The Introduction of Modern Western Philosophy in the Ottoman Empire: Armenian Thinkers


KARADEMİR A.

Modern Intellectual History, 2023 (AHCI) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Publication Date: 2023
  • Doi Number: 10.1017/s1479244323000136
  • Journal Name: Modern Intellectual History
  • Journal Indexes: Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Scopus, American History and Life, Historical Abstracts, Index Islamicus, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, Philosopher's Index
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

The literature on the introduction of modern Western philosophy in the late Ottoman Empire is predominantly ethnocentric. This is because it reduces the Ottoman version of modern Western philosophy to the philosophical discourses of Muslim/Turkish intellectuals at the expense of non-Muslim Ottomans' philosophical activities in languages other than Turkish. This article challenges such ethnocentrism and offers an alternative narrative from the perspective of Ottoman Armenian thinkers in the late nineteenth century. With this aim, it analyzes the philosophical thoughts of Madatia Karakashian, Nahabed Rusinian, Kalusd Gosdantian, and Yeghia Demirjibashian.