50th SBF Meetings: Ottoman Intellectuals and Social Darwinism
The 50th of the traditional meetings organized by our faculty was held on 01.04.2021 through digital platforms with the title of "Ottoman Intellectuals and Social Darwinism".
Our program was organized by Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University Faculty of Political Sciences Head of Department of Public Finance. The meeting started with the opening speech of Prof. Dr. Hakkı Odabaş. In his speech, Prof. Dr. Odabaş mentioned the importance of this study.
Prof. Dr. Atila Doğan as the invited speaker of the meeting evaluated the effects of digitalization on the tax world. In this context, he first addressed the background of the concept of Social Darwinism. In this context, he stated that despite the concepts such as liberty, equality and fraternity that emerged with the French Revolution, the despotism of the intelligentsia started in the following period, followed by uprisings and wars such as the First World War, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and evaluated the source of this conflict as an important factor. Prof. Dr. Doğan later stated that during these situations after the French Revolution and the brutal capitalism period, theory and practice support each other. In this context, he addressed the Darwinist, natural selectionist, evolutionist theory. This theory is the continuation of Malthus' thought that conflicts arise and wars are inevitable because the population increases and resources are scarce. Prof. Dr. Doğan stated that Darwin thought that a small number of individuals who were successful in species would ensure evolution, that is, progress, and the opposition to natural selection in the second half of the 19th century would lead society back to decay. Stating that the bourgeoisie in that century is willing to seize the source of knowledge and science in order to break the domination of the clergy, Prof. Dr. Doğan commented that the first mission of this theory is that the bourgeoisie reach the markets by detaching the whole society from its values. Prof. Dr. Doğan emphasized that the second dimension of the theory manifested itself as Social Darwinism in Europe, especially Germany, and stated that this led to secularization with the spread of materialism. Prof. Dr. Doğan lastly stated that this idea came to the Ottoman Empire through medicine in the 19th century, and evaluated that such thoughts were prohibited until the Second Constitutional Monarchy, but later articles on Büchner and Lamarck appeared. In the question-and-answer section of our program, the relationship between Social Darwinism and the Ottoman Empire and its relationship with public finance were discussed.
