Political Philosophy of Ibn Rushd

Ibn Rushd, known as Abu al Walid, is one of the most important philosophers of Andalusia. As he was the great commentator of Aristotle's philosophy, the West had the opportunity to get to know Aristotle again. He wrote works on subjects such as literature, law, medicine and theology. These works later became the source of many academic studies on metaphysics, nature, religion-philosophy relationship. Being a systematic philosopher and coming from the Aristotelian tradition led him to turn to legal and political philosophy with an academic interest. These studies enabled Ibn Rushd to become a renowned scholar in the field of law and politics as well as a philosopher. His work „Telhisü's Siyase li Eflatun‟ is his most important work on politics. He wrote his works in Arabic. In addition to this book being a summary of Plato's State, Ibn Rushd criticises Plato's views in most parts of the work and presents his own political thought. The most important point where Ibn Rushd differs from Plato is the value he places on human will. He emphasises that natural determinism cannot be in question in human-specific things. Ibn Rushd argues that for the realisation of the virtuous city, there may be other ways other than the one proposed by Plato, and that one should not be as pessimistic as Plato in this regard. According to Ibn Rushd, political morality is provided by hegomanic power. In Ibn Rushd, political idealism and the politics of morality are united. According to him, politics are actions that represent the common good of the people. The principles of good, truth, dignity and virtue constitute the essence of morality, and by this essence is meant universal characteristics that do not change. The main purpose of political ethics is to prepare the individual and the city, to bring them to perfection and to manage them. For this purpose, Ibn Rushd considered politics and morality as a whole. In this study, we will try to present the short biography and general philosophy of Ibn Rushd, whose political and moral philosophy we will study, in the context of political and moral philosophy. In addition to literature review, descriptive and historical research method was used in the study.