Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddima: Outline on Conflict and Social Cohesion at the Dawn of Sociology or Social Theory

Abstract

Objective: To examine the foundations that govern human development, seen as an active subject of history, in the causes that motivate social facts and the mechanisms that move the threads of human relations of IBN Jaldun.   Theoretical framework: The Muqaddima of Ibn Khaldun is a work where the author addresses topics as varied as the philosophy of history, economics, sociology and other sciences related to human behavior, from a unique perspective for his time.   Results and discussion: If we dismiss the Eurocentric vision of the history of thought, it is possible to place Ibn Khaldun as a direct tributary of modern social thought, giving history a scientific character, defining its object of study and specifying the principles that should mark its methodology.   Conclusion: In the development of  his study, specifically in the Muqaddima, Ibn Khaldun elaborates a primitive theory on the development and origin of civilizations, having as a touchstone the Asabiya, a concept that today is comparable to social cohesion in sociology and an organicist theory about the rise and fall of empires.   Research Implications: Ibn Khaldun distinguishes three moments in the development of a civilization, the first at birth where peoples are "humanized" and stand out for their moderation.