The Science of Wealth

The Science of Wealth was written by Münif Pasha, who features large in our history of science and philosophy. The work was used as a textbook by the Ottoman Law School, and took its place among the texts that carried modern economic knowledge to the Ottoman world of thought. The period that started in the second half of the 19th century and continued up until the foundation of the Republic was a time of remarkable contributions to economic literature. The fact that The Science of Wealth remains an important part of this body of literature and reflects the economic knowledge of period in its discussions served as the basis for

In The Science of Wealth, Münif Pasha defends the idea of a liberal economy, although his criticisms of some of the views of Adam Smith and Malthus differentiate his work from other books in the economics field at the time. Issues, such as private property, the division of labour, freedom of industry and trade, fixed pricing, customs and interest, all of which are highly important in the creation of a liberal transformation to an economic, political, administrative, legal, religious and social structure, are among the headings in the Science of Wealth.

The original, translated and simplified texts allow the work to reach a broader audience. It is hoped that the study will increase the level of interest in our economics and science history literature.

Gökhan DOĞAN graduated from the Department of Economics of the Faculty of Political Sciences of Ankara University in 2009. He completed his master’s studies in the field of the history of science in the Faculty of Language and History-Geography of Ankara University in 2013. He simplified and published Münif Pasha’s book on the philosophy of law entitled Mystery of Law in 2016. He has penned articles on the history of science and economics that have been published in various journals. Among his areas of interest are Mustafa Fazıl Pasha and “A Work for Politics”; Münif Pasha and the “Science of Wealth”, which marked the establishment of liberal economic thought in Ottoman intellectual life; Alexander Bogdanov’s economic politics book in an Azeri translation “Science of Economy with Questions and Answers”; and Charles Gide’s “A History of Economic Doctrines from the Time of the Physiocrats to the Present Day and its influence on Atatürk: the Industrial Revolution in the 18th Century”.

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