I analyze the contrasting visions of history of science in the works respectively of an Ottoman and a Turkish man of letters, Ahmed Midhat and Adnan Adivar, and claim that they perceived the link between science and cultural identity in different terms. Ahmed Midhat conceived of science as closely tied to its cultural matrix, whereas Adivar settled for a less holistic view. Both authors saw science as the harbinger of a new social existence, but they evaluated the prospects of this existence in rather divergent ways. Ahmed Midhat was concerned with the detrimental effects of an unquestioning appropriation of European scientific traditions, while Adivar had no such qualms, and celebrated the universalism and progressiveness of reason as revealed in history of science. I suggest that these differences in their outlooks presented their readers with civilizational choices.
...MoreDescription On “the contrasting visions of history of science in the works respectively of an Ottoman and a Turkish man of letters.” (from the abstract)
Similar Citations
Article
Yildirim, Nuran;
(2007)
Dr. Osman Şevki Uludaǧ Disputes Professor Fuat Köprülü's Review of Science among the Ottoman Turks by A. Adivar
(/isis/citation/CBB000931434/)
Book
Yalcinkaya, M. Alper;
(2015)
Learned Patriots: Debating Science, State, and Society in the Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Empire
(/isis/citation/CBB001551934/)
Article
Kilinç, Berna;
(2006)
History of Science as a Civilizational Project
(/isis/citation/CBB000931346/)
Book
Irzik, Gürol;
Güzeldere, Güven;
(2005)
Turkish Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science
(/isis/citation/CBB000610332/)
Thesis
Burcak, Berrak;
(2005)
Science, a Remedy for All Ills. Healing “The Sick Man of Europe”: A Case for Ottoman Scientism
(/isis/citation/CBB001561849/)
Thesis
Bulmus, Birsen;
(2008)
The Plague in the Ottoman Empire, 1300--1838
(/isis/citation/CBB001561189/)
Book
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu;
(2019)
The House of Sciences: The First Modern University in the Muslim World
(/isis/citation/CBB159129701/)
Article
Volkan Sarıgül;
(2021)
A short history of paleontology in Turkey, part I: From the nineteenth century to the collapse of Ottoman Turkey
(/isis/citation/CBB973811921/)
Article
Etker, Seref;
(2009/2010)
Ormancilik ve Ziraat Okullari için Ilm-i Nebatat: Migirdiç Hekimyan, 1880 ve Apraham Allahverdi (Hüdaverdi), 1911--1913
(/isis/citation/CBB001220730/)
Article
Günergun, Feza;
Etker, Şeref;
(2013)
From Quinaquina to “Quinine Law”: A Bitter Chapter in the Westernisation of Turkish Medicine
(/isis/citation/CBB001450778/)
Article
Yildirim, Nuran;
Sert, Gürkan;
(2009/2010)
Eczacilik Mevzuatimizin Tarihsel Sürecinde Eczane Açma / Eczaci Olma Kosullari ve Hekim-Eczaci Iliskisi (1852--1953)
(/isis/citation/CBB001220729/)
Book
Aleksandŭr Kostov;
(2015)
Инженерството на Балканите от началото на XVIII век до Първата световна война
(/isis/citation/CBB765213878/)
Book
Günergun, Feza;
(1998)
Osmanli Bilimi Arastirmalari II
(/isis/citation/CBB000110619/)
Article
Günergun, Feza;
(2006)
Adnan Adivar's Works in History of Science: Prior to the La Science Chez Les Turcs Ottomans and Thereafter
(/isis/citation/CBB000931413/)
Thesis
Yalcinkaya, Mehmet Alper;
(2010)
“Their Science, Our Values”: Science, State and Society in the 19th Century Ottoman Empire
(/isis/citation/CBB001567221/)
Book
İhsanoǧlu, Ekmeleddin;
(2004)
Science, Technology and Learning in the Ottoman Empire: Western Influence, Local Institutions, and the Transfer of Knowledge
(/isis/citation/CBB000470089/)
Article
Alper Bilgili;
(2020)
Retrospectives: Uses of History of Science in the Late Ottoman Empire and Early Republican Turkey
(/isis/citation/CBB544641922/)
Chapter
Yerasimos, Stéphane;
(2005)
Mesures d'espace ottomanes
(/isis/citation/CBB000774999/)
Book
İhsanoǧlu, Ekmeleddin;
Djebbar, Ahmed;
Günergun, Feza;
(2000)
Science, Technology, and Industry in the Ottoman World
(/isis/citation/CBB000503110/)
Article
Bein, Amit;
(2008)
The Istanbul Earthquake of 1894 and Science in the Late Ottoman Empire
(/isis/citation/CBB001020943/)
Be the first to comment!