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Life
He watched the Black Death kill his parents and teachers, then spent a turbulent political career gathering evidence for a strikingly modern theory of why civilizations rise, and always, eventually, fall.
The Second Teacher (after Aristotle). He mapped out the perfect city and placed the philosopher at its head.
Connection
Al-Farabi political philosophy and the theory of civilization Ibn Khaldun — Ibn Khaldun's account of how cities and dynasties form and decay drew on the tradition of Islamic political philosophy Al-Farabi had established, even as Ibn Khaldun grounded his own theory far more empirically in observed historical cycles.
Ideas
Words
“History is a science of a very noble character, deep, subtle, of great utility, and of noble goal.”
“Group feeling produces the ability to defend oneself, to offer opposition, to protect oneself, and to press one's claims. Whoever loses it is too weak to do any of these things.”
“The virtuous city is one in which people help each other to attain happiness.”
Key Moments
1375-1379
Withdraws to write the Muqaddimah
1401
Negotiates with Timur outside Damascus
c. 901 CE
Studies in Baghdad
c. 920 CE
The Second Teacher
c. 940 CE
The Virtuous City
950 CE
Death in Damascus
Works
Muqaddimah
The Virtuous City