An Appraisal of the Chronology Problem in the “Rise of the West” Question

“Batı'nın Yükselişi”, “Büyük Sorun” ve “Büyük Iraksama”, sosyal bilimlerdeki çok eski bir problematike işaret eden farklı terimlerdir. Burada, Batı'nın Doğu üzerinde üstünlük sağladığı varsayılan bazı alanlar vasıtasıyla “Batı” ile “Doğu” arasında bir fark oluştuğu düşünülmektedir. Çalışmamızın birinci bölümünde okuyucuya ilgili literatür tanıtılmaya çalışılmıştır. Ayrıntılı bir anlatımdan ziyade, konuya ilişkin önemli hususlar ön plana çıkarılarak, tartışmanın ana hatları belirlenmeye çalışılmıştır. “Batı'nın Yükselişi” literatürüne yönelik bu genel değerlendirmenin ardından, konunun önemli bir boyutunu oluşturan “kronoloji sorunu” üzerinde durulmuştur. “Kronoloji Problemi” olarak adlandırdığımız problem, şu sorunun cevabını aramaktadır: “Batı ne zaman yükseldi?”. Araştırmacıların cevaplaması daha zor ve önyargılara daha açık olan “Neden ?” sorusuna odaklandıklarını düşünmekteyiz. Bize göre daha belirgin ve somut olması nedeniyle “Kronoloji Problemi”ni tartışmaların merkezine koymak daha faydalıdır. Ancak burada da öncelikle cevaplanması gereken soru, “Kronoloji Problemi”nin hangi alanlarda inceleneceğidir. Mann'ın sosyal güç teorisi ile realist Uluslararası İlişkiler teorisinden türetilen üçlü bir yaklaşımın bu soruya metodolojik olarak tatmin edici bir cevap vermede faydalı olabileceğini düşünmekteyiz.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Batı'nın Yükselişi, Kronoloji Problemi, Avrupamerkezcilik, Mann'ın sosyal güç teorisi

“Batı'nın Yükselişi” Mevzusunda Kronoloji Sorunu Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme

“Rise of the West”, “Grand Question”, “The Great Divergence” are all different nomenclature for a pristine problematic in social sciences: The supposed discrepancy between the “East” and the “West” in a variety of domains whereby the “West” is assumed to acquire supremacy over the “East”. In the former part of our essay we try to acquaint the reader with the aforementioned literature. We do not intend to present a detailed account but just the important milestones delineating only the broadest contours of the discussion. After providing a general overview of the “Rise of the West” literature we dwell upon the “Problem of Chronology” haunting it. We call it the “Problem of Chronology” since it is essentially providing an adequate answer to the following question “When had the West Risen?” We think the researchers have too much engaged in providing an answer to the “Why” question, which is both harder to address and prone to much prejudice. According to us, a better approach is to put “Problem of Chronology” as the central piece of the argument. It is a clear cut and more tangible question to tackle. However, we pinpoint that, providing a solution to the problem requires answering a preliminary question: “In which domains should we seek a chronology?” We argue that a three pronged approach derived from Mann's theory of social power and realist International Relations theory may be useful in achieving a methodologically satisfactory solution to the problem.

Keywords:

Rise of the West Problem of Chronology, Eurocentirsm, Mann'st heory of social power, ,

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