Publication: Son dönem Osmanlı düşüncesinde ahlâk
Abstract
Bu çalışmada Tanzimat Fermanı’nın ilanından sonra neşredilen ahlâk metinleri üzerinden son dönem Osmanlı ahlâk düşüncesi alanında gerçekleşen modernleşme hareketleri incelenmiştir. 19. yüzyılın ikinci yarısından sonra Osmanlı düşünce alanında yayınlanan ahlâk metinleri şekil ve muhteva açısından klasik dönem ahlâk metinlerinden farklılıklar arz etmektedir. Ahlâk metinlerinde görülen bu değişimin altında bir takım siyasî, askerî, sosyal ve felsefî nedenler yer almaktadır. Son dönem Osmanlı aydın, âlim ve bürokratları devletin yaşadığı krizlerden kurtulabilmenin yolu olarak kabul ettiği alanlardan biri ahlâk olmuştur. Klasik düşüncede insanın yetkinliğini gaye edinen ahlâkın modern dönemde “devletin kurtuluşunu” esas aldığı görülmektedir. Klasik dönem ahlâk metinlerinin gerek şekil gerek muhteva açısından istenilen bu gayeye ulaştırmayacağı düşüncesi Tanzimat sonrası Osmanlı ahlâk müelliflerini yeni bir şekil ve içerik barındıran ahlâk metinleri yayınlama yoluna sevk etmiştir. Batı ahlâk düşüncesinin Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) sonrasında aldığı yeni karakterin Osmanlı ahlâk düşüncesini de etkilediği anlaşılmaktadır. Modern dönem Osmanlı ahlâk metinlerinde yer verilen kanun-ı ahlâk, kavâid-i ahlâkiyye, düstur/ desâtir, vazife, hürriyet, vicdan, vicdan-ı ahlâkî, irade-i cüz‘iyye, niyet gibi kavramların bir kısmı Kant’ın vazife ahlâkından tevarüs edilmiş bir kısmı ise vazife ahlâkı ile İslâm ahlâkı arasında bir uyum arayışları içerisinde ahlâk metinlerine dahil olmuştur. İslâm inanç ve akidesi üzerine kurulu İslâm ahlâk anlayışı ile Batı dünyasının kendi tarihî, felsefî tecrübesinin bir mahsulü olan Kant’ın vazife ahlâk düşüncesinin nasıl örtüştürüldüğü, her iki ahlâk düşüncesinin ne şekilde uyum hattına yaklaştırıldığı, bu fikrî ameliye içerisinde Kant’ın vazife ahlâkına ve İslâm ahlâk düşüncesine ait terimlerin içeriğinin nasıl bir anlam genişlemesi, daralması ve tasfiyesine maruz kaldığı gibi sorular Osmanlı ahlâk alanında gerçekleşen modernleşme hareketlerini anlayabilmek açısından önemli bir yerde durmaktadır.
In this study, the modernization movements that took place in the field of late Ottoman moral thought were examined through the moral texts published after the proclamation of the Tanzimat Edict. The moral texts published in the field of Ottoman thought after the second half of the 19th century differ from the moral texts of the classical period in terms of form and content. There are some political, military, social and philosophical reasons behind this change seen in moral texts. One of the fields considered by the late Ottoman intellectuals, scholars and bureaucrats as the way to solve the crises experienced by the state has been morality. It is seen that morality, which aims at human perfection in classical thought, is based on the survival of the state in the modern period. The thought that the moral texts of the classical period would not achieve this goal in terms of both form and content led the Ottoman moral authors after the Tanzimat to publish moral texts with a new form and content. It is understood that the new character of Western moral thought after Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) also affected Ottoman morality discourses. Some of the concepts seen in the modern Ottoman moral texts such as law of morality, morality, moral mottos, duty, freedom, conscience, moral conscience, partial will, intention are the concepts inherited from Kant’s morality of duty. Such concepts were included in the moral texts in search of a harmony between the morality of duty and the morality of Islam. Questions such as how the Islamic moral conception based on Islamic belief and creed and Kant's morality of duty, which is a product of the Western world's own historical and philosophical experience, are overlapped, how both moral systems are tried to be presented in harmony and how the contents of the concepts belonging to both systems are changed in terms of semantic enlargement, narrowing and elimination are important in order to understand the modernization movements that took place in the field of Ottoman morality.
In this study, the modernization movements that took place in the field of late Ottoman moral thought were examined through the moral texts published after the proclamation of the Tanzimat Edict. The moral texts published in the field of Ottoman thought after the second half of the 19th century differ from the moral texts of the classical period in terms of form and content. There are some political, military, social and philosophical reasons behind this change seen in moral texts. One of the fields considered by the late Ottoman intellectuals, scholars and bureaucrats as the way to solve the crises experienced by the state has been morality. It is seen that morality, which aims at human perfection in classical thought, is based on the survival of the state in the modern period. The thought that the moral texts of the classical period would not achieve this goal in terms of both form and content led the Ottoman moral authors after the Tanzimat to publish moral texts with a new form and content. It is understood that the new character of Western moral thought after Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) also affected Ottoman morality discourses. Some of the concepts seen in the modern Ottoman moral texts such as law of morality, morality, moral mottos, duty, freedom, conscience, moral conscience, partial will, intention are the concepts inherited from Kant’s morality of duty. Such concepts were included in the moral texts in search of a harmony between the morality of duty and the morality of Islam. Questions such as how the Islamic moral conception based on Islamic belief and creed and Kant's morality of duty, which is a product of the Western world's own historical and philosophical experience, are overlapped, how both moral systems are tried to be presented in harmony and how the contents of the concepts belonging to both systems are changed in terms of semantic enlargement, narrowing and elimination are important in order to understand the modernization movements that took place in the field of Ottoman morality.