Language and Being in al-Fārābī: The Philosophy of Taškīk

This book explores the philosophy and genesis in al-Fārābī (d. 950) of the amphibolous predication of ‘being’, a key theory in Arabic logic and Islamic metaphysics that states that ‘being’ is predicated neither fully homonymously nor synonymously. As an amphibolous (i.e., ambiguous) term, ‘being’ causes us to be unsure of its meaning(s) and hence how we construe our understanding of what is. Developed in Fārābī’s logical works, the theory would go on to permeate Islamic metaphysics up to the contemporary period. This book argues that understanding its genesis in Fārābī is key to unlocking the theory’s significance in subsequent philosophers. To this end, the book begins by investigating problems that currently exist in scholarly approaches and concludes by showing that the Fārābian provenance is an essential component of theories of amphibolous predication until at least the fifteenth century. The central chapters are concerned with how Fārābī construes the relationship between language and being that helps us to understand the function of ‘being’ as an amphibolous term. First, he considers language to have an ideal ontological foundation, albeit one that is mediated through our intellection of what is. Consequently, how we understand language has metaphysical implications for what we consider there to be. Second, the book shows how Fārābī develops an essentialist theory of being whereby the primary meaning of ‘being’ is for something to be what-it-is. Through this investigation, the book proposes a revised take on the theory of emanation as a causal explanation for something being what-it-is.