Place of Woman in Social System and Family from the Point of View of Farabi, Avicenna and Khajeh Nasir

Attention to practical philosophy is of a special place in the works of Farabi, Avicenna and Khajeh Nasir. The home management is concerned with family system and the place and roles of woman and man in home management. These three philosophers have common points as regards the principles and issues discussed in this area, but there are also considerable difference in their ideas regarding family and particularly woman. Drawing upon Greek philosophers, Farabi considers man an essentially civil entity and approaches the personality of woman with a humanist and virtue-centered perspective regardless of her gender. Avicenna and Khajeh Nasir have more functionalist view and insist mostly on the role of woman and man in family system. Of course, Khajeh has a more gender-related and less humanistic notion of woman and considers her as the servant of man whose main task is being a mother and a wife. Contrary to Farabi, he defines woman as phenomenon who should stay hidden at home and her exit from home and being in the society can result in undesirable consequences. The current essay assays the ideas of these three philosophers as well as their commonalities and differences as regards woman and home management.