Yeni Felsefe (Bir Metodik Felsefe Tasavvuru) Ömer Bozkurt, Maarif Mektepleri Publications, Ankara, 2020, 216 pages, (ISBN:978-605-06679-2-6)

Abstract

Philosophy is one of the answers to the problem of man's search for truth. Philosophical activity is as old as human history and is seen as the oldest historical legacy of humanity that has survived to the present day. This heritage came to light as a special questioning activity systematically directed towards nature, human beings, the universe and God during the Ancient-Greek period. The philosophical systems developed by philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were the peaks of philosophical activity in this period. In later periods, philosophers such as Rene Descartes, Baruch Spinoza and Immanuel Kant kept philosophical activity alive by developing more comprehensive philosophical systems. However, with the Enlightenment Period, philosophy did not bring new views and suggestions and was  simply drowned in the history of philosophy. In addition, under the influence of the new understanding of science brought by the Positivism movement founded by Auguste Comte, a narrowing of the field in philosophy has manifested itself. As a matter of fact, sciences such as physics, mathematics, psychology and biology, which were previously dominated by philosophy, have become independent disciplines separate from philosophy. During this period, philosophy did not bring anything new, but the progress of science, on the other hand, led scientists such as Stephan Hawking and Leonardo Mlodinov to claim that philosophy was an unnecessary pursuit. The work titled New Philosophy (A Methodic Philosophy Imagination), written by Ömer Bozkurt, tries to find a solution to this stuckness in the field that philosophy has experienced at this point. The author states the purpose of the book as offering new ways and opportunities to the detachment of philosophy from life, loss of functionality, and barrenness of suggestion, production and expression of opinion. However, the author also listed the qualities that philosophical activity should have as a search for truth. Based on these qualities and the potential of philosophy, the author makes a series of suggestions by reminding the functions of philosophy that is alive, intertwined with life and responding to problems. For this reason, with the book New Philosophy, the author foresees not a completely new philosophy, but a new philosophy in the sense of "again". In this context, the New Philosophy book reminds the philosophical activity that cannot predict where to go, instead of showing the way, the power and method of finding a way. The author aims to bring this visionary attitude, which is at the core of philosophy and beyond its limits, to the reader with the book New Philosophy.