Late Ottoman Translations of Ibn Khaldun

History of Science, Ottoman or Otherwise

Episode 316

with Kenan Tekin

hosted by Chris Gratien

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Among the many important medieval texts written in Arabic, few have received more attention from scholars in Europe than The Muqaddimah, an introduction to history by the 14th-century North African writer Ibn Khaldun. In this episode, we explore another of arena for reception of Ibn Khaldun, the Ottoman Empire, with our guest Kenan Tekin. We examine Ottoman translations of Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddimah, especially that of the 19th-century statesman and scholar Ahmet Cevdet. In our discussion of Cevdet's translation of and commentary on Ibn Khaldun's work, we explore the intellectual engagement of Ottoman Tanzimat-era thinkers with ideas from the past centuries of Islamicate scholarship and consider Cevdet's late Ottoman work as an early example of writing about the history of science.

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