Realism and its limitations for Ibn Khaldūn

Bibliographic Data

ID3978502
AuthorsNavid Hassanzadeh (0000-0002-9947-6791, Towson University, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume25
Issue4
Pages523-544
Publication date2020-07-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of North African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1362-9387 • E-ISSN: 1743-9345
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13629387.2019.1613982
OpenAlexW2946018754
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited22

This article revisits the work of 'Abd al-Raḥman Ibn Khaldūn from the perspective of political theory, reading him as a proponent of a mode of realist political thought. Seeking to move beyond reductive tendencies in existing secondary literature on his work, I argue first, that he develops a conception of politics as tied to nature that leads to sensitivity towards instability in political life. Second, Ibn Khaldūn offers a vision of ideals as tied to a realist framework that moves beyond the pitfalls of views of tragic division between these discourses. By setting theological motifs within a realist framework, he can be said to theorise ideals in a manner that is responsive to everyday political life, while also removed from it, and by doing so, he passes critical judgment on political affairs in a manner that is in keeping with the spirit of certain strands of realism

Aesthetics · Art · Epistemology · Perspective (graphical · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Reading (process · Realism · Sociology · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Philosophy · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought · Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub