Ali Fuad Başgil: an exceptional personality in the cultural elites of the Republican era (1893-1967). He is the first generation of scientists in the field of constitutional law in Turkey. In the 1920s, he studied law, philosophy and sociology in France. During his youth he learned a great deal from Müderris Şevketi Efendi. Şevketi Efendi was a classical madrasa originated figure, yet he was also educated at Robert College and continued his education in Europe. Alongside his madrasa origin he knew to speak certain Western languages. Başgil did not adopt the Western line of Turkish modernization. But he was not anti-Western. He defended that there is a spiritualist West other than the positivist West. He criticizes the Turkish language reform, the radical applications of secular politics and the authoritarian nature of the regime. He is not just a scholar. He also influences public opinion through the articles published in daily newspapers. Due to the criticism of the regime especially after the May 27 coup, he was thrown out of university and after a while he got arrested. Despite the fact that he was a member of the modern epistemic community, the community did not quite tolerate him. As a constitutional jurist, he was the founder of a doctrine. He became a public intellectual in Turkey.