Philosophy of Religion in the Faculty of Theology of Dārūlfūnun: The Method and Contributions of Mustafa Şekip Tunç
The Faculty of Theology of Dārūlfūnun is a higher education institution that combines the modern education system with the Islamic scientific tradition in Republican Turkey. This faculty adopted an approach that addressed religious and philosophical issues on a scientific basis. This article examines the methodology and contributions of Mustafa Şekip Tunç (d. 1958) in the philosophy of religion courses he taught at the faculty. Philosophy of religion courses in Dārūlfūnun has been available since the Republican period, and Tunç taught this course between 1926 and 1933. Tunç’s Felsefe-i Din, which he prepared for use in these courses, was the first work in the field of philosophy of religion in Türkiye. His Bir Din Felsefesine Doğru is an important work that is a compilation of his articles published in some journals. Tunç argues that religious issues should only be evaluated on a philosophical ground and develops a unique philosophical methodology. Influenced by Henri Bergson’s (d. 1941) intuitionism in his philosophical methodology, Tunç makes an important contribution to the philosophy of religion by developing a rational and intuitive method. In Tunç, the harmony of reason and intuition occurs within the framework of the interaction between philosophy and psychology. Therefore, according to him, psychology is a field that makes important contributions to the philosophy of religion. The interaction he established between psychology and philosophy can be seen concretely in the concepts such as religious consciousness, religious feeling, tekāmul and élan vital that he includes in his works. Tunç contributes to the debates on ontology and epistemology through these concepts. In this article, Tunç’s methodology in the philosophy of religion, the sources that influenced the formation of his views, and the topics he deals with in his philosophy of religion such as the proofs of God’s existence, the relationship between religion and philosophy, divine attributes and religious experience are examined in outline. As a result, Tunç taught the philosophy of religion at a higher education institution during the Republican period and contributed to this field with an original methodology.
Dârülfünun İlahiyat Fakültesi’nde Din Felsefesi: Mustafa Şekip Tunç’un Yöntemi ve Katkıları
Dârülfünun İlahiyat Fakültesi, Cumhuriyet dönemi Türkiye’sinde modern eğitim sistemi ile İslâm bilim geleneğini birleştirmeyi amaçlayan bir yükseköğretim kurumudur. Bu fakülte dinî ve felsefî tartışmaları bilimsel bir zeminde ele almayı hedefleyen bir yaklaşım benimser. Bu makale, Mustafa Şekip Tunç’un (öl. 1958) fakültede verdiği din felsefesi derslerindeki metodolojisini ve katkılarını incelemektedir. Dârülfünun’da din felsefesi dersleri Cumhuriyet döneminden itibaren vardır ve 1926-1933 yılları arasında bu dersi Tunç okutur. Tunç’un bu derslerinde kullanmak için hazırladığı Felsefe-i Din adlı eseri, Türkiye’de din felsefesi alanındaki ilk eserdir. Bir Din Felsefesine Doğru adlı eseri ise bazı dergilerde yayımlanan makalelerinin derlemesinden oluşan önemli bir çalışmadır. Tunç, dinî konuların ancak felsefî bir zeminde değerlendirilmesi gerektiğini savunur ve kendine özgü bir felsefî metodoloji geliştirir. Bu metodolojisinde Henri Bergson’un (öl. 1941) sezgiciliğinden etkilenen Tunç, rasyonel ve sezgisel bir yöntem geliştirerek din felsefesine önemli bir katkıda bulunur. Tunç’ta akıl ve sezginin uyumu, felsefe ve psikolojinin etkileşimi çerçevesinde gerçekleşir. Dolayısıyla ona göre psikoloji, din felsefesine önemli katkılar sağlayan bir alandır. Onun psikoloji ve felsefe arasında kurduğu bu etkileşim, eserlerinde yer verdiği dinî şuur, dinî duygu, tekâmül, oluş ve hayat hamlesi gibi kavramlarda somut olarak görülebilir. Tunç, bu kavramlar üzerinden ontoloji ve epistemoloji tartışmalarına katkıda bulunmaktadır. Bu makalede Tunç’un din felsefesindeki metodolojisi, görüşlerinin oluşmasında etkili olan kaynaklar ve din felsefesinde ele aldığı Tanrı’nın varlığının delilleri, ilâhî sıfatlar ve dinî tecrübe gibi konular ana hatlarıyla incelenmektedir. Sonuç olarak Tunç, Cumhuriyet döneminde bir yükseköğretim kurumunda din felsefesi dersleri vermiş ve özgün bir felsefî metodolojiyle bu alana katkı sağlamıştır.
Dārūlfūnun was a higher education institution established and systematised in the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century in the Western style. In this educational institution, the branch where religious courses were taught was first opened in 1900 under the name Ulūm-i Aliye-i Diniyye, and in 1913 the name was changed to Ulūm-i Şer‘iyye Branch. However, in 1914, this branch was closed and the madrasas in Istanbul that offered religious education were gathered under a single roof. In this faculty, which was reopened in 1924 under the name the Faculty of Theology, philosophy courses were taught in the Philosophy Department of the Literature Branch. This practice continued until the permanent closure of the Faculty of Theology in 1933.
In 1924, philosophy of religion courses were added to the education program of the Dārülfünun. This was also the first time that the philosophy of religion was taught in an institutionalised educational institution in Türkiye. In the Republican period, philosophy of religion courses were added to the education programme of Dārūlfūnun in order to discuss religious issues on a philosophical basis. This situation is also important for the Religious Reform Project of this period. Tunç himself took part in this project and included the necessity of religious reform in his works. According to Tunç, religious issues should be discussed a philosophical basis. In Dārūlfūnun, the Faculty of Theology’s philosophy courses were taught at the Faculty of Literature, while the philosophy of religion course was taught at the Faculty of Theology. Mehmet Emin Erişirgil was the first to teach the philosophy of religion at Dārūlfūnun. Erişirgil taught this course between 1924 and 1926, and Mustafa Şekip Tunç was the instructor of this course after this date. Tunç’s contribution to the philosophy of religion was his teaching activities and the works he wrote in this field. His works are among the first examples of publications in the field of philosophy of religion in Türkiye. He wrote his book Felsefe-i Din in 1927 to be used in philosophy of religion classes. In addition, after Tunç’s death in 1958, some of his articles in the field of philosophy of religion were brought together and published under the name Bir Din Felsefesine Doğru in 1959. The importance of this work is that it is one of the first works in the field of philosophy of religion. This study is based on the analysis of Tunç’s works using the textual analysis method and the evaluation of the concepts and discussions in these works.
Some studies have been conducted on Tunç’s intellectual personality and his contributions to the scientific field. A work for this study is Mustafa Şekip Tunç, prepared by Hayrani Altıntaş in 1989. The others are postgraduate studies on Tunç’s views on philosophy and the philosophy of religion. Apart from these, there are many articles and books published on Tunç’s views. These studies will also be included in this article.
After studying psychology in Geneva, Tunç taught psychology, spirituality and ethics at the Philosophy Department of the Faculty of Literature of Dārūlfūnun between 1919 and 1953. He reflected his psychology-based worldview to all branches of science in which he was interested. For example, according to him, the general method of philosophy consists of analyses in the fields of epistemology, psychology, sociology and ethics. Today, philosophy and the working methods and discussions of these are clearly separated from each other. According to Tunç, the discipline of the philosophy of religion is carried out within the framework of the methods of philosophy. With this view, Tunç made moral and psychological evaluations in his philosophy of religion studies.
Henri Bergson’s thoughts were influential in shaping the concepts Tunç used in psychology and philosophy and the discussions he included. Bergson’s concept of intuition in epistemology and his understanding of evolution in ontology are the basic building blocks of Tunç’s philosophy of religion. Therefore, Tunç, as an important follower of Bergson, was an influential figure in the dissemination of Bergson’s views in Türkiye. However, he was not a blind follower of Bergson’s philosophy and method but, adopted a unique perspective blended with his own worldview and Islamic teachings.
Tunç’s adoption of an intuitionist attitude in epistemology does not mean that he advocated irrationality. Tunç attaches importance to rational inferences in the scientific field, but he argues that there are fields of study that cannot be reached by reason, such as spiritual fields, and that these fields can be reached intuitively. Tunç also applied his intuitive methodology to his understanding of ontology. With the Bergsonian influence, he states that all beginnings other than God proceed in a state of becoming, and therefore it is impossible to make a complete definition of the nature of being. His view of evolution, which he expressed as the theory of evolution, was an understanding of existence that was not accepted by some Dārūlfūnun instructors. Although there were some differences in opinion among these intellectuals, they generally protected Islamic values and teachings against the anti-religious movements of the age. This attitude was the main mission of Izmirli Ismail Hakkı, Babanzāde Ahmed Naim, Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı and many other Dārūlfūnun instructors. They determined the axis of many of their discussions in their works within the framework of this mission.
The concept of God is not one of the main discussion concepts of Tunç’s philosophy of religion. According to him, since God is a concept belonging to the field of belief, it should be evaluated in the context of belief. Therefore, he argues that God cannot be known by reason. He criticises arguments for the existence of God in the fields of theology and philosophy in terms of being rational activities. In his philosophy of religion, he considers God an object of his psychological and ontological analyses. For example, regarding religious experience, which he evaluated from a psychological perspective, he presented God as an experienced being, and from an ontological perspective, he designated God as an initiator of the evaluation process. As a result, Tunç laid the foundations of the philosophy of religion in Türkiye with his concepts and discussions in the philosophy of religion and made original and innovative contributions to the field.
