The History in Miskawayh’s Vision

Abstract

Our study was titled "History when Miskawayh" to draw attention to three key themes: the first dealt with the factors that helped Meskawayh form a vision of history, with science playing a significant role in his intellectual dictionary; the second addressed the nature of that vision; and the third concentrated on the method Miskawayh used to refine it.

 Regarding the first theme, it has been noted that several elements contribute to creating a Miskawayh vision of history, including his period and its high scientific ideals, his cultural setting, his sectarian and national neutrality, his balanced intellectual beliefs, as well as his own life experiences. However, about the second theme, his vision of history was based on being a repository of experiences, drawing on them in the present and the future. Regarding the strategy he used to realize that vision, it was founded on objectivity, criticism, and mental analysis and a new interpretation that considers the political, economic, social, and psychological factors that influence accidents as opposed to the interpretation that was reserved for medieval historians from his predecessors and peers, that interpretation that adopts religion exclusively and attributes responsibility for all accidents to God's will, negating the role of man in causing the event. To set a perfect example for those in the present and the future, he set out to learn a valuable lesson from the past.