84 chapter 2
its employees.45 It is highly illuminating to use these ideas (inherited as they
were by one treatise from another for many generations) as a setting against
which one can measure the innovative aspects of various exponents of eigh-
teenth-century Ottoman economic thought, writers who developed a kind of
mercantilism with an emphasis not only on commerce but also on state-driven
production (see below, chapter 8).
2.2 The Beginning and Principles of Government
The need for the government of cities (medine, a term that originates from
al-Farabi’s terminology and in this context denotes society at large) and the
rules thereof are conceived within the same frame of a continuum uniting an
individual soul with wider associations. In order to demonstrate mankind’s
need for settlement (temeddün), both Amasi (Y127–130) and Kınalızade (K405–
450) draw a philosophical distinction between simple and complex bodies;
the latter reach their perfection from their complexity, and this is attained by
various means. Man also needs help not only from the material sources of the
world (such as fire, wood, etc.) but also from his fellow-men, since no one per-
son can produce all the goods needed for their own subsistence. In Tursun’s
words, man has become civilized due to his moral qualities in order to promote
his health and living resources (emr-i inti’aşında ve ahkam-ı ma ’aşında), there-
by creating societies (which “according to our customs” are called town, vil-
lage, and nomad camp: ki ana temeddün dirler ki, örfümüzce ana şehr ve köy ve
oba dinilür; T12–14). Every individual, Kınalızade says, needs to help and social-
ize with others, starting from the basic couple of a man and woman, needed
for reproduction, then proceeding to the wider family, and finally to societies
(içtima ’), since one person cannot produce all the goods needed; as he had
explained before, God’s wisdom leads people to choose all kinds of profession,
even inferior ones. Moreover, the existence of poor and rich is likewise justi-
fied, since if everybody were poor (or rich) nobody would serve anyone; while,
with the existence of rich and poor, the servants get a living from the served
and the latter get help, leading to the satisfaction of everyone’s aims and to
order in the world (K410–412). Thus, in Amasi’s words (Y128),
the human race is naturally in need of society, and this kind of need
is called civilization (temeddün); this term derives from the word ‘city’
(medine), which is defined as every locality where people gather and help
each other with the various professions in order to procure their means
of living.45 Sariyannis (forthcoming); cf. Sariyannis 2013.