Source: The Muqaddimah by Ibn Khaldun, translated by Franz Rosenthal (2005, p. 35)
If the soul is impartial in receiving information, it devotes to that information the share of critical investigation the information deserves, and its truth or untruth thus become clear. However, if the soul is infected with partisanship for a particular opinion or sect, it accepts without a moment’s hesitation the information that is agreeable to it. Prejudice and partisanship obscure the critical faculty and preclude critical investigation. The result is that falsehoodare accepted and transmitted.
And on page 42, when discussing how other scholars had made errors, Ibn Khaldun boldly stated that he – unlike the other authors – was right and that he was:
… inspired by God. He led us (ed: i.e. him) to a science that we (ed: i.e. he) ruthlessly set forth…
He continued (p. 42) to express how important it is for mankind to think:
We say that man is distinguished from the other living beings by certain qualities peculiar to him, namely: The sciences and crafts which result from that ability to think which distinguishes man from the other animals and exalts him as thinking being over all creatures…
Filed under: Freedom & Liberty
I hope you will eventually quote the bits about trade and education.
Getting there.
Got it. thanks.