"A note in Miracles and Metaphors points out that "Ibn-Khaldun, who has been called the founder of sociology, argued that religion can only succeed if it receives the backing of the prophet's people on the basis of kinship solidarity". Was he truly the founder of sociology? Why was he called the founder of sociology?"
Dear Richard, I tell my students he was the Father of Social History. In fact, however, he was an isolated figure who had no successors until more recent times so it can't really be said he 'fathered' anything. Historians before Ibn Khaldun tended to view history in terms of key actors and events. Ibn Khaldun, however, viewed history as process in which social factors played the major role. Unfortunately Ibn Khaldun's masterpiece did not have much of an impact on how people wrote history subsequently. warmest, Susan ---------- You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://list.jccc.net/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=bahai-st news://list.jccc.net/bahai-st http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist (public) http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] (public)
