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Wow, I had no idea! "[they] were on the right track" is an understatement. ... on what he referred to as the "gradual process of creation." He stated that the
by emilsedgh 7y ago
Wow, I had no idea! "[they] were on the right track" is an understatement.
... on what he referred to as the "gradual process of creation." He stated that the Earth began with abiotic components such as "minerals." Slowly, primitive stages of plants such as "herbs and seedless plants" developed and eventually "palms and vines." Khaldun connects the later stages of plant development to the first stages of animal development. Finally, he claims that the greater thought capabilities of human beings was "reached from the world of the monkeys."
- FabHK 7y agoI wonder, though, to which extent that was somewhat idle speculation, similar to Democritus stating that the world consists of atoms 400 BCE, without really any evidence for it (let alone a fully formed theory).
- emilsedgh 7y agoA bit more from this fascinating topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muqaddimah#Biology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muqaddimah#Biology It seems like he had a fully formed theory which is pretty accurate.
- FabHK 7y agoA bit late now, but FWIW I don't think from the cited quotes one can deduce that he had anything approaching a fully formed theory; in fact I'd say it's very similar to Democritus idle musings.
- emilsedgh 7y agoYes. The quotes didn't have any indication of a full theory. However, I find it difficult to believe that they reached so many accurate conclusions without a proper base theory.