ABSTRACT
The question of the eternity of the world in Fārābī’s writings has up to now been addressed twice; first by Herbert Davidson in his book Proofs for Eternity, and more recently by Marwan Rashed in an extensive study entitled ‘Al-Fārābī’s lost treatise on Changing Beings’.1 Davidson could find in Fārābī’s writings only indirect evidence for his adherence to this doctrine, which explains why Fārābī only briefly appears in his book. Rashed, who admits he could find no more explicit statements in Fārābī’s available works than did Davidson, has for his part based his study on the testimonies of the lost treatise On Changing Being, which was known to Ibn Bāğğa, Maimonides and Averroes. Based on the evidence at hand, both think Fārābī to be a faithful Aristotelian. In what follows, I would like to bring into focus some other texts, where I believe Fārābī endorsed the position at issue, at some times more clearly than at others.
