The Scientific Revolution and Turkey

Yıl 2004, Cilt: 5 Sayı: 2, 103 - 116, 01.06.2004

Erdal İnönü

Öz

The Scientific Revolution which took place in central and western Europe
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is a much debated subject. Here I am 
taking it up once more with the purpose of finding examples of the interaction 
between  culture and scientific development  which appear in  three different 
instances:

1) How did the scientific revolution influence the cultural climate and 
eventually the social and political evolution of western societies?

2) A period of three hundred years has elapsed from the acceptance of
research as the basis of scientific and technological development in the west in 
the seventeenth century to arriving  at  a similar understanding in  Republican 
Turkey in the twentieth century. What did the western societies learn about the
relations  between scientific development  and social  applications  during this 
time? What  did the Ottoman society lose by remaining aloof to the scientific 
revolution all this time?

3) Is  the meaning and importance of the scientific revolution well
understood today in Turkey by the public in general and by politicians  and 
bureaucrats in particular?
The answer to the first question is  well known. Several writers  have
pointed out the transformation of the intellectual climate brought about by the
scientific revolution in Britain and France. The success  achieved  in the
understanding of physical processes  by observation, experiment  and 
mathematical formulation has  led to the emergence of a rational, cause­ searching approach in social sciences and philosophy, eventually to the dawn of
the age of enlightenment, followed by the  industrial revolution and the
formation of modern, secular democracies.

As  to the second question, the  processes involved here are not  as  well
known, but are of equal importance for understanding the relationship between 
the development  of science and its practical implementations  and cultural 
consequences in any society, in particular in Turkey.

I give a negative answer to the third question, based  on a study of the
science and history text­books  in high schools  and  a review of the public
appreciation  of science. In short, scientific research is  considered to be a
worthy endeavor as it brings international prestige to the country but not  as a
pursuit which would increase the economic well being of the nation.

Various  examples are given in the text to illustrate the answers given in 
the three cases.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Scientific Revolution, Turkey

Bilimsel Devrim ve Türkiye

Öz

The Scientific Revolution which took place in central and western Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is a much debated subject. Here I am  taking it up once more with the purpose of finding examples of the interaction  between  culture and scientific development  which appear in  three different  instances:

1) How did the scientific revolution influence the cultural climate and  eventually the social and political evolution of western societies?

2) A period of three hundred years has elapsed from the acceptance of research as the basis of scientific and technological development in the west in  the seventeenth century to arriving  at  a similar understanding in  Republican  Turkey in the twentieth century. What did the western societies learn about the relations  between scientific development  and social  applications  during this  time? What  did the Ottoman society lose by remaining aloof to the scientific  revolution all this time?

3) Is  the meaning and importance of the scientific revolution well understood today in Turkey by the public in general and by politicians  and  bureaucrats in particular? The answer to the first question is  well known. Several writers  have pointed out the transformation of the intellectual climate brought about by the scientific revolution in Britain and France. The success  achieved  in the understanding of physical processes  by observation, experiment  and  mathematical formulation has  led to the emergence of a rational, cause­ searching approach in social sciences and philosophy, eventually to the dawn of the age of enlightenment, followed by the  industrial revolution and the formation of modern, secular democracies.

As  to the second question, the  processes involved here are not  as  well known, but are of equal importance for understanding the relationship between  the development  of science and its practical implementations  and cultural  consequences in any society, in particular in Turkey.

I give a negative answer to the third question, based  on a study of the science and history text­books  in high schools  and  a review of the public appreciation  of science. In short, scientific research is  considered to be a worthy endeavor as it brings international prestige to the country but not  as a pursuit which would increase the economic well being of the nation.

Various  examples are given in the text to illustrate the answers given in  the three cases.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Bilimsel Devrim, Türkiye

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