Filling the ‘Great Lacuna’? Recent Trends in the Eighteenth-Century Ottoman Intellectual History

In a survey article published two decades ago, Hathaway identified the intelleetual life of the eighteenth-century Ottoman Empire as one of the period’s most understudied aspects. While acknowledging the historiographical accomplishments in the field, she noted that ‘the still-looming gaps’ existed in the literature with regard to intellectual history. She contended that intellectual history represented ‘the great lacuna in Ottoman history*. Her analysis further indicated that much of the existing scholarship on ulema, the primary learned class of the period, was prosopographic, focusing on their career trajectories and there was also a limited scholarly interest in the societal roles of prominent ulema figures. However, she emphasised that these studies largely neglected the intellectual output of the ulema…