Theory-Action Relationship in Ibn Khaldūn

Abstract

This article is about how Ibn Khaldun  handles  the  relationship  between theory and action, which is an important problem in the history of philosophy.  Ibn  Khaldun particularly  transformed the field of sciences dealing with humans with the method he developed in his effort to include the history as a science under the roof of philosophical sciences. History as a science was not included  in  the  Aristotelian scientific tradition due to the difficulty in connecting human action life to the theory through analytical methods. On the other hand,  Ibn  Khaldun  tries  to  overcome the analytical method  while  trying  to connect human facts and events to the theory. Thus, instead  of  determining human action life based on theory, he becomes the founder of a new science called al-ilm al-umran, with the effort to understand it by starting from facts and  then  connect  it  to  theory.  In  this context, in this article, it has been argued that although Ibn Khaldun did not completely depart from the Aristotelian (Persian) tradition in understanding man  and society  and  contained  some contradictions, the key problem in the radical change he caused was the theory-action relationship. In the context of this problem, the theory of action put forward by Ibn Khaldun describes how bedouin and sedentary ways of thinking are structured by action in a certain environment.  As  a  result,  Ibn  Khaldun succeeds in drawing a factual account of human processes of knowing and acting as part of his own observations and experiences.