Sociology is a century-old self-discipline in Turkey. Turkish sociology is the kid of political discussions amongst outstanding intellectuals across the challenge of Westernization. The Young Turks turned deeply thinking about sociology because it emerged in France. As their Western counterparts thought-about the self-discipline of sociology the science of modernity, the Ottoman intellectuals paid nice consideration to this new science since their major goal was to modernize the Ottoman state.
The sociological involvement of the Young Turks was not restricted to the ideas of French sociologists. Other than these positivists comparable to Ahmed Rıza, who discovered an ally in Auguste Comte, and different positivists in France, some others like Ahmet Şuayb had been inclined to undertake the method of Herbert Spencer, the British thinker who was additionally one of many founders of sociology. More considerably, Ottoman thinker, Prince Sabahaddin thought and wrote on the scheme ready by the Le Play college of sociology, whereas Ziya Gökalp, the founder of educational sociology in Turkey, analyzed historical past and society counting on Emile Durkheim’s idea of sociology. The quarrel between Sabahaddin and Gökalp, although basically a political challenge about the way in which to avoid wasting the state and present the progress, was additionally a scientific debate on the social science methodology.
Max Weber’s introduction into the social science sphere of Turkey occurred after sociology was institutionalized at Istanbul University. Indeed, one ought to wait till the 1940s to debate a real Weberian affect on the Turkish social scientists. At first, the affect of the Weberian content material of the sociological model of the Chicago School of the United States was as direct on the Turkish social scientists. However, particularly after the 1933 college reform, some German teachers operating from the Nazi regime introduced Weberian thought to the Economy Department of Istanbul University. Gerhard Kessler and Alexander Rüstow launched Weber’s concepts to college students finding out the financial system or legislation there. A particular scholar, Sabri Ülgener, who spoke German and translated the lectures of the German professors, was admitted as a analysis assistant within the financial system department of the School of Law in 1935. Ülgener is taken into account probably the most outstanding Weber follower in Turkey.
Early life
Sabri Ülgener was born on the Gümüşhanevi home, a Sufi order, on May 8, 1911, in Cağaloğlu, an outdated Istanbul neighborhood. His paternal grandfather, Ismail Necati Efendi, was one of many disciples of Ahmed Ziyaeddin Gümüşhanevi, the founding father of the order. His father, Mehmet Fehmi Ülgener, was the primary Istanbul mufti throughout the Republican period. His mom, Emine Behice, was from a notable Istanbulite household.
Sabri Ülgener had well-known cousins, together with Kazım Karabekir and Ali Fuat Cebesoy, the commanders of the East and West frontiers throughout the War of Independence, Nazım Hikmet and Oktay Rifat, well-known poets, and Mehmet Ali Aybar, the chairman of the Workers’ Party of Turkey.
Ülgener was first schooled on the elementary a part of Istanbul High School. His father taught Islamic information and Sufism to him. He additionally realized Arabic, Persian and Islamic calligraphy as a toddler. Later, he studied German and enrolled on the School of Law in 1932.
Inclination towards German historic college
After his commencement in 1935, Ülgener started to work as a analysis assistant within the financial system and sociology division of the School of Law. He translated the lectures, articles and books of the German professors on the college. Alexandre Rüstow made him learn and undertake the method of the German historic college and study the concepts of Werner Sombart and Max Weber. He gave a dissertation on the economical mentality of the Islamic world in 1937, the place he argued the spiritual affect of the formation of the economical mentality of Islamic society and earned a Ph.D. diploma.
Ülgener confirmed nice enthusiasm throughout the 1940s by publishing articles and growing his Weberian method to the historic mentality of Turkish society. Meanwhile, he turned one of many outstanding professors of the Economy Department, the place he labored with nice colleagues like Ömer Lütfi Barkan and Ziyaeddin Fahri Fındıkoğlu. In the 1947-48 tutorial yr, Ülgener visited Harvard, the place he studied Keynesian economics.
Ülgener turned a full professor in 1951. In the identical yr, he printed “İktisadi İnhitat Tarihimizin Ahlak ve Zihniyet Meseleleri” (“The Ethical and Mentality Issues of the Turkish History of Economic Collapse”), which is taken into account as his masterpiece. In that e-book, like in lots of associated articles, he used a modified model of the Weberian method to research Turkish society. Like Weber, Ülgener, too, performed a big function within the spiritual mentality of the folks in explaining the financial developments in historical past. However, in contrast to Weber, who thought that Calvinism was the mentality that helped the emergence of capitalism, Ülgener put Sufism within the core of the financial collapse of the Ottoman state. According to Ülgener, Sufism influenced the Turkish folks in the other way that Calvinism had influenced Europeans. Though Calvinism helped folks work and compile financial savings in line with a rational understanding, Sufism prevented folks from doing that due to its irrational mentality.
Ülgener labored because the dean of Istanbul University’s Economy Department from 1954 to 1956. He labored on the University of Munich from 1958 to 1959 and on the University of Columbia from 1964 to 1965 as a visiting professor. Ülgener retired in 1981 and died in Istanbul in 1983, leaving many books and articles as a legacy.
