A comparison of Farabi's and Heidegger views concerning being and implications for education

This research was an attempt at comparing Farabi’s and Heidegger’s views on being and their implications for education. Based on the research objective, four research questions were formulated as follows: What are Farabi's innovations in the interpretation of Being in Islamic philosophy? What are Heidegger's innovations in the analysis of Being in western philosophy? What are the commonalities of and differences between the views of these thinkers regarding being? What are the implications of the results of this comparison for education? The methodology used was descriptive – analytic (comparative analysis) and deductive. The findings show that the main commonality of Farabi’s and Heidegger’s points of views about Being is return to Being (existence) as against existents. Of course, for Farabi, Being is hierarchical and value – laden. Also education for both Farabi and Heidegger comsists in the realization of Being. Of course, for Farabi, the ultimate Being is God's being, whereas for Heidegger it is the ‘self’ that is considered important.