Diyâr, 2. Jg., 2/2021, S. 233–254, DOI: 10.5771/2625-9842-2021-2-233 Mustafa Aslan Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen Mustafa.Aslan@geschichte.uni-giessen.de Competing Intellectual Currents within Modern Turkish Conservatism: The Bergsonian Connection Abstract The philosophy of Henri Bergson (1859-1941) emerged during a critical juncture of European history as a reaction to the predominance of Enlightenment rationalism and positivism. Essen- tially, it strived to contest the peculiar convictions of these intellectual traditions and reintroduce the primacy of creativity, transcendence and human agency. As such, its influence had travelled across time and place. In modern Turkey, the thought of Bergson particularly influenced a group of conservative literati including İsmail Hakkı Baltacıoğlu (1886-1978), Peyami Safa (1899-1961), Hilmi Ziya Ülken (1901-1974) and, Mustafa Şekip Tunç (1886-1958). For these intellectuals, Berg- son represented the face of the ‘Other West’ and they appropriated his ideas with the aim of transforming the starkly positivist and rationalist disposition of Kemalism while being firmly committed to the ideals of the Modern Turkish Republic. On a different side of Turkey’s intel- lectual spectrum, another figure also appealed to Bergson and his philosophy. It was Necip Fazıl Kısakürek (1904-1983), who fiercely dissented against the project of the republic for its pro-West- ern foundations and reconceptualized Islam as a totalizing ideology. Hence, through a critical cross-reading of different primary and secondary sources, the present study contrasts these com- peting currents of Turkish conservatism, their appropriations of Bergsonian philosophy and atti- tudes toward their society’s experience of the Turkish revolution and modernity. Keywords: Henri Bergson, Intellectual History, Modern Turkey, Turkish Conservatism, Kemal- ism, Islamism 1. Introduction Within the intellectual history of modern Europe, Henri Bergson (1859-1941) some- what stands as a peculiar figure and based on his far-reaching influence, it would per- haps not be a misnomer to place him among the most prominent thinkers of the late nineteenth century. His philosophy represented an idealist-spiritualist moment dissent- ing against both Enlightenment rationalism and positivism that prevailed as the pre- dominant intellectual tradition for understanding the world and developing attitudes to it in Europe during the nineteenth century. Bergson prioritized intuition over ra- tionality in attaining absolute knowledge and, human agency over determinism in un- derstanding history and social change. As such, his ideas had transcended their own habitat of formation and time. They found fertile grounds in the intellectual milieus of many countries, both within and outside the European continent especially after the First World War. Remarkably, in modern Turkey the thought of Bergson procured res- onance among a group of conservative literati including İsmail Hakkı Baltacıoğlu