackles questions of eminent importance to society of Muslims still deciding who they were. These questions and their inevitable solutions were, for a time, a source of much turmoil for the young Ummah; and we argue that the Perfect State should be read as an effort to take part in, even to lead, the conversation that would decide how these questions were answered. A school of thought championed by Richard Walzer argues that the most important thing to know about al-Fārābī is that he repeated in Arabic many things already said better in Greek by the ancients. According to this school of thought, al-Fārābī’s main intention was to transmit specifically Greek learning to posterity, not to participate in the world of Islam and Muslims. It is our contention that this view is mistaken and misleading. Through an examination of tenth-century Islamic history, a close reading of al-Fārābī’s work in Arabic, and a thorough discussion of the mistakes made by the Walzerian school of thought, we will show that al-Fārābī used philosophy as a tool for solving problems particular to the Muslim community of his age. / Religion

In his tenth-century work, al-Madīnah al-Fāḍilah, the Muslim philosopher Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī posits a solution to the internecine hostilities between Muslim intellectual communities which occurred as a result of conflicting positions on the relationship between revelation and reason, religion and philosophy. In this work al-Fārābī demonstrates that both religion and philosophy are derived from, and dependent upon, divine revelation from Allah to the Prophet. Modern scholars of al-Fārābī interpret his work differently, reading him as an enemy of religion who subordinates Islam to philosophy. In this thesis, after establishing al-Fārābī within the historical and ideological context of tenth-century Islamic thought I analyze al-Madīnah al-Fāḍilah in light of a commentary on the text by Richard Walzer, who is among those scholars who read al-Fārābī as an enemy of Islam who merely reproduces Greek philosophy in Arabic. Contrasting the original Arabic text with Walzer’s English translation and commentary I apply readings of several of al-Fārābī’s other works as an interpretive lens, through which the correct reading of al-Madīnah al-Fāḍilah is made clear. I further analyze the text in light of Islamic Scripture, by which I demonstrate that the foundation on which al-Fārābī’s cosmology is founded has precedence within the Qur’ān. Working in the tenth century al-Fārābī sought to reconcile the conflicting views of his fellow Muslims, in order to bring peace to the community, the Muslim Ummah. Al-Madīnah al-Fāḍilah should be regarded as his crowning achievement in these efforts. / Religion

Orientador: Francisco Benjamin de Souza Netto / Tese não autorizada para disponibilização na Internet / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-01T15:19:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pereira_ RosalieHelenaDeSouza_D.pdf: 3595627 bytes, checksum: b670287f49cf2c8c70f66e7ffb3307df (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: Nossa tese apresenta um ângulo da leitura aristotélica que, no Comentário sobre A República, Averróis faz dessa obra de Platão. Nessa leitura evidencia-se a transformação do filósofo-rei platônico no phrónimos aristotélico. Nossa interpretação se baseia na versão latina dessa obra de Averróis, realizada no século XV por Elia del Medigo. No Livro II desse tratado, há uma passagem em que é dito que o soberano deve ser "sábio segundo a ciência prática e, com isso, ter o mérito da virtude cogitativa". Distinguem-se, nessa frase, a ética de Aristóteles como ciência prática e a virtude cogitativa (phrónesis), essencial para o desempenho virtuoso do soberano. Isso corrobora o que Averróis afirma no Comentário Médio à Ética Nicomaquéia: "a prudência e a arte de governar as cidades são um único campo de investigação (subiecto)". Desse modo, a arte de governar tem dois lados, o teórico e o prático, ou seja, a ética e a política. Depois de apresentarmos a primeira parte, essencial para a contextualização histórica da obra, nossa análise se debruça sobre um estudo da "virtude cogitativa" e a identifica com a prudência ou sabedoria prática, a phrónesis aristotélica. Em razão da metodologia adotada por Averróis e das críticas que ele tece à sociedade de seu tempo, esse tratado configura-se mais como uma obra original que propriamente um comentário nos moldes tradicionais de seus comentários à obra de Aristóteles / Abstract: Our thesis presents a view of the Aristotelic reading which in the Comentary on the Republic Averroes forms of this work by Plato. In this reading the transformation of the Platonic philosopherking into the Aristotelian phrónimos becomes evident. Our interpretation is based on the Latin version of this work by Averroes, accomplished in the XVth century by Elia del Medigo. In Book II of this treatise, there is a passage in which he says that the sovereign should be "wise according to practical science, and with this, have the merit of cogitative virtue". We note, in this phrase, Aristotle¿s ethics as practical science and the cogitative virtue (phrónesis) which is essential for the sovereign¿s virtuous fulfillment. This corroborates what Averroes affirms in the Middle Commentary on Aristotle¿s Nicomachea that "prudence and the art of governing cities are a unique area of investigation (subiecto)". Thus, the art of governing has two sides, the theoretical and the practical, or, the ethical and the political. After presenting the first part, essential for the historical contextualization of the work, our analysis covers the study of "cogitative virtue", and identifies it with prudence or practical knowledge, the Aristotelian phrónesis. By reason of the methodology adopted by Averroes, and of the crititiques that he makes about the society of his time, this treatise is shaped more like an original work than a commentary on the traditional examples of his commentaries on Aristotelic works / Doutorado / Filosofia / Doutor em Filosofia

Jusqu’à la fin du vingtième siècle, les études sur le cinéma iranien ont tendance à aborder ce cinéma par rapport à la Révolution islamique de 1979, c’est-à-dire à le diviser en deux époques, prérévolutionnaire et postrévolutionnaire. Cette recherche s’inscrit dans une pensée récente qui étudie l’émergence de ce cinéma national en tant que cheminement continu et dominé par des politiques culturelles contradictoires et ambiguës. Dans cette étude, nous ferons au premier chapitre un survol de l’histoire du cinéma iranien, avec un intérêt particulier pour la culture des festivals. Il s’agira de décrypter les enjeux politiques et culturels qui dirigent les décisions du gouvernement et des professionnels de l’industrie. Le deuxième chapitre proposera un questionnement sur la notion de cinéma national, et appliquera cette notion au cinéma iranien. Une attention particulière sera portée à la Fondation du cinéma Farabi, une institution clé dans la promotion du cinéma national et dans l’émergence des films iraniens dans les festivals de films internationaux. Finalement, le troisième chapitre présentera le rôle des festivals dans l’industrie cinématographique ainsi qu’une analyse de l’évolution des films iraniens présentés au Festival des films du monde de Montréal afin de démontrer l’influence des politiques culturelles iraniennes floues sur la présence des films iraniens dans les festivals occidentaux. / Until the end of the twentieth century, studies on Iranian cinema consider the Islamic Revolution of 1979 as a turning point in the history of this cinema, i.e. they divide its history in two eras, pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary. This research joins the recent idea that this national cinema emerged as a continuous progression dominated by contradictory and ambiguous cultural policies. In the first chapter of this essay, we will paint a general picture of the history of Iranian cinema, and its festival culture in particular. We will clarify the political and cultural incentives that orchestrate the decisions of the authorities and the industry’s professionals. The second chapter will question the notion of national cinema, and will apply this notion to Iranian cinema. Special attention will be paid to the Farabi Cinema Foundation, a key institution in the promotion of Iranian national cinema and in the emergence of Iranian films in international film festivals. Thereafter, the third chapter will present the role of festivals in the film industry and an analysis of the evolution of Iranian films presented at the Montreal World Film Festival in order to demonstrate the influence of vague Iranian cultural policies on the presence of Iranian films in Western films festivals.

Medieval philosophy in the Arabic world has sought to harmonize the Greek philosophic tradition with the Islamic religion. Many rulers, scholars and theologians were against this intellectual approach and defend the Islam from the philosophers. The position of philosophy and its followers in the Arabic realm was therefore uneasy. Many scholars had to hide their opinions between the lines and avoid to doing philosophy publicly. Alongside the unfriendly environment, the position of philosophy in the Arabic society was also determined by common notion of scholars, that the revealing of the philosophical thoughts can be harmful for uneducated citizen, as well as influenced by mysticism. The aim of this thesis is to summarize the main philosophical approaches responding to the problematic position of philosophy in the Arabic world. Crucial will be the philosophy of solitary by Ibn Bajja, where the author seeks to bond tight the philosopher's life with the city and thus present a new role of philosopher in the Arabic society. Keywords Ibn Bajja, Rule of the Solitary, Al-Farabi, Political Regime, Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Plato, The Republic, political philosophy, mysticism, ethics, philosopher, virtue, city, weeds, knowledge, governance, happiness