Virtue Theory of Muslim Philosophers in Governance: A Political–Legal Foundation for Legal Obligations

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

mostafa momeni ¹

fatemeh rajaei ²

Ali Jollaini ³

¹ dd

² حکیم سبزواری

³ باقرالعلوم

10.22067/epk.2025.92780.1429

Abstract

In contemporary normative theories, ethical foundations are often employed as the basis for developing political and legal theories. Within the legal sphere, such theories provide the legitimacy and validity of positive law. Nevertheless, no independent study has yet sought to extract the foundational concepts and principles of a normative ethical-political-legal theory from the virtue-based doctrines of Muslim philosophers. This article proposes a normative theory of virtue jurisprudence as the basis for the legitimacy of legal exercises of authority and legal interventions within society. According to the assumptions of this study, this normative theory begins with virtue ethics and, through the mediating concepts of political virtue theory, arrives at the general principles of virtue jurisprudence. The primary sources of the study are the ethical theories of Muslim philosophers, particularly al-Fārābī, Avicenna, and Mullā Ṣadrā. The research employs an analytical method based on inference from rational principles. The findings indicate that the fundamental concepts of virtue ethics in the domains of philosophical anthropology and axiology—such as happiness, human perfection, and virtue—can, through political notions including the virtuous city, civic happiness, and the promotion of virtues and vices, as well as directly through concepts such as the promotion of the common good, the removal of harms, and the protection of life and property, provide a coherent foundation for the formulation of foundational legal principles.

Keywords

virtue jurisprudence

virtue ethics

virtue

theories of law

legal obligations

human perfection

Subjects

• Islamic Philosophy and Kalam

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