Rereading and interpreting the ideas of leading Muslim thinkers
Hosseindad Bayani
Abstract
The methodology and strategies of research in social sciences are of great importance and momentum. Although very little attention has been paid, in the early scientific literature, to logic and methodology about generating knowledge, certain early Muslim scholars such as Farabi and Ibn-e Khaldun have ...
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The methodology and strategies of research in social sciences are of great importance and momentum. Although very little attention has been paid, in the early scientific literature, to logic and methodology about generating knowledge, certain early Muslim scholars such as Farabi and Ibn-e Khaldun have made valuable conscious efforts in methodology, research techniques and scientific standards that are characteristic of contemporary style. Especially Farabi's profound reflections and accurate observations of methodology have made him a pioneer of methodological issues. Delving into Farabi's works such as Kitab Ihsa' al-'Ulum, 'Ilm-e Madani , Al-Madina al-Fadila and some other works that deal with methodology, this study seeks to extract, classify and explain the rules and principles of methodology developed and used by the author. Thus attempts have been made to elaborate on the methods used by Farabi to collect and analyze data and critically assess others' viewpoints. Before that, this study discusses assumptions about the nature of social reality, called ontological assumptions, and also a number of assumptions relating to the method through which knowledge can be obtained about this reality i.e. epistemological and anthropological assumptions that precede methodology.
