THE PHILOSOPHICAL CONTENTS OF DĪWĀN LUGHĀT AL-TURK (Divanü Lûgat-it-Türk’te Felsefî İçerikler).

Abstract

Abstract Philosophy is a work of mind which is produced in language. The power of expression regarding being, mankind, society, morality, and value manifests the philosophical potential of a language as well. The potential of the language is the potential of philosophy and the potential of philosophy is the potential of the language. Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk is one of the oldest and the most important texts of Turkish culture. This work that is written to teach Turkish to foreigners, is not a work of dictionary in a simplistic sense, it has a quality of an “anthology” which presents the samples from the structure of the language of its own period such as poetry, proverb, and story according to the requirement of the language teaching that is embodying and exemplary. It is one of the works that has a quality of exhibiting the philosophical potential of Turkish, the possibility to conceive and articulate the being in scope of the riddle of human being, God and universe; for the first time as in the most advanced level. This article aims to deal with the philosophical content in the text. In this article words, idioms, proverbs, poems, stories, and sample sentences will be examined in terms of their philosophical contents and connotations. This accumulation, will take place in order to reflect the holistic perspective of philosophy within the frame of: (1) conception of being, (2) conception of knowledge, (3) conception of human, (4) ethical and aesthetic values. Summary Great texts are texts which are alive; they need to be re-read, re-comprehended and reproduced. Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk  is such a living text; it embodies the accumulated education, science, thought, and culture of life in its own period. Language is simultaneously experience, worldview, conception of the universe, culture of living, and the apprehension of civilization; language is a common reason with the words, conceptions and traditional verbal components (epics, proverbs, ballads, tales, myths, elegies, jokes) it embodies. Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk  is precisely such a book of common reason. It is the common accumulation and common treasure of Turkish civilization; its intention is to present a common language of culture and communication without respect to the differentiations of accent and dialect that arise from distance over space (geography) and time. Likewise, Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk  opens up the conception of Turkish into Arabic, in terms of its worldview, apprehension of life, and cultural riches; it furthermore opens up Arabic, the language of education, science, philosophy and literature, into Turkish. It does so by the means of reproducing Turkish in Arabic; it, so to speak, attunes the two languages to one another via their mutual encounter. Philosophy is a language study and emerging in the language. The power of expressing existence, people, society, morality and value constitutes the philosophical potential of a language. Languages in which great philosophies are produced are languages that allow for a detailed and inclusive consideration of existence. The "alternating" and "reciprocal" relationship between philosophy and language is reflected not only from language to thought but also from thought to language; the meaning given to the being in its broadest sense, the ability and skill in expressing the being is a contribution to the development and enrichment of the language. The potential of language determines philosophical effort; the potential of language is the potential of philosophy; the potential of philosophy is the potential of language. Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk  is one of the works in which the philosophical potential of Turkish is exhibited for the first time in the context of the concept of human beings, God and the universe. As a language has its own capacity, so too do human beings have a capacity of their own. As a language possesses its own wisdom, so too does each individual human being have a wisdom one of his or her own. At some point, language transcends being a mere “instrument” and transforms into a state of mind or consciousness that reflects in its own body the accumulation of millennia. Therein, people feel as if they were swept along in a vigorous river that comes flowing through the depths ofthe history, becoming ever greater and stronger as it flows. Philosophy, as the activity of deep thinking, emerges at the point where the capacity of humankind converges with the capacity of language, where the accumulation of language intersects with the accumulation of human beings. When the capacity of language is met by the faculties and strivings of mankind, it moves beyond mere potential and becomes an active force. Every language possesses its own mental structure and worldview. A language, which reflects a worldview, culture and the philosophy of a nation, also possesses a philosophical quality with a unique conception of being, knowledge, and values it encapsulates. This is certainly true of Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk . While the Lughāt is not a dictionary in a simplistic sense, it occupies the position of a work of art which reflects with the vocabulary it transmits; in this case, the apprehension of thought, belief and morality of the Turkish mind, as the latter exists in the frames of being, knowledge and value, and in its purest and most concise form. This rich context enables us to read it not only as a dictionary but also as a book of knowledge, culture and wisdom. Every text ought to be read and comprehended from a philosophical perspective. Such a reading enriches the text and enables it to endure. Looking at a text from a philosophical point of view does not mean to claim that the text is philosophical. Rather, such a “philosophical” reading can be defined as: (1) a reading which conceptualizes; (2) a reading which problematizes; (3) a reading which deals with an issue not in the framework of singular examples but in a holistic perspective; (4) a critical reading; (5) a reading which regards language and thought coherently; (6) a reading which intends to deal with the subject matter comprehensively and strives for integrity and consistency within that frame; (7) an interdisciplinary reading; (8) a reading which eventually seeks to ground the subject matter pursuant to ontological, epistemological, ethical and aesthetic values, to make it comprehensible; and (9) a reading which considers the historical and traditional context in its own right. In the current article, Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk will be read with the express purpose of laying forth the philosophical contents encapsulated therein; its subject will be treated within the framework of (1) being ( ontology ), (2) knowledge ( epistemology ), and (3) ethical and aesthetic values ( axiology ). This effort will also mean exploring the philosophical potential of this first source, in which the Turkish language accumulates in its purest form.