Sevinc Yusifova #28 TURKISH PHILOSOPHY Turkish philosophy has started with Kutadgu Bilig in 1069.

The Kutadgu Bilig, or Qutadu Bilig. s a Karakhanid work from the 11th century written by an Uyghur author Yusf Kh jib of Balasagun for the prince of Kashgar. Translated, the title means something like "The Wisdom which brings Happiness" or "The Wisdom that Conduces to Royal Glory or Fortune" (Dankoff, 1), but has been translated more concisely as "Wisdom Which Brings Good Fortune". The text reflects the author's and his society's beliefs, feelings, and practices with regard to quite a few topics, and depicts interesting facets of various aspects of life in the Karakhanid empire. While not produced in Turkey, and more accurately referred to as Turkic philosophy, the Kutadgu Bilig is often considered to belong to the body of Turkish philosophy. And until the meeting with modern philosophy which is known western philosophy, Turkish people knew only Islamic philosophy. In early Islamic thought, which refers to philosophy during the "Islamic Golden Age", traditionally dated between the 8th and 12th centuries, two main currents may be distinguished. The first is Kalam, that mainly dealt with Islamic theological questions, and the other is Falsafa, that was founded on interpretations of Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism. There were attempts by later philosopher-theologians at harmonizing both trends, notably by Ibn Sina (Avicenna) who founded the school of Avicennism, Ibn Rushd (Averros) who founded the school of Averroism, and others such as Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen) and Ab Rayhn al-Brn. From the ninth century onward, owing to Caliph al-Ma'mun and his successor, Greek philosophy was introduced among the Persians and Arabs, and the Peripatetic school began to find able representatives among them; such were Al-Kindi, Farabi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), and Ibn Rushd (Averros), all of whose fundamental principles were considered as criticized by the Mutakallamin. Another trend, represented by the Brethren of Purity, used Aristotelian language to expound a fundamentally Neoplatonic and Neopythagorean world view. During the Abbasid caliphate a number of thinkers and scientists, some of them heterodox Muslims or non-Muslims, played a role in transmitting Greek, Hindu, and other pre-Islamic knowledge to the Christian West. They contributed to making Aristotle known in Christian Europe. Three speculative thinkers, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and alKindi, combined Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism with other ideas introduced through Islam. The death of Ibn Rushd (Averros) effectively marks the end of a particular discipline of Islamic philosophy usually called the Peripatetic Arabic School, and philosophical activity declined significantly in western Islamic countries, namely in Islamic Spain and North Africa, though it persisted for much longer in the Eastern countries, in particular Iran and India. Contrary to the traditional view, Dimitri Gutas and the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy consider the period between the 11th and 14th centuries to be the true "Golden Age" of Arabic and Islamic philosophy, initiated by Al-Ghazali's successful integration of logic into the Madrasah curriculum and the subsequent rise of Avicennism. Since the political power shift in Western Europe (Spain and Portugal) from Muslim to Christian control, the Muslims naturally did not

Sevinc Yusifova #28 practice philosophy in Western Europe. This also led to some loss of contact between the 'west' and the 'east' of the Islamic world. Muslims in the 'east' continued to do philosophy, as is evident from the works of Ottoman scholars and especially those living in Muslim kingdoms within the territories of present day Iran and India, such as Shah Waliullah and Ahmad Sirhindi. This fact has escaped most pre-modern historians of Islamic (or Arabic) philosophy. In addition, logic has continued to be taught in religious seminaries up to modern times. In ottoman, philosophy has started with Katip Celebi. Ktip elebi, Mustafa bin Abdullah, Haji Khalifa or Kalfa, (1609, Istanbul - 1657 Istanbul) was an Ottoman scholar. A historian and geographer, he is regarded as one of the most productive authors of non-religious scientific literature in the 17th century Ottoman Empire. Among his best-known works is the Kashf al-zunn an asm al-kutub wa-alfunn, ("The Removal of Doubt from the Names of Books and the Sciences"), a bibliographic encyclopaedia, written in Arabic, which lists more than 14,500 books in alphabetic order, he published all his works in coordination with his lifelong friend Ibrahim Muteferrika a Hungarian convert to Islam. Then Yanyali Esat Efendi continued. He translated Aristoteless works into to Arabian for Turkish people. With the beginning of Modern Philosophy in Ottoman Empire, Munif Pasha started a modern period in philosophy in 19th century. After that Young Ottomans continued. Young Ottomans were a secret organization of Ottoman nationalist intellectuals formed in 1865, influenced by such Western thinkers as Montesquieu and Rousseau and the French Revolution. They developed the concept of Ottomanism, aligned with these thinkers. They advocated a constitutional, parliamentary government. The Young Ottomans were bureaucrats resulting from the Tanzimat reforms who were unsatisfied with its bureaucratic absolutism and sought a more democratic solution. One of them was Namk Kemal, who basically introduced the concepts of vatan (fatherland) and hrriyet (freedom) in the Turkish language. Namk Kemal, born as Mehmed Kemal (December 21, 1840 - December 2, 1888) was a Turkish nationalist poet, philosopher, translator, journalist, and social reformer. Other young Ottomans and philosopher were iya Paa, Ali Suavi, Agah Efendi, Ahmet Mithat Efendi, Ahmet Vefik Paa and Shinasi. In 1895, Ibrahim Efendi who was a Turkish philosopher translated "Discours de la Methode" into the Turkish. It was the first which translated from Western language to Turkish. At Abdulhanmit period, Young Turks tried to continued to introduce Western philosophy to Turkish people. Young Turks were a coalition of various groups favouring reformation of the administration of the Ottoman Empire. The movement was against the absolute monarchy of the Ottoman Sultan and favoured a re-installation of the short-lived Kann- Ess constitution. They established the second constitutional era in 1908 with what would become known as the Young Turk Revolution. The term Young Turks referred to the members of Ottoman society who were progressive, modernist and opposed to the status quo. The movement built a rich tradition of dissent that shaped the intellectual, political and artistic life of the late Ottoman period generally transcendent to the decline and dissolution periods. Many Young Turks were not only active in the political arena, but were also artists, administrators, or scientists. any modern Turkish citizens glorify

Sevinc Yusifova #28 the Young Turks as a group that initiated the process of liberalization in what is now known as modern Turkey. Although certain sub sections of modern Turkish community still regard that the Young Turks were actually the perpetrators of the first coup d'tat in modern Turkish History1913 Bab-i Ali Baskini, it is widely believed among the Turkish community that their actions can be classified as of a progressive movement even by today's standards. Abdullah Cevdet and Ahmed Riza Bey were materialistic philosophers. Abdullah Cevdet (9 September 1869, Arapgir, Malatya Province 29 November 1932), was an Ottoman intellectual and a medical doctor by profession of Kurdish descent. He was also a poet, translator, radical free-thinker and an ideologist of the Young Turks who led the Westernization movement in the Ottoman Empire from 1908 until 1918. Cevdet was influenced by materialistic philosophies of the West and antagonistic towards institutionalized religion. He published articles on socio-religious, political, economic and literary issues in the periodical ctihad, which he founded in 1904 in Geneva and used to promote his modernist thoughts. He was arrested and expelled from his country several times due to his political activities and lived in Europe (e.g. London, Paris). The overall goal of Young Turks such as Cevdet was to bring to end the regime of Sultan Abdlhamid II. For this purpose Cevdet and four other medical students at the Military Medical Academy in Constantinople founded the secret "Committee of Union and Progress" (CUP) in 1889. Initially with no political agenda, it became politicized by several leaders and factions and mounted a revolution against Abdlhamid II in 1908. However, Abdullah Cevdet was not politically involved in the CUP but promoted his secular ideas until his death. He was tried a few times because some of his writings were considered as blasphemy against Islam and the prophet Muhammad. For this reason he was labelled as the "eternal enemy of Islam" (Sssheim, EI) and called "Aduvullah" (the enemy of God). Probably his most famous court case was due to his praising the Bah' Faith in his article in ctihad, 1 March 1922. Abdullah Cevdet was one of the intellectuals, who influenced Mustafa Kemal Atatrk in his reforms of secularization in Turkey. Ahmed Riza Bey (Turkish: Ahmet Rza Bey, 18591930) was a prominent Young Turk, an activist, scientist and the minister of Education from the Liberal Union party during the second Constitutional Era in the Ottoman Empire. In 1908, his name was among the possible Grand Viziers. He was the leading negotiator of the failed agreement of coalition between the Ottoman Empire, France and Britain for World War I. Ahmed Rza has also been viewed as a polymath by some authors. He had been concerned with the conditions of the farmers and wanted to implement agricultural methods. He believed in and supported the ideas of the French sociologist, Auguste Comte. He was hostile to colonialism, as were European progressives. He was also opposed to class privilege. Rza had graduated from Galatasaray High School in Constantinople. He had also studied agriculture in France. As an idealistic young man ("Young Turk"), he sought to improve the condition of the Ottoman peasantry in the Ottoman Empire. In 1894 he published a series of publications on unification of Islamic and Ottoman traditions of

Sevinc Yusifova #28 consultation. In 1895, Meveret, the journal that he published became a locus of the exile Young Turk. Rza opposed the radical Prince Sabahettin's calls for revolution and European intervention in the empire at the 1902 Congress of Ottoman Opposition in Paris. At the Second Young Turk Congress in 1907, Rza at first reluctantly endorsed the use of violence to depose the sultan, but later reversed his position. Later philosophy journals started to published. After foundation of Turkish republic, first real philosophy journal was Felsefe ve timaiyat Mecmuas in 1927. Founders of it were Mehmet Servet ile Hilmi Ziya. With Western Philosophy, Anatolia Philosophy has also developed by Sabahattin Eybolu, Azra Erhat, Cevat akir. Because of it humanism developed in Turkey. All Marxism philosophy works were translated into the Turkish language. And in 1974, Turkush Philosophy Association was founded. During this foundation and development brilliant philosophers like Berent En (1938-2003), Arda Denkel (1949-2000), and lham Dilman (1930-2003) were also able to raise central and critical questions, and leave a precious heritage behind. It is reassuring to know that versatile young philosophers like Gven Gzeldere and Murat Aydede are creating influential works with a distinctive analytic flavour. Arda Denkel (19492000) was a Turkish philosopher. He studied at the University of Oxford and, under Peter Strawson, wrote his D. Phil. dissertation which he later developed into a more expansive study with his book The Natural Background of Meaning in 1999. Upon his return to Turkey he became an important promoter of analytical philosophy in Turkey, a country traditionally almost entirely cultivated within a continental atmosphere, and became a faculty member in the philosophy department at the Bogazici University in Istanbul for the rest of his life. He was twice a visiting professor in the University of Wisconsin between 1985 and 1989, and served as a member of the steering committee of the European Society for Analytic Philosophy (ESAP) between 1996 and 1999. He also authored several other books and articles in both Turkish and English, including his critically acclaimed Object and Property in 1996. the earliest piece of writing by a Turkish philosopher to be published in the respected quarterly Mind was the 1964 paper What is a philosophical question? by Nermi Uygur. Uygurs chief purpose in that paper was to describe the salient characteristics that define a philosophical question; he wished to throw some light on what is contained in such a question. Surely, his was an analytic research model: a paradigm in which numerous individual researchers make small contributions to the solution of a set of generally recognised problems, as Brian Leiter observes. Today the goal of many Turkish philosophers and their aspiring students remains the same. A large number of philosophy books are published in Turkey every year. Most of these are translations of European bestsellers with a clear bias towards continental and post-modern philosophy.