A Critical Approach to Causality and Rational Knowledge in Ibn Khaldūn

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to critically approach the thoughts of causality and rational knowledge in Ibn Khaldūn, who is one of the greatest names of Islamic philosophy. Ibn Khaldūn, who is a tremendously competent sociologist, historian, and politician, constituted his work entitled Muqaddima in a way exhibiting the science of ʿumrān. One of the fundamentals of science undoubtedly is the theory of causality. We see that Ibn Khaldūn, who construed everything in the universe in the light of the causality, does not use the same theory when miracles and supernatural events are in question. This differentiation basing on the distinction of the human intellect and divine revelation has not eliminated any contradiction coming out in the context of the causality. Another matter we examine in this study is the critique of Ibn Khaldūn about rational knowledge against philosophers. According to him, it is not a correct method reaching the universals with abstractions made from the particulars. It is because such universals have not been compatible with the facts. Ibn Khaldūn criticizes the philosophers in the context of metaphysical knowledge. But, if we consider the science of ʿumrān to be a kind of metaphysics, we might say that his method contains some contradictions.