An Analysis of the Coexistence of Ethics and Civilization in the Naturalist Attitude of Miskawayh

Miskawayh spent more than half of his life in the Buyid government. He was concerned about the flourishing of Islamic civilization. His question is what and how civilized society is to be realized, and he has illustrated, in a five-steps, the process of realization of civilized society: In the first step, he considered co-operation and social participation as the most fundamental concept for a civilized society, and based on this basic concept, Speaks of the impossibility of the realization of the happiness outside of society; In the second step, he explores the underlying concept of this concept in the natural needs of man and provides a context for the development of the moral theory of natural law; in the third step, Miskawayh discusses the two factors of religion and communal reason for actualization of the natural character of cooperation, and ,by explaining the functions of the religion, he has illustrated the influence of religious teachings on the strengthening of manners and participation, and thus social cohesion; in the fourth step, he has delineated the final and intermediate ends for social cooperation; And in the fifth step, to accomplish these ends, he proposes a just government structure and a mechanism for oversighting the government to bring society to an ultimate end in the form of religious laws and benevolent free questioning. This paper, by analyzing and citing, beside explanation of these five steps, explores the process of realizing the civilized society and its relation to ethics in Miskawayh's attitude, and it has explained the difference of Miskawayh's moral attitude with Aristotle.