SOURCE: Colmo, Christopher. “Theory and Practice: Alfarabi's Plato Revisited.” American Political Science Review 86, no. 4 (December 1992): 966-76.

In the following essay, Colmo critiques Leo Strauss's studies of al-Fārābī, particularly concerning the relationship between science and philosophy.

According to Leo Strauss, knowledge of the best way of life is crucial to political philosophy. In “Farabi's Plato,” Strauss asks, assuming that the theoretical life can be known to be the best way of life, what is the status of this knowledge? Is the knowledge of the best way of life itself theoretical knowledge or practical knowledge? Without a coherent answer to this question, we cannot be certain that we know what we mean when we claim to know that philosophy is the best way of life. Strauss answers clearly the question about the status of the knowledge of the best way of life by affirming that it is practical...