Abstract

Al-Farabi devoted a significant part of his work to the development of social and ethical issues. The article attempts to reveal the content of the concept of “ignorance” in the heritage of al-Farabi. The need to raise this question is due to the fact that Farabi’s philosophy is permeated with the understanding of the collisions of knowledge and ignorance, right and wrong in the attitude of people to each other and to the world around them. It can be argued without exaggeration that the concept of ignorance, in its various aspects, occupies a central place in the work of the Arab thinker and sets the scale and specifics of his social project. Ignorance in the interpretation of al-Farabi is primarily the opposite of virtue, that is not only knowledge, education, but also a wrong view of life, of its values and goals. This wrong view gives rise to wrong actions, distorted morality, and with it - social relations that do not correspond to the concept of truly human.

Key words: al-Farabi, ethics,philosophy, culture, society, humanity, religious motives, ignorance.