al-Fārābī’s Understanding of Scientific Method in the Context of His Book Aḥkām al-nujūm

Abstract

al-Fārābī (d. 339/950) is one of the important philosophers who contributed to the science stuides and tried to create a philosophy of science in medieval Islamic thought. He based his understanding of science on the principles of logic abd tried to evaluate the subject of science within epistemological and metaphysical integrity. He considered religious and rational sciences within their limitations. As a matter of fact, Iḥṣāʾ al-ʿulūm (Classification of Sciences) is one of the examples that best reflects his conception of science and philosophy. In this study, the scientific research understanding of al-Fārābī (d. 339/950) was evaluated in the context of the treatise "Maqāla Abi Nasr al-Fārābī fīmā yasiḥḥu wa-mā lā yasiḥḥu min aḥkām alnujūm", which briefly abbreviated as Aḥkām al-nujūm. This assessment is to explain his understanding of method through the philosophical and logical arguments used by al-Fārābī on the distinction between the science of astronomy and astrology. It can said that the basic structure of the study is shaped around the concepts of syllogism, induction, sampling, experience and causality that stand out as criteria in the comparison of the scientific qualities of these two disciplines and in the explanation of the subject. al-Fārābī considers the science of stars (Ilm al-nujūm) under the title of mathematics/ta'līmī sciences, a sub-discipline of nazarī (theorical) philosophy. He states that the concept of the science of stars is used jointly for two sciences. One of them; a) knowledge of the provisions extracted from the stars (Ilm aḥkām al-nujūm). This science is called Astrology. It is an art that studies how stars point to future events and current human situations. b) the knowledge of the stars (Ilm al-nujūm al-ta'līmī). This science is called as astronomy. This science covers the shapes of celestial bodies, types of motion, cosmic positions, mass and weight calculations, the Earth sphere, climates and, in relation to them, the shapes of the Earth. Therefore, al-Fārābī states that the science that is valuable in terms of its subject, which is encouraged to learn and teach, is the science of the stars (Ilm al-nujūm al-ta'līmī). He also recommends avoiding the  İntihal Taraması/Plagiarism Detection: Bu makale intihal taramasından geçirildi/This paper was checked for plagiarism Geliş/