Father of Sociology Ibn e Khaldoon (1332-1406)

Introduction:

Arab Muslim sociologist
A historian’ wrote the history of Berber tribes.
Author of Muqaddima
Laid the foundation of new science Ilm-ul-Imran (Sociology)

Ibn Khaldoon, full name Abu Zayd Abdur Rahman bin Muhammad bin Khaldoon, May 27, 1332 AD/732 AH – March 19, 1406 AD/808 AH) was an Arab Tunisian historiographer and historian who is often viewed as one of the forerunners of modern historiography,  sociology  and economics. .

He is best known for his Muqa-ddimah (known as Prolegomenon in English), which was discovered, evaluated and fully appreciated first by 19th century European scholarship, although it has also had considerable influence on 17th-century Ottoman historians like Hayyi Kalifa and Mustafa Naima who relied on his theories to analyze the growth and decline of the Ottoman empire. Later in the 19th century, Western scholars recognized him as one of the greatest philosophers to come out of the Muslim world.

Ibn- Khaldoon’s methodology:

In Muqaddima, he explained the method of logic and science. He gave his research based on the findings that there is a close relationship between history, political and social events, and they work on the basis of cause and effect relationship.

Theory of rural and urban society:

He described some characters of human societies over the animal societies and the need of supreme governor for them. His terms for rural and urban society were ‘Badank’ and ‘Harda’ respectively. They had strong Asabiya.

Concept of Asabiyya:

Asabiyya or asabiyah means social solidarity, social integration, and social cohesion. It is the force which unites people with one another. However, their patterns of behavior brought them closer. Asabiyya was important for economic, intellectual and political development of society. According to Ibn-e-Khaldoon the tribes are successful because they have highest Asabiyya. He also explains that the more the tribes deviate from Asabiyya, the more is the element of deviance; religious movements sharpen the force of Asabiyya and no movement can succeed without it.

Ibn e Khaldoon was of the view that man is an animal, but he becomes human with the cooperation of all social elements that become a source of satisfaction of needs.

Society as living organism:

Society is like a living organism and organisms consist of body parts. Society is composed of culture and people. Both can get sick, can grow, both can die and both feel pain when one part gets hurt.

Social change:

The societies that loose Asabiyya are bound to undergo changes. This change is a cyclic process in which there are fixed stages. Each stage takes 40 years and total 120 years. Each stage has its own demographic, economic, religious and political characteristics based on growth, development and decay.

Father of sociology:

Ibn e Khaldoon’s findings and reseach on social changes, concept of asabiya and Muqaddima, gave him the status of father of sociology. He coined the term Umraniya and introduced the scientific method of study.

Auguste Comte (1798-1857)   

A French sociologist
Coined the term Sociology.

Author of :
The positive philosophy (six volumes)
System of positive politics (four volumes)

Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte (19 January 1798 5 September 1857), better known as Auguste Comte, was a French philosopher, a founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism. He may be regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense of the term.

Strongly influenced by the Utopian socialist Henri Saint-Simon, Comte developed the positive philosophy in an attempt to remedy the social malaise of the French revolution, calling for a new social doctrine based on the sciences.

Comte’s social theories culminated in the “religion of humanity”, which was influential to the development of religious humanist and Secular Humanist organisations in the 19th century.

Law of three stages (Evolution)

He was of the opinion that human society evolved through three stages. Just as a child is believer in childhood, critique in adulthood and natural philosopher in manhood, so the society follows:

1. Theological :

The primitive person thinks in supernatural terms. They believe that the entire phenomenon happens through supernatural actions. This gives birth to polytheism and then to monotheism.

2. The Meta Physical stage:

Rationalism starts growing. People tend to believe that God does not stand behind every phenomenon. This is the stage where principles and theories gained ascendency over feelings.

3. Positive stage:

Also termed as scientific way of thinking. This is the stage of purely intellectual way of looking at the world. Here Auguste Comte emphasized on the ‘observation’ and said it was futile to determine causes. This thinking suits the needs of industrial societies.

Classification of sciences:

Any branch of knowledge reaches the positive stage early depending upon its generality, simplicity and independence. Comte considered ‘Mathematics’, the basic tool of mind. According to him six sciences are important: astronomy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and sociology.

Astronomy developed first through simplicity. Sociology is the most complex one and is still in developing stage. He also classified sciences into:

Organic biology (complex science)

Inorganic: chemistry, physics & astronomy (simple and clear)

Social statics and social dynamics:

He derived the word ‘Sociology’ meaning the science of society.

Social Statics:

It is the ‘study of laws of social actions and reactions of different parts of social order.’ It deals with major institutions like family, politics, etc. and it studies their inter-relation. There must always be harmony between whole and part of societies.

Social Dynamics:

It focuses on society as a whole and how it develops and changes. It is the study of human civilization through time.

Religion of Humanity:

Comte’s society was built upon scientific principles, and therefore, needed a religion so it was directed by the priests and the leaders of banking and industry. They were the moral guides of community. Comte made ‘love’ the central point of this religion. So he created a social religion and made mankind an end in itself.

Sociological Utopia:

End point of social evolution is a kind of sociological Utopia in which humanism and positivism would dominate the society.