Hilmi Ziya Ülken

His views were mostly influenced from the work by various Muslim, Turkish and European figures such as Ibn Arabi, Mehmet Fuat Köprülü, Ziya Gökalp, Mehmet İzzet, Émile Durkheim, Henri Bergson, Émile Boutroux, Baruch Spinoza, Max Scheler and Martin Heidegger.[2] Ülken reported that he and other leading figures began to follow the ideas of Henri Bergson due to the fact that these ideas offered them a spiritual command of intuition and a material power of change.[10] Because they needed such an inspiration during the armistice period.[10]

Around 1926 Ülken argued that if nationalism recognizes civil and political rights, it becomes the most modern political regime.[4] He also maintained that the republic as a regime was the only suitable form of government for modern citizens.[4] In the late 1920s while he was teaching at Darulfünun he supported the idea-oriented sociology against the experimental sociology.[11] During his term at Istanbul University Ülken was among the first Turkish scholars who dealt with logical empiricism.[6]

Ülken was the author of various books which included textbooks on psychology, sociology and philosophy. In 1931 he published Aşk Ahlakı (Turkish: Ethics of Love) that presented his views on ethical philosophy containing sociological and cultural dimensions.[12] His another book was İnsani Vatanperverlik (1933; Turkish: Humanist Patriotism) in which he discussed humanistic universalism and nationalism and attempted to present a solution to the problem between idealism and realism.[2] This book was his first and only attempt to produce a philosophical syncretism.[2] In 1935 Ülken published a book on the functions of translation entitled Uyanış Devirlerinde Tercümenin Rolü (Turkish: The role of translation during ages of reawakening).[1] There he argued that translation provides creative power when a group involves in the reawakening process.[13] One of his most known books was Türkiye'de Çağdaş Düşünce Tarihi (1966; Turkish History of Modern Thought in Turkey) in which he examined the history of thought in Turkey.[2] His study contained an analysis of the topic across three periods, namely the Tanzimat period, the Meşrutiyet period and the Republic period.[2] His lecture notes on the philosophy of education were published as a book in 1982.[9]

Ülken was a contributor to several publications and established some journals. He first contributed to the magazines Mihrab (Turkish: Altar) and Anadolu Mecmuası (Turkish: Anatolia Journal) in the 1920s.[3] The other periodicals in which he published articles are as follows: Dergâh, Her Ay, Türk Yurdu, Yeni İnsanlık, Türk Düşüncesi[3] and Adımlar.[14]

Ülken cofounded and published İnsan (Turkish: Man) magazine together with Nurullah Ataç, Sabahattin Eyüboğlu and Celaleddin Ezine from 1938 to 1943.[3] From 1943 Ülken started and edited Sosyoloji Dergisi (Turkish: Journal of Sociology) which was a publication of the Faculty of Arts at Istanbul University.[2][15]

Grave of Hilmi Ziya Ülken and his wife Hatice Ülken

Hilmi Ziya established the Philosophy Association together with Mehmet Servet in 1928 which was the first in its category in the Republic of Turkey.[11][7] However, it was closed in 1930.[11] Ülken was also the founder of the Sociology Association which was established in Ankara on 2 December 1949.[11]

During the preparations to establish the International Sociological Association (ISA) in 1949 the preparatory committee of the Constituent Congress contacted with two scholars from Turkey, Ülken and Ziyaeddin Fahri Fındıkoğlu.[16] Ülken participated in the Congress held in Oslo in September 1949.[16] He was the vice president of the ISA and a member of its executive committee between 1953 and 1959.[16]