Science and scientific knowledge came to the fore as one of the most distinctive hallmarks of Western civilization alongside its rise. Moreover, by being incorporated into a narrative shaped by Orientalist rhetoric, they played a significant role in rendering the East passive. This process of passivization, in turn, gave rise to a defensive reaction asserting that the East had also made substantial contributions in the past to the scientific developments that became prominent in the West. This defensive reflex was instrumentalized as a means of bolstering self-confidence, based on the assumption of having had a share in the emergence of contemporary scientific progress. Yet within such a reflex, what that scientific knowledge actually was, and which metaphysical vessel it drew nourishment from, was not sufficiently discussed. It is precisely this problem that the 10th issue of Teklif magazine – each issue of which investigates a particular question – addresses in a comprehensive manner. Rather than evaluating all the themes covered in the issue, this article will focus on the matter solely in the context of our universities in Türkiye.
Ihsan Fazlıoğlu offers a comprehensive definition of science in order to provide a basis for discussion: "Science is the systematic, coherent, and evidenced knowledge of phenomena and events within a particular sphere of reality, produced within the limits of inferential/deductive/procedural reason according to predefined principles and methods, and which is shareable, verifiable, and reproducible." Following this comprehensive definition, scientific knowledge in the discussions is evaluated as knowledge obtained through a method. In this respect, while there is generally no problem in terms of methods and techniques, the fundamental issue emerges – again as Fazlıoğlu points out – in relation to the “propositions of meaning upon which science is built.” As propositions of meaning are derived from propositions of belief, explanatory propositions (spheres of reality) are in turn constructed on the basis of these propositions of meaning.
