In 1377, during an intellectual retreat from the turmoil of political life in a very critical and precarious moment in history, Ibn Khaldun — Tunisian proto-sociologist and historian — wrote the massive seven-volume history called Kitab al’ibar (book of lessons from history). This paper stresses that an important function of Ibn Khaldun’s revolutionary work — setting the history of civilizations within the frame of rational schemes where it is subject to regular laws akin to those of physics —must have been a legal and political one: to prod the rulers of his time to be more responsibly aware in their political and legal action, tilting such action in favour of the preservation of social cohesion, understood as key to the very survival of a given civilization.
Annalisa Verza (2019). From a New Vision of History to an Early Sociology of Power and Civilization in Ibn Khaldun's Masterpiece. HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT, XL(1), 49-68.
From a New Vision of History to an Early Sociology of Power and Civilization in Ibn Khaldun's Masterpiece
Annalisa Verza
2019
Abstract
In 1377, during an intellectual retreat from the turmoil of political life in a very critical and precarious moment in history, Ibn Khaldun — Tunisian proto-sociologist and historian — wrote the massive seven-volume history called Kitab al’ibar (book of lessons from history). This paper stresses that an important function of Ibn Khaldun’s revolutionary work — setting the history of civilizations within the frame of rational schemes where it is subject to regular laws akin to those of physics —must have been a legal and political one: to prod the rulers of his time to be more responsibly aware in their political and legal action, tilting such action in favour of the preservation of social cohesion, understood as key to the very survival of a given civilization.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
