The Study of the Effect of Proclus Works on the Conception of Farabi and Avicenna of the Necessary Existence

In this paper, we examine the question of whether the conceptualization of the Necessary being has been historically present in the Neo-Platonist (Proclus) thinking before Farabi and Avicenna. With his four-part design comprised of the First Cause, being, reason, and self, Proclus explains his philosophical foundations about topics such as pure goodness, the self-sufficiency and the supreme being of the First Cause, grace, the First innovator, I-ness, reason and its characteristics and degrees, soul and its characteristics and degrees, and divides the creatures based on eternity. Farabi and Avicenna agree with Proclus in issues such as the self-sufficiency and the supreme being of the First Cause, grace, the First Innovator, the contingency or simplicity of reason and its freedom for corporeality, and the soul and its role in the circular movement of the celestial bodies, in a way that in some cases, Proclus’ words and phrases are directly used in the book al-Khair al-mahz.