Modern Toplumda Bilgi, Güç ve Etik Arasında Faustçu Bir Yolculuk

Year 2025, Volume: 17 Issue: 34, 79 - 91, 28.07.2025

Murat Şengöz

https://doi.org/10.57205/yenifikirjournal.1707042

Abstract

Bu çalışma, Goethe’nin Faust eserini modern bireyin etik, epistemolojik ve vicdani krizleri bağlamında sosyolojik olarak incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Faust’un bilgiye ulaşma arayışı, bireysel bir tutkunun ötesine geçerek, modern toplumda bilginin araçsallaşması, vicdanın bastırılması ve toplumsal eşitsizliklerin görünür hâle gelmesi gibi yapısal sorunları da temsil etmektedir. Çalışma, kuramsal temelde Zygmunt Bauman’ın “akışkan modernite”, Michel Foucault’nun “bilgi-iktidar ilişkisi”, Max Weber’in “araçsal akıl kavramları” ile Judith Butler, Nancy Fraser ve Carl Jung’un yaklaşımlarını bir arada değerlendirerek disiplinlerarası bir çözümleme sunmaktadır. Faust, Mefistofeles ve Gretchen karakterleri üzerinden birey-toplum, bilgi-güç, vicdan-etik ve cinsiyet-eşitsizlik eksenlerinde derinlemesine analizler yapılmıştır. Yapılan çözümlemeler, bilgi çağında bireyin yaşadığı kimlik bunalımı, etik sorumluluk eksikliği ve toplumsal adalet arayışının hâlâ Faustçu bir düzlemde sürdüğünü göstermektedir. Eser, bu yönüyle yalnızca edebi değil; sosyolojik, felsefi ve kültürel bir uyarı metnine dönüşmektedir.

Keywords

Faust , bilgi toplumu , etik , vicdan , toplumsal cinsiyet , modern birey , sosyolojik kuram

A Faustian Journey Through Knowledge, Power, and Ethics in Modern Society

Abstract

This study aims to examine Goethe’s Faust through a sociological lens, focusing on the ethical, epistemological, and moral crises of the modern individual. Faust’s quest for knowledge transcends a personal ambition and reflects broader structural issues in contemporary society, such as the instrumentalization of knowledge, the silencing of conscience, and the perpetuation of systemic inequality. The analysis employs a multidisciplinary theoretical framework, incorporating Zygmunt Bauman’s “liquid modernity,” Michel Foucault’s knowledge-power relationship, Max Weber’s concept of instrumental rationality, as well as insights from Judith Butler, Nancy Fraser, and Carl Jung. Through the characters of Faust, Mephistopheles, and Gretchen, the study explores tensions between individual and society, knowledge and power, conscience and ethics, and gender and marginalization. Findings suggest that the modern subject continues to navigate Faustian dilemmas in the digital age, where identity crisis, ethical disengagement, and demands for social justice remain highly relevant. In this context, Faust emerges not only as a literary classic but also as a sociological and philosophical warning text for our time.

Keywords

Faust , knowledge society , ethics , conscience , gender , modern subject , sociological theory.

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