Two concepts of political philosophy: Ibn Rushd and Ibn Khaldun
Two concepts of political philosophy: Ibn Rushd and Ibn Khaldun

Summary/Abstract: This paper starts with the assumption that it is possible to do a comparative study of political conceptions of Ibn Rushd and Ibn Khaldun, both from the point of view of similarities and differences in their teachings. As far as the intellectual assumptions of Ibn Khaldun’s work are concerned it is certain that the most important place belongs to the group of thinkers called the falāsifa. It is through this intellectual movement that a significant relationship between these two thinkers can be established. Bearing in mind that Ibn Khaldun had an autstandingly critical mind, it is exactly this critical attitude which he inherited from Ibn Rushd, although his criticism is of a different nature compared to that of Ibn Rushd. In this sense Ibn Khaldun approaches Ibn Rushd in dealing with the phenomenon of prophetship as well. Thus both thinkers held that the state can be created and established without the sacred investiture, i.e., without the sacred or revealed Law. Unlike Ibn Rushd, Ibn Khaldun was not interested in the problem of what society ought to be like but in how it ought to be realized in reality, what its essence is, what are the constitutive elements of society, sociality and the state. Ibn Rushd created the opportunity for Ibn Khaldun to form an esentially historical and realistic theory of society and its history. From the conflict of religion and philosophy Ibn Khaldun was able to draw two important conclusions: 1. that the philosophical concepts which attempted to overcome the conflicts within society in an ideal way cannot really explain the problem and issues so urgently imposed by his era, and 2. that a true study of society and sociality must be critically oriented, whether toward theology or toward history and philosophy. The individual also occupies an important place in the works of both thinkers. However, there is an essential difference between them here, because Ibn Rushd’s treatment of the individual and his role is more philospohical, if not more theological, whereas Ibn Khaldun’s is more realistic and more sociological. Taken on the whole, political philosophy does not form an integral part of the theories of Ibn Rushd and Ibn Khaldun. As far as the basic themes of political philosophy are concerned, the most obvious difference lies in the treatment of the Law. To the Law, whether it be revealed or not, Ibn Rushd attributes a much larger significance, whereas Ibn Khaldun emphasizes wāzi‘a, riyāsa and ‘asabiyya.

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