Ibn Khaldūn (1332–1406)

There are books that are good, and there are books that are magnificent. This book by Ibn Khaldun falls into the latter category. The editing and translation are superb.

After reading this abridged version, I decided that in the near future I will read the entire text.

Ibn Khaldun's thinking was far ahead of his time and is advanced even in our modern age. He was a true intellectual, whose vision went wide.

This edition focuses on the nature of civilization and is - as per the subtitle - an introduction to history.

The book does not focus on kings and queens, but not on how kingdoms and civilization developed in his part of the world. When you read this book, you get an excellent understanding of life in the Middle East at that time, what forces were at play and how the Bedouin culture interacted with the more settled urban culture.

Read this book. You will want more.… (meer)

يشيد ابن خلدون بالعقل والفكر بصفته ما يميز البشر ويرفعهم على باقي الكائنات، ويصف نشأة وسقوط الأمم انطلاقاً من العلاقة بين الفرد والجماعة، وتأثير البيئة على طبيعة البشر، فضلاً عن قواعد الاقتصاد وإدارة رأس المال.
ورغم أن عديد أفكاره يعتبر بالياً قديماً (كالدعوة إلى السلطة الملكية باعتبارها المثلى لترسيخ النظام وكبح الشر في المجتمع، واعتبار التحضر والمدنية مدمرة لذاتها، وتفضيل دوام الترحال، والكثير من الهراء الديني الممل)، يبقى كتابه هذا سابقاً لعصره، ومادة مناسبة للدارس والقارئ في التاريخ والمجتمع.… (meer)

¿Puede el buscador de la Verdad depender completamente de la guí­a que se encuentra en los libros sobre Sufismo o son necesarias las enseñanzas orales de un maestro espiritual? Este fue un debate acalorado en la Andalucí­a del siglo XIV que se extendió más allá de los confines de los cí­rculos sufí­es. Ibn Khaldun, se aventuró en este debate con un tratado que es tan relevante hoy como lo fue entonces. -
Can the seeker after Truth wholly depend on the guidance found in books on Sufism or are the oral teachings of a spiritual master necessary? This was a heated debate in 14th-century Andalusia that extended beyond the confines of Sufi circles. Ibn Khaldun, ventured into this debate with a treatise that is as relevant today as it was then.… (meer)

Criminally ignored in history of philosophy/intellectual history, since it shockingly illustrates the different ways European & Arabic philosophy were working. This work, written in the 1300s, predates & anticipates a fantastic number of "unique" and "milestone" breakthroughs in European philosophy, including:

Limits of induction (Hume), compromise between rationalism & empiricism (Kant), inaccessibility of the noumenal world (also Kant), Labor theory of value (Smith/Marx), necessity of interpretation due to cultural/linguistic relativity (Vico/Herder), Truth as intellectual consensus conforming to empirical observation (Popper), tension between truth in text and truth in speech (Derrida), language influences thought (Whorf), the power necessarily inherent in law (Weber/Foucault)

and probably some others as well… (meer)