HATİCE SENA ARICIOĞLU SENA HATİCE SPIRITISM IN SECULAR TURKEY, 1936-1969: THE RUHSELMAN CIRCLE BETWEEN RELIGION AND MODERN SCIENCE A Master’s Thesis SPIRITISM IN SECULAR TURKEY TURKEY IN SECULAR SPIRITISM by HATİCE SENA ARICIOĞLU Department of Political Science and Public Administration İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University Bilkent Bilkent Ankara December 2019 University 2019 To Sane SPIRITISM IN SECULAR TURKEY, 1936-1969: THE RUHSELMAN CIRCLE BETWEEN RELIGION AND MODERN SCIENCE The Graduate School of Economics and Social Sciences of İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University by HATİCE SENA ARICIOĞLU In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION İHSAN DOĞRAMACI BİLKENT UNIVERSITY ANKARA December 2019 ABSTRACT SPIRITISM IN SECULAR TURKEY, 1936-1969: THE RUHSELMAN CIRCLE BETWEEN RELIGION AND MODERN SCIENCE Arıcıoğlu, Hatice Sena M.A., Department of Political Science and Public Administration Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. İlker Aytürk December 2019 Spiritism, established by Allan Kardec claims to study an immaterial world through scientific methods, proposes a doctrine of reincarnation and derives knowledge from communication with spirits. In contrast to its depiction in popular culture invoking scary and ominous imagery, communication with spirits was a serious venture for spiritists. This thesis examines Turkish spiritism, spearheaded by Bedri Ruhselman, between 1936 and 1969 in an effort to reveal why a group of intellectuals were interested in a supernatural and transcendental practice such as spiritism. To answer this question, the study examines the history of spiritism in Turkey and provides an in- depth analysis of its spiritist, scientific and moral teachings. It also offers a group biography of Turkish spiritists through a dataset based on prosopographical analysis and contextualizes spiritism in the mid-20th-century Turkey by explaining its reception by political/bureaucratic elites and its impact on the society. The results of the study demonstrate that Turkish spiritism was an attempt to construct a hybrid scientified spirituality that negotiated and reconciled modern science and religion and an attempt to provide a solution to the moral gap observed within republican reforms. This attempt thus challenged the antagonistic depictions of the relationship between modern science iii and religion. It also questioned monolithic portrayals of progressive and conservative intellectuals by introducing an unnoticed layer of republican elite. This study thus offers a more complex understanding of both Turkish modernization and of Turkish modernizers. In the process, the dissertation also traces the changes in approaches to modern science throughout Turkish modernization. Keywords: Alternative Spirituality, Religion, Science, Spiritualism, Turkish Spiritism iv ÖZET SEKÜLER TÜRKİYE’DE RUHÇULUK, 1936-1969: DİN VE MODERN BİLİM İKİLEMİNDE RUHSELMAN GRUBU Arıcıoğlu, Hatice Sena Yüksek Lisans, Siyaset Bilimi ve Kamu Yönetimi Bölümü Tez Danışmanı: Doç. Dr. İlker Aytürk Aralık 2019 Allan Kardec tarafından kurulan Ruhçuluk, maddi olmayan ruhani bir dünyanın bilimsel yöntemlerle incelendiği reenkarnasyona dayalı bir doktrin izleyerek, ruhlarla iletişimden bilgi edinilebileceğini varsayar. Popüler kültürdeki ürkütücü tasvirlerin aksine, ruhçular için ruhlarla iletişim ciddi bir girişimdir. Bu tez, Bedri Ruhselman tarafından sistemli bir hale getirilen Türk ruhçuluğunu 1936 ve 1969 yılları arasında inceleyerek, bir grup entelektüelin neden ruhçuluk gibi doğa ve deneyüstü bir sisteme ilgi duyduğunu ortaya çıkarmaya çalışmaktadır. Bu soruya cevap bulmak için, bu çalışmada ruhçuluğun Türkiye’deki tarihi ve ruhçu, bilimsel ve ahlaki öğretileri derinlemesine incelenmiştir. Çalışma aynı zamanda prosopografi yöntemine dayanarak Türk ruhçularının grup biyografisini çıkaran bir veri seti oluşturmuş ve Türk ruhçuluğunun siyasi/bürokratik elitler tarafından nasıl karşılandığını ve toplumda nasıl bir etki bıraktığını inceleyerek konuyu 20. yüzyılın ortasında bir bağlama yerleştirmiştir. Çalışmanın sonuçları, Türk ruhçuluğunun, hem bilim ve dini birleştirip uzlaştıran bilimselleşmiş bir maneviyat kurma çabası hem de cumhuriyet reformlarında gözlemlenen ahlaki boşluğa bir çözüm getirme çabası olduğunu göstermektedir. Bu çaba, bilim ve din arasındaki ilişkiyi zıt ve düşmanca bir zemine oturtan tasvirlere karşı çıkmaktadır. Yeni bir cumhuriyet elitinin varlığını göstererek de, entelektüellerin ilerici ve muhafazakâr olarak yekpare gruplara bölünmesini de v sorgulamaktadır. Böylece, bu tez hem Türk modernleşme sürecine hem de bu süreçte yer alan aktörlere dair daha sofistike bir anlatı sunmaktadır. Aynı zamanda da, Türk modernleşme sürecinde bilime olan yaklaşımlardaki değişimlerin de izini sürmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Alternatif Maneviyat, Bilim, Din, Ruhçuluk, Spiritüalizm vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my advisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. İlker Aytürk for his unfailing support, insightful feedback and encouragement. His guidance was instrumental in my introduction to the world of spiritists and in defining the path of my research. I would also like to thank the rest of the committee, Asst. Prof. Dr. Berrak Burçak Della Fave and Asst. Prof. Dr. Kadir Dede for enhancing the overall quality of this study with their stimulating comments, questions and contributions. I would also like to acknowledge Prof. Dr. Orhan Güvenen, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Şirin Okyayuz and Asst. Prof. Dr. Tolga Bölükbaşı for offering me extensive personal and professional guidance both in scientific research and life in general. I am also grateful to the staff of National Library of Turkey and Bilkent Library for their continuous assistance in my research. A very special gratitude also goes out to Tülin Etyemez Schimberg, President of MTIAD, for facilitating my research and providing me with invaluable data. Last but not least, I am eternally grateful to my family; to my parents, Asiye and Sezai Arıcıoğlu, whose love and support are with me in whatever I pursue, to my mother specifically, who is the strongest person I know, and to my sisters/best friends, Sane and İkra, for being the source of unending inspiration. With a special mention to Robin Thomas for being the most supportive companion imaginable. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ iii ÖZET............................................................................................................................ v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………vii TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... viii LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... xi LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1 1.1. Spiritism in the World ................................................................................... 5 1.2. Historical and Intellectual Background in the Turkish Context .................. 10 1.3. The Kemalist Dilemma ............................................................................... 14 1.4. Propositions of the Dissertation .................................................................. 18 CHAPTER II: RESEARCH APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY ....................... 20 2.1. Design and Elaboration of Methods ................................................................ 20 2.2. Time Frame ..................................................................................................... 22 2.3. Nature and Sources of Data ............................................................................. 24 2.4. Concepts and Terminology ............................................................................. 25 2.5. Limitations ....................................................................................................... 30 2.6. Chapter Breakdown ......................................................................................... 32 CHAPTER III: FROM SPIRITISM TO NEO-SPIRITUALISM: RUHSELMAN AND SPIRITIST TEACHINGS ................................................................................ 35 3.1. Ottoman Spiritism and Occultism ................................................................... 36 3.2. Bedri Ruhselman ............................................................................................. 40 viii 3.3. Spiritist Teachings ........................................................................................... 45 3.3.1. Definitions ................................................................................................ 45 3.3.2. Differences from Classical Spiritism ........................................................ 46 3.4. Scientific and Philosophical Teachings ........................................................... 50 3.4.1. Philosophy of Science ............................................................................... 50 3.4.2. In Search of a Scientific Revolution ......................................................... 55 3.5. Spiritual and Moral Teachings ........................................................................ 57 3.5.1. Attitude toward Religion .........................................................................