Teaching Critical Thinking in the Ottoman Empire

Abstract

Thinking is a distinctive action that distinguishes human beings from other living things with the faculty of reason and enables them to understand and make sense of what exists. In this respect, the act of thinking has been a regulator of behavior in the development of the individual and the formation of social structure in ancient societies. The act of thinking has been developed over time by philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle within the framework of a certain discipline and accompanied by practices. In the Islamic tradition of thought, these practices were given a different meaning through madrasa education. In Ottoman educational institutions, it was aimed to improve the standard of thinking of individuals through courses such as philosophy and logic based on rational knowledge offered within the curricula with the act of critical thinking. In this study, an answer will be sought to the problematic of how the concept of critical thinking was handled in Ottoman educational institutions and how critical thinking competence was acquired by individuals. Critical thinking in the perspective of the act of thinking, critical thinking on the historical plane, the processes of imparting critical thinking to the individual in Ottoman educational institutions will be discussed, and it will be tried to understand how thinking practices were imparted to with a methodology in curricula and books. In the study, the data were evaluated by using historical analysis and document analysis method together.