Integrative experiment design assumes that we can effectively design a space of factors that cause contextual variation. However, this is impossible to do so in a sufficiently objective way, resulting inevitably in observations laden with surrogate models. Consequently, integrative experiment design may even deepen the problem of incommensurability. In comparison, one-at-a-time approaches make much more tentative assumptions about the factors excluded from experiment design, hence still seem better suited to deal with incommensurability.

Falsificationist and confirmationist approaches provide two well-established ways of evaluating generalizability. Yarkoni rejects both and invents a third approach we call neo-operationalism. His proposal cannot work for the hypothetical concepts psychologists use, because the universe of operationalizations is impossible to define, and hypothetical concepts cannot be reduced to their operationalizations. We conclude that he is wrong in his generalizability-crisis diagnosis.

Rethinking Plato: A Cartesian Quest for the Real Plato is a quest for the real Plato, forever hiding behind the veil of drama. The quest, as the subtitle indicates, is Cartesian in that it looks for Plato independently of the prevailing paradigms on where we are supposed to find him. The result of the quest is a complete pedagogical platform on Plato. This does not mean that the book leaves nothing out, covering all the dialogues and all the themes, but (...) that it provides the full intellectual apparatus for doing just that. It consists of two parts. The first is a general orientation in three chapters, one each pertaining to the life, thought, and works of Plato. The second is a dialogic companion covering the four dialogues built around the last days of Socrates, with a separate chapter devoted to each: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo. (shrink)

This article examines the social contract of Thomas Hobbes in the critical context of the prisoner’s dilemma, with the aim of demonstrating that the tenability of the former is not undermined by the gravity of the latter. The urgency of the problem is that Hobbes postulates a social contract to formalize our collective transition from the state of nature to civil society, while the prisoner’s dilemma challenges both the mechanics and the outcome of that thought experiment. The source of the (...) connection is that the incentives for reneging are presumably strong enough to keep rational persons from cooperating. This article argues that the prisoner’s dilemma undermines a position that Hobbes does not hold. It shows, in contrast, that the context and parameters of the social contract, particularly as envisaged by Hobbes, steer it safely between the horns of the dilemma. The main consideration toward that end is the central role of self-interest in the worldview of Hobbes, who thereby leaves plenty of room for progressive concessions toward peaceful coexistence, thus transforming the relevant model of rationality from utility maximization to utility satisficing, where contractors quickly learn to pursue a mutually satisfactory outcome instead of the best personal outcome. (shrink)

This article is a defense of John Rawls against recent criticism, ironically my own, though it is also a critique insofar as it addresses a problem that Rawls never does. The original charges were that Rawls’s decision procedure for ethics does not justify his own moral principles, especially those making up his liberal conception of justice, and that the underlying problem may well keep the decision procedure from justifying any moral principles whatsoever, or at least any normatively useful ones. These (...) difficulties are manifested in the work of Rawls as the dogmatism of championing a distinctive conception of justice, a liberal one as he himself calls it, through a justification model that comes across as too objective to permit such a bias and too universal to support any substantive conclusions at all. The solution contemplated here is to position the decision procedure as a justification model responsive to moral progress, and thereby equally open to all moral input, thus removing the inconsistency between the inherent universalism of the design and the distinctive character of the outcome, including the moral principles Rawls himself recommends, so long as they are consistent with moral progress. (shrink)

One over Many: The Unitary Pluralism of Plato’s World is a tightly integrated collection of essays by the author, some newly drafted for the present work, some previously published as journal articles, all conceived and developed in pursuit of corrective intervention in Plato’s metaphysics. The book replaces the standard view of Plato as a metaphysical dualist with an alternative interpretation providing greater explanatory power through the paradigm of unitary pluralism in a single reality built on ontological diversity.

İnsan ve hayvan arasındaki ilişki tarihin her döneminde ele alınan önemli bir sorundur. Bununla birlikte hayvanın kendi varlığının ne anlam ifade ettiği de ontolojik ve epistemolojik bağlamda irdelenmiştir. Bunun yanında etik ve siyaset bağlamında da bu sorunun önem arz ettiğini belirtmek gerekir. Dolayısıyla siyaset felsefesinde birey, toplum, devlet ilişkisini açık ve anlaşılır kılabilmek için çoğu kez hayvan metaforlarına veya doğrudan hayvandaki egemenliğin insana ve devlete nasıl geçtiğine odaklanılmıştır. Ancak metaforların tam olarak karşılığını bulabilmesi için etkili bir teori ve anlatıma ihtiyaç (...) duyulmaktadır. Söz konusu mahareti gösteren Platon, siyaset, devlet ve toplum üzerine derin analizler yaparken çoğu zaman metaforlara başvurmuş ve bu doğrultuda ilgi çekici örnekler ortaya koymuştur. Platon, bu yönüyle, çağını aşan bir perspektife sahip büyük bir teorisyen olarak görülebilir. Onun yapmış olduğu benzetmeler ilgi çekici olduğu kadar aynı zamanda da kışkırtıcıdır. Bu çalışmada siyaset felsefesinde önemli rol oynamış Platon’un siyasal bir unsurun aracı olarak hayvan metaforları onun Devlet eseri üzerinden değerlendirilmeye çalışıldı. Böylelikle Platon’un Devlet’te insan, etik ve siyaset teorisi üzerine yaptığı tartışmalarda başvurduğu hayvan metaforları incelendi. Amacımız Platon’un siyaset anlayışını, benzetmeler veya karşılaştırmalar yoluyla nasıl sistematize ettiğini incelemek ve buna dikkat çekebilmektir. Öncesinde ise hayvan-insan karşılaştırmasının felsefi açıdan nasıl ele alındığını araştırmak için felsefe tarihinden bazı düşünürlerin görüşlerine başvurulmuştur. Sonuç bölümünde felsefe tarihinde insan ve hayvan arasındaki kimi benzerliklerin veya farklılıkların teori geliştirme bağlamında ilham kaynağı olduğu gösterilmeye çalışılmıştır. (shrink)

In my dissertation, I analyze, interpret, and defend John Stuart Mill's proof of the principle of utility in the fourth chapter of his Utilitarianism. My purpose is not to glorify utilitarianism, in a full sweep, as the best normative ethical theory, or even to vindicate, on a more specific level, Mill's universalistic ethical hedonism as the best form of utilitarianism. I am concerned only with Mill's utilitarianism, and primarily with his proof of the principle of utility. My overarching purpose guiding (...) the entire work is to show that Mill proceeds intelligibly and systematically in pursuing a well-defined project in the fourth chapter of Utilitarianism, and that he successfully defends what he sets out to establish in his proof of the principle of utility. To this end, I devote the bulk of my efforts to studying and responding to traditionally popular and persistently enduring objections to the proof that are handed down from one generation to the next in the philosophical community as a standard companion to Utilitarianism. The primary objections to which I respond at length are the charges that Mill commits the naturalistic fallacy, the fallacy of equivocation, and the fallacy of composition in his proof. Secondary literature on the subject consists of journal articles and book chapters that treat one or another but not all of these problems. My research has convinced me that, although these commentaries are generally quite good, they are mutually incompatible, and they are neither severally nor jointly sufficient to produce the kind of comprehensive defense that would do justice to Mill's proof of the principle of utility. This kind of comprehensive defense is what I intend to contribute to secondary literature on the subject. Specifically, my ultimate contribution to secondary literature is an interpretation of Mill's proof of the principle of utility in its entirety, absolved of the three fallacies commonly attributed to the proof, yet faithful to the text at all points. (shrink)

My dissertation is on Plato's view on pleasure. I focus on the Republic, where Plato offers his first systematic treatment of pleasure and pain. Plato's thought on pleasure, and in particular his view on the truth and falsity of pleasure, has received no small degree of attention in the secondary literature during the past few decades. Despite the amount of work that has been done, however, Plato's thought on pleasure and pain has not been adequately understood, as scholars have persistently (...) underappreciated the treatment offered in Republic IX. ;The account and evaluation of pleasures in Republic IX has often been criticized as fraught with serious problems and inadequacies. It has been argued that the account not only fails to describe the role of pleasure in our lives accurately, but is also inconsistent and full of ambiguity. The inconsistency attributed to the account in essays by Dorothea Frede is supposedly between two distinct criteria that the account employs for the evaluation of pleasures. Dorothea Frede also claims, with Gosling and Taylor, that Plato's account contains fatal ambiguities. I argue that all of the above charges are false. I show that a careful examination of Plato's text reveals his account of pleasure to be consistent, coherent, and compelling. Since Plato offers his account of pleasure by way of proving that the pleasures of the rational part of the soul are most pleasant, dismissing the charges also requires a close reading of the passages in Book IV concerning the Platonic division of the soul into three parts. I show that Plato's view on pleasure and his division of the soul are mutually corroborative. The interpretation I develop allows us to see that Plato's view on the best life is much less austere and much more livable than critics have claimed. (shrink)

Snake or serpent is one the most widespread and oldest symbols which is known among different cultures folklore and mythology. As the role of symbolic notions is at the center of understanding any mythology, we would like to determine imagery meanings of the snake which could help researchers for knowing the myths more accurate and descriptive. Sometimes this motif represents the cycle of time and sometimes it does refer to Evil and even could be the symbol of divinity and eternity. (...) So this should be noted that how we can grasp any meaning from the narrations in which applied snake notion. These properties had roots in what they could be aware of snake nature and its biological attributes. As the same time, these properties are meaningful under the conditions that culture and, in some cases, religious thought prepared. The mixture of these end to some image that could be found in the mythology of their region.The very article discusses mythological aspects of snake notion in Indian and Wikings folklore, similarly to those which research on the Indo-Europian and Vikings cultural relationship and connections; except that our research is not focused on ontological and historical debates but only on the descriptive analyzing of mythological semantics. Meanwhile, it can be counted as some base which useful for whom like to dig up relations between two far distance cultures of Indians and Wikings. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage donne une place importante à l'idée de la justice selon deux philosophes : selon la théorie de Thomas Hobbes elle est prise dans un cercle entre la loi, le souverain et la violence, tandis que pour Jacques Derrida, elle ne doit pas être limitée à la loi. L'intention de l'auteure, n'est pas d'apporter une nouvelle théorie, mais de montrer qu'une idée philosophique peut avoir une influence en politique ou en droit selon les propositions des Critical Legal Studies.

Economic approaches to science underline the social structure of science as the chief explanatory factor in its collective epistemic success, and typically endorse a common conclusion, namely that individual virtue is neither necessary nor sufficient for science to be successful. We analyze a central example, the invisible hand argument, in reference to a case of collective epistemic failure, namely the credibility crisis. While divergent motivations might also serve the collective goals of science, our analysis shows that the presence of a (...) significant proportion of virtuous scientists in a scientific community is a necessary condition for its success. (shrink)

This article questions the central role of the good will in the moral theory of Immanuel Kant. The good will, according to Kant, is the only thing that is good in itself, and therefore good without limitation or qualification. This is an objectionable claim in support of a controversial position. The problem is not just that the good will is not the only thing that is good in itself, which indeed it is not, but more importantly, that the good will (...) is not so much a thing that is good in itself as it is the good kind of a thing that is otherwise neither good nor bad in itself. The goodness of a good will is no more intrinsic than the goodness of a good act. A good will, whatever else it may be, is a will that is good, much like how a good act is an act that is good, neither of which is good for any reason other than the goodness predicated of the corresponding subject. This article thus challenges Kant’s position on ontological grounds. It questions the validity of claiming intrinsic goodness for a complex construct whose goodness is, in fact, extrinsic to its substance. (shrink)

An expert is commonly considered to be somebody who possesses the right kind of knowledge and skills to find out true answers for questions in a domain. However, this common conception that focuses only on an individual’s knowledge and skills is not very useful to understand the epistemically interdependent nature of contemporary scientific expertise, which becomes increasingly more relevant due to the rise of large interdisciplinary research collaborations. The typical scientific expert today relies substantially on complex scientific instruments and numerous (...) other experts in forming expert judgment. Moreover, we have research collaborations where multiple scientists interact in a way that gives rise to distributed cognitive systems, which can act as a single informant. Accordingly, our concept of scientific expertise should not consist only in individual knowledge and skills, but also accommodate epistemic dependence and collective knowledge production. To this aim, this paper proposes a reconstruction of the concept of scientific expertise as informant reliability by building on the virtue-epistemological account of epistemic competences and theories of extended and distributed cognition. Considered in reference to the social epistemic function of expertise, a scientific expert should be conceived as a reliable informant in a scientific domain, which implies that when consulted on matters in that domain they assert competently, honestly, and completely. Competent expert assertion involves the epistemic responsibility to draw on nothing but the highest degree of epistemic competence relevant to the given context. Thus, being a reliable informant may require one to draw on an extended epistemic competence that goes beyond one’s individual competence, or to form supra-individual or group-informants that manifest collectively the kind of complex epistemic competence required for the investigation of certain research questions. (shrink)

In this study, Qāḍī Abd al-Jābbār’s views on knowing Allah (ma‘rifatullah) and following issues have been analysed. In this context, either the divine message has reached to a person or not, it is examined whether ma‘rifatullah is obligatory (wajib) upon him. Subsequently, it is discussed whether this obligation is ensured by reasoning (‘aql) or revelation (naql). Furthermore, while keeping in mind the role of intellect (nazar) and argumentation (istidlāl), we have established and evaluated religious state and source of nazar and (...) istidlāl. Also, we discussed to what extend God can be the subject of knowledge and from which aspects He can be known. Besides, we discussed whether ma‘rifatullah is an obligation and if not what its justification is. In addition, we examined whether imitative knowledge (taqlīd) is possible in the case of ma‘rifatullah or not and whether it’s sufficient to know God just by taqlīd without the reasoning at all. Finally, Qāḍī Abd al-Jābbār’s opinions on the religious situation of people to whom the divine revelation did not reach at all and so they lack of knowledge on God. (shrink)

Sosyal bilimlerde nesnelliğin, dışarıdan otoriter bir sese dayalı geleneksel yaklaşımların sorgulanması sonucu kavramlaşan otoetnografi, araştırmacının kendi öznelliğini araçsallaştırmasına dayanan bir yöntemdir. Zira, araştırmacının kendi deneyimlerini ve duygularını araştırmanın merkezine yerleştirmesi, otoetnografiyi geleneksel etnografilerden ayıran en belirgin özellik olarak vurgulanmaktadır. Bu çalışma, otoetnografiyi teorik, metodolojik ve etik açılarından ele alarak yöntemin sosyal bilimlerdeki potansiyelini ve bu yöntemle yazılabilecek metinlerin nasıl değerlendirilebileceğini tartışmaya açmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu bağlamda bu çalışma, sosyal bilimlerde temsilin politikliğine dair tartışmalara katkılar sunmayı, bu yöntemi kullanacak araştırmacıların yaklaşımlarına, karşılaşabilecekleri (...) sıkıntılara ve gözetmeleri gereken etik sorunlara dair genel bir çerçeve çizmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Marjinal olarak kabul edilen, öteki olarak kodlanan ve sesleri akademik metinlerin katı kuralları arasında kaybolan kültürel grupların daha görünür hale gelmesinde etkili bir yöntem olarak kabul edilen otoetnografinin teorik, biçimsel ve etik tartışmalarla ele alınması yöntemin sosyal bilimlerde kullanılması üzerine ortaya çıkabilecek tartışmalara katkılar sağlayacaktır. (shrink)

Galileo'nun öncülük ettiği bilimsel devrimde kilit rol oynayan bazı düşünceler Rönesans ile ortaya çıkmıştır. Medici ailesinin bilinçli çabaları sonucu yaşanan Antik Yunan'ın yeniden keşfi süreci, Michelangelo'nun çabalarıyla başlamış ve Galileo ile sürmüştür. Bu çalışmada hem Michelangelo'nun hem de Galileo'nun konularına Platonist bir tavırla yaklaştıklarını ve Medicilerin desteğinin tüm bu devrim boyunca yaşamsal olduğunu göstermeye çalıştım.

This article questions the place of negative Forms in Plato’s ontology. And it does so against appearances to the contrary, given that Plato himself seems to acknowledge both positive Forms and negative Forms, that is to say, both good ones and bad ones. He may not say so outright, but he invokes both and rejects neither. The apparent finality of this impression is so strong that it creates a lack of direct interest in the subject: Plato scholars do not give (...) negative Forms much thought except where the prospect relates to something else they happen to be doing. Yet when they do give the matter any thought at all, typically for the sake of a prior concern, they try either to support the textual evidence or to contradict it, indicating that the evidence does not stand on its own. The aim of this article is to determine why they tend to affirm or deny the obvious, how they try to confirm or dispute it, and what this says about Plato’s position. The strategic vehicle is a comparative case study. The confirmation comes from Debra Nails (2013), who needs to embrace negative Forms to demonstrate that the unhypothetical first principle of everything is not identical to the Form of the Good, something she cannot do unless Plato recognizes negative Forms. The contradiction comes from Holger Thesleff (2013), who needs to reject negative (Ideal) Forms because the defining feature of his (Ideal) Forms is the possession of positive intrinsic value, which cannot be predicated of anything negative. Despite defending opposite views, or perhaps because of this, they jointly make up for any lack of interest in the scholarly community. I appreciate both yet side with Thesleff. (shrink)

Mill’s Principle of Utility: A Defense of John Stuart Mill’s Notorious Proof is a defense of John Stuart Mill’s proof of the principle of utility in the fourth chapter of his Utilitarianism. The proof is notorious as an allegedly fallacious attempt by a prominent philosopher who ought not to have made the elementary mistakes he is supposed to have made. This book shows that he did not. The aim is neither to glorify utilitarianism as a normative ethical theory nor to (...) vindicate Mill’s universalistic ethical hedonism as the best form of utilitarianism. The book is devoted primarily to demonstrating that Mill successfully defends what he sets out to establish in his proof of the principle of utility. Much of the discussion is geared toward absolving Mill of the various fallacies with which he has been saddled. (shrink)

In den Anfängen seiner Philosophie äußerte sich Descartes über den epistemologischen Stellenwert des Willens nur allgemein. Nach Descartes hat Gott dem menschlichen Geist bereits die ersten Ideen gegeben, damit er die ebenfalls von Gott geschaffene physische Welt überhaupt wahrnehmen kann. Für ihn ist die dazu zuständige menschliche Fakultät unter anderem der Wille. Angesichts der immer wieder gemachten Erfahrung, dass die Menschen Irrtümer begehen, muss sich Descartes in der Fortsetzung seiner Philosophie mit der Frage auseinandersetzen, wie sich der Wille irrt und (...) warum. Für die cartesianische Erklärung des ersten Teils der Frage ist entscheidend, wie der Geist im Zusammenwirken des Willens und des Verstandes den Erkenntnisakt vollzieht. Als Gründe der Irrtümer nennt Descartes die Grenzen des menschlichen Verstandes sowie die Unaufmerksamkeit der Menschen. Ob der Wille insbesondere bei der genannten Unaufmerksamkeit frei ist, sodass dessen Inhaber zur Verantwortung gezogen werden kann, ist eine weitere Frage, zu der Descartes Stellung beziehen muss. In den Meditationen entwickelt er eine Freiheitslehre, die jedoch auf Einwände seitens Hobbes stößt. Später in zwei Briefen an Mesland modifiziert er seine Freiheitslehre. Die Freiheit, die er hierbei annimmt, ist für Descartes hinreichend, um die Verantwortlichkeit des Menschen für sein Fehlverhalten anzunehmen, auch wenn Gott selbst den Menschen mit einem Willensvermögen erschaffen hat bzw. die Ausübung dieser Freiheit duldet. (shrink)

Intergenerational altruism is an important area of research to understand the impact of culture on economic outcomes. We hypothesize based on recent research about intergenerational altruism and tough love model that worldviews, religious beliefs, and people’s confidence about their worldviews affect intergenerational altruistic economic behaviour. We extend the research on the impact of worldviews on intergenerational altruism by focusing on Turkey. In the empirical analysis, we run probit regressions using data from a large national survey. We find that worldviews, religiosity, (...) and confidence of individuals about their worldviews impact on intergenerational altruistic economic behaviour in Turkey. (shrink)

This study analyzes prospective teachers’ digital citizenship behaviour norms. The sample consists of the seventeen prospective teachers who studied at the University Of Gaziantep Faculty Of Education in the academic year 2009-2010. Qualitative methods were utilized in the collection and the analysis of data. The results indicated the teachers adequately demonstrated behaviour norms regarding digital communication and digital literacy, yet only few showed behaviour norms concerning digital access, digital etiquette, digital commerce, digital rights and responsibilities, digital law, digital health and (...) wellness, and digital security categories. Therefore, these results highlight the fact that the digital citizenship behaviour norms should be included in teacher training programs in Turkey. (shrink)

Covid-19 salgını, din felsefesinin önemli problemlerinden birisi olan kö-tülük problemini ve çeşitlerini tekrar gündeme getirmiştir. Kötülük problemi, tarihi kökeni çok eskilere dayanmakla birlikte, tartışma platformlarında gün-celliğini korumaya devam eden bir sorun olarak varlığını sürdürmektedir. Ateistlerin, Teistleri en çok eleştirdiği konuların başında kötülük problemi gelmekle birlikte, onların da bu konuda tatmin edici bir cevapları bulunma-maktadır. Filozofların farklı olmakla birlikte bu probleme dair mutlaka bir görüşü vardır. Kimine göre iyiliğin bilinmesi için gerekli, kimine göre de belli oranda var olması bu alemin estetiği (...) için zorunludur. Kimine göre de cevabı bulunması gereken temel bir problemdir. İşte bu sorular bağlamında Covid-19 ve kötülük probleminin çeşitlerini tekrar irdeliyeceğiz. Cevaplar ne olursa olsun, bir kitle tarafından bunun cevabı aranmaya devam edilecektir. Kötülük problemini canlı tutan bir diğer temel argüman ‘Tanrı sorunu’ dur. Bu argüman bağlamında Tanrı’nın olmadığını veya Tanrı’nın anlamsızlığını ifade eden eleştirilerin bulunduğunu ifade edebiliriz. Bu açıdan dinleri eleştirenler olduğu gibi dinin anlamlı olduğunu da savunanlar az değildir. Covid-19 tartışmaları ekseninde Tanrı ve Dinler tekrar eleştiri konusu yapılmaktadır. Kötülük problemi felsefeciler tarafından üç çeşit olarak sınıflandırılmakla birlikte, başka tasnifler de vardır. Bunlar: Doğal, Ahlaki ve Metafizik kötülüklerdir. Başka bir sınıflandırmaya göre ise Varoluşsal, Mantıksal ve Delilci kötülük şeklinde adlandırılmıştır. (shrink)

This article explores the philosophical implications of the transition from polytheism to monotheism in our development as a rational species. The methodological vehicle employed in the critical analysis conducted is a survey of Hesiodic theogony for insight into the nature and purpose of the monotheistic platforms we have erected in its place. The aim is not so much to dispute the validity of any belief system, past or present, as it is to expose and examine the prevailing paradigms as extensions (...) of abandoned arrangements originally embraced with the same passion exhibited today. The approach is indeed critical, but the claim is not that the demonstration constitutes a refutation of religious principles or theological doctrines, just that it provides a partial identification and preliminary confirmation of the rational grounds for secular concerns and skeptical suspicions. The latter two are manifested as the correlative conviction that religious orientation and theological explanation are reciprocal parts of a collective work in progress mapping out our common initiative as human beings to make sense of the world at large. (shrink)

Hristiyan teolog William Lane Crag'a ait din ve bilim arasındaki ilişkiyi ele lan bir çeviri...

Discussion piece on a book of the same name: Quine on Ethics: The Gavagai of Moral Discourse. Published online as part of the “Book in Focus” program of Cambridge Scholars Publishing (Newcastle upon Tyne, 2021).

We investigate the explanatory role of epistemic virtue in accounting for the success of science as a social institution that is characterized by predominantly epistemic ends. Several structural explanations of the epistemic success of science that commonly rule out virtue attributions to scientists are explored in reference to a case of collective epistemic vice; namely, the credibility crisis in the social and behavioral sciences. These accounts underline the social structure of science as the chief explanatory factor in its collective success, (...) and endorse a common conclusion, namely that individual virtue is neither necessary nor sufficient for science to be successful. While acknowledging that divergent motivations and behaviors might also serve the collective goals of science, our analysis of the credibility crisis shows that the presence of a significant proportion of epistemically virtuous scientists in a scientific community is a necessary condition for collective epistemic success in a scientific community. (shrink)

The purpose of this research is to perform a comprehensive investigation of the complex dynamics that exist between Hindutva and the Muslim minority in India, with a particular emphasis on the conflict that is becoming more intense. It investigates the complicated situation by delving into the myriad of political, religious, and sociological aspects that interact with one another and contribute to shaping it. This research investigates the purposeful aggravation of racial discrimination, nationalism, and exclusionary policies that have a disproportionate impact (...) on the Muslim population in India, which is a minority population. The research draws from a wide variety of scholarly sources. As an additional benefit, it gives light on the politicization of Hinduism within the public sphere of India. Additionally, it explores the rise and spread of Hindu nationalism while simultaneously evaluating the corresponding socio-political issues that are encountered by the Muslim minority. This study highlights the urgent need for a narrative that fights for inclusion, secularism, and progressiveness while also embracing diversity. This is accomplished through an examination that encompasses historical Hindu-Muslim debates, media depictions, and government policies. In addition to this, it investigates the negative effects that arose as a result of Islamophobia, socio-spatial segregation, and state-driven oppression, particularly in light of current changes in Indian politics. Within the scope of this investigation, a critical analysis of the role that the state plays, particularly with regard to its preference for some religious groups over others, is an essential component. In addition, this research investigation examines a number of different strategies with the objective of reducing disputes between different groups and promoting interfaith communication, mutual respect, and peaceful coexistence. The main goal is to create a society that is welcoming to people of all religious backgrounds, one in which members of other faiths are able to freely practice their faith without fear of being discriminated against or punished. It is important to note that this research continually highlights the necessity of open and constructive conversation, policy changes, and balanced media portrayal in the process of revising the dominant narrative. The fundamental objective of this initiative is to foster a conversation that emphasizes the utmost significance of social justice, equality, and inclusion within the framework of the modern-day India. (shrink)

This thesis presents a communicative account of personhood that argues for the inseparability of the metaphysical and the practical concepts of a person. It connects these two concepts by coupling the question “what is a person” with the question "how does one become a person". It argues that participation in social interactions that are characterized by mutual recognition and giving-and-taking reasons implied by the practical concept of a person is in fact an ecological and developmental condition for an entity to (...) possess the kind of characteristics and capacities such as reflexive self-consciousness addressed by the metaphysical concept. The chief theoretical contribution of the dissertation research lies, accordingly, in demonstrating that an adequate metaphysical concept of a person has to make reference to the kind of social processes that are necessary for the emergence and development of the distinguishing attributes of persons among other moving, perceiving, desiring and cognizing agents. Methodologically, it undertakes an original philosophical analysis that is enriched by an interdisciplinary investigation of several notions and insights from semiotics, comparative and developmental psychology, cognitive science and anthropology. The main argument of the thesis is that one becomes a person through internally recreating a social, communicative process; namely, that of dialogical transformation of habits. We find the paradigmatic case of this social process in mutual persuasion. The internalization of this process in the form of an inner dialogue cultivates a social self that is in ongoing communication with the embodied, organismic self of uncritically habituated attitudes, convictions and desires. This inner dialogue can be conceived as a temporally extended process of self-persuasion, which is characterized by an ongoing strive for attaining higher degrees of self-control; that is, for achieving a more coherent alignment between our habits and the kind of person we would like to be. It starts with self-interpretation and self-evaluation, and culminates in the formation of higher-order desires that facilitate habit-change and novel habit formation in accordance with certain social, moral, aesthetical or intellectual categories and norms one comes to endorse. For this reason, self-induced, deliberate habit-change is also a process of appropriation or self-appropriation, through which we strive to cultivate habits of feeling, thinking, acting that we can deem more truly ours. The thesis demonstrates that the capacity for engaging in this kind of self-persuasion consists chiefly in the capacities for metasemiosis, perspective-taking, and for cultivating habits of reflexivity. It explicates how all these capacities have a social origin and ultimately a social function by showing that they all presuppose certain higher-order communicative patterns that arose through an evolutionary and cultural history, and develop through the internal reconstruction of these patterns as cognitive-semiotic processes. The thesis concludes that becoming a kind of being who can engage in self-persuasion, thus a person, consists ultimately in internalizing the patterns of communicative social interactions in the form of an ongoing auto-communication. (shrink)

Plato's Parmenides is very commonly read as a turning-point in Plato's philosophical development. Most contemporary scholars agree with the view that Plato seriously criticizes his theory of Forms in this dialogue. According to some proponents of this view, Plato deemed these criticisms too damaging to his theory of Forms, and subsequently abandoned this theory. Other proponents of the serious-self-criticism view argue that, instead of abandoning his theory of Forms, Plato lays the foundations of a new and improved theory of Forms (...) in Parmenides--there is little agreement on what this new theory entails. Against this prevailing scholarly wisdom, Mehmet Tabak illustrates that Parmenides is exclusively a satirical dialogue in which Plato attempts to expose the absurd nature of the doctrines and method of his philosophical opponents. Tabak's accessible, historically-sensitive, detailed, and comprehensive account is the first decisive illustration of this view, which has been sporadically defended for many centuries. (shrink)

Tanrı’nın varlığı kanıtlama (isbât-ı vâcib) kelâm ilminin diğer tüm meselelerin kendisine dayandığı en başta gelen gayesidir. Kelâmcıların özelliği inşa ettikleri bir bilgi teorisi ekseninde bunu ortaya koymaya çalışmalarıdır. Kelâmda mevcut, ma’dum, kadîm, muhdes, cevher, araz gibi ontolojik kavramların daha genelde bilinenler (malumat) kümesinin unsurları olmasından da anlaşılacağı üzere kelamcılar Tanrı’nın varlığı konusunu bilgiye konu olmak bakımından ele almaktadırlar. Bu durum kelâmcılara göre Allah’ın varlığının bilgisine (marifetgullah) ulaşmanın bir epistemoloji meselesi olduğunu ortaya koyar. Bu makalede Mu’tezile kelamında önemli bir yeri olan (...) Kādî Abdülcebbâr’ın (ö. 415/1025) Tanrı’nın varlığını benimsediği bilgi teorisi ekseninde nasıl ispat etmeye çalıştığı ortaya konulacaktır. Bu doğrultuda makalede öncelikle Kādî’nin bilgiyi nasıl tanımladığı ve bu tanımında kendisinden önceki kelâmcılardan benzeşip farklılaştığı yerler ele alınacaktır. Ardından Kādî’nin bilgi edinme kaynaklarını “zorunlu” ve “iktisabi” bilgi türleri kapsamında nasıl tasnif ettiği ele alınacaktır. Son olarak Kādî’nin Tanrı’nın varlığını ortaya koyduğu bilgi teorisini ekseninde akli delilere dayalı olarak nasıl ispat etmeye çalıştığı ele alınacaktır. (shrink)

One of the important aspects of the classical kalām is that the philosophical topics related to physics and cosmology, namely daqīq or laṭīf al-kalām, have an important place in it. The reason for the involvement of the kalām scholars (mutakallimūn) in these kinds of issues is commonly regarded as an effort to defend Islamic beliefs against other religions and thought systems. However, when their studies are examined closely, the complexity of their concepts and theories, as well as the fact that (...) they discussed these matters not only with opposing groups but also among themselves, show that kalām had a much deeper and integrated relationship with science and philosophy in the classical period. Their engagement with philosophical and scientific matters, such body (jism), substance/atom (jawhar), accident (ʿaraḍ), motion, space, time, and causality dates back to the mid-8th century and displays great diversity. Although the mutakallimūn probably were the first ones to deal with physics-related issues in Islamic thought, it cannot be said that they are given the importance they deserve in modern studies pertaining to the history of science and philosophy in Islamic thought. The fact that, in kalām works, physics-related questions were generally discussed along with theological matters has caused the scholarship of mutakallimūn to be regarded as an adjunct of apologetic discipline and has thereby led to a limited description of kalām’s relationship with science and philosophy in the classical period. This set of circumstances hinders a proper understanding of how science and philosophy emerged and evolved in Islamic thought. In the present article, I will attempt to present the place and role of physical topics, namely daqīq or laṭīf al-kalām, in classical kalām, between the 9th and 11th centuries. Firstly, I will show how the classical mutakallimūn divided kalām into two parts, namely ‘major’ (jalīl) matters, which are based on revelation, and ‘subtle’ (daqīq) or ‘obscure’ (laṭīf) matters, which mainly depend on reason. Matters surrounding jalīl al-kalām indicate the theological problems on which the mutakallimūn had a general agreement, such as God’s oneness, revelation, prophethood, and eschatology. Questions discussed under the category of daqīq or laṭīf al-kalām mostly correspond to philosophical and scientific issues concerning epistemology, physics, and cosmology. Secondly, I will examine to what extent the mutakallimūn dealt with physical sciences and what kind of topics were primarily discussed in the field of daqīq or laṭīf al-kalām. The upshot of this will be that the claim that the mutakallimūn were interested in physics and cosmology merely for apologetic purposes is unsound; rather, in the 9th and 10th centuries, many Muslim theologians also concerned themselves with issues such as motion, void, body, and causality as truth seekers. That being the case, the mutakallimūn should be taken into consideration in studies related to the emergence and rise of science and philosophy in Islamic thought. (shrink)

In Nicomachean Ethics VII, Aristotle offers an account of akrasia that purports to salvage the kernel of truth in the Socratic paradox that people act against what is best only through ignorance. Despite Aristotle’s apparent confidence in having identified the sense in which Socrates was right about akrasia, we are left puzzling over Aristotle’s own account, and the extent to which he agrees with Socrates. The most fundamental interpretive question concerns the sense in which Aristotle takes the akratic to be (...) ignorant. The received view in the literature has been the intellectualist interpretation, which takes akratic agents to be so ignorant of the wrongness of what they do as to be unaware of it. In recent decades, many scholars have identified serious problems in this interpretation and have moved towards the non-intellectualist reading, the strong version of which takes clearheaded akrasia to be possible. There is, however, a glaring shortage of discussion of the difficulties facing the strong... (shrink)

This article is a critical analysis of the decisive mission of Michael H. Mitias to attract attention to a neglected relationship between friendship and morality. The evaluation revolves around the position of Mitias on friendship as a central moral value constituting an integral part of the good life and therefore deserving a prominent place in ethical theory. The corresponding vision is not a whimsical intervention in our standard conception of morality but a unifying initiative to recapture the right way of (...) doing ethics. What sets the present article apart from other reactions to Mitias is a holistic approach drawing on literary considerations as well as philosophical ones. The combined aim is to demonstrate that Mitias is not seeking simply to restore friendship to its rightful place in normative ethical theory, which is indeed the full extent of his express objective, but that he is seeking to do so specifically within virtue ethics. This interpretation rests on a broad engagement with Mitias’s publications beyond the treatise (Friendship: A Central Moral Value) often taken understandably yet erroneously to be his only work on the subject. (shrink)

This article is a critical evaluation of Holger Thesleff’s thinking on Plato’s Forms. The emphasis is, more specifically, on his “rethinking” of the matter, as he puts it in the title of his most recent contribution (Alican and Thesleff 2013: “Rethinking Plato’s Forms”). The general aim is to launch the academic reception of that bold intervention in Plato scholarship, which Thesleff cautiously positions a modest proposal — his trademark teaser to elicit a reaction, positive or negative. Representing a sympathetic perspective, (...) coverage here proceeds in the manner of dialectical engagement with the main lines of his interpretation and reconstruction of Plato’s world. The exegetical focus is on tracing the inspiration and reasoning behind his “two-level” model of Plato’s metaphysics, which, in turn, supports his tripartite classification of Forms. The critical focus is on identifying potential areas of misunderstanding and supplying any explanations, analyses, and arguments that may enhance the clarity of the respective positions. (shrink)

Mill’s Principle of Utility: Origins, Proof, and Implications is a scholarly monograph on John Stuart Mill’s utilitarianism with a particular emphasis on the proof he provides for the principle of utility. Originally published as Mill’s Principle of Utility: A Defense of John Stuart Mill’s Notorious Proof (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1994), the present volume is a revised and enlarged edition with additional material, tighter arguments, and updated references. The initiative is still principally an analysis, interpretation, and defense of the controversial proof, which (...) has yet to attract a scholarly consensus on how it works and whether it succeeds. Well over a century and a half after Mill’s initial contribution, the subject matter continues to figure prominently in classroom discussions, where the principle and its proof are presented and debated in connection with the critical baggage of logical problems and conceptual confusions wrongly attributed to Mill from the beginning. The overarching aim of the book, now supplemented with a comprehensive historical background and salient philosophical implications, remains the vindication of Mill’s reasoning in pursuit of what he promises as a proof of the principle of utility. (shrink)

Quine on Ethics: The Gavagai of Moral Discourse is a comprehensive treatment of Quine’s brief yet memorable foray into ethics. It defends him against his most formidable critics, corrects misconceptions in the present reception of his outlook on morality as a social institution and ethics as a philosophical enterprise, and restores emphasis on observationality as the impetus behind his momentous intervention in ethical theory. The central focus is on Quine’s infamous challenge to ethical theory: his thesis of the methodological infirmity (...) of ethics as compared with science. The ultimate aim is to demonstrate that the challenge is not only valid but also valuable insofar as it identifies opportunities for reformation in moral justification. (shrink)