Abstract:

The innovation movements that started in the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century continued increasingly in the 19th century. Jean Jacques Rousseau, one of the 18th century thinkers, influenced many Tanzimat intellectuals with his views especially on education, religion, morality, rights, equality, science and art. By aiming to understand and implement these views, the cultural crisis of the Ottoman Empire is tried to be overcome. Ebüzziya Tevfik, who stands out as a publisher among the Tanzimat intellectuals, is one of the names influenced by Rousseau's views. In 1885, he published the treatise Jan Jak Ruso, the 11th book of the Kitâbhâne-i Meşâhir series, in the printing house he founded called Matbaa-i Ebüzziya. The treatise named Jan Jak Ruso, which is the subject of this article, was translated into Latin letters by Bekir Ocak in 2019 in the article titled Ebüzziya Tevfik’in Jean Jacques Rousseau Tercüme-i Hâli” . In this study, the text transcribed into Latin letters by Ocak was taken as basis, and through the said text, the key concepts of the Tanzimat enlightenment and Rousseau's relationship with the Tanzimat enlightenment were revealed. While revealing this relationship, the concepts of education, morality, religion, state of nature and equality put forward by Rousseau and Ebüzziya Tevfik's approach to these concepts were examined comparatively. Thus, it was discussed whether Ebüzziya Tevfik was merely conveying the aforementioned concepts of Rousseau or in what way he questioned them. With this method, Roussseau's connection with the Tanzimat enlightenment was tried to be determined through Ebüzziya's views.

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