CRITICISM OF MATERIALISM IN THE OTTOMAN NEW SCIENCE OF KALAM

Abstract

Materialism, which reduces the whole of existence as simply matter and its interactions, and respectively ignores the intervention of a divine Being, is often traced back at a time when philosophy was born. However when we study the historical process, we find that materialism was a thought that was generally rejected by the majority. With the enlightenment and secularism that came as a result of the scientific revolution following the Renaissance and Reforms in 17th century Europe, materialism gained more followers. In the 20th century in what was known as its golden era it became a world view, by manifesting itself in the religious, social, political and economic spheres of life. Materialism came to the Ottomans following the first half of the 19th century through students who went to the West and newly established military and medical schools. Despite materialism forming the backbone of debates on westernization and secularism (perpetuating worldliness) towards the end of the 19th century, this did not deter many intellectuals from endorsing much of the values that came with materialism, and it led to many repercussions within the political and social realms of the Ottoman world. On the other hand, materialism was not welcomed but rather disapproved of by many Ottoman mutakallimun such as Abdullatif Harputi (1842-1916), Izmirli Ismail Hakki (1868-1946), Mehmet Semsettin Gunaltay (1883-1961) and Omer Nasuhi Bilmen (1882-1971). We attempt to outline the mentioned late period Ottoman mutakallimun's critique of materialism and compare their views with the classical mutakallimun's materialistic world view.