The Book of the Philosophic Life

Al-Razi's answer to critics who said that a philosopher who lives among people and earns a living has betrayed Socrates.

by Abu Bakr al-Razi16 passages held

Arabic, the original language

Original title: al-Sīra al-falsafiyya
Original language: Arabic

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Overview

Learned critics had a charge ready: al-Razi mixed with people and earned his living in the world, while Socrates, whom he called his master, kept away from kings, ate wild herbs, wore a worn-out cloak, lived in a jar in the wilderness and told rulers the truth to their faces. His reply, written in his own voice, is the short apologia al-Sīra al-falsafiyya (The Philosophical Way of Life). He accepts the report about Socrates and corrects the picture: in later life Socrates gave up that extreme, had children, fought the enemy and joined in festivities. Historians have since noticed something al-Razi could not have known: the jar-dwelling Socrates of the Arabic sources owes much to Diogenes the Cynic. The rule al-Razi sets in place of asceticism is moderation within a limit. Pleasure is allowed unless it can be had only through wrongdoing, killing or anything else that reason and justice judge unnecessary. Philosophy, he writes, is the imitation of God as far as a human being can manage it, and the servants nearest to God are the most knowing, the most just and the most merciful. That mercy reaches animals: beasts of burden may not be mistreated, and only flesh-eaters such as lions and wolves may be hunted down. The defence ends in a self-portrait — nearly two hundred books, treatises and letters, eyes and a hand damaged by years of reading and copying — and a request that readers take his knowledge even where his conduct falls short. Paul Kraus printed the Arabic in Cairo in 1939, and Charles Butterworth published an English translation in 1993.

Key concepts

What are the upper and lower limits of the philosophical life?

The upper limit forbids any pleasure that can be reached only through injustice, killing or something reason and justice judge unnecessary. The lower limit forbids hardship that pains the soul for nothing: food enough to avoid harm, clothing that does not hurt, shelter that protects. Everything between the two is still a philosopher's life, though virtue leans toward the lower bound and may approach it gradually.

What does it mean that philosophy imitates God?

Philosophy is the imitation of God as far as a human being can manage it. Since God is all-knowing, just and merciful, the servants nearest to him are the most knowing, the most just and the most merciful. The phrase turns philosophy from a body of doctrine into a way of acting, and it is why kindness to people and animals counts as part of it.

When may pain be inflicted on another creature?

Only when it is expected to prevent a greater pain, as a surgeon cuts or a physician gives bitter medicine. The same rule governs animals: beasts of burden may be worked only as far as need and reason allow, and creatures that harm others may be killed. Pain caused without such a reason breaks the just way of life the apologia defends.

What are the two parts of philosophy, and how is the name of philosopher lost?

Philosophy has a part of knowing, understanding what a philosopher should know, and a part of doing, living as a philosopher should. Someone loses the name by failing in either. Al-Razi defends himself on both counts: on knowledge by his many books across the sciences, and on conduct by his moderation, and he asks critics to name their standard before they judge him.

Themes of the book

What this book returns to, gathered into themes and ordered by how much of the text each one occupies.

Socrates and the Critics

Must a philosopher withdraw from the world to deserve the name? Learned critics said yes and held up Socrates against al-Razi, and the reply questions their Socrates.

The charge was that al-Razi mixed with people, served a ruler and earned his living, while Socrates kept away from kings and lived on herbs in a jar. Al-Razi grants the report and corrects the picture: that severity belonged to Socrates' youth, and later he had children, fought and joined festivities. The difference between them is one of degree. He then measures himself on the two counts that make a philosopher, knowledge and conduct, and asks critics to name a fault in his books.

philosophical life
Socrates
asceticism
austerity
criticism
philosophical identity
philosophical reputation
scholarship
knowledge
theory and practice
patronage
historical interpretation

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Living Within the Limit

How much pleasure may someone take and still live as a philosopher? A rule with an upper and a lower bound replaces the ascetic's refusal.

Pleasure is permitted unless it can be had only through injustice, killing or what reason judges needless, and pain may be caused only to prevent a greater pain, as a surgeon does. That rule reaches animals: beasts of burden may not be overworked, and only harmful creatures such as wolves and snakes may be killed. Between excess and starvation lies a range open to philosophy, with virtue leaning toward the austere end. Behind it all stands philosophy as imitating God: knowing, just and merciful.

pleasure
moderation
justice
imitation of God
animal ethics
self-discipline
habit
harm
pain
proportionality
individual differences
virtue

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Within this work

passages held: 16
distinct concepts: 43
by passages held, corpus-wide: #792

What this book thinks together

The wheel takes this book’s leading concepts and shows how often they come up together. The wider the band between two, the more of its passages speak of both. Among them, most often together: “moderation” and “philosophical life”.

Concept co-occurrence, strongest first 4 concepts, joined by 6 pairings. 7 pairings reach beyond these concepts and are not drawn.
Concept	Paired concept	Shared passages
moderation	philosophical life	4
justice	pleasure	3
justice	moderation	1
justice	philosophical life	1
moderation	pleasure	1
philosophical life	pleasure	1

Works held

The author's work in order, this book marked in place. Your-language title first, the original beneath it where the two differ; side chips show which full texts are held.

Fī mā baʿd al-ṭabīʿa
A polemic on nature and the eternity of motion, printed among al-Razi's philosophical writings in 1939, with some doubt over whether he wrote it.
AR
The Book of the Philosophic Life (al-Sīra al-falsafiyya) you are here AR
The Spiritual Physick (al-Ṭibb al-rūḥānī)
The longer of al-Razi's two complete surviving works on ethics: twenty short chapters of advice, addressed to his patron, the governor of Rayy.
AR

— or open another of their works