ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Plural Epistemologies, Shifting Meanings: Recasting ‘Tekâmül’ as Evolution

• In Event: Evolutionary Histories 1

English Abstract

This paper explores how Darwin’s theory of evolution was reinterpreted in the late Ottoman Empire through the adoption and creative appropriation of the term "tekâmül." Rather than serving as a direct equivalent to "evolution," tekâmül acted as a conceptual link between various epistemic realms, including Sufi-influenced teleologies, positivist scientific discourse, and emerging socio-political critiques. Its meaning, which signifies a gradual ascent toward perfection, challenged the linear, materialist, and progressivist assumptions inherent in nineteenth-century European evolutionary theory. In this regard, the Ottoman engagement with Darwin exemplifies a form of epistemic disobedience—an insistence on rethinking evolution by anchoring scientific meanings in local intellectual traditions. Methodologically, this study relies on close readings of Ottoman scientific and philosophical texts, including translations, commentaries, and original treatises, to illustrate how tekâmül became a site of conceptual negotiation. The ambiguity of newly introduced scientific ideas, coupled with the search for culturally resonant equivalents, produced a variety of interpretations that contested singular scientific authority. Instead of passively accepting Darwin’s ideas, Ottoman translators and readers re-framed them within contexts that allowed for divergent truths and alternative visions of nature. During the late Hamidian regime, this plurality bore political significance. Tekâmül could signify a connection to inherited traditions or advocate for rupture and reform. Thus, the struggle over the meaning of evolution reveals how scientific concepts migrated, transformed, and acquired new political and epistemological functions in a non-Western imperial context. By emphasizing the contingent, negotiated, and plural nature of tekâmül, this paper argues that Darwin’s reception in the Ottoman world prompts us to reconsider the historiography of science in a pluralistic manner—one that is sensitive to shifting perspectives, alternative epistemologies, and the contested landscapes where scientific meaning is constructed.

Author

• Selin Kara, Aksaray University