The Realist Methodology of History by Ibn Khaldun and Arguments on the Protection of Power

Abstract

The claim of that İbn Khaldun constructed a theory of history and a theory of politics legitimizing authority of the government of his age characterizes the basic ground that the article rested on. In the studies of İbn Khaldun, a style of reading only dealing with facts and dominance of empirical aspect draws attention. Such a perspective of doing science includes political messages complying with its own assumptions. Namely, İbn Khaldun had taken a role very similar to that of the positivists of the modern ages that attempted to achieve this, i.e. to put science into service of instrumental apprehension putting science into service of government, by taking society and history in a positivistic manner. In anatomizing this apprehension, two important details should be underlined. First of all, we can say that the philosopher’s style of utilizing reason as an analytical tool is quite denominational. The distinctive meaning of the logic that was ascribed by İbn Khaldun made quite legitimate the way of history writing, which complies with the expectations of high classes.