Ötekinin Bilgisi: Weber'de Avrupa-merkezciliğin Yapısökümü

Abstract

Western metaphysics has been in a structure where life has been rearranged with conceptual contrasts in a logocentric way since its inception. The tradition of Western thought has always been seeking the truth in a logos-centered manner which affects Eurocentric thought. This distinction progess which lies at the basis of the Eurocentric thought that builds Europe's superiority over the rest of the world, has been reproduced with modernity in the context of the “us” and “the other” opposition, especially the West-East distinction. Eurocentrism used the changes Europe experienced after the Enlightenment and Renaissance to build its own superiority around the discourse of modernity. The obsession with rationality that dominates Western thought has become an integral part of the Eurocentric discourse. Therefore, “us” and “the others”, which are constructed within the framework of the Eurocentric organization of the world, are established on the axis of the basic assumptions of the discourse of modernity. This study deconstructs Eurocentrism through the works of Max Weber, "Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism" and "Economy and Society", by considering how the Eurocentric distinction between us-the other is historically constructed. Within the scope of the selected works, the concepts of social action, administration, capitalism, religion, urbanization were deconstructed with a critical reading. Derrida's deconstructive reading strategy was used, it was aimed to reveal the conceptual oppositions established in a logos-centered manner and to reveal the conceptual contrasts that reproduce the West-East distinction. To make a decentralized reading, the contrasts of concepts revealed by deconstruction have also been interpreted in the context of the strategies that establish the oppositions. As a result of the research, Weber's role in the reproduction of Eurocentrism was evaluated in the context of the deconstructive analysis carried out.