The Nature of Royal Authority (Mulk) in the context of Continuity and Mutability in Ibn Khaldūn’s Thought

Year 2012, Volume: 3 Issue: 1, 29 - 49, 29.09.2012

Ömer Türker

Abstract

The basic claim of Ibn Khaldūn in his Muqaddima is that there must be a theoretical frame that corresponds to facts about state and society qua they are state and society to make a correct analysis about a given state and society. What Ibn Khaldūn’s theory of royal authority (mulk) provides is an accurate analysis of state and society as they exist. Accordingly the conceptual frame analyzes the essence of civilization and the accidental changes in a royal authority and state that occur at any time and space that do not change the essence of them. But the premises about the nature and the essence can be determined according to their matters, not to their reasonable consistencies of accuracy and fallacy. Ibn Khaldūn, thus, balances the constants and variables. In this article, after analyzing Ibn Khal-dūn’s theory of royal authority in its own philosophical context, I discuss the metaphysical assumptions of this theory.

The Nature of Royal Authority (Mulk) in the context of Continuity and Mutability in Ibn Khaldūn’s Thought

Abstract

The basic claim of Ibn Khaldūn in his Muqaddima is that there must be a theoretical frame that corresponds to facts about state and society qua they are state and society to make a correct analysis about a given state and society. What Ibn Khaldūn’s theory of royal authority (mulk) provides is an accurate analysis of state and society as they exist. Accordingly the conceptual frame analyzes the essence of civilization and the accidental changes in a royal authority and state that occur at any time and space that do not change the essence of them. But the premises about the nature and the essence can be determined according to their matters, not to their reasonable consistencies of accuracy and fallacy. Ibn Khaldūn, thus, balances the constants and variables. In this article, after analyzing Ibn Khaldūn’s theory of royal authority in its own philosophical context, I discuss the metaphysical assumptions of this theory.

Keywords

Ibn Khaldūn, royal authority (mulk), ʿaṣabiyya, maṣlaḥa, Ibn Khaldūn, royal authority (mulk), ʿaṣabiyya, maṣlaḥa

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