ULUM (Aug 2019)
The Criticism of Materialism in Late Ottoman’s New Science of Kalām
Abstract
Materialism, which reduces the whole of existence as simply matter and its interactions, and respectively ignores the intervention of a divine being into the universe; it is often traced back to 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 following the Renaissance, Reforms and 17th Century Scientific Revolution in 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 scholars of kalām(mutakallimūn)such as Abdullatif Harputi (1842-1916), Izmirli İsmail Hakkı (1868-1946), Mehmet Şemsettin Günaltay (1883-1961) and Ömer Nasûhi Bilmen (1882-1971). However, their criticism has caused them to break away from the classical period mutakallimūnin some respect. We attempt to outline the mentioned late period Ottoman mutakallimūn’s critique of materialism and compare their views with the classical mutakallimūn’s seemingly materialistic worldview.
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