This paper conceptualizes the discouse of students and graduates of the military medical
school in Constantinople which gradually gained influence in Ottoman politics. In the period
of a fading Ottoman Empire at the end of the 19th century, the physicians considered
themselves to be predestined politicians and held a high interest in the well-being of their
fatherland. Their self-perception as a “perplexed Ottoman nation” called forth a desire for a
political recommencement. This new beginning should be, henceforth, grounded on a
positivist and social-darwinist foundation, superseding the traditionally followed theological
basis. European scientists served as an inspirational reference and disposed the physicians to
apply the scientists’ metaphors and to project them also on terms such as “race” or “nation”.
The transfer of metaphors brought about the establishment of different meanings of certains
notions which previously beared an Ottoman-Islamic symbolism. One of the those political
exponents was Dr. Rıza Nur who abandoned his long-lasting career at the military medical
school for politics. He was elected as an assemblyman in his hometown of Sinop. He was also
affected by the positivist scientific school. The transfer of social-darwinistic thought is also
discernable in the discourses by Rıza Nur.
- Quote paper
- Arzu Kalipcioglu (Author), 2010, Die politische Sprache der Ärzte der militärischen Ärzteschule in Konstantinopel, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/154070
