Beşir Fuad (Beşīr Fuʾād, 1852(?)-1887) was one of the first proponents of materialism and positivism in the Ottoman Empire. Born into a Georgian family, in Istanbul, he was educated in Syria, where his father served as mutasarrıf (mutaṣarrif ), at a military preparatory school ( askeri idadi, askeri idādī ) and entered the War Academy (Mekteb-i Harbiye) from which he graduated in 1873. After serving in several wars he resigned from the army, in 1884, and started a new career as a honorary teacher at the Darüşşafaka Medrese and as a