UC San Diego

360 Pages·2010·1.67 MB·English

UC San Diego
UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Title
"Their Science, Our Values" : science, state, and society in the 19th century Ottoman
Empire
Permalink
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4vq4w5k6
Author
Yalcinkaya, Mehmet Alper
Publication Date
2010

Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO

“Their Science, Our Values”:
Science, State, and Society in the 19th Century Ottoman Empire

A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy

in

Sociology (Science Studies)

by

Mehmet Alper Yalcinkaya

Committee in charge:

Professor John Evans, Chair
Professor Steven Epstein, Co-Chair
Professor Hasan Kayali
Professor Andrew Scull
Professor Robert Westman

2010
Copyright
Mehmet Alper Yalcinkaya, 2010
All rights reserved.
The dissertation of Mehmet Alper Yalcinkaya has been approved and it is acceptable in
quality and form for publication on microfilm.

(Co-Chair)

(Chair)

University of California, San Diego
2010
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Signature Page ................................................................................................................... iii
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... iv
Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. vi
Vita ................................................................................................................................... viii
Abstract .............................................................................................................................. ix

Chapter 1 Introduction .........................................................................................................1
I. Science and Ottoman Muslims in the 19th Century ..............................................3
II. “Science,” “Scientist,” and “Boundary Work: The Basic Questions ..................9
A. Science and Culture .....................................................................................14
B. Science, State and Social Order ..................................................................18
III. Ottoman Cultural Cartography: Science, Morals and Identity ........................26
IV. Research Questions and Methods ....................................................................28
V. On Translation and Terminology ......................................................................34
VI. Historical Background and Chapter Layout ....................................................39

Chapter 2 1800-1850: New Types, New Definitions.........................................................45
I. Introduction ........................................................................................................45
II. Defining “New Knowledge,” Determining “The Ignorant”..............................48
A. Early Characterizations ...............................................................................49
B. Mahmud II: Ignorance as a State Issue .......................................................54
C. Knowledge: Old and New ...........................................................................59
III. The Context of Reaction: New Knowledge as European Knowledge ............66
IV. The New Bureaucrats and the New Official Discourse ...................................69
A. Science as the Route to Patriotism ..............................................................74
B. Mustafa Sami: A Manifesto for Science .....................................................77
C. Ottoman “Men of Science”: “The Men of the Tanzimat” ...........................84
V. Conclusion ......................................................................................................112

Chapter 3 1850-1878: Proliferation, Consolidation and Reaction ...................................114
I. Introduction ......................................................................................................114
II. The Seeds of a Critical Discourse: Ibrahim Şinasi ..........................................118
III. Prominent Educational Developments ...........................................................123
A. Ecole Ottomane .........................................................................................123
B. The University ...........................................................................................127
C. Science and Ottomanism: The 1869 Public Education Act ......................135
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IV. Proliferation of Discourse: Science in the Ottoman Press .............................138
A. Mecmua-i Fünun, or the Journal of Sciences ............................................138
B. New Outlets and Alternative Discourses ..................................................161
1. On Science as “Civilization” ..................................................................161
2. Islam and Science: Expanding Boundaries, Determining Virtues ..........164
3. The Pros and Cons of the “Ignorance” Discourse ..................................182
4. Useful Knowledge, Useless Groups .......................................................192
5. On Science, Language, and Identity .......................................................200
6. Science and Usefulness: For Bureaucracy or Industry? .........................204
V. The Official Location of “Useful Sciences”: The Revival of the University .209
VI. Showcase of Discourses: Science in the Ottoman Parliament.......................215
VII. Conclusion: Science, Religion, and Community..........................................221

Chapter 4 1878-1900: Science, Islam, Morality, and the Sultan: Disciplining the
“Man of Science” .............................................................................................226
I. Introduction ......................................................................................................226
II. Debating the Boundaries of the Official Discourse: Ahmed Midhat Efendi
and His Critics................................................................................................231
III. Debating Science, Debating Community .......................................................237
IV. Useful Knowledge, Useless Groups: Defining the Good Citizen ..................251
A. On Science and Literature .........................................................................251
1. Setting the Terms ....................................................................................251
2. The Debate Heats Up: Beşir Fuad as the “Poster Child” ........................257
B. Science and the Medrese ...........................................................................271
V. How “Confused” were the “Confused Young Men?” ....................................276
VI. Science and Morality: Direct Engagements ..................................................289
A. The Press ...................................................................................................289
B. Advice for Ottoman Youth ........................................................................293
VII. The Result: Portraying the Ideal Man of Science.........................................301

Chapter 5 Conclusion .......................................................................................................305

Appendix 1 Chronology ...................................................................................................324
Appendix 2 Science in Ottoman Dictionaries ..................................................................327
Appendix 3 Ottoman Ministers of Education ..................................................................329

Bibliography ....................................................................................................................331

v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my committee members. Steven
Epstein provided invaluable support, encouragement and guidance both as chair and later
(after he left UCSD) as co-chair. I greatly appreciate his mentorship and his interest in
working with me in a study regarding an area that has not commonly been studied by
science studies scholars. John Evans offered very helpful recommendations not only after
but long before he took over as chair. I also thank both Steve and John for putting up with
my tendency to work independently. Hasan Kayalı helped this sociologist navigate
Ottoman history and has always been a source of help and support. I am grateful to Andy
Scull for his guidance throughout my graduate career and reminding me that it is okay for
a sociologist to be interested in times long past. I also thank Bob Westman for insights
and comments on both the content and the style of my work.
My friends at UCSD Sociology and Science Studies have made life as a graduate
student as tolerable as it can possibly be. I am particularly indebted to Anthony
Rodriguez-Alcala, Brian Lindseth, Michael Evans and Harun Küçük. If I actually
finished this dissertation and kept up with my numerous types of paperwork, it is thanks
to Michael and Brian whose friendship I have frequently abused. I also thank Graduate
Coordinator Manny de la Paz for his help with all the necessary paperwork particularly
during my years outside San Diego.
I am also grateful to my former advisers in Turkey. I will forever remain indebted to
professors Şerif Mardin and Ayşe Saktanber for the guidance, inspiration and friendship
they have offered me over the years.
vi
The research was funded in part by grants from the Department of Sociology, the
Science Studies Program, and the Institute for International, Comparative, and Area
Studies (IICAS) at the University of California, San Diego.
I dedicate this dissertation to my parents, my parents in law, and my wife. My parents
are the only reason I have achieved anything in life, and it is nothing but their endless
love, support and patience that enabled me to get here. My parents in law have always
provided support and encouragement. And Rebekah has been nothing short of
extraordinary as a partner, as a friend, and as an inspiration. I thank her for her love,
patience and sacrifice that made it possible for me to just sit down and write, and enabled
us to overcome all the challenges.

vii
VITA

2003- 2010 Ph.D., University of California, San Diego, Department of
Sociology and the Science Studies Program.
2009 Teaching Assistant, University of California, Davis
2004-2007 Teaching Assistant, University of California, San Diego
2000-2003 Sabanci University, Graduate Program in History
1996-1999 M.A., Middle East Technical University, Department of Sociology.
1992-1996 B.A., Middle East Technical University, Department of Sociology

PUBLICATION
“Science as an ally of religion: A Muslim appropriation of „The Conflict Thesis‟”
British Journal for the History of Science, Forthcoming.

viii
ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION
“Their Science, Our Values”: Science, State and Society in the 19th Century
Ottoman Empire

By
Mehmet Alper Yalcinkaya

Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology (Science Studies)
University of California, San Diego, 2010
Professor John Evans, Chair
Professor Steven Epstein, Co-Chair

This study uses approaches from science studies and the sociology of culture to
examine discourses on science in the 19th century Ottoman Empire. Analyzing official
documents, literature, textbooks, and the press, it reconstructs the often heated Ottoman
debates regarding science and traces their transformations. I argue that Muslim
Ottomans‟ discussions on the sciences that were being imported from Europe were
inseparable from concerns regarding social order. The Ottoman debate was less about the
meaning of science than about how a proper man of science should be at a time of
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