Özet:

This study mainly aims to determine the relationship between positivist thought and Kemalist modernization. Positivist thought began to influence Turkish society when the Party of Union and Progress was in power during the intellectual environment of the Ottoman Empire’s late periods. Positivist thought, which was also inherited intellectually by the Republic of Turkey, left a significant mark on Kemalist modernization with its various features. The “scientisist” worldview will be emphasized in the study rather than positivism, and its effects on Kemalist modernization will be discussed. Since positivism completely rejected other sources of information, it paved the way for a worldview of “scientism” to emerge as a result of the absolute privileges granted to scientific thoughts. This scientisist character of positivism played a critical role in carrying out the program that Kemalist modernization sought to implement.

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