It was a seven-part lecture series that examined whether Ibn Khaldun was a pioneer in modern disciplines of historiography, sociology, economics, or alternative.
It is generally believed that sociology originated in Europe in the 19th century and the paternity of the discipline is commonly attributed to the French sociologist August Comte. However, reflections of a sociological nature were observed and found in the work of 14th-century North African historian and philosopher Ibn Khaldun. However, such contribution of Ibn Khaldun is little acknowledged by European scholars in their works. Therefore, this lecture series attempts to examine how Eurocentrism is embedded in the writing of European scholars and unpacks the contribution of Ibn Khaldun in the growth of Sociology. The perspective of European scholars is mainly Eurocentric and parochial in their accounts of culture, language, and other aspects of non-European society. Therefore Ibn Khaldun’s contribution to the field of sociology is largely ignored, though his contributions dealt with society and human character, political organization, and government, differences between rural and urban populations, kinship, social solidarity, and the interplay between economic conditions and social organizations. Nevertheless, Ibn Khaldun’s ideas have hugely impressed some of European thinkers in the 19th century prompting them to regard him as the progenitor of sociology, the question remains as to how his ideas and theories have been appropriated by contemporary social scientists in their works. In this lecture series, Prof. Dr. Recep Şentürk explores various aspects of Ibn Khaldun. Some of the topics he’ll address in this series are Multiplex ontology, multiplex epistemology, multiplex methodology, multiplex human ontology and action, cyclical history: rise and fall of civilizations, and good governance: circle of justice. We hope this series would be an exciting one and will enable us to understand Ibn Khaldun in a much wider perspective.
Prof. Dr. Recep Şentürk
Prof.Dr. Recep Şentürk is the Dean of the College of Islamic Studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar. He was the former Founding President of Ibn Haldun University in Istanbul (2017–2021). Prof.Dr. Şentürk holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University’s Department of Sociology, and specializes in Civilization Studies, Sociology, and Islamic Studies with a focus on social networks, human rights, and modernization in the Muslim world. He served as a researcher at the Center for Islamic Studies (İSAM) in Istanbul and as the Founding Director of the Alliance of Civilizations Institute. He is the Head of the International Ibn Khaldun Society and has a seat on the editorial boards of multiple academic journals. Among his books are, in English: Narrative Social Structure: Hadith Transmission Network 610-1505; and in Turkish: Open Civilization: Towards a Multi-Civilizational Society and World; Ibn Khaldun: Contemporary Readings; Malcolm X: Struggle for Human Rights; and Social Memory: Hadith Transmission Network 610-1505. PROF.Dr. Şentürk’s work has been translated to Arabic, Japanese, and Spanish.
LECTURE VIDEOS:
LECTURE TWO: Ibn Khaldun On Existence: Multiplex Ontology | Prof. Dr. Recep Şentürk
LECTURE TWO: Ibn Khaldun: Pioneer or Alternative? | Prof. Dr. Recep Şentürk
LECTURE THREE: Ibn Khaldun On Knowledge: Multiplex Epistemology | Prof. Dr. Recep Şentürk
LECTURE FOUR: Ibn Khaldun on Method: Multiplex Methodology | Prof. Dr. Recep Şentürk
LECTURE FIVE: Ibn Khaldun on Multiplex Human Ontology and Action | Prof. Dr. Recep Şentürk
LECTURE SIX: Ibn Khaldun on Cyclical History, Rise and Fall of Civilization | Prof. Dr. Recep Şentürk
LECTURE SEVEN: Ibn Khaldun on Good Governance: Circle of Justice | Prof. Dr. Recep Şentürk
