Need a little help with my world history homework :D?

Question

Thomas Carlyle, a Scottish writer, said that history was “the biography of great men.” Ibn Khaldun, an Arab historian, defined history as “information about human social organizations.”

(a)

What is the main difference between these two views of history?

(b)

How might each man's viewpoint have affected the way he wrote about history?

Answer 1

As far as part (a) is concerned, I'd say one big difference is that Carlyle attributes the events of history like individual achievements. It sounds like Khaldun recognizes that there is a big picture (social organizations vs individual men)

Concerning part (b) this would affect what topics and who they choose to write about. Carlyle probably only wrote about men's achievements and Khaldun probably wrote more about cultures as a whole.

That make sense?