Searching for the Soul in Shades of Grey

Modern psychology’s spiritual past in the late Ottoman Empire

Bibliographic Data

ID2631464
AuthorsSeyma Afacan (0000-0002-9900-3791, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume32
Issue32
Publication date2021-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean journal of Turkish studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1773-0546 • E-ISSN: 1773-0546
PublisherOpenEdition (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.4000/ejts.7248
OpenAlexW4283829779
LanguageEN
References cited10

The years between the 1870s and 1920s have been considered a transformative period for psychology, during which it prepared to leave the house of metaphysics, religious thought, and the moral sciences to join the team of the sciences. In depicting the transition from the “science of the mind” to modern psychology, the mainstream historiography has produced a narrative of linear and overnight transition from a whole body of philosophical and theological knowledge built around the concept of the soul, beginning with the foundation of modern academic institutions. In the late Ottoman Empire, however, the soul continued to attract Ottoman academics and intellectuals under the roof of the Darülfünun (today’s Istanbul University), contrary to the foundational myths of the field of psychology.With a focus on the debates and texts promoted by the Darülfünun faculty as a state-funded institute of higher education, this paper explains the rising academic and intellectual interest in psychological thought following the 1908 Revolution in relation to late Ottoman cultural, ideological, and political dynamics. It draws our attention to the uses and implications of an alliance between spiritualism and psychology during the foundational years of academic psychology in the late Ottoman Empire. The Darülfünun faculty sponsored intellectuals and academics whose understanding of psychology emphasised the human soul (ruh) and emotions such as honour (mükerremiyet) and passion (ihtiras) as opposed to scientific questions about human nature brought by the theory of evolution and the philosophical doctrine of materialism. This interpretation enabled scholars, such as Filibeli Ahmed Hilmi and Mustafa Şekip Tunç, who were critical of scientific determinism, to contribute to scientific discussions. This paper argues that in an environment where burning questions about science and religion – such as if the soul existed separately from the body – were silenced, the Darülfünun faculty’s academic and intellectual interest in psychological thought stemmed from the popularity of the notion of the soul, which signified human authenticity and honour. Ultimately, this paper uncovers the ways in which the human body and the soul surfaced as sites of contestation and knowledge in the late Ottoman Empire

Epistemology · Historiography · Ideology · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Soul · Families in Therapy and Culture · Islamic Studies and History · Islamic Thought and Society Studies · Law · Philosophy

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