Osmanlı Toplumunda “Ahlaksızlar”: Ondokuzuncu Yüzyıl Sonunda Osmanlı Ahlak Söyleminin Jeneolojisi

Abstract

Since the Tanzimat edict the Ottoman state started to adopt a liberal governmental rationality similar to the Western states. According to Foucault, government refers to “the conduct of conduct” and governmentality is state’s use of modern and rational governmental techniques for conducting the acts of individuals and populations. At the turn of the century, the Ottoman state, which had increased its administrative modernization and centralization, became responsible for public security and order. The state apparatus provided this public order by reproducing the traditional morality of the neighborhood in the state discourse of governmentality. In other words, the moral discourse of the neighborhood was juxtaposed with the citizen-based liberal administrative discourse that responded to public safety, public health and the lower demands of the citizens. Presenting the genealogy of moral discourse in the late Ottoman society, this study shows that the moral regime in the premodern Ottoman neighborhood is combined with the modern administrative discourse focused on “good governance” that serves the safety and well-being of society and citizens (i.e., populations and the individuals in them, respectively).