Imnghaldun's Introduction to Dynasty

Imnghaldun's account of how dynasties rise and fall is reminiscent of Plato's classification of the types of city, corrupting from one type to another as the generations pass. But even if his introduction can be read as a work of political philosophy, Imnghald un is not in the business of arguing for any particular political arrangement. This is particularly striking, given that he spent so much of his own life advocating one or another political power in the Magreb. He anatomizes society and history with a practiced empirical eye - like Aristotle investigated animal life in his zoological works.