Pax Ottomanica: Millet Sisteminin Felsefi Arkaplanı

Year 2018, Volume: 4 Issue: 1, 109 - 128, 01.06.2018

Mehmet Fatih Arslan

Abstract

Bu çalışmanın temel amacı Osmanlı millet sisteminin muhtemel felsefi kaynaklarına

işaret etmektir. Bu amaçla ilk olarak millet sisteminin önemli bir

bileşeni olan ortak kimlik kavramını gözden geçirerek “Pax Ottomanica”

ifadesi ile ne kastedildiğini açıklayacağım. Daha sonra kimlik kavramının

çeşitli kullanımları üzerinde durarak bu çalışmanın kapsamı içerisinde yer

alan temel kavramların değişik kullanım biçimlerine değineceğim. Son olarak

Osmanlı millet sisteminin İslam felsefesi bağlamındaki muhtemel nazari

kaynaklarını ve bunun uygulamadaki bazı tezahürlerini inceleyeceğim.

Fârâbî ve İbn Bâcce’nin siyaset felsefesine ilişkin teorilerinin bazı yönleri

Osmanlı millet sisteminin âmelî boyutu ile büyük paralellik arz ettiğinden,

söz konusu teorilerin millet sistemi için teorik bir arka plan oluşturduğu

söylenebilir. Ö􀇆 zellikle de millet sisteminin dini kimlikleri korumak amacıyla

onları birbirinden belirli ölçüde ayrıştırmayı esas aldığı göz önünde

bulundurulduğunda, Fârâbî ve İbn Bâcce’nin benzer bir yaklaşımı esas alan

erdemli toplum eksenli siyaset felsefesinin bu sistemin teorik arka planını

inşa etmek için kullanıldığı söylenebilir.

Keywords

Millet Sistemi, pax ottomanica

Pax Ottomanica: Philosophical Background of the Millet System

Abstract

This study aims to shed light on the philosophical background of the Ottoman

millet system. First, I will review the nature of collective identity

to establish a basis for further identity-related discussions and define the

term of “Pax Ottomanica”. Then I will explain diverse and complicated utilizations

of identity to clarify the scope of the key concepts of this article.

Finally, I will identify the theoretical sources of Ottoman millet system

within Islamic philosophy and show how it affected practical implementation.

Since al-Fārābī and Ibn Bajjah political theory has reflected theoretical

approaches to governance that closely parallel the practical usage of

Ottoman millet system I will argue that these approaches can reasonably

be considered inspirational sources and justifications for the millet system.

Especially considering that the millet system maintained a policy of the

protection of religious identities through detachment, I conclude that al-

Fārābī’s and Ibn Bajjah’s political theories were highly influential in shaping

the practical implementation of the millet system.

Keywords

pax ottomanica, millet system

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