Ali Fuad Başgil'de Batı ve Demokrasi

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Thesis Type: Postgraduate

Institution Of The Thesis: Istanbul Commerce University, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Siyaset Bilimi ve Uluslararası İlişkiler, Turkey

Approval Date: 2023

Thesis Language: Turkish

Student: MUHAMMET ALİ KAYACI

Supervisor: Zeyneb Çağlıyan İçener

Open Archive Collection: AVESIS Open Access Collection

Abstract:

The ideas of Ali Fuad Başgil, one of the prominent Turkish intellectuals of the 20th century, on issues such as democracy, freedom, and secularism are still attractive today. The literature on Başgil deepened with recent studies mainly focuses on his conservative-nationalist identity. It is an overlooked point in the studies on Başgil that, grounding on the spiritual maturity of the individual, he portrays democracy, which has been approached hesitantly from time to time in Turkish political thought, as a regime that rises on freedom, justice and equality. This study centers on Başgil's view of Western civilization, which he describes as "fine civilization", and his conceptualization of democracy inspired by it. Başgil's dealing with Western democracy on its spiritual foundations and with this point of view his comprehensive conception of democracy he put forward with reference to various institutions at the levels of the individual-society-state, is an originality worth examining. In this respect, this study incorporates the possibility of the togetherness of the West and democracy in Turkish conservative thought to the discussion by analyzing Başgil's broad and ahead of his time perspective, which he developed by combining the concepts of the West and democracy.