The social and political thoughts of Mustafa Şekip Tunç

Mustafa Sekip Tunç represents a Turkish adherent of Bergson, who uses anti-positivist, spiritualist, and romantic motifs. Tunç struggled to find solutions for existing social problems by using Bergson?s ideas in the beginning of 1920s. He was the pioneer of a new intellectual movement which emerged as a reaction to the Comtean-Durkheimian ideologies of solidarism and communitarianism that became the dominant in the Turkish intellectual scene after the 1890s. Tunç criticized the Turkish elites who supported the idea of progressivism-scientism. Using Bergsonian ideas, Tunç attempted to find a republican life philosophy with a strong metaphysical base. Unlike positivist intellectuals of his time, he defended ?conscious conservatism? as a mixture of liberalism and conservatism. This study examines his political views. Key Words 1- Mustafa Sekip Tunç 2- Henri Bergson 3- Bergsonism 4- Spiritualism 5- The Republican Era