Educator, poet and philosopher (B. 1811, Fileta / Ioannina / Ottoman Empire (Greece) – D.
1881, Eyüp / Istanbul). He is known as Hodja Hasan Tahsin Efendi or Hoca
Hasan Tahsin. He was the
son of teacher and mufti Osman Efendi. After having received his primary
religious and literary information from his father, he came to
He was
appointed to the Darülfünun that was in the establishment stage at that time by
the Minister of Education, Mehmet Esat Saffet Pasha as a director (rector) on
November 8th 1869. During this period, he worked to promote modern
sciences to Turkish people by making scientific meetings. However, upon having received
reaction to those meetings, he was dismissed after one year and the following year
Darülfünun was closed. Hodja Tahsin lived his life with works to promote
Western science to the Ottoman society however, he was confronted with
accusations such as ruining people’s beliefs and dissuading them. When he was
sent away from Darülfünun, he retracted
to the
He started to make a living by opening a private school
and giving lessons. During this period, a friend of him named Nuri Bey helped
him. Among his students were the famous people of the later years such as
Şemseddin Sami, Abdülhak Hâmid. Tahsin Hodja prepared the first published map
of the sky in
Hodja Tahsin Efendi
was one of the first thinkers who approached the evolution of living beings
with a scientific perspective. In his work “Tarih-i
Tekvin yahud Hilkat” (History of Presence or Creation, 1893), he mentioned
the evolution of living things as well as the topics in other branches of
science.
Hodja Hasan Tahsin founded the Memâlik-i İslâmiyye Society of Geography in the beginning of the
1870s and he was appointed to the inspector of libraries position with the help
of Münif Pasha, who was one of the leading men of the state and thought of the
period. He was appointed as a teacher in the Darülmuallimin (
EDUCATION-SCIENCE:
Mürebbî-i Etfâl (Educator of
Children, Istanbul 1872), Usûl-i Fenn-i Felâhet-Kimya-yı Ziraat (Information
on Agriculture, with Mahmud Nedim, 1874),
Esrâr-ı Âb u Havâ, (Secrets of Water and Air, Istanbul 1892), Psiholoji yâhûd ‘İlm-i Rûh, (Psychology,
Istanbul 1892), Târîh-i Tekvîn yâhûd
Hilkat, (History of Creation, Istanbul 1892), Esâs-ı ‘İlm-i Hey’et (Basics of Astronomy, Istanbul 1893), Mir’ât-ı
Sema Esbab-ı İlm-i Hey’et.
POETRY: Müsemmenler (eighth poems).
TRANSLATION: Nevamis-i Tabîiyye (translation and writing from
Volney, 1757 - 1820), La loi naturelle ou
catéchisme du citoyen français (Law of the Nature or Catechism of the
French citizens, 1792).
REFERENCE: Hilmi Ziya Ülken / Çağdaş Düşünce Tarihi
(1966), Bursalı Mehmed Tahir / Osmanlı Müellifleri I (1972), Ömer Faruk Akün /
TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (c. 18, 1998), Remzi Demir- Bilal Yurtoğlu / Unutulmuş Bir Osmanlı Düşünürü Hoca
Tahsin Efendi’nin ‘Tarih-i Tekvin yahut Hilkat’ Adlı Eseri ve Haeckelci
Evrimciliğin Türkiye’ye Girişi” (Şarkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, Sayı 2, Yaz
s.166-196, 2001), Osman Bahadır / Hoca Tahsin Efendi ve Evrim Teorisi
(Cumhuriyet Bilim Teknik, 24 Haziran 2011), İhsan
Işık / Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları
Ansiklopedisi (2006, gen. 2. bas. 2007) - Ünlü Fikir ve Kültür Adamları
(Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 3, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous
People (2013).