Secularism; Arab countries; Islam and state.

Fatimids, bound up the Shiite/Ismaili sect, have pursued a policy of expansion towards the east since they were established in Ifrîkiye. Within the framework of this political goal, the Turkish dynasty made various attempts to seize the Egyptian lands owned by the Ikhshidids. The relations between the two sides, which lasted for more than thirty years, ended with the Fatimids seizing Egypt and then Syria. In this process, various political and military encounters took place between the Fatimids and the Ikhshidids. (...) In this article, the relations of the Fatimids with the Ikhshidids are discussed. The relations between the two sides included remarkable events in a medium where the Fatimids in the east of the Islamic world and the Ikhshidid in the west increased their political power. The fact that these developments were closely related to the Islamic world of that period increases the importance of this research. Therefore, it would be beneficial to reveal the panorama of the thirty-five-year period by examining the sources that shed light on the relevant period. Ourstudy, which deals with the Fatimid-Ikhshidid relations, consists of three parts. In the first part, the beginning of the Fatimid-Ikhshidid relations will be examined. In the second part, the subject of the Fatimids taking Egypt from the Ikhshidids will be discussed. Finally, in the third chapter, the issue of the Fatimids capturing Syria and putting an end to the Ikhshidids will be discussed. The primary goal of the study in question will be to try to give a clear idea about the subject by addressing the reflections and effects of Fatimid-Ikhshidid relations in the Islamic world. (shrink)

Bu çalışmada İslam düşünce tarihinde çokça ele alınan yönetime gelmede “nass ile tayin” anlayışına yönelik genelde Mu‘tezile’nin özelde ise bir Mu‘tezilî âlim Ebû Tâhir Rüknüddin et-Tureysisî’nin eleştirileri konu edinilmektedir. “Nass ile tayin” anlayışı Kur’ân âyetleri ve hadisler üzerinden temellendirilmeye çalışılan bir husustur. Şii çevrelerle özdeşleşen bu anlayış bazı Sünnî ekollerde de dillendirilmiştir. Genelde dördüncü halife Ali’nin imâmeti çerçevesinde konu tartışılsa da bazı çevrelerde birinci halife Ebû Bekir’in imâmeti için de nass ile tayin iddia edilmiştir. Mu‘tezile temelde Şîa’nın imâmet (...) anlayışına birçok eleştiri yöneltmiştir. Bu iddialar doğrudan Kur’ân metni üzerinden yapıldığı için âyetler bağlamında yeniden konunun değerlendirilmesi gerekmektedir. Bu noktada Mu‘tezilî bilgin Tureysisî’nin yaklaşımı önem arz etmektedir. O, mezheplerin görüşlerini temellendirmede esas aldıkları âyetleri dilin ve aklın sınırında anlama çabası içerisinde olduğu Müteşâbihü’l-Kur’ân adlı eserinde “nass ile tayin” fikrine yönelik eleştirilerini sürdürmektedir. Hem İmâmiyye’nin hem de Bekriyye’nin iddialarını âyetler bağlamında ele almakta ve bu fırkaları tenkid etmektedir. (shrink)

Machiavelli, Niccolò, 1469-1527; political views; political science; international relations; philosophy.

Man (Islam); Islamic philosophy; Islamic ethics.

A speed-accuracy trade-off (SAT) in behavioural decisions is known to occur in a wide range of vertebrate and invertebrate taxa. Accurate decisions often take longer for a given condition, while fast decisions can be inaccurate in some tasks. Speed-accuracy tactics are known to vary consistently among individuals, and show a degree of flexibility during colour discrimination tasks in bees. Such individual flexibility in speed-accuracy tactics is likely to be advantageous for animals exposed to fluctuating environments, such as changes in predation (...) threat. We therefore test whether individual speed-accuracy tactics are fixed or flexible under different levels of predation threat in a model invertebrate, the bumblebee Bombus terrestris. The flexibility of speed-accuracy tactics in a foraging context was tested in the laboratory using a ‘meadow’ of artificial flowers harbouring ‘robotic’ crab spider predators. We found that while the ranking of bees along the speed and accuracy continuums was consistent across two levels of predation threat, there was some flexibility in the tactics used by individual bees – most bees became less accurate at colour discrimination when exposed to predation threat when flower types were rewarding. The relationship between decision speed and accuracy was influenced by predator detectability and the risk associated with making incorrect choices during the colour discrimination task. Predator crypsis resulted in a breakdown in the relationship between speed and accuracy, especially when making an incorrect floral choice incurred a distasteful quinine punishment. No single speed-accuracy tactic was found to be optimal in terms of foraging efficiency under either predation threat situation. However, bees that made faster decisions achieved higher nectar collection rates in predator free situations, while accurate bees achieved higher foraging rates under predation threat. Our findings show that while individual bees remain relatively consistent in terms of whether they place greater emphasis on speed or accuracy under predation threat, they can respond flexibly to the additional time costs of detecting predators. (shrink)

صدر عن المركز العربي للأبحاث ودراسة السياسات كتاب عز الدين جسّوس "السلطة المرابطية: الرمزي والمتخيل"، الذي ينطلق فيه من المكانة الخاصة التي تحتلها السلطة السياسية في عقلية الرعية، وهذا راسخ في وعيهما كليهما، وتحكم العلاقة بينهما حقوق وواجبات متبادلة. غير أن الأمر لا ينحصر في هذا وحده، بل يتعدّاه إلى أن تستعمل السلطة السياسية الحاكمة، بما في ذلك ما يترتب على التطور الفكري واللغوي اللذين يصاحبانها، رموزًا وصورًا تمثّل السلطة الحاكمة وتعبّر عنها. تراكم هذه الأمور، إضافة إلى أعمال الحكام وقراراتهم (...) وممارسات السلطة السياسية، ينتج منه بناء متخيَّل معيَّن في ذهنية الرعية التي تساهم في نشره والدعوة إليه عن قصد أو عن غير قصد، بل تعمل أيضًا على تطويره وتضخيمه. (shrink)

A comprehensive biography which covers Adorno's life, work and times: from childhood, through to his student years, his years in emigration, his return to post-war Germany, his time in Frankfurt, his role as a public intellectual, and his ...

A translation of the essay ‘On Promethean Shame’ by Günther Anders with a comprehensive introduction and analysis of his work.

Maḥmūd, Zakī Najīb, 1905-; philosophers; Egypt; biography; interview.

This work argues that at populism's core is a rejection of pluralism. Populists will always claim that they and they alone represent the people and their true interests. Müller also shows that, contrary to conventional wisdom, populists can govern on the basis of their claim to exclusive moral representation of the people: if populists have enough power, they will end up creating an authoritarian state that excludes all those not considered part of the proper "people." The book proposes a number (...) of concrete strategies for how liberal democrats should best deal with populists and, in particular, how to counter their claims to speak exclusively for "the silent majority" or "the real people." - Provided by the publisher. (shrink)

Der Autor schildert Lebenslauf und Karriere von Jürgen Habermas sowie die Menschen und Ereignisse, die ihn geprägt haben, und erläutert sachkundig seine Veröffentlichungen.

Fur Wittgenstein haben als 'grundlegend' gedachte mathematische Bemuhungen, wie sie sich in den logizistischen Systemen Freges und Russells, der Mengentheorie und der nach Konsistenzbeweisen fur solche Systeme suchenden Beweistheorie Hilberts zeigen, keineswegs einen nennenswerten grundlegenden Charakter, sondern es handelt sich bei ihnen um normale Stucke Mathematik wie andere auch. Im Teil III der Bemerkungen uber die Grundlagen der Mathematik entwickelt er seine Kritik an jenen Grundlegungsanspruchen in vielfaltigster Weise, und dieser Kommentar zeichnet seine Gedankengange in all ihren Verastelungen nach. Dabei (...) wird nicht nur der veroffentlichte Text berucksichtigt, sondern auch samtliche relevanten Nachlasspassagen, aus denen er hervorgegangen ist und ohne die er teilweise gar nicht verstanden werden kann. Der Kommentar ist sowohl kritisch als auch konstruktiv: Mangel werden als solche benannt und Erganzungen und Verbesserungen vorgeschlagen, wenn es moglich erscheint. Das Ergebnis sind Wittgensteinsche Gedankengange, die ungleich uberzeugender und vernunftiger sind, als dies bislang in der Literatur uber Wittgensteins Philosophie der Mathematik sichtbar war. (shrink)