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Medieval Philosophy

Ibn Khaldun and the Philosophy of History

Imadaldin Al-Jubouri on the medieval Islamic philosopher who pioneered the scientific understanding of history.

Some consider the Italian philosopher Vico (1668-1744) to have been the founder of philosophy of history; others give the credit to the French philosopher Montesquieu (1689-1755). In fact, the Arabic philosopher and historian ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) was the first pioneer to discover that history, like any other science, required research. “It is the science of circumstances and events and its causes are profound, thus it is an ancient, original part of wisdom and deserves to be one of its sciences.”

In his The Introduction (1377), ibn Khaldun also wrote, “History is an art of valuable doctrine, numerous in advantages and honourable in purpose; it informs us about bygone nations in the context of their habits, the prophets in the context of their lives and kings in the context of their states and politics, so those who seek the guidance of the past in either worldly or religious matters may have that advantage.”

Ibn Khaldun’s theory divided history into two main parts: the historical manifest and the historical gist.

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