My research intends to trace the reception of Platonism, in particular Plato’s Republic, in medieval Islamic thought. As an undergraduate Classics major, I have noticed an alarming trend in much of the discourses around the reception of great philosophical works from the Greco-Roman world. Often, works like the Republic are valued for their contributions to Hellenic philosophy, Western Christianity, or Western-style liberal democracy exclusively. This is not to denigrate the role of Plato’s works in those traditions. However, it is a great disservice to both the Platonic tradition and the collective human intellectual tradition to act as if Plato’s thought begins and ends there.
My research has focused on tracing the influence of the Republic on Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, and Ibn Rushd, both through direct commentary and works written in response to issues raised by Plato. Although the influence of Platonism on Islamic thought goes far beyond this narrow scope, by honing in on this work through these thinkers, my research will help to ignite a broader scholarly conversation around taking Islamic Platonism seriously as a significant intellectual contribution.
Preliminarily, I have sought to identify the deep roots of Islamic affinity for Greek philosophy. To underscore this shared history, I have sought examples of parallels between Platonic thought and the Quran. Although Plato’s Islamic readers would not argue that Platonism influenced the Quran due to the Quran’s revealed character, they would expect to see echoes of Quranic teaching in the great works of pre-Islamic antiquity. The Quran (35:24) says that “there is no community that has not had a warner,” and hadith indicates that 124,000 prophets preceded Muhammad. Although the identification of Plato as one of these nabi mentioned by the Prophet is not uncontroversial, it is also familiar to the tradition.
Thus far, I have elucidated three notable parallels between Platonism and the teachings of the Quran. In the Surah Ya-Sin, unbelievers are described as “fettered and blind to the truth” revealed by the Prophet, an account deeply echoed in the Allegory of the Cave found in Plato’s Republic. Similarly, the Islamic identification of the Prophet and the Quran as “reminders of man’s duty” is compatible with the Platonic idea of “recollection of knowledge,” with both traditions identifying the role of the teacher as “one who reminds the soul of what it already contains.” Finally, there are even similarities between the language of the Quran and Plato’s dialogues. In the Republic, Plato uniquely uses the Greek term “to dye” to refer to the inculcation of virtue in society’s best members. In the Surah al-Baqara, the Quran describes the faithful as “colored by Allah,” a clear thematic parallel in both works describing the relationship between the virtuous and the transcendent. Thus, as evidenced throughout the Islamic and Platonic traditions, there is strong reason to consider these worldviews together, just as Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, and Ibn Rushd have.
Author: Wyatt Flicker