Khaldunist Philosophy: Innovation Justified 291
So far, Kâtib Çelebi repeats Ibn Khaldun’s stage theory, which he had al-
ready described in Takvîmü’t-tevârîh. But then he proceeds to further elabo-
rate on this simile in the first chapter of Düstûrü’l-amel, on the peasants or
reaya (AA124–129; G156–158). Human disposition, he claims, consists of four
elements or, more accurately, the four humors (blood, phlegm, yellow bile,
and black bile), and through the senses and faculties it obeys human reason
(nefs-i natıka). In the same way, the “social and human constitution” (heyet-i
ictimaiyye-i beşeriyye) is composed of four pillars, namely the ulema, the mili-
tary, the merchants, and the peasants or reaya; through the statesmen (a ’yan-ı
devlet) who act as its senses and faculties, society obeys the sultan, who is like
the human’s faculty of reason. From among the four pillars, the ulema cor-
respond to the blood; the heart is the seat of the animal soul (ruh-ı hayvani),
carried, via blood, throughout the limbs of a person’s body; similarly, the Sharia
and religious truth correspond to the animal soul and so give life to society,
spread by the ulema. The military correspond to phlegm, merchants to yellow
bile, and peasants to black bile. Just as the four humors must be kept balanced,
with none exceeding its defined limits at the expense of the others, so must
these four social classes profit from each other and coexist in moderation and
temperance. Kâtib Çelebi extends his simile even further: after digesting each
meal, the spleen sends black bile to the stomach so it will not stay empty, and
in the same way the peasants have to give their money to the imperial treasury
whenever it runs out of money. To accomplish this task, however, they have to
prosper in their businesses; this is why the sultans of old always protected the
peasants from all oppression with justice.29
In the same vein, the army is to be compared to phlegm (AA129–133; G158–
159). Just as phlegm is necessary, but its excess can be harmful to the body, so it
happens with the army in relation to society (cem’iyet). Here, again, the theory
of stages combines with that of the humors: when man passes the age of ma-
turity or stagnation into that of decline and old age, phlegm dominates the
bodily dispositions and keeps being produced, while the other humors tend to
turn into phlegm as well. Once one has reached a certain age, it is no use trying
29 Here Kâtib Çelebi profits from the occasion to move to the usual eulogy regarding the
reign of Süleyman the Magnificent. Süleyman did not think it proper for the peasants
to leave their villages, and so when he wished to increase the population of Istanbul he
transferred there the inhabitants of the conquered city of Belgrade rather than rural pop-
ulations. But after him, the condition of the state (or rather its age) began to stagnate,
and, with the coming of the Celalis, peasants started to leave their farms and emigrate to
the cities. The reason for this was the excessive taxes imposed and the fact that the state
followed the axiom “sell to the highest bidder”, and thus farmed out all revenues from one
oppressor to the other.