In the post-Single European Act period, debates around European identity have intensified, particularly in the context of EU enlargement. The EU’s move to being a supranational political entity in the past two decades has caused serious concerns in some sections of the elite and people across the EU member states. While French and Dutch rejections of the constitutional treaty set an important milestone, Turkey’s quest for the EU membership has complicated to a great extent controversies on European identity. The reviewed (...) books here contribute to efforts to understand the extent to which European identity and Turkey’s bid for the EU membership has entangled. It is more likely to witness debates around both European identity and Turkey’s candidacy for the Union for many years to come; therefore, these books will more likely remain relevant for the academic and policy circles. (shrink)

This article aims to analyze the views of two pioneering Ḥanafī scholars, Abū Manṣūr al- Māturīdī and Abū Zayd al-Dabūsī, on the meaning of death and life in terms of their general doctrine of religion. In the first part, the general framework of Māturīdī and Dabūsī’s evidentialist conception of religion are drawn. In the second part, Māturīdī's views on the meaning of death and life and are explored. In the third part, the views of Abū Zayd al-Dabūsī on the meaning (...) of death and life, who establishes a striking connection between the divine order and existence, divine prohibition and non-existence, are examined, and a general evaluation is offered in the last section. Al-Māturīdī proposed a very original and systematic example of doing philosophy of religion, which still promising for the modern problems of the field, by opening the phenomenon of religion itself to discussion, and analyzing the nature and elements of religion. Māturīdī aims to place the problems on a universal and theoretical basis and to present a holistic, metaphysical understanding while discussing specific and particular issues in religion. Just as there are main notes in classical Western music that repeat throughout the symphony in baroque style, there are universal principles in al-Māturīdī’s metaphysics that cut all particular debates vertically. The basic principle of the al-Māturīdī’s metaphysics is based on this idea: God is a wise being, he does not do anything wise. Accordingly, it is absurd to create something to destroy; God did not create man to perish. The love of life and the fear of death are the deepest existential problems facing man as a finite being that goes towards death. Religion can be regarded as a powerful alternative to other worldviews to the extent that it provides a reasonable explanation for man’s deep concern about finitude. For al-Māturīdī, neither pessimistic understandings that emphasize only the fear of death nor hedonistic understandings that ignore death offer a reasonable solution. God created death as something that people fear the most and avoid, and life as something they love and desire. The testing of man is about being between the fear of death and the desire to live in the world. According to al-Māturīdī, this dilemma that man is facing also shows him the way out. If people do good and useful deeds because of their love for life, and avoid nonsense and ugly deeds because of their afraid of death, they can make their life eternal with their own efforts and escape from eternal/permanent death. The other Hanafī thinker, a philosopher of law Abū Zayd al-Dabūsī’s views on the meaning of death and life are parallel to Māturīdī's. According to al-Dabūsī, to test man, what God has placed in human nature is not only the soul and reason but also the spirit (al-nafs) and whim (al-hawa). While the spirit and whim invites man to the temporary by ignorance, it calls the soul and reason to the permanent by knowledge. The test for human beings is to choose between the temporary and the eternal life. For al-Dabūsī, man’s saving himself from falling into nothingness and gaining the eternal life depends on his use of reason. In other words, the reason binds human beings to life, and the whim leads them to nothingness. Drawing a parallel between reasoning and existence, ignorance and absence, Dabūsī defines the terms divine command and divine prohibition in a very original way. For him, the divine command is the things that must exist, and the divine prohibition is the things that must not exist. If the man helps exist the things that God wills to exist, he can make his own existence eternal. If the man helps exist the things that God does not will to exist, he puts himself into nothingness. Lastly, both for al-Māturīdī and al-Dabūsī, life is a divine grace bestowed on human being to gain eternal life through the good deeds he does at any moment. In short, reason is necessary in religion because its use is a preference of existence to non-existence. This metaphysical system, which sees goodness as a bridge from this finite world to heaven and eternity and makes a connection between faith and deeds on the ontological and ethical level is the essence of the worldview of the Hanafī-Māturīdī tradition. (shrink)

This article deals with Ibn Sīnā’s criticisms of Aristotle regarding what the place of God should be in the science of metaphysics. From Aristotle’s point of view, the existence of God is proved by the proof of motion in physics and is held as a subject matter in a science that comes after physics, which is metaphysics. According to him, metaphysics is the most sublime science because God is its subject matter. The most striking criticism against Aristotle’s conception of metaphysics (...) was put forward by Ibn Sīnā. From Ibn Sīnā’s point of view, the most important problem encountered in Aristotle’s understanding of metaphysics is that ontology and theology are intertwined. According to him, God cannot be a subject matter in metaphysics, rather, proving the existence of God is the aim of metaphysics. The subject matter of metaphysics is being qua being, and its aim is to prove the Necessary Existent that is the principle of existence. Accordingly, for Ibn Sīnā, metaphysics is an ontological science in terms of its subject and a theological science in terms of its aim. This new conception of metaphysics, developed by Ibn Sīnā, had a profound effect not only on Islamic thought but also on Western philosophy. In a way, the ontotheological notes of Islamic and Western thought from the Middle Ages to the present have progressed through the metaphysical symphony composed by Ibn Sīnā. (shrink)

Begriffe sind die Bausteine unserer Gedanken. Wir nutzen sie, um Ordnung in die Vielzahl der uns umgebenden Einzeldinge zu bringen, um Schlussfolgerungen zu ziehen, um Überzeugungen, Hoffnungen oder Wünsche zu formen, um uns miteinander zu verständigen. Viele unserer begrifflichen Gebilde unterliegen Korrektheitsbedingungen. Überzeugungen können falsch sein, Theorien ebenso. Doch wie sieht es mit unseren Begriffen selbst aus? Können auch diese in einem bestimmten Sinne falsch oder ungeeignet sein? Sollten wir gar versuchen, unser begriffliches Repertoire aktiv umzugestalten, indem wir z. B. (...) manche von ihnen verbessern oder austauschen, neue hinzufügen oder andere entfernen? Diese und weitere Fragen werden in der aktuellen analytischen Philosophie unter den Stichworten ‚Conceptual Ethics‘ bzw. ‚Conceptual Engineering‘ diskutiert. Der vorliegende Artikel erläutert die grundsätzliche Motivation des Conceptual Engineering und diskutiert außerdem einige der wichtigsten Probleme und Perspektiven dieses noch äußerst jungen und aufregenden Forschungsfeldes. (shrink)

Hypochondrisch Kranke fühlen sich fremd im eigenen Körper und entwickeln mitunter ein gegnerisch anmutendes Verhältnis zu ihm. Diese intrapsychische Dynamik kann sich auf interpersoneller Ebene in Form von Zweifeln und Misstrauen gegenüber dem therapeutischen Prozess und dem Therapeuten abbilden: Die unkorrigierbar wirkenden hypochondrischen Körperklagen können schwer erträgliche Gegenübertragungsreaktionen auslösen und so die therapeutische Beziehung gefährden. Psychodynamische Überlegungen verweisen im Kern auf das ambivalent besetzte Bedürfnis, Bindung und Zuwendung zugleich sowohl einfordern als auch verweigern zu müssen. Fallbeispiele illustrieren die wesentlichen Merkmale (...) der hypochondrischen Übertragungs-Gegenübertragungs-Dynamik; aus der Untersuchung werden behandlungstechnische Folgerungen abgeleitet. (shrink)

Online information intermediaries such as Facebook and Google are slowly replacing traditional media channels thereby partly becoming the gatekeepers of our society. To deal with the growing amount of information on the social web and the burden it brings on the average user, these gatekeepers recently started to introduce personalization features, algorithms that filter information per individual. In this paper we show that these online services that filter information are not merely algorithms. Humans not only affect the design of the (...) algorithms, but they also can manually influence the filtering process even when the algorithm is operational. We further analyze filtering processes in detail, show how personalization connects to other filtering techniques, and show that both human and technical biases are present in today’s emergent gatekeepers. We use the existing literature on gatekeeping and search engine bias and provide a model of algorithmic gatekeeping. (shrink)

The aim of this study is to explore the influence of religious beliefs on social or work-related ties of managers who are member of organizational networks representing two different ideologies in Turkey. In this research, the emergence of secular and devout entrepreneurs is considered as a phenomenon, and special attention is paid to religious transformation and secularism in Turkey. Social network analysis method is used to define the nature of communication links among 80 chairmen who are the members of two (...) conflicting and dominant groups in Turkish business system. The findings show that Protestant work ethic suggested by Weber with regard to Christianity have attained a similar place over the past decade in Islamic organizational networks. The concern of political power in religion leads to organizational networks being nourished by religious norms and creeds in many developing countries. Especially in societies like Turkey where the state is dominant in the business life, organizations and managers prefer to be included in religious networks to make close contacts with the state. Another significant finding is that efforts of the members of religious networks—in spite of their relatively closed characteristics—in terms of being at the center of a network and taking the brokerage role, are highly developed on the contrary to the literature. (shrink)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of euthanasia education on the opinions of health sciences students. It was performed among 111 final year students at the College of Health Sciences, Dokuz Eylül University, IRzmir, Turkey. These students train to become paramedical professionals and health technicians. Fifteen hours of educational training concerning ethical values and euthanasia was planned and the students’ opinions about euthanasia were sought before and after the course. Statistical analyses of the data were performed (...) with the related samples t -test by means of the Epi-Info program. Significant changes were shown in the students’ opinions on people’s right to decide about their own life, euthanasia in unconscious patients, and reasons for their objection to euthanasia after completing the course. The results of this study suggest that education can significantly change a person’s approach to euthanasia. (shrink)

Can we argue that pressures generated from grassroots politics are responsible for the rapid expansion and ethnically/racially uneven distribution of social assistance programs in emerging economies? This article analyzes the Turkish case and shows that social assistance programs in Turkey are directed disproportionately to the Kurdish minority and to the Kurdish region of Turkey, especially to the internally displaced Kurds in urban and metropolitan areas. The article analyzes a cross-sectional dataset generated by a 10,386-informant stratified random sampling survey and controls (...) for possibly intervening socioeconomic factors and neighborhood-level fixed-effects. The results show that high ethnic disparity in social assistance is not due to higher poverty among Kurds. Rather, Kurdish ethnic identity is the main determinant of the access to social assistance. This result yields substantive support to argue that the Turkish government uses social assistance to contain the Kurdish unrest in Turkey. The Turkish government seems to give social assistance not simply where the people become poor, but where the poor become politicized. This provides support for Fox Piven and Cloward’s thesis that relief for the poor is driven by social unrest, rather than social need. The article concludes that similar hypotheses may hold true for other emerging economies, where similar types of social assistance programs have recently expanded significantly and have been directed to ethnic/racial groups. (shrink)

Medical malpractice has attracted the attention of people and the media all over the world. In Turkey, malpractice cases are tried according to both criminal and civil law. Nurses and midwives in Turkey fulfill important duties in the distribution of health services. The aim of this study was to reveal the legal procedures followed in malpractice allegations and malpractice lawsuits in which nurses and midwives were named as defendants. We reviewed 59 nursing and midwifery lawsuits reported to the Higher Health (...) Council between 1993 and 1998. Health professionals were held liable in 59% of the lawsuits. Midwives had the highest percentage of malpractice liability (52%), followed by physicians (29%) and nurses (19%). To reduce potential liability, nurse education should be improved, a nursing malpractice law should be enacted, and instructions for nursing procedures should be formulated. (shrink)

Fitzpatrick’s writing on international law did not constitute the main focus of his oeuvre. However, the determinate-responsive nature of law that characterised so much of his work did extend to an analysis of the generative force of international law. This article picks up on commentary from Modernism and the Grounds of Law (2001) and ‘Latin Roots’ (2010), among other contributions, to test this generative force of international law, which Fitzpatrick identifies as a necessary affirmation of the movement between the ‘determinate (...) but not ultimately determinate’ sovereignty of a singular nation state and the ‘illimitably responsive but not ultimately responsive’ force of the community (Fitzpatrick 2010, p. 46). We test Fitzpatrick’s view of international law through two examples of un-recognised states and the mechanism of non/recognition utilised by the international legal community to determine what constitutes a singular nation-state for participation in the community of international law. Our two case studies, North Cyprus and Crimea, illuminate the continuing relevance of Fitzpatrick’s schema. Through non/recognition, ‘states’ that are included-as-excluded participate in the ongoing affirmation of an international legal ‘community’, a community that continues to be constituted through the affirmation of imperial power. (shrink)

Many adolescents use their electronic devices to send each other sexually explicit texts, photos, and videos of themselves—commonly known as sexting. This can be fun and is not usually problematic. However, if the intended recipient decides to share these sexts with a broader audience, the consequences for the depicted can be detrimental. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of sext-sharing among Dutch adolescents and explore the characteristics of those who do, to gain a better understanding of (...) factors involved in dissemination. We used data from “Sex under the age of 25,” a representative national survey on sexual health among a sample of 20,834 Dutch 12–24-year-olds. The prevalence of sext-sharing was estimated using Complex Samples. Logistic regressions were used to assess associations between demographics, school-based sexting education, sexual- and online behavior, and mental health and sext-sharing. About 4% of the adolescents reported having shared someone else's sext in the last six months. Being male, aged 12–14 years, frequent social media usage, watching online porn, sexual experience, and being subjected to sext-sharing themselves associated most strongly with sext-sharing. Our findings show that the likelihood of sext-sharing is lower in older adolescents and that it associates with the extent of adolescents' sexual curiosity and online activity. The overlap between sharing sexts of others and having one's own sext shared suggests that dissemination of personal sexual content might be normalized or used as an act of retribution. Further research could be helpful to explain the mechanisms underlying this overlap. The results of this study illustrate the importance of exposing adolescents to evidence based preventive educational interventions on sexting from 12 years onwards and not just within the context of traditional school-based sex education, but also as a part of the media-literacy curriculum. (shrink)

Bu çalışma Uluslararası İlişkiler’de (Uİ) çevrenin neden disiplinin periferisinde yer aldığını “sorun çözücü ve eleştirel” yaklaşımlar ayrımı üzerinden sorgulamaktadır. Disiplindeki sorun çözücü yaklaşımlar, çevreyi sadece bir “sorun” olması durumunda dikkate alan ve mevcut küresel sistem içinde çözümler arayan yaklaşımlardır. Eleştirel yaklaşımlarsa çevre sorunlarının ötesinde daha “iyi” bir dünya yaratmak için sürdürülebilir bir sistem oluşturma amacını taşıyan; bu yüzden sistemin yeniden yapılandırılması gerektiğini ileri sürerek ulusal ve uluslararası politik, ekonomik ve toplumsal düzeni sorgulayan yaklaşımlardır. Bu bağlamda öncelikle “çevresel güvenlik” ve “liberal (...) kurumsalcılık” yaklaşımları incelenmiş, ardından “Ortak Malların Trajedisi” başlığı altında eko-otoriteryenlerin görüşlerine değinilmiştir. Eleştirel yaklaşımlar kısmında “çevre-merkezcilik”, “ekolojik modernleşme” ve “merkezsizleşme” yaklaşımları tartışılmıştır. Sonuç bölümündeyse çevrenin Uİ’de merkezi bir konuma gelememesinin nedenlerine yönelik tespitlere yer verilmiştir. (shrink)

It has been argued that the Internet and social media increase the number of available viewpoints, perspectives, ideas and opinions available, leading to a very diverse pool of information. However, critics have argued that algorithms used by search engines, social networking platforms and other large online intermediaries actually decrease information diversity by forming so-called “filter bubbles”. This may form a serious threat to our democracies. In response to this threat others have developed algorithms and digital tools to combat filter bubbles. (...) This paper first provides examples of different software designs that try to break filter bubbles. Secondly, we show how norms required by two democracy models dominate the tools that are developed to fight the filter bubbles, while norms of other models are completely missing in the tools. The paper in conclusion argues that democracy itself is a contested concept and points to a variety of norms. Designers of diversity enhancing tools must thus be exposed to diverse conceptions of democracy. (shrink)

One of the proofs expressing certain knowledge in fiqh method is ijma. There are hardly any scholars who do not accept that ijma is evidence. It is reported that the first person who objected to this was Mu'tazilî İbrahim en-Nazam. The group that does not accept it as a sect are the scholars who belong to the Imamiyya. It is possible to say that mujtahid scholars have been unanimous since the first period mujtahids on the fact that ijmā is evidence, (...) with a few exceptions. Although there is no significant disagreement about the fact that ijma is evidence, the scholars differed on the details of ijma's types, conditions, proofs, and the number of people who would agree on ijma. One of the issues discussed by the scholars of the methodology is the effect of ijmaa when one or more people oppose the majority of the mujtahids. While some of the methodists think that the opposition of the minority against the alliance of the majority will not harm the ijma, the majority of them argue that all mujtahids must be of the same opinion in order for the ijma to be formed. Basically, it can be said that these two approaches argue with each other, but there are also proceduralists who deal with the issue differently. Some scholars take into account the attitude of the majority towards them in an issue opposed by one or a few people. According to these scholars, if the majority does not oppose the opinion of the minority, then ijma cannot be mentioned. Because this shows that the majority also respect the opposing view. If the majority does not respect or even oppose the opinion of the minority, then the consensus of the majority becomes ijma. The arguments generally used in these discussions are the same. Usulists defend their theses based on the opposing views of some of the Companions, especially Ibn Abbas. Those who do not see the opposition of the minority as an obstacle to ijma, argue that although one or more of the Companions had dissenting views, as in the example of Ibn Abbas on riba and mut'a, the consensus of the other Companions is the ijma of the scholars. Likewise, those who argue that this is an obstacle to ijma, as well as Ibn 'Abbas's opposition to the opinion of the populace on awl, was an obstacle to the formation of ijma on an issue agreed by the other Companions. This study deals with the discussions and the arguments used by the parties. However, firstly, the information value and conditions of ijma, which is thought to be closely related to these discussions, are briefly presented. In the study, the explanations of the scholars of different sects, who were not content with the works of a certain school, were examined and tried to be evaluated. As a result, it should be noted that it is the prevailing view that the opposition of the minority against the majority will prevent the formation of ijma, based on the conditions put forward in order for ijma to be conclusive evidence. However, it has come to the conclusion that whether the opposing view of the minority is taken into account by other scholars is effective in the formation of ijma. (shrink)

The aim of this study was to reveal doctors' and nurses' attitudes to euthanasia in intensive care units and surgical, internal medicine and paediatric units in Turkey. A total of 205 doctors and 206 nurses working in several hospitals in Istanbul participated. Data were collected by questionnaire and analysed using SPSS v. 12.0. Significantly higher percentages of doctors (35.3%) and nurses (26.6%) working in intensive care units encountered euthanasia requests than those working in other units. Doctors and nurses caring for (...) terminally ill patients in intensive care units differed considerably in their attitudes to euthanasia and patient rights from other health care staff. Euthanasia should be investigated and put on the agenda for discussion in Turkey. (shrink)

In this article, the idea that the accidents (a’rād) do not have continuity for two consecutive periods of time and that they are recreated in the second moment of their existence is analyzed within the framework of al-Juwayn¬ī's approaches. For this purpose, first of all, the place of the theory of continuous creation in the thought system of mutakallimūn, and then the consequences of al-Juwaynī's acceptance of continuous creation in terms of the effectiveness of divine intervention and the understanding of (...) the universe (al-‘ālam) are touched upon. Continuous re-creation (Tajaddud al-amthal) is an understanding that is considered as the disappearance of accidents moment by moment and their re-creation with similar ones. In this way, mutakallimūn tried to explain the continuity and change in the universe, as well as the constants that do not change in things. This understanding, which is associated with the renewal of accidents at every moment, is handled by al-Juwayn¬ī within the framework of the principles that the accidents are finite and that they cannot subsist by themselves (qāim bi-nafs). Accordingly, the accident cannot carry another accident because it does not occupy space (mātahayyaza); nor does it have continuity because it cannot be self-subsisting (al-qāim) with invariability (baqā) which is an accident like itself. As a matter of fact, if the existence of the accident had continued for the second time, it would not have been possible for its like to exist in the same place. Likewise, if the accident had the characteristic of continuity, its nonexistence would be impossible. Because what is continuous at two consecutive moments would not be able to perish in the third and subsequent moments. However, senses reveal that the accidents have disappeared. Thus, the accident, which has a discontinuous and impermanent structure, becomes the subject of creation at the same time whenever it loses its existence. The understanding of continuous creation, accepted by most of the mutakallimūn, is systematized over accidents and does not include the renewal of substances. It is striking that al-Juwayn¬ī also made a distinction with regard to the renewal of the accidents and the continuity of the substances. However, by associating the persistence of the substance with the continuous creation of accidents, al-Juwayn¬ī explains this issue in a way that does not contradict the absolute power of Allah. According to him, the condition of continuity of the substance depends on the existence of the accident which subsists with it. As long as Allah wishes for the continuity of the existence of the substance, he creates the accident of baqā in it one after the other. If the accident disappears, the substance also loses its existence. Thus, God's intervention by continuous re-creation has a direct effect on the accident; the substance, depending on the accident, which is the condition of its continuity, is in need of God's intervention. Therefore, the universe as a whole is not independent of the Creator even for a moment. This understanding of creation of al-Juwayn¬ī, on the one hand, hinders the idea of necessary causality, on the other hand, it draws a model of God-world (al-‘ālam) relationship that foresees the constant intervention of the Creator, who is the Free Agent (Fā‘il Mukhtār). The idea that everything that exists before and after is dependent on Allah's creation also invalidates the idea that the objects in the world stem from the qualities they have in their own nature. (shrink)