For and Against Luxury: Considerations on Luxury in the Scottish Enlightenment

Year 2023, Issue: 77, 65 - 88, 06.08.2023

Işıl Çeşmeli

https://doi.org/10.58634/felsefedunyasi.1290053

Abstract

François Fénelon's The Adventures of Telemachus and Bernard Mandeville's The Fable of the Bees shaped luxury debates in the 18th century. Although the literary studies and artworks of the period were characterized by concerns about luxury, philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenment reconsidered luxury by holding the main dynamics of commercial society. The aim of this study is to reveal the contexts in which luxury in the Scottish Enlightenment was discussed by David Hume and Adam Smith on the one hand, and Adam Ferguson and Henry Home–Lord Kames on the other. First, it will be mentioned that Hume opens the way for Smith by dividing Mandeville's definition of indefinite luxury into innocent and vicious luxury. Then, how Smith leads the discussion by affirming luxury, raising basic needs to a decent life, why Ferguson takes a hesitant side on luxury by underlining the possible negative effects of it on moral character and how the luxury debate with Kames takes a different dimension will be addressed. As a result, it will be shown that there is no common understanding of luxury in the Scottish Enlightenment, since there is no general consensus in the debates on luxury.

Keywords

Luxury, François Fénelon, Bernard Mandeville, Commercial Society, Scottish Enlightenment.

LÜKSLE VE LÜKSE KARŞI: İSKOÇ AYDINLANMASINDA LÜKS ÜZERİNE DÜŞÜNCELER

Abstract

18.yüzyılda lüks tartışmalarına François Fénelon’un The Adventures of Telemachus ve Bernard Mandeville’in The Fable of the Bees adlı eserlerindeki görüşleri yön vermiştir. Dönemin edebi çalışmaları ve sanat eserleri her ne kadar lükse dair endişelerle karakterize olsa da İskoç Aydınlanması filozofları ticari toplumun ana dinamiklerini dikkate alarak lüksü yeniden düşünmüşlerdir. Bu çalışmanın amacı İskoç Aydınlanmasında lüksün, bir yandan David Hume ve Adam Smith, diğer yandan Adam Ferguson ve Henry Home–Lord Kames tarafından tartışıldığı bağlamları ortaya koymaktır. İlkin Hume’un, Mandeville’in belirlenimsiz lüks tanımını masum ve kötü lüks olarak ikiye ayırarak Smith’e giden yolu açtığından bahsedilecektir. Daha sonra, Smith’in lüksü olumlamak suretiyle temel ihtiyaçları onurlu bir yaşama yükselterek tartışmaya nasıl yön verdiğine, Ferguson’un lüksün ahlaki karakter üzerindeki olası olumsuz etkilerinin altını çizerek lüks konusunda niçin tereddütlü bir tarafta yer aldığına ve Kames ile birlikte lüks tartışmasının nasıl farklı bir boyut kazandığına değinilecektir. Sonuç olarak lüks üzerine tartışmalarda genel bir uzlaşıya varılamadığından dolayı İskoç Aydınlanmasında lükse dair ortak bir kavrayışın bulunmadığı gösterilecektir.

Keywords

Lüks, François Fénelon, Bernard Mandeville, Ticari Toplum, İskoç Aydınlanması

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