Ibn Khald N S Philosophy Of History

This book, first published in 1957, is the study of 14th-century Arab historian Ibn Khaldun, who founded a special science to consider history and culture, based on the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle and their Muslim followers. In no other field has the revolt of modern Western thought against traditional philosophy been so far-reaching in its consequences as in the field of history. Ibn Khaldun realized that history is more immediately related to action than political philosophy because it studies the actual state of man and society. He found that the ancients had not made history the object of an independent science, and thought it was important to fill this gap. A factual acquaintance with the conclusions of Ibn Khaldun’s reflections on history is not the same as the full comprehension of their theoretical significance. When these fundamental questions are answered, it becomes possible to pose the specific question of the relation of Ibn Khaldun’s philosophy of history, or his new science of culture, to other practical sciences and, particularly, to the art of history. After an exposition of the major trends of Islamic historiography, part of this book attempts to answer this question through the analysis of the method and intention of the sections of the ‘History’ where Ibn Khaldun himself examines the works of major Muslim historians, shows the necessity of the new science of culture, and distinguishes it from other practical sciences.

The Prolegomena of Ibn Khaldun are in many ways the most remarkable manifestation of Islamic philosophical thought. Not only did Ibn Khaldun sum up the accumulated knowledge and leading doctrines of his civilisation, but in many fields he broke new ground and anticipated the findings of Western social scientists of the last two centuries. The passages have been grouped to illustrate Ibn Khaldun's views on: Historical Method; Geography; Economics; Public Finance; Population; Society and State; Religion and Politics; Knowledge and Society; The Theory of Being; The Theory of Knowledge. This translation is intended for students of thought, rather than specialised Arabic scholars, and for those interested in the intellectual background of the Arab world. First published in 1950 and reprinted several times, this revision contains a new chapter and a thoroughly revised and updated bibliography.

Ibn Khalduns chief contribution lies in philosophy of history and sociology. He sought to write a world history pre-ambled by a first volume aimed at offering a theoretical analysis of historical events. This volume, commonly known as Muqaddimah or Prolegomena, was based on Ibn Khalduns unique theoretical approach and original scientific contribution and became a masterpiece in literature on philosophy of history and sociology. In this book Dr Kamal Mirawdeli reconstructs Ibn Khladuns theory of history in a clear systematic way grasping not only his original themes and innovative ideas but also offering a very accessible analytical context which helps the reader to understand the conditions of the possibility of Ibn Khalduns philosophy of history, its mode of existence and its political function as a tool for explaining the relationship between knowledge and power.

A biography of Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), famous historian, scholar, theologian and statesman.

Ibn Khaldun was born in Tunis in 1332 and died in Cairo in 1406. He is the most significant social scientist of Classical Islam, and his work has preserved its message and timeliness until our times. The society he ingeniously described has remained familiar to posterity due to the survival of several elements of patrimonial empire in the Middle East. The up-to-date character of his work is also assured by the fact that he is being considered as the "founding father" of almost half a dozen disciplines. His unique work, al-Muqaddima (Introduction to History), first formulated in 1375, has won the great esteem of later centuries because of two remarkable achievements. One of them is that he, laying the foundations of deeply original theory of civilization, made history a never-before-existing independent discipline. His other great scientific achievement is the model-like elaboration of patrimonial empires, which has preserved its validity even until today in the examination of the forma