In this paper, I will try to address the question of how to conceptualise a form of life that is better than others, by putting Rahel Jaeggi’s pragmatism inspired critical theory and Giorgio Agamben’s genealogical perspective in conversation. I argue that for both authors the critique of forms of life is intertwined with “the critique of how”. Not restricting itself to ethical abstinence, and without imposing certain norms upon forms of life, “the critique of how” focuses on the reflexive capacity (...) of forms of life, or their ability to question how they become what they are, which gives rise to an increased perception of the connections and continuities of activities in which they are engaged. In this sense, it may become possible to free the present in order to open it to contingency, and to see the glimpses of a better form of life. (shrink)

In this paper reling on Agamben’s genealogical endeavour with regard to the concept of oath, I shall try to discuss how he renders the relation between language and the destituent power that will lead me to address ‘the new experience of the word’, namely, pistis (faith), which is placed at the centre of the messianic announcement. In order to open up this point, I will take into consideration Jacques Derrida’s arguments related to faith and language which appear to be one (...) of the main addressees of Agamben’s critical undertaking, even though he is never mentioned in Agamben’s later book The Sacrament of Language, in which he elaborates the contours of the relation between language and pistis. For Derrida the opening of language is based on an oath, a promise of saying ‘yes’ and thus, speaking is an act of faith. However, it is this functioning of language that has to be suspended according to Agamben, since it is this very dispositif that is connected to sovereign power. It is through this suspension the living being who has language may cease to be homo sacer before language and sovereign power. (shrink)

The world is facing a once-in-a-lifetime situation: the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, the World Health Organization announced an infodemic as well. This infodemic caused infollution and sparked many controversies. Pandemics as extraordinary occurrences are always attractive to historians. However, infodemics and biased information threaten objective history-writing. Objectivity as it regards historians is already a much-discussed subject. In this commentary, the fundamental theories about objectivity are delineated. Second, the relationship between the infodemic and COVID-19 pandemic is explained. Lastly, the problems (...) regarding objectivity in the historiography of the COVID-19 pandemic are explored. (shrink)

During their educational life, medical students encounter several challenges, the origins and causes of which vary. This paper explores and attempts to scrutinize two of these challenges, before eventually introducing the concept of responsibility. First, this paper describes the general characteristics of medical schools, medical students, and medical education. Second, two different ethical challenges that medical students confront are then delineated: the anxiety of continuously questioning ‘while being trained, do I cause patients to receive suboptimal health care?’ and occasionally feeling (...) obligated, consequently, to breach the ethical boundaries to practice procedures on patients. Finally, the faculty of responsibility and its components are introduced and discussed as a model that can overcome these ethical challenges. (shrink)

Throughout the history of Islam, mosques and masjids have been in a position where Muslims both perform their prayers and perform their scientific activities. In this sense, in the history of Islamic culture, Muslims mostly learned and taught sciences such as the Qur'an, tafsir, hadith and fiqh in these places until the spread of madrasahs. Especially the al-Masjid al-Nabawi, which the Muslims built here with their migration from Mecca to Medina, has become a full center of science. People called Companions (...) of Suffa have a great share in this situation. Because they used this place both as a housing and a school. This function of al-Masjid al-Nabawi affected the mosques of cities such as Kufa. With the foundation of Kufa in 17/638, mosques were built in the center and in the quarters of the city. The Companions who came here for different reasons conveyed their knowledge to the public in these mosques. Thus, in the first period the masjids in Kufa became the centers where the Companions conveyed their knowledge of Islamic sciences. Over time, various scientific circles were established in these mosques, and scholars transferred their knowledge of tafser, hadith and fiqh to the next generations. Especially many important jurists were trained in these places. Some of them are ’Alqamah b. Qays, Masruq b. Abdurrahman, Aswad b. Yazīd, Ibrāhīm al-Naḥa’ī, Ḥammād b. Abū Suleimān, Abū Ḥanīfah, Sufyan al-Thawri, Abū Yūsuf and Imam Muhammad. That these important jurists mostly acquired their knowledge of fiqh in the mosques in Kūfa and that some of them had important effects on the formation of the Hanafi sect made important the quantity and quality of the fiqh education in these places. As a result, it has been seen that the masjids in Kūfa have an important role in the raising of many jurists and the function of these places in this regard has been studied. Thus, this study aims to reveal the function of mosques and masjids in the historical process, albeit limited. (shrink)

The sense of shame is part of human nature. What, then, is the role and significance of such a particular sensation, one that causes mental anxiety in a sick person’s weakest and the most vulnerable state? We know from historical documents going back as far as ancient Greece and Egypt that respecting patient privacy should be regarded as a moral duty for physicians in charge of treatment. However much today’s healthcare may have changed compared to centuries past, we note that (...) patient privacy has not lost its importance. In the current healthcare system, digital recording of private information and images enables others, in principle, to access these personal data quite easily. While we cannot reject the advantages offered by modern medicine, we need to consider how to design a healthcare system that respects patient privacy. What should be the standards of privacy in emergency services where urgent decisions and interventions have to be made? How should we guarantee patient privacy during medical education? The chapters of this book approach questions like these from the perspectives of different disciplines. The writings illustrate the increasing complexity of patient privacy issues in modern healthcare systems, particularly the growing difficulty to protect confidential data. At the same time, we can observe that patients are becoming more aware of their rights and their sensitivity in this area has increased. In our opinion, an approach that requires us to choose between the two values –health and privacy – would be wrong. Therefore, the question we should focus on is: “what kind of healthcare system should be developed to ensure the greatest respect for humans’ natural right to privacy?” If we want to answer this question and find sustainable solutions for these problems, it is crucial to use a multidisciplinary approach. From this perspective, the present volume is a first contribution to be published in Turkey to pursue this aim, including articles offered from various disciplines. (shrink)

The book consists of articles in various fields written by graduate students. The articles were selected among many which applied to the "International Student's Work Competition". Then divided into two categories and published a two-volume "The World After the Pandemic" book series. Articles in this volume are related to "Life Sciences and Medicine", "Lifestyle and Urban Planning", "Technology" and "Education" regarding the world after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Göstergenin bilimsel olarak incelenme sürecinde etkin rol oynayan zihinsel arka plan farklılığı, temel unsurlarının şekil ve formlarında görülen değişiklikler başta olmak üzere, gösterme eyleminin işlevi ve gayesine ilişkin birtakım görüş ayrılıklarına zemin hazırlar. Nitekim göstergebilimin kurucuları Ferdinand de Saussure ve C. S. Peirce, göstergeyi birbirinden farklı iki bağlamda ele alır. Saussure göstergebilimin, dilbilimi de içine alan bir bilim dalı olarak kurulması gerekliliğine değinmekle yetinirken Peirce, onu, mantık ve anlam-yorum çalışmalarına hız kazandırmak amacı ile bilimsel zemine taşır. Peirce’ün göstergeye bakışı, yalnızca (...) işaret olgusuna dair geliştirdiği bir teori olarak değil; ayrıca bir anlam ve bilgi teorisi olarak da incelenmelidir. Bu nedenle makalenin ilk bölümünde Peirce’ün mantık alanındaki düşüncelerinin alt yapısını oluşturan varlık kategorilerine yer verilecektir. Ardından onun pragmatisizm düşüncesi ve klasik mantık eleştirisi üzerinden göstergeye ve işaret ettiği anlama bakışı değerlendirilecektir. Üçüncü bölümde ise gösterge teorisi, detaylı olarak incelenecek; Peirce’ün felsefî pozisyonun semiyozis terimleri üzerindeki belirleyici etkisine değinilecektir. The difference in mental background, which plays an active role in the scientific analysis of the sign, paves the way for some disagreements regarding the function and purpose of the act of signifying, especially the changes in the shapes and forms of its basic elements. As a matter of fact, the founders of semiotics, Ferdinand de Saussure and C. S. Peirce, consider the sign in two different contexts. While Saussure is content to mention the necessity of establishing semiotics as a branch of science that also includes linguistics, Peirce carries it to the scientific ground with the aim of accelerating the logic and meaning-interpretation studies. Peirce, who developed his own categories of entities, deals with them in three stages. These; firstness, in which the entity is a pure quality before it exists in the world, secondness, in other words, the form in which this quality is embodied outside; and the thirdness, in other words, the state in question, which has gained the ability to serve as a representation in order to appeal to a mind and be interpreted. In this last category, being becomes an interpretable sign that points to an object for a certain meaning. The point where the categories of being and Peirce's theory of sign meet is that the types of sign, object and interpretant are shaped according to these three categories. (shrink)

This article is based on the premise that the constructed image of the national self is a fundamental criterion shaping the conceptions of history teaching in the Turkish educational system. In this regard, I argue that examining how particular ethno-religious groups are discursively positioned in relation to the idealised self-image can reveal whether and how history textbooks can be revised. Having described the historical and political context for the only curriculum revision occurred in 2013 concerning a non-Muslim community, the Assyrians, (...) the article demonstrates that specific discursive strategies are used to position the Assyrian community in relation to the favourable national self-image, rather than a fixed categorization for non-Muslim communities. Adopting the methodological framework of critical discourse analysis, the author examines the portrayal of the Assyrian community in the secondary school Turkish history textbooks taught over the last three decades and identifies how the topoi of justice and tolerance, as well as allegiance and betrayal allow a particular group to be a member of the larger body of ‘acceptable citizens.’. (shrink)

Dalālat al-lafẓī al-waḍʿī, is divided into three parts: mutābaqat, taẓam-mun and iltizām. Although there is an agreement among the scholars regar-ding the nature of the mutābaqat, which shows the conformity of the word to its meaning, the indication of taẓammun and iltizām includes certain controversial issues. Among these, some issues related to iltizām, which plays a central role in method and rhetoric, were discussed. Al-Bābertī who wrote al-şurūḥ [commentaries] on the main works that greatly influenced the ones written after him (...) in these two sciences, expressed his opinion on the controversial issues; especially on the issues related to iltizām. These are about whether a mental necessity (al-luzūm al-dhihnī) condition is sought for the rationality and realization of the obligatory indication. In this context, at the beginning of the article, firstly, a general information about dalālat will be given, and in the first part, how the dalālat is handled in works of Bābertī will be explained. Then, in the second part, controversial issues related to dalālat will be discussed; views of Bābertī on these will be revealed after the discussions of scholars are included, especially within the framework of the nature of iltizām. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding about the internal fraud and corruption problem in the Turkish construction industry. The reasons behind the internal fraud and corruption problem as well as the types of prevention methods were investigated; and as a result various recommendations were made. To this end, a risk awareness questionnaire was used to understand the behavioral patterns of the construction industry, and to clarify possible proactive and reactive measures against internal fraud and corruption. The (...) type of fraud experienced by Turkish construction companies was also surveyed in the questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent to 89 firms; and depending on the collected data, certain recommendations for construction industry professionals were provided. (shrink)

İnsanın özgür iradesinin ispatı problemine yönelik çözüm denemelerinden biri Tanrı’nın kendisini gönüllü olarak sınırlaması anlamına gelen ilahi kendini sınırlama (divine self-limitation) yaklaşımıdır. Yahudi ve Hıristiyan teolojilerinde görülen bu perspektifle modern dönemde Süreç ve Kuantum felsefelerinde karşılaşılır. Bu çalışmada ilgili düşünce biçimi, Mu‘tezilî bilincin düşünce biçimiyle kıyaslanmıştır. Öncelikle Tanrı’nın kendini sınırlamasının imkânı, sınır teorisi varsayımıyla sorgulanmıştır. Buna göre ‘sınır’ evrene ve insana ‘yasa’ olarak içkindir. Evren de insan da fiziksel, kimyasal, biyolojik vd. yasalara/sınırlara tâbidir. Bu yasaların yaratıcısı olarak Tanrı da sorumluluğun (...) kaynağı akıl da insanı sınırlar ve sınır demek kavram, anlam, amaç, sistem ve düzen/kozmos demektir. Bu düzenin toplumsal hali ise zaman ve mekân ile sınırlı insanın teklif sahibi kılınarak eylemlerinin de sınırlandırılmasıdır. Peki, akla sınırlama fonksiyonu veren Tanrı’nın da kendi iradesini, ilmindeki tasarımının bir sonucu olarak sınırladığı varsayılabilir mi? Yahudi teolojisinde bu sınırlama, onların inançlarıyla ilişkili yaşadıkları ıstıraplara karşı Tanrı’nın müdahale etmemesinin bir nedeni olarak görülmekle beraber sınırlı âlemlerin var olabilmesi için Tanrı’nın sonsuz ışığını daraltması ve geri çekilmesi olarak da anlaşılmıştır. Hıristiyan teolojisinde ise sonsuzluğun evreni yaratmasının keyfiyeti, Tanrı’nın Mesih ile enkarnasyonu, kötülük ve özgür irade problemlerini çözmek için bu teoriye başvurulmuştur. Tanrı’nın, vahiy aracılığıyla bildirdiği teklif, aynı zamanda insana akıllı, sorumlu, dolayısıyla özgür olduğunu da hatırlatmaktadır. Muhammed İkbal (öl. 1928) bu özgürlüğün insana ilahi kendini sınırlama teorisiyle verilebileceği kanaatindedir. Bu görüşle Mu‘tezilî bilincin Tanrı tasavvurunda sezilen sınırın birlikte düşünülmesi mümkün müdür? Zira tekliften doğan özgürlüğün gereği, Mu‘tezile’ye Tanrı’nın iradesinin ezeli olmadığını, tercihlerinin yaratıcısının insanın kendisi olduğunu düşündürmüştür. Yine tanrısal adaletin bir gereği olarak, insana kudretin fiilden önce verilmesi, nübüvvet ile va‘d ve vaidin gerçekleşmesi gibi teklife dair meseleler Tanrı hakkında zorunlu kabul edilmiştir. Bu bilinçte aklın sınırlama fonksiyonu Tanrı’ya taşınmış görünür. Tanrı insanın eylemlerinde etkin değildir, kötülüğü de yaratmaz. Hatta bazı isimlere göre kötülüğe güç dahi yetiremez. Tanrı’nın malumatının ve makduratının da bir sınırı vardır. Mu‘tezile’deki bu sınırlı Tanrı tasavvuru, söz konusu ‘özgür irade’ olduğunda ilgili teoriyle yeniden ifade edilirse, adil ve hakim olan Tanrı’nın, ilmindeki bilinçli/akıl sahibi/sorumlu/özgür insan tasarımının gerektirmesiyle gönüllü olarak kendi özgürlüğünü sınırladığı söylenebilecektir. Bu söylem, varoluşsal amaçlılık anlamında insanın neden özgür olduğunun değil, Tanrı’nın vahyettiğine inanılan bir evrende nasıl özgür olabildiğinin muhtemel cevaplarından biridir. (shrink)

Türkiye hosts approximately 3.6 million Syrian refugees, which accounts for roughly 4.5% of Türkiye's population. This places undeniable pressure on public institutions, particularly on healthcare services. The objective of this study is to document the healthcare structure for Syrian refugees and various challenges faced by Syrians when seeking healthcare and to highlight the ethical concerns emerging from those challenges. To achieve this, we conducted a comprehensive review of several qualitative studies and reports conducted by various organizations and institutions, specifically focusing (...) on health or including a dedicated chapter on health issues, published between 2011 and 2023. Following an extensive analysis of the secondary literature, we classified the challenges into three categories: procedural, cultural, and psychosocial. We argue that each of these challenges is linked to overarching medical ethics concerns. Finally, we propose three possible means to mitigate the challenges Syrians experience in accessing and uptake of healthcare services in Türkiye. (shrink)

This work is intended to be a textbook for the fundamentals of theoriesand methods in the social sciences and the humanities. Along with theknowledge of the existing theories and methods, this book will provide theanalytical tools that will help the reader comprehend the hidden assumptionsand philosophical underpinnings from a comparative and critical perspective.More precisely, this book aims to introduce not only theories and methods butalso the worldviews from which they emerge and the paradigms that they arerooted in. Crystallizing the ontological, (...) epistemological and methodologicalcategories in mind, this book will also help the reader be consistent in researchquestions, methods and conclusions... (shrink)

The Flash Technique of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is widely recognized for its effectiveness in reducing the effects of emotional responses associated with traumatic memories. Using a randomized-controlled trial methodology, this study attempts to establish the efficacy of the EMDR Flash Technique. This study’s sample includes volunteers who were involved in traffic accidents and were given the randomized EMDR Flash Technique and Improving Mental Health Training for Primary Care Residents Stress management module. The participants were given a socio-demographic data (...) form, the Depression-Anxiety-Stress 21 scale, the Impact of Event Scale-Revised, and the WHOQOL Quality of Life scale. Participants were evaluated using measurements taken before and after the application, as well as a one-month follow-up. The mean age of the participants was 36.20 years and 82.1% were female. The DASS-21 Anxiety, IES-R Intrusion, Avoidance, Total, and WHOQOL-BREF Psychological score improvements of the EMDR Flash Technique group were shown to be statistically significant when compared to the mhGAP group. However, no statistically significant difference in the DASS-21 Depression, Stress, Impact of Event Scale-Revised Hyperarousal WHOQOL-BREF General Health, Physical, Social Relationships, and Environment component scores was reported between the two groups. The present study’s findings clearly demonstrate that the EMDR Flash technique, when applied to persons involved in traffic accidents, is successful in improving anxiety, intrusion, avoidance, total traumatic stress, and mental quality of life symptoms for at least 1 month. We believe that these findings will improve the reliability and applicability of the EMDR Flash Technique, which was tested for the first time in a clinical randomized-controlled trial. (shrink)

In this paper we draw on the munāẓara tradition to intervene in the debate on whether argument assessment should be agent- or act-based. We introduce and deploy the notion of _sequencing_ – the ordering of the antagonist’s critical moves – to make explicit an ambiguity between the _agent_ and the _act_ of arguing. We show that sequencing is a component of argumentation that inextricably involves the procedure as well as the agent and, therefore, its assessment cannot be adequately undertaken if (...) either agent- or act-based norms are ignored or demoted. We present our intervention through a challenge that virtue argumentation needs to address for it to be considered an alternative to existing theories of argument assessment (Section 2 ). We then briefly introduce munāẓara and focus on its notion of sequencing to explicate the interdependence between the agent and the procedure (Section 3 ). Next, we address the challenge by offering an account of the virtuous arguer as a virtuous sequencer (Section 4 ). In conclusion, we reflect on the implications of sequencing on virtue argumentation and the norms of argumentation. (shrink)

In developing countries, the patriarchal social construct, unsatisfactory legal protection, and underlying cultural bias against women have resulted in increasing intimate partner violence, which largely goes unaddressed, undocumented, and unreported in healthcare settings. This case study presents a common scenario of intimate partner violence and carefully analyzes its ethical implications in an emergency case at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. In this study, basic ethical principles are used to discuss important ethical challenges faced daily by healthcare workers in (...) the medical, social, and legal context. It further highlights the dire need of patient education, safety, and a solid framework for addressing, documenting, and reporting intimate partner violence for healthcare workers. (shrink)

Teksten, beschouwingen en biografische gegevens van en over de vrijdenker, humanist en Multatulikenner Piet Spigt (1919-1990).

Knowledge of the profiles of blank voters and multi-party voters and the underlying dynamics of these forms of voting is very defective. At least three phenomena of political-psychological importance may foster interest in these forms of ambivalent or deviant voting behaviour: 1) so-called political 'homeless' who are interested in politics but notparty-organized 2) political indifference 3) protest voting.Data of a study on social and political attitudes among Brussels students were used to analyze socio-demographical correlates and attitudinal profiles of blank and (...) multiparty voters. Differentiations among multi-party voters are indeed linked to specific attitudinal profiles. (shrink)

1. Cabinet made small effort to start consultations between the communities.It left the initiative to the political parties and to Flemish employers.2. The president of the VEV played an active role bebind the curtains. He mediated between certain Flemish and W alloon political circles. He tried to get the Volksunie info the cabinet. He found himself sadly out in his reckoning on the Walloon side, because he overlooked the strong socialist opposition.3. The opposition Socialist Party overcame the deadlock by publishing (...) a plan for the definitive state-reforms. Flemish, Walloon and Brussels socialists agreed to this plan. It became the beginning of negotiations between the communities, which started on November 30.4. The negotiations are difficult, mostly because the Walloons have no unified view on state-reforms. (shrink)

This paper addresses the difficult question how the idea of a personal God is connected with an increasing impersonal attitude and conduct among human beings. This question is difficult because it is by no means evident that, e.g., Christian believers would be more personal than non-Christians. In any case, the very idea of a ‘personal’ God has been severely criticized by various kinds of atheists and even theologians have cast doubt on the usefulness of the category of personhood when dealing (...) with the divine. This remarkable situation is taken as a challenge for a thorough exploration of the notion of personhood. It is argued that ‘person’ differs from ‘individual’ and ‘identity’, and that, among other things, language, freedom, and the imagination are constitutive elements for being a person. The conceptual analysis eventually results in the idea that, above all, a person is a porous and a relational being. That is the reason why for Christians the model of all personality will always be the triune God, who is said to be three persons and one essence. Finally, on the basis of this finding, the author explains why Christians ought to be defenders of a genuinely personal approach to the other in all areas of private life and society. (shrink)