A Genealogical Study of Al-Farabi's Theory of Art by Referring to Plato, Aristotle and Plotinus

This Article, by an analytic- comparative method, seeks some relevance between Al- Farabi's theory of Art- Beauty, and his ancestors at Pre- Islamic time. According to the famous theory, which is common in Islamic history books, Al-Farabi is the founder of Islamic Philosophy. He is a divine and theological philosopher who steps in the traditional way that some famous thinker- Plato, Aristotle and Plotinus- organized it. But Al-Farabi explains this legacy with Islamic content. In fact, he evaluates this legacy and also tries to mix Greek- philosophical and Divine- Islamic content, and establishes a new philosophy which finally called Islamic philosophy. If we consider his Artistic view, he says that everything in the creature world is a semiotic of its Beautiful Creator, and somebody has a natural talent that can be moved from faculty to act with exercise, and will be effective in creation of beauty and art. In Al-Farabi's theory, art and artist must help their audiences to know their eternal Paradise and motivate toward it.