Publication: Doktor Lütfi Hakkında Zeyl ve “Fikr-i Islahȃt” Eseri
Abstract
Modern devletin doğuşu; devlet, özgürlük ve yasa kavramlarının; toplumsal barış prensibi ile yoğrulduğu,somut ve akılcı siyasi değerlerle sorgulandığı döneme rastlar. Bu sorgulamada, karşılaştığımız ilk soru;cevabı, belirli bir tanıma yönelik olan “devlet nedir?” sorusudur. Bu soruya samimiyetle eğilerek; II.Meşrutiyet döneminde, Osmanlı Devletinin dönüşümünde aktif rol almış –Jöntürkler içinde ya dadeğil – adı, eserleri unutulmuş pek çok isim vardır. Fransız İhtilali, pozitivizm, sosyal Darvinizim gibifarklı sorgulama katmanından destek alarak; devletin somut varlığı üzerine eleştirel yaklaşımlar sunanisimlerden biri de Doktor Lütfi’dir. Nitekim “Millet ve Hükümet” başlığı ile 1906’da Paris’te yayınladığıkitabının birinci kısmında bu soruyu sorar: “devlet nedir”?Doktor Lütfi, hem tıp hem hukuk doktorudur. İstanbul’da, tıp eğitimini tamamladıktan sonra; Paris’tebulunduğu yıllarda “uluslararası sağlık politikaları” konusunda yazdığı tezi ile “hukuk doktoru”unvanını almıştır. II. Meşrutiyet döneminde, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun, Paris Konsolosu olarakgörev yapmıştır. Bir taraftan İttihat ve Terakki ekibi ile diğer taraftan Prens Sabahaddin’in liberallergrubu ile ilişkisi bulunan Doktor Lütfi’nin; 1919’dan sonraki yaşamına dair bilgi bulunamamış idi. Buçalışmada; Doktor Lütfi’nin, yaşamının bilinmeyen ayrıntılarına değinilecek ve Fransızcadan tercümeettiği “Fikr-i Islahȃt (1904)” isimli kitabı üzerinde durulacaktır.
The emergence of the modern state coincides with the period in which the concepts of state, freedom and law had merged with the principle of social peace and had got investigated with rational political morals. The first question that we face in this investigetion is “What is state?” of which answer is aimed at a specific definition. There had been plenty of forgotten thinkers (whether among Young Turks or not) who took an active role in transition of Ottoman Empire by reflecting upon this question, Doctor Lütfi is one of those who had critically approached to institutional materiality of the State through the instruments of French Revolution, positivism, social Darwinism etc. In his book titled “Millet ve Hükümet” (Nation and Power) and published in Paris in 1906, he puts this question: “What is state?” Doctor Lütfi holds the title of doctorate not only in medicine but also in law. After completing medical education in Istanbul, he received his PhD in law with a thesis themed “international health policies” in years during which he had been in Paris. He had worked as consul general in Paris in the second constitutional era. Any information on the life of Doctor Lütfi after 1919, who had been in contact with “Ittihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti” (the Committee of Union and Progress) and also with the liberal group of Prince Sabahaddin, could not be found. In this work, we aim to go into unknown details of the life of Doctor Lütfi and to focus on his book titled Fikr-i Islahat (1904) which he translated from French.
The emergence of the modern state coincides with the period in which the concepts of state, freedom and law had merged with the principle of social peace and had got investigated with rational political morals. The first question that we face in this investigetion is “What is state?” of which answer is aimed at a specific definition. There had been plenty of forgotten thinkers (whether among Young Turks or not) who took an active role in transition of Ottoman Empire by reflecting upon this question, Doctor Lütfi is one of those who had critically approached to institutional materiality of the State through the instruments of French Revolution, positivism, social Darwinism etc. In his book titled “Millet ve Hükümet” (Nation and Power) and published in Paris in 1906, he puts this question: “What is state?” Doctor Lütfi holds the title of doctorate not only in medicine but also in law. After completing medical education in Istanbul, he received his PhD in law with a thesis themed “international health policies” in years during which he had been in Paris. He had worked as consul general in Paris in the second constitutional era. Any information on the life of Doctor Lütfi after 1919, who had been in contact with “Ittihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti” (the Committee of Union and Progress) and also with the liberal group of Prince Sabahaddin, could not be found. In this work, we aim to go into unknown details of the life of Doctor Lütfi and to focus on his book titled Fikr-i Islahat (1904) which he translated from French.