80 chapter 2
the indispensable means of exchanging goods equally and justly. This leads to
the need for a supreme power to suppress tyranny and determine the value of
money. Thus, three things are needed for the preservation of justice in society:
the law of God (namus-ı rabbani), a human ruler (hakim-i insani), and weighed
(i.e., defined) money (dinar-ı mizani); all three together, Kınalızade remarks,
were named by the Greek sages nâmûs (νόμος), which corresponds to siyaset.
First comes the law of God, which the ruler must obey, while he, in turn, is the
regulator of money. Inversely, the extent of the oppression is greatest when
the oppressor disobeys the law of God, medium when he does not comply
with the ruler, and smallest when he disrespects the function of money. The
third oppression leads to robbery and plundering, but the oppression resulting
from ignoring the first two requirements is the greatest. Some sages, Amasi
explains, divide justice into three parts: submission to God; respect for rulers,
for the rights of other people (hukuk-ı ebna-i cins), and for just transactions; and
submission to law and order (eda-ı hukuk ve infaz-i vasaya). We will return to
the origins of political society and the justifications of power later on, but it is
important to note here the close relationship of human associations with jus-
tice, which further explains its designation as the central political virtue.
2.1 A Political Economy
The second level of ethical practice, which in Amasi’s model is part of the prac-
tical science pertaining to associations and in Kınalızade’s expression it is the
governance of one’s household (ilm-i tedbirü’l-menzil), is strongly influenced
by the ancient Greek Οικονομικός genre and especially by the Neoplatonist
Bryson.38 A large part of the relevant chapters in these works concerns the
family, the marriage, the education of children, the relationship with one’s ser-
vants and so forth; what interests us more is the fact that theories about wealth
and economics appear in this context as well. Tursun and Bitlisi have little
to say in this respect, but both Amasi (Y116–127) and Kınalızade (K325–405)39
deal extensively with the issue.
As seen above, the sociability of mankind is attributed to the need for mu-
tual assistance: man needs food, and neither agriculture nor husbandry can
be done by one man alone, so people must collaborate with one another.
Furthermore, a place is needed for rest and protection; a wife to bear and
raise one’s offspring; and servants to help. Thus, the five pillars of the house
are the father, the mother, the child, the servant, and the means of sustenance
(kut). Moving now to economics as a source of sustenance (and skipping
38 Plessner 1928; Swain 2013.
39 Cf. Ermiş 2014, 81ff.