Antik Yunan ve İslâm Siyaset Felsefesinde İnsanın Toplumsallığının Kaynağı, Nedeni, Doğallığı ve Zorunluluğu
“İnsan, doğası gereği şehir öncesi toplumda ve şehirli toplumda yaşayan canlıdır” ilkesi, Aristoteles’in siyaset felse fesi ve İslâm siyaset felsefesinde insanın toplumsallığını açıklamak için hareket noktası olarak kabul edilmektedir. Bu ilkenin “doğası gereği” ifadesini odağına alan bu makalenin konusu, Aristoteles’in ve Platon’un siyaset felsefesi ile İslâm siyaset felsefesi açısından, şehir öncesi toplum ve şehirli toplumun kaynağı, nedeni, doğallığı ve zorun luluğu problemidir. Sofistler ve Kinikler ile İbn Haldûn, problemle ilgili karşılaştırma yapabilme amacıyla makalenin kapsamına alınmıştır. Bu problem, gerekli durumlarda birincil ve modern çalışmalardan doğrudan alıntı yapılan daha ziyade ise ilgili kaynaklardaki muhtevayı yeterli şekilde yansıtan bir yöntem izlenerek analiz edilmektedir. Makalede ulaşılan ana sonuçlar şunlardır: “Doğası gereği” ifadesi, insanın toplumsallığının kaynağıdır; bu kaynak, Aristoteles ve Meşşâî İslâm felsefesinin doğa teorisi bağlamında beden ve nefsin etkileşiminden meydana gelen insan doğasıdır. İbn Haldûn’a göre, toplumsal varoluş insan doğasıyla açıklanabilse de toplum türleri ve bu toplum ların yaşam tarzları, çevresel koşullarla, yani dış doğayla belirlenmektedir. Sofistler için, şehir devleti, uzlaşmayla yapay olarak kurulmaktadır. Kinikler’e göre, şehir devleti toplumu, zorunlu değildir, hatta gereksizdir. Platon ve İslâm siyaset felsefesi açısından, insanların toplumda yaşamak zorunda olmalarının nedeni, insan doğasının birden fazla işte uzman olmayı mümkün kılacak yeterlilikten yoksun olmasıdır.
The Source, Cause, Naturality and Necessity of Human Sociality in Ancient Greek and Islamic Political Philosophy
The principle of ‘Man is a creature that lives in precity and city societies by nature’ is accepted as the starting point for explaining human sociality in Aristotle’s political philosophy and Islamic political philosophy. Focusing on the expression ‘by nature’ of this principle, the subject of this article is the problem of the source, cause, naturality and necessity of precity society and city society in terms of the political philosophy of Aristotle and Plato and the political philosophy of Islam. Sophists, Cynics and Ibn Khaldun were also included in the article in order to make comparisons. This problem is analyzed by following a method that quotes primary and modern studies directly where necessary, but rather adequately reflects the content of the relevant sources. The conclusions reached in the article are as follows: The expression ‘by nature’ is the source of human sociality; this source is human nature, which consists of the interaction of body and soul in the context of the theory of nature of Aristotle and Peripatetic Islamic philosophy. According to Ibn Khaldun, although social existence can be explained by human nature, types of societies and their lifestyles are determined by environmental conditions. For the Sophists, the city state is artificially established through convention. According to the Cynics, city state is not necessary or even unnecessary. From the perspective of Plato and Islamic political philosophy, the reason why people have to live in society is that human nature lacks the capacity to be an expert in more than one profession.
The principle of ‘Man is a creature that lives in precity and city societies by nature’ is accepted as the starting point for explaining human sociality in Aristotle’s political philosophy and Islamic political philosophy. Focusing on the expression ‘by nature’ of this principle, the subject of this article is the problem of the source, cause, naturality and necessity of precity society and city society in terms of the political philosophy of Aristotle and Plato and the political philosophy of Islam. Sophists, Cynics and Ibn Khaldun were also included in the article in order to make comparisons.
According to Aristotle's political philosophy and Islamic political philosophy, human nature is the source of sociality in the sense of precity and city societies. By human nature, not only the physical biological existence of man is meant, but also the soul intellect existence of man. In other words, the inner nature of man is understood as the interaction between physical nature and mental nature. Considering this interaction, the desire, tendency or inclination to realize the precity and city society forms potentially present in physical nature constitutes the source of human social life. The human soul, in connection with the forces of desire and anger, is directly related to the precity form of society, and determines the survival purpose of this society through the satisfaction of bodily needs and affects the social tendency in physical nature by activating it for the realization of this purpose. The rational nature, which corresponds to the form and purpose of city society, determines the lifestyle and purpose of urban society, that is, it mobilizes society to achieve the goal of good life and perfection by satisfying psychological and rational needs through virtues, crafts, sciences and philosophy.
In ancient Greek political philosophy, it can be said that the Sophists, who emphasized that the city state form was established artificially rather than naturally, as it was a product of consensus among the citizens who constituted the society, differed from Aristotle's naturalistic theory in this respect. Cynics, on the other hand, oppose the idea that city state society is necessary because it eliminates freedom and is artificially established. While Ibn Khaldun attributes the social existence of man in relation to nutrition and security to the solidarity and aggression instincts present in human nature, he states that the lifestyle and livelihoods of the noncity, rural community and the lifestyle and livelihoods of the city, settled society stem from habits determined by man's external and second nature, such as climate and geography. It is possible to say that Ibn Khaldun is in common with the philosophers of political philosophy's idea of human nature in the sense of bodily nature, in terms of explaining the source of social existence with the inner nature of man. On the other hand, Ibn Khaldun's basing the lifestyles and livelihoods of the rural and city communities on the external nature surrounding man or on man's second nature differentiates him from the political philosophers' idea of man's inner naturerational nature.
In Plato's political philosophy and Islamic political philosophy, while explaining the necessity as well as the naturalness of sociality, a similarity is established between the human body, which has an organic and hierarchical functioning, and society, and it is claimed that people, like organs, are inherently different in terms of talents and aptitudes, and therefore it is necessary for people who are experts in different professions to help each other and complete their deficiencies. In addition, Aristotle bases the necessity of social life on the approach that life alone belongs to wild animals and God. While explaining this necessity in Islamic political philosophy, the idea that life outside of society is not suitable for virtue is emphasized.
