The title of this book is self explanatory and as Simon puts it, “it is indeed Ibn Khaldun’s merit to have made human society the subject of a new, separate science.” The German scholar’s chief purpose in writing the book is to establish the connection of the Khaldun’s work with the philosophical tradition. He shows that Ibn Khaldun’s Science of Human Culture is something essentially new and that Ibn Khaldun was the first to attempt formulate social laws. Apart from the connections with philosophical tradition and with the situation of Ibn Khaldun which will become apparent in the book, the book also considers whether such a view is compatible with the basic religious attitude toward history and whether Ibn Khaldun’s view of history is at all Islamic.
