Mehmet S. Aydın's Philosophy of Religion

Abstract

Philosophy of religion is a field that studies religious issues from a philosophical point of view. Mehmet S. Aydın, who wrote the most widely read work in the field of philosophy of religion in Turkey, entitled Philosophy of Religion, has remarkable studies in this field as a thinker trying to reconcile religion and philosophy. According to Aydın, thoughts that can be described as philosophical ones should first of all have the characteristics of "rationality, comprehensiveness, objectivity and consistency". The main aim of a philosopher of religion is to try to show the integrity of knowledge by reconciling the knowledge revealed by religion and science with a philosophical perspective that includes these basic features. According to Aydın, who was influenced by the philosophy of the process, the relationship between God and the Realm is not static. This relationship, which takes its roots from the Qur'an, is in a creative development that evolves towards innovation. Aydın does not intend to establish religion. Aydın is trying to "establish a pure and universal moral religion with liberal and democratic character by purging religion from its historical interpretations", that is, to understand religion from the Qur'an. Unlike Kant's morality of duty, which he was inspired by, Aydın; He says that religion affects every aspect of life. He draws attention to the need to solve the problems of religious life with modern life. In this context, the subject of the research is about Aydın's understanding of philosophy of religion in general and his contributions to the philosophy of religion. Studies that reveal Aydın's ideas in the field of philosophy of religion are rare. This study is important in terms of contributing to the gap in the literature. In the research; Based on Mehmet S. Aydın's various works and other studies on him, it is aimed to reveal Aydın's philosophy of religion understanding by determining Aydın's ideas about philosophy of religion and the basic principles behind these ideas. The theoretical research design, which is included in the qualitative research method, was preferred. While creating the data, Mehmet S. Aydın's Philosophy of Religion, God-World Relationship, Islamic Philosophy Writings were preferred as the main source and various studies in the literature were also used. Based on these works, the document analysis method was preferred in order to extract the ideas and terminology of the thinker about the philosophy of religion and to classify them in a problem-oriented manner. In conclusion; What the philosopher of religion basically wants to do is to establish a bridge between the field of theology and the field of social sciences, to allow information exchange, as well as to try to show the integrity of knowledge by reconciling the information revealed by religion and science. Aydın, who thinks that religion is related to every aspect of life; He states that "it is not necessary to deny one's own religious and moral values, and their own historical values ​​in order to become this or that intellectual". This will be achieved by learning and adopting religious and cultural values, and most importantly, by putting them into practice. Aydın's main goal was the idea of ​​bringing the "man of the Qur'an", that is, the true pious, back on the stage of life in his individual and social self.