Whose Science? A Preliminary Study on Kevâkib-i Seb'a and the Scholar's Rhetoric

Öz

The primary aim of this article is to date the treatise known as Kevâkib-i Seb‘a, which describes the Ottoman sciences for a French audience, to 1739 by examining the letters of Charles de Peyssonnel, secretary to the French ambassador in Istanbul, Marquis de Villeneuve. It also draws attention to a remark by the anonymous author of the treatise on the science of geometry and geography. In order to interpret it, the present study seeks to understand how the author of the treatise presents “ilm”, i.e. science/knowledge, and argues that the remark constitutes a contradictory statement to his previous descriptions and reasoning. It comes to the conclusion that this remark can be regarded as a strategy by the author to defend the imagined prestige of the Ottoman Muslim identity.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Kevâkib-i Seb‘a
• 18th century
• Ottomans’ perception of the Europeans
• Ottoman/Muslim self-perception
• science/knowledge

Kimin İlmi? Kevâkib-i Seb‘a ve Alim Retoriği Üzerine Bir Deneme

Öz

Bu makale öncelikle Kevakib-i Seb'a olarak bilinen Osmanlı'da öğretilen ilimler üzerine Fransa'ya yollanmak için yazılan eserin tarihini dönemin Fransız elçisi Villeneuve'ün sekreterinin mektuplarını inceleyerek 1739 yBu makalenin öncelikli amacı Kevâkib-i Seb‘a olarak bilinen ve Osmanlı’da öğretilen ilimleri tanıtmak amacıyla Fransa’ya yollanmak için yazılan eseri, dönemin Fransız elçisi Villeneuve’ün sekreteri Charles de Peyssonnel’in mektuplarını inceleyerek 1739 yılına tarihlendirmektir. Makalenin diğer amacı ise yazar tarafından geometri ve coğrafya üzerine yapılan ilginç yoruma dikkat çekmektir. Makale, bu yorumu anlamak için önce eser içindeki “ilm” anlayışını aydınlatmaya çalışır ve yazarın genel anlatısı ile çelişkiye düştüğü görülen bu yorumun, varsayılan Osmanlı Müslüman kimliğinin prestijini korumak için yazar tarafından yapılan bir hamle olduğunu savunur.ılı olarak bildirmektedir. Eseri inceledikten sonra hendese ilmi üzerine yazarın yaptığı ilginç yorumun nedenine dair önerilerde bulunmaktadır. Avrupa algısı ve Osmanlı/Müslüman algısının bu yorumda önemli bir rolü olduğunun altı çizilmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Kevâkib-i Seb‘a
• 18. yüzyıl
• Osmanlıların Avrupa algısı
• Osmanlı/Müslüman algısı
• ilm/bilgi

Kaynakça

1. Letters of Marquis de Villeneuve and M. de Peyssonnel.
2. “Lettres autographes du marquis de Villeneuve, ambassadeur de France à Constantinople, et de son secrétaire, M. de Peyssonel, adressées au marquis de Caumont à Avignon (1729−1742).” Bibliothèque nationale de France / Département des Manuscrits / NAF 6834. Retrieved from https://archivesetmanuscrits.bnf.fr/ ark:/12148/cc41360f.
3. Unknown author. Kevâkib-i Seb‘a. “Précis encyclopédique scientifique, en turc, rédigé sur les ordres du raïs el-kouttab Moustafa Efendi, sans titre, ni nom d’auteur.” Retrieved from https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/ btv1b8414996k?rk=21459;2.
4. Abdeljaouad, Mahdi Mohamed. “Teaching European Mathematics in the Ottoman Empire during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries: Between Admiration and Rejection.” ZDM Mathematics Education 44 (2012): 483–498.
5. Adamson, Peter. “Existence in Philosophy and Theology.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, 3rd ed. Edited by Kate Fleet, et al. Brill online, 2017.
6. ———. “From the Necessary Existent to God.” In Interpreting Avicenna. Edited by idem, 170–189. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
7. ———. “Aristotle in the Arabic Commentary Tradition.” In The Oxford Handbook of Aristotle. Edited by Christopher Shields, 645–664. Oxford, et al.: Oxford University Press, 2012.
8. Aksan, Virginia. “Ottoman Sources of Information on Europe in the Eighteenth Century.” Archivum Ottomanicum 11 (1986): 5–16.

9. Akyürek, Göksun. Bilgiyi Yeniden İnşa Etmek: Tanzimat Döneminde Mimarlık, Bilgi ve İktidar. İstanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınları, 2011.
10. Bachour, Natalia. Oswaldus Crollius und Daniel Sennert im frühneuzeitlichen Istanbul: Studien zur Rezeption des Paracelsismus im Werk des osmanischen Arztes Ṣāliḥ b. Naṣrullāh Ibn Sallūm al-Ḥalabī. Herbolzheim: Centaurus Verlag & Media, 2012.
11. Behrens-Abouseif, Doris. “The Image of the Physician, Arab Biographies of the Post-Classical Age.” Der Islam 66 (1989): 331– 343.
12. Bekiryazıcı, Eyüp. “İbn Sînâ Düşüncesi İşrâkîliğe Zemin Hazırlamış Mıdır?.” Diyanet İlmî Dergi 50, 1 (2014): 123–138.
13. Bertolacci, Amos. “Ibn Sīnā (d. 428/ 1037): Metaphysics of the Shifā’.” In The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Philosophy. Edited by Khaled el-Rouayheb and Sabine Schmidtke, 143–168. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.
14. Biesterfeldt, Hans Hinrich. “Arabisch-islamische Enzyklopädien: Formen und Funktionen.” In Die Enzyklopädie im Wandel vom Hochmittelalter bis zur Frühen Neuzeit. Edited by Christel Meier, 43–83. Munich: Wilhelm Fink, 2002.
15. Brentjes, Sonja. Teaching and Learning the Sciences in Islamicate Societies (800–1700). Turnhout: Brepols, 2018.
16. ———. “Patchwork – The Norm of Mapmaking Practices for Western Asia in Catholic and Protestant Europe As Well As in Istanbul Between 1550 and 1750?.” In Science between Europe and Asia: Historical Studies on the Transmission, Adoption and Adaptation of Knowledge. Edited by Feza Günergun and Dhruv Raina, 77−101. Heidelberg, et al: Springer, 2011.
17. Carter, Michael G. “Adam and the Technical Terms of Medieval Islam.” In Words, Texts and Concepts Cruising the Mediterranean Sea: Studies on the Sources, Contents and Influences of Islamic Civilization and Arabic Philosophy and Science Dedicated to Gerhard Endress on his Sixty-Fifth Birthday. Edited by Rüdiger Arnzen and Jorn Thielmann, 439–454. Leuven, Paris, Dudley: Peeters Publishers & Department of Oriental Studies, 2004.
18. Demirhan Çavuşoğlu, Halime Mücella. “Osmanlı Mesâha Literatürüne Genel Bir Bakış ve Bu Literatür İçerisinde Eğinli Nu‘mân Efendi’nin Tebyînü A’mâli’l-Misâha İsimli Eserinin Yeri.” Dört Öge 17 (2020): 95–120.
19. Ebû Sehl Nu‘mân Efendi. Tedbîrât-ı Pesendîde. Edited and transcribed by Ali İbrahim Savaş. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1999.
20. ———. Molla und Diplomat: Der Bericht des Ebû Sehil Nu‘mân Efendi über die österreichisch-osmanische Grenzziehung nach dem Belgrader Frieden 1740/1741. Edited and translated by Erich Prokosch. Graz, Vienna, Cologne: Styria, 1972.
21. El-Rouayheb, Khaled. Islamic Intellectual History in the Seventeenth Century: Scholarly Currents in the Ottoman Empire and the Maghreb. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
22. Endress, Gerhard. “Reading Avicenna in the Madrasa: Intellectual Genealogies and Chains of Transmission of Philosophy and the Sciences in the Islamic East.” In Arabic Theology, Arabic Philosophy: From the Many to the One: Essays in Celebration of Richard M. Frank. Edited by James M. Montgomery, 371– 424. Leuven, et al: Peeters Publishers, 2006.
23. ———. “Die Wissenschaftliche Literatur.” In Grundriß der arabischen Philologie. Bd. III: Supplement. Edited by Wolfdietrich Fischer, 3–23. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert, 1992.
24. ———. “‘Der erste Lehrer’: Der arabische Aristoteles und das Konzept der Philosophie im Islam.” In Gottes ist der Orient. Gottes ist der Okzident: Festschrift for Abdoldjavad Falaturi zum 65. Geburtstag. Edited by Udo Tworuschka, 151–181. Cologne and Vienna: Böhlau, 1991.
25. Erzurumlu İbrahim Hakkı. Tertîb el-‘ulûm. Edited and transcribed by Şükran Fazlıoğlu. In Şükran Fazlıoğlu, “Ta’lîm ile İrşâd Arasında: Erzurumlu İbrahim Hakkı’nın Medrese Ders Müfredatı.” Dîvân İlmî Araştırmalar 18, 1 (2005): 115–173.
26. Faroqhi, Suraiya. “Materielle Kultur und −zuweilen− gesellschaftliche Werte: Das Europabild in den Berichten osmanischer Gesandter des XVIII. Jahrhunderts.” In Strukturelle Zwänge - persönliche Freiheiten: Osmanen, Türken, Muslime: Reflexionen zu gesellschaftlichen Umbrüchen (Gedenkband zuEhren Petra Kapperts). Edited by Hendrik Frenz, 81−104. Berlin, et al.: de Gruyter, 2009.
27. Fazlıoğlu, İhsan. “İlk Dönem Osmanlı İlim ve Kültür Hayatında İhvânu’s-Safâ ve Abdurrahmân Bistâmî.” Divan: Disiplinlerarası Çalışmalar Dergisi 2 (1996): 229–240.
28. Fazlıoğlu, Şükran. “Ta’lîm ile İrşâd Arasında: Erzurumlu İbrahim Hakkı’nın Medrese Ders Müfredatı.” Dîvân İlmî Araştırmalar 18, 1 (2005): 115–173.
29. ———. “Manzûme fî Tertîb el-Kutub fî el-Ulûm ve Osmanlı Medreselerindeki Ders Kitapları.” Değerler Eğitimi Dergisi 1, 1 (2003): 97–110.
30. Graham, William A. “Traditionalism in Islam: An Essay Interpretation.” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History 23, 3 (1993): 495–522.
31. Göçek, Fatma Müge. East Meets West: France and the Ottoman Empire in the Eighteenth Century. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.
32. Götz, Manfred. “Der ‘vollkommene Scheich’ (Müršid-i Kāmil) nach dem İršādnāme von Ḥaqīqī,” Archivum Ottomanicum 20 (2002): 211–229.
33. Guer, Jean-Antoine. Les Moeurs et Usages des Turcs, leur Religion, leur Gouvernement civil, militaire et politique. 2 Vols. Paris, 1746–47.
34. Hagen, Gottfried. “The Order of Knowledge, the Knowledge of Order: Intellectual Life.” In The Cambridge History of Turkey. Vol. 2: The Ottoman Empire as a World Power 1453–1603. Edited by Suraiya N. Faroqhi and Kate Fleet, 407–456. Cambridge, et al.: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
35. Hagen, Gottfried and Tilman Seidensticker. “Reinhard Schulzes Hypothese einer islamischen Aufklärung. Kritik einer historiographischen Kritik.” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 148, 1 (1998): 83–110.
36. Hasse, Dag Nikolaus. “Das Lehrstück von den vier Intellekten in der Scholastik: Von den arabischen Quellen bis zu Albertus Magnus.” Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie médiévales 66, no. 1 (1999): 21–77. İzgi, Cevat. Osmanlı Medreselerinde İlim. Vol. I. Istanbul: İz, 1997.
37. Jéhamy, Gérard. “La Terminologie des Sciences humaines dans le Patrimoine arabo-islamique.” In Words, Texts and Concepts Cruising the Mediterranean Sea: Studies on the Sources, Contents and Influences of Islamic Civilization and Arabic Philosophy and Science Dedicated to Gerhard Endress on his Sixty- Fifth Birthday. Edited by Rüdiger Arnzen and Jorn Thielmann, 483–491.
38. Leuven, Paris, Dudley: Peeters Publishers & Department of Oriental Studies, 2004.
39. Kaçar, Mustafa. “Tersâne Hendesehânesi’nden Bahriye Mektebi’ne Mühendishâne-i Bahrî-i Hümâyûn.” Osmanlı Bilimi Araştırmaları 9, 1−2 (2007−2008): 51−77.
40. Karaarslan, Nasuhi Ünal. “Ön Söz” to XVIII. Asrın Ortalarına kadar Türkiye’de İlim ve İlmiyeye Dâir bir Eser: Kevâkib-i Seb‘a Risâlesi. Edited and transcribed by idem, xv–xxii. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 2015.
41. Kaya, Veysel. “XV. Yüzyıl Ansiklopedisti Abdurrahman Bistâmî’nin Felsefe-Kelâm İlişkisine Bakışı.” In Osmanlı’da İlm-i Kelâm: Âlimler, Eserler, Meseleler. Edited by Osman Demir, Veysel Kaya, Kadir Gömbeyaz ve Murat Kılavuz, 301–314. Istanbul: ISAR, 2016.
42. Kreiser, Klaus. “Wissenschaftswandel im Osmanischen Reich des 18. Jahrhunderts?.” In Europa und die Türkei im 18. Jahrhundert / Europe and Turkey in the 18th Century. Edited by Barbara Schmidt- Haberkamp, 433−446. Göttingen: V & R Unipress, Bonn University Press.
43. Krstić, Tijana and Derin Terzioğlu, Historicizing Sunni Islam in the Ottoman Empire c. 1450−c. 1750.Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2020.
44. Kunitzsch, Paul and Jan Knappert. “al-Nud̲j̲ ūm.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed. Edited by P. Bearman, et al. Brill online, 2012.
45. Kutluer, İlhan. “Devir.” TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi. 9: 234–234. Istanbul: Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı, 1994.
46. ———. “Felek.” TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi. 12: 303–306. Istanbul: Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı, 1995.
47. Küçü k, Harun. Science without Leisure: Practical Naturalism in Istanbul, 1660-1732. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020.
48. Lâmiî (Lâmi’î) Çelebi. Bursa Şehrengizi. Edited and transcribed by Mustafa İsen and Hamit Bilen Burmaoğlu. Bursa: Bursa Kültür A.Ş., 2011.
49. Leaman, Oliver N. H. and Hermann Landolt, “Wudjūd.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed. Edited by Peri J. Bearman, et al. Brill online, 2012.
50. Manuel II. Palaiologos. Dialoge mit einem Muslim. Vol. I. Edited and translated by Karl Förstel. Würzburg and Altenberge: Echet, 1993.
51. ———. Palaiologos. Dialoge mit einem Muslim. Vol. II. Edited and translated Karl Förstel. Würzburg and Altenberge: Echter, 1995.
52. ———. Palaiologos. Dialoge mit einem Muslim. Vol. III. Edited and translated by Karl Förstel. Würzburg and Altenberge: Echter, 1996.
53. Mecdî Mehmed Efendi. Hadaiku’ş-Şakaik. Edited by Abdülkadir Özcan. Istanbul: Çağrı, 1989.
54. Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines: Conceptions of Nature and Methods Used for its Study by the Ikhwān al-Şafā’, Al-Bīrūnī, and Ibn Sīnā. 2nd ed. Bath: Thames and Hudson, 1978.
55. Neumann, Christoph K. Araç Tarih Amaç Tanzimat: Tarih-i Cevdet’in Siyasi Anlamı. Translated by Meltem Arun. Istanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınları, 2000.
56. Nev’î Efendi. İlimlerin Özü: Netâyic el-Fünûn. Edited and transcribed by Ömer Tolgay. İstanbul: İnsan Yayınları, 1995.
57. Orthmann, Eva. “Himmelssphären und Elemente: Zur Übernahme vorislamischer Vorstellungen vom Aufbau der Welt in die islamische Tradition.” In Entre Orient et Occident: La Philosophie et la Science greco-romaines dans le Monde arabe. Vandoeuvres - Genève, 22 - 27 août 2010; Huit Exposés suivis de Discussions. Edited by Peter Adamson, Richard Goulet, Ulrich Rudolph, Christoph Riedweg, and Pascale Derron, 241–278. Geneva: Foundation Hardt, 2011.
58. Overwien, Oliver. “Hippocrates of Cos in Arabic Gnomologia.” In Philosophy and Medicine in the Formative Period of Islam. Edited by Peter Adamson and Peter E. Pormann, 34–47. London: The Warburg Institute, 2017.
59. Pancaroğlu, Oya. “Socializing Medicine: Illustrations of the Kitab al-Diryaq.” Muqarnas 18 (2001): 155–172.
60. Polat, Atilla and Halime Mücella Demirhan Çavuşoğlu. “Mehmed Said Efendi’nin Misâha Risâlesi.” Osmanlı Bilim Araştırmaları / Studies in Ottoman Science 21, 2 (2020): 249–270.
61. Rashed, Roshdi. “Greek into Arabic: Transmission and Translation.” In Arabic Theology, Arabic Philosophy: From Many to the One: Essays in Celebration of Richard M. Frank. Edited by Richard M. Frank, James E. Montgomery, Roshdi Rashed, 157–198. Leuven, Paris, Dudley: Peeters, 2006.
62. Reichmuth, Stefan. “Bildungskanon und Bildungsreform aus der Sicht eines islamischen Gelehrten der anatolischen Provinz: Muḥammad al-Sājaqlī (Saçaqli-zāde, gest. um 1145/1733 und sein Tartīb al- ‘Ulūm.” In Words, Texts and Concepts Cruising the Mediterranean Sea: Studies on the Sources, Contents and Influences of Islamic Civilization and Arabic Philosophy and Science Dedicated to Gerhard Endress on his Sixty-Fifth Birthday. Edited by Rüdiger Arnzen and Jorn Thielmann, 493–520. Leuven, Paris, Dudley: Peeters Publishers & Department of Oriental Studies, 2004.
63. Shefer-Mossensohn, Miri. Science among the Ottomans: The Cultural Creation and Exchange of Knowledge. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015.
64. Sievert, Henning. “Ebū Sehl Nu‘mān Efendis Treffliche Maßnahmen gegen die Arglist der Anderen und die Torheit der Vorgesetzten in Iran und an der Donau.” In Deutsch-türkische Begegnungen. Alman-Türk Tesadüfleri: Festschrift für Kemal Beydilli - Kemal Beydilliye Armağan. Edited by Hedda Reindl-Kiel and Seyfi Kenan, 366–401. Berlin: EB-Verlag, 2013.
65. ———. Zwischen arabischer Provinz und Hoher Pforte: Beziehungen, Bildung und Politik des osmanischen Büroktaten Rāġıb Meḥmed Paşa (st. 1763). Würzburg: Ergon, 2008.
66. ———. “‘Die Sehnsucht des ausgedörrten Landes nach einem Regenguß’: Der Istanbuler Beamte el-Ḥācc Muṣṭafā Efendi (st. 1749) und seine Kontakte in die arabischen Provinzen des Reiches.” In Studia Eurasiatica: Kieler Festschrift für Hermann Kulke zum 65. Geburtstag. Edited by Jan Kusber and Stephan Conermann, 441–469. Schenefeld: EB-Verlag, 2003.
67. Şirin, İbrahim. Osmanlı İmgeleminde Avrupa. Ankara: Lotus Yayınevi, 2006.
68. Toksöz, Hatice. “Muhammed Akkirmânî’nin Ta’rîfâtü’l-fünûn ve menâkıbü’l-musannifîn Adlı Eserinde Felsefî İlimler Algısı.” Osmanlı Araştırmaları / The Journal of Ottoman Studies 42 (2013): 177–205.
69. Tóth, Ferenc. “Égypte. La double Mission du baron de Tott à la Fin de l’Ancien Régime.” Africa: Rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione dell’Istituto italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente 57, 2 (2002): 147–178.
70. Uluç, Tahir. “Kınalızâde Ali Efendi’nin Nefis Görüşü.” Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 35 (2013): 7–28.
71. Unknown Author. XVIII. Asrın Ortalarına kadar Türkiye’de İlim ve İlmiyeye Dâir bir Eser: Kevâkib-i Seb‘a Risâlesi. Edited and transcribed by Nasuhi Ünal Karaarslan. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 2015.
72. Wigen, Einar. “Ottoman Concepts of Empire.” Contributions to the History of Concepts 8, 1 (2013): 44–66.
73. ———. Turkey and the Concept of Europe: A Conceptual History. Saarbrücken: VDM, 2010.
74. Wolfson, Harry A. “The Problem of the Souls of the Spheres from the Byzantine Commentaries on Aristotle through the Arabs and St. Thomas to Kepler.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 16 (1962): 65–93.
75. Yerlioğlu, Akif Ercihan. “‘May Those Who Understand What I Wrote Remember This Humble One’: Paratextual Elements in Eighteenth-Century Ottoman Medical Manuscripts.” YILLIK: Annual of Istanbul Studies 2 (2020): 35−51.