Happiness as a Value in Farabi

Abstract

Undoubtedly, one of the most important issues that thinkers have focused on in the history of humanity is the issue of happiness. From ancient times to the present, the subject of happiness has been researched and discussed from different perspectives. What happiness is, whether happiness really exists, how it can be obtained if it exists, why people desire happiness, etc. The subjects were constantly discussed, tried to be defined and tried to give a meaning. In general, happiness has been discussed within the framework of moral philosophy, but it has also been examined and evaluated in fields such as psychology, politics and law. In most of the moral philosophy currents, people agree that the last goal they want to achieve is happiness, but they differ in what the nature of happiness is, in which areas it is achieved and to what extent it is realized or realized, and the determination of the place of happiness in human life. When the morality of happiness is mentioned in the Islamic world, one of the first Islamic philosophers that comes to mind is Farabi. The works that Farabi deals with are state administration, politics, education, morality, family, etc. covers many topics. His works are one of the most important works that shed light not only on the period in which they were written, but also on the present. In the understanding of happiness, Farabi had a great influence on the Islamic philosophers and moralists who came after him. In this paper, we will discuss the subject of happiness as a value within the framework of the works written by Farabi, the most famous thinker of the Islamic world, and we will focus on the happiness of the active mind, which is defined as the highest degree that human beings can reach and which has a driving force-power role in achieving happiness of the human mind.