CONCEPTS AND CATEGORIES OF KAZAKH PHILOSOPHY

GULNARA K. YELEUKULOVA

ABSTRACT

Until recent period the very existence of the term “Kazakh philosophy” was totally
neglected. Kazakh philosophy is self-consciousness of the steppe culture which created
its own imaginative world and its own spiritual culture. If philosophy is understood in its
original meaning as love to wisdom and not only the knowledge of logical constructions
then it is oral steppe reflection of the everyday existence of the nomads and those who
created oral knowledge could be called nomadic philosophers. Kazakh philosophy is
shaped by the history of the Kazakhs and their perception of life and their worldview
reflects different periods of historical development through critical articulation of
ethical and metaphysical views. Nomadic civilization is characterized by the syncretism
of its worldview. The study of the history of the Kazakh, Turkic, and Islamic philosophy
contributed to the development of the modern integral worldview objected to spiritual
priorities.