Grounding of cultural philosophy at Ziya Gökalp

Culture is a phenomenon observed in all types of society, from primitive to civilized throughout history. Culture, which tells the story of humanity in a sense, is closely related to all developments in society. Culture, which is as old as the first human and as current as today, has attracted the attention of philosophers or thinkers in every period and has been the subject of their research. Today, the last word has not been said in the researches about culture. For this reason, even if new concepts are added to the subject, even if the society is faced with new events and developments, studies on what culture and society are will always continue. The ideas put forward about culture paved the way for the formation of the philosophy of culture. Ziya Gökalp is one of the important thinkers who come to the forefront with his comprehensive studies on culture and society in this field. Gokalp, who embarked on a search for a solution to the depressed social structure of his time, found the solution in the idea of "nation" that would develop the society. It has subjected the society to a detailed research in order to reveal the process of becoming a nation. However, the prominent concepts in Gökalp's theory are the concepts of "culture" and "civilization". In this direction, brief information about culture is given in the introduction part of the study and, in order to get to know our thinker better, his life and works are emphasized. In the second chapter, in addition to a more detailed analysis of the concept of culture, important cultural philosophy movements are examined. In the third chapter, Gökalp's philosophy of culture is explained within the framework of his own perspective, and the basic concepts of the subject are mentioned. In the fourth chapter, the philosophical foundations of Gökalp's thesis are evaluated in the context of evolutionist philosophy of culture.