MA in Philosophy and Social Thought
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Öğe Wittgenstein and the limits of language in philosophy in 20th century(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2022) Alkım, Ezgi; Keskin, FerdaABSTRACT: The following research is based on the thesis on the limits of language in philosophy through Wittgenstein perspective and the diachronic analysis of language in philosophy. Language has been identified as an essential aspect of human communication. However, the use of language has its limits, as Ludwig Wittgenstein has pointed out. He pioneered the controversial linguistic conception that the meaning of words, either relative or not, cannot be specified in isolation from the life practices that they are used. Wittgenstein also came up with the “language-game” that explains the phenomenon of language acquisition and use. Language is conceived in a totally different way, even methodologically: it is no longer a representation or index of anything; rather, it is like an instrument that can emit a different sound depending on its use made of it. Words are compared by Wittgenstein to different tools, and of these, a single use cannot be attributed. The Philosophical Investigations try to show the epistemological errors that we make daily when using language: the meaning of an expression is not necessarily to inform or describe. In short, the Philosophical Investigations represented a fundamental turn in contemporary epistemology. Wittgenstein contributed with his work a new method of understanding the linguistic fact that, although it disdains the question about the essence of language, it is capable, however, of providing more complete explanations, but now from its use. The research will answer three questions that will provide the number of appropriate systems with formal logic, the association of formal logic with the logic of language, as well as provide empirical evidence regarding the limitation of language. All the objectives will be answered using a qualitative research method.Öğe The discussion of marxism and theoretical anti-humanism in the light of Louis Althusser's thoughts(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2022) Bulduruç, Erdem; Keskin, FerdaABSTRACT: In this thesis, I state that anti-humanism and theoretical anti-humanism are different things and that not every criticism of humanism means theoretical anti-humanism. I also emphasize that every philosophical critique of the subject and every antihumanist reading that lacks a theory of history cannot be equated with Marxism. I focus on the ruptures in Marx's thought by problematizing Marx's expressions such as 'species being' (Gattungwesen) and alienation in his early texts, and I invite the reader to reflect on what it means to take the theoretical anti-humanist position in Marx's later texts. Althusser not only made a theoretical intervention in the conjuncture with his theoretical discussion of anti-humanism, but also emphasized that the human is a generalization subject not only in bourgeois economy but also in all concepts modeling the bourgeois age, and that modern philosophy puts the concept of human and subject in its center in a hereditary way, and embraces it with all his arms. For Althusser, the categories of man, human essence, or human species played a fundamental theoretical role in pre-Marxist classical philosophies. Later, this role was transferred to classical political economy, included by it, and it became functional in hiding the logic of exploitation by the capitalist system of production. As a universalized category the idea of man, as the conscious subject of his acts is isolated from its concrete-historical conditions, together with humanism, we are witnessing that people are no longer their relational existence in the production process, but are equated with their quality of being human, and that they become the subject of law and the subject of their needs by the power. This discussion reflected in Marxism in the claim human history begins with humans, that history should be considered within the scope of human subjects, that we should read the history of class struggles as the history of the human being and his alienation from himself. Thus, the debates have been postponed, such as that concrete man and history in his relational existence conditioned in the social production of material life do not have a final goal of bringing the human essence to man. By emphasizing that both knowledge and history are based on a material process, that is, without subject, Althusser made a head-on opposition to both humanism and its way of knowing. Althusser criticized the application of humanist epistemology, which has come under different names (integral, scientific) to Marxism. Again, Marxism, which does not take into account the material production process and material conditions or does not read it as an activity consisting of subjects, has loudly objected to the understanding that finds its source in Classical Political Economy, German Philosophy and French socialism, that is, in human philosophies. Those who do not take into account the material production process and material conditions, or who read it as an activity with a have historical subject, have found the source of Marxism unfiltered in English Political Economy, German Philosophy and French Socialism, i.e. in human philosophies. Althusser loudly objected to this understanding. According to Althusser, this genesis reading of the three sources of Marxism is at best a critical reading. For Althusser, historical-social practices do not mean that their agents are necessarily thought of as subject nor does it mean that history has a telos as its subject and purpose. With the theoretical anti-humanism discussion, Althusser emphasized that Marxism had to break with the idealist category of “subject”, which treats the “subject” as the beginning (origin,), essence, cause. Neither in Marx's Scientific revolution (conditioned in the social production of material life) nor in Marx's philosophical revolution (philosophy is the class struggle carried out in the theoretical field), the concept of man can be considered as a starting principle. However, this does not mean that the subjects are not established in the process and a subjectivity within the practice-politics are not produced. In order to make this discussion clear, Althusser focused on the evolutions and breaks in Marx's thought, or to put it more accurately, after observing the conceptual changes in Marx's texts, Althusser stated that Marx's theory was not yet mature in his youth and even though he started to distance himself from these understandings. Marx did not yet have a conceptual break and he couldn’t open a new field with the concept of epistemological break by tracing the texts one by one. When Marxism is read in the conditions of its formation, we have to go from the end to the beginning. In this sense, Marxism is neither a historicism nor a theoretical-humanism. As a result, Marxism is a new science (historical materialism) and new philosophical practice that broke away from philosophies of consciousness and philosophical anthropologies, that is, from the category of subject whose unity is provided by consciousness.Öğe Nietzsche's idea of the eternal return of the same and its relation to fatalism(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2022) Ercan, Ömer; Talay Turner, ZeynepABSTRACT: The idea of eternal return, one of the main themes of Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, has been mainly discussed between two approaches: eternal return cosmologically and eternal return ethically. This study has two main aims. Its primary purpose is to show that the idea of eternal return has an ethical rather than a cosmological one. The study's second aim is to show that the eternal return of the same is not a fatalistic idea. Eternal return is not a phenomenon that began to be discussed with Nietzsche. This phenomenon has been discussed since prehistoric and ancient times. When we look at the ideas of eternal return in the mentioned periods, it is seen that the eternal return of the same is put forward as a cosmological thought. The idea of eternal return in the animist world of mind, when even no trace of anthropomorphic gods has yet been found, tries to stop time by recreating a creative and perfect first act. On the other hand, in the philosophical world where mythology opens the door, the eternal return gradually begins to gain an ethical appearance. Significantly Heraclitus' idea of the war of opposites influenced Nietzsche. For Nietzsche, the eternal return is not cosmological as it was in prehistoric and ancient times. Nietzsche discussed the idea of eternal return in the field of ethics. In this way, he put forward the eternal return around the basic concepts of Übermensch and Amor Fati as a "revaluation of values" principle. Besides, it can be said that the principle of eternal return does not mean an inevitable repetition for Nietzsche. In other words, it does not have a fatalistic quality. On the contrary, it is understood that eternal return, as the principle of revaluation values, is an antidote to absolute and fixed morals and principles.Öğe Spinoza and Nietzsche: infinite nature of affections(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2022) Erdem, Serdar; Turner, ZeynepABSTRACT: We find great differences between the philosophies of Spinoza and Nietzsche. On the one hand, it can be understood why there are such great differences between the philosophy of Spinoza, which builds almost all of his philosophy on the concept of God, and the philosophy of Nietzsche, whose most famous claim is “God is dead”. Or Spinoza’s choice of geometric method as the method of expressing his thoughts, and Nietzsche’s use of a literary and critical language deepens these differences. On the other hand, there is only an inherent orientation in the philosophy of both Spinoza and Nietzsche. And at this point, we begin to see that differences build themselves on similarities. Because the immanent philosophical perspectives of both philosophers overlap to a great extent. In particular, the explanation of the objective world established in the context of the infinite nature of affections and the capture of the finite from the infinite, stemming from the way these relations are established, have great similarities. Therefore, from this point of view, the concepts of ethics and freedom, feelings and experiences, the roles of consciousness and body in these relations, and even the concepts of conatus and the will to power, which are the founding impulses of their immanent philosophies, overlap to a great extent. Because, the fact that the infinite nature of affections plays an active role as a founding element in the philosophies of both philosophers and thus affirms life at the highest possible level, positions these two philosophers very close to each other in terms of interpretation and meaning. In summary, the aim of this thesis is to first focus on the meaning and importance of the infinite nature of affections in terms of affirming life, and then to examine how Spinoza and Nietzsche positioned this idea in their philosophy and in what respect they established a partnership.Öğe From the eternity of ideology and unconscious concepts in Althusser to the limits of the discourse of truth(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2022) Ataş, Rojname; Keskin, FerdaABSTRACT: We prepared this thesis by determining the points where the concepts of Ideology, Unconscious, and Truth touch each other. How do relations of reproduction reveal practices of truth? Is it possible to think of the Quest as a conceptual and a material practice simultaneously? In what contexts does the problem of truth address the concept of Quest? A conceptual perspective was first established for the thesis to answer these questions at the most basic level. Then, Althusser's symptom-based reading technique was tried to be applied both to the texts in the context of the thesis and to the thesis itself. This perspective is the reproduction perspective. We considered this conceptual point of view with the reproduction of production relations problematic in Althusser and Freud. At this point, we examined the concepts of ideology, subject, and unconscious and showed parallels between them. The theoretical frameworks we have tried to establish have paved the way for conceptualizing the "Quest" we will put forward. The concept of truth has given certain clues to contract theories as it evokes "Law.” We tried to establish our conceptualization of "truth," "subject," and "Quest" on solid ground through contract theories. Our consideration of the "Quest" conceptualization as being linked to the "truth" theory will offer certain conceptual propositions for reconstructing society. The concepts of “Quest” and “Truth” have enabled us to deal with the discussions of "multitude" and "immanence" as the problematization of contract theories. In this context, we will discuss the concept of "Quest" as our conceptual practice. We aim to contribute to the field of Philosophy through the criticism of contract theories. We tried to produce a new conceptual approach around the concepts that show the parallelism of ideology and unconscious studies. What is important for our thesis is to deal with the concept of “Quest” together with other concepts.Öğe Self-realization: from authenticity to "aesthetics of existence"(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2022) Ceyhan, Merve; Keskin, FerdaABSTRACT: The starting point of this study is how the concept of self-realization is approached in today's world. As it seems, the discourse of self-realization in the age that we can call the late modern period is predominantly produced by the culture of self-help. As found here, the concept of self-realization treats people as isolated, atomic individuals in connection with others. Therefore, today, this concept is not treated within ethical and political context. In addition, the concept of authenticity is in close contact with the culture of self-help that produces late modern interpretations of self-realization. The ideal of authenticity, developed around the motto of 'be yourself', includes processes such as 'discovering your true self' and adapting this truth to the rest of your self. In this study, the separation of the self into ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ realms is traced in the history of philosophy: since when has human been talking about herself? The next part of the study focuses on the concept of authenticity and examines what kind of self-realization approach this concept proposes through the understanding of authenticity of Jean Jacques Rousseau, Charles Taylor and Jean Paul Sartre. The last part of the work is devoted to the philosophy of Michel Foucault. Can a model that can be created as an alternative to the understanding of self-realization suggested by the self-development culture deduced from Foucault's writings? The relations that the Greeks established with themselves within the framework of the rule of ‘taking care of oneself’, and the ‘ascetic’ practices they carried out regarding the use of pleasures, which Foucault conveyed to us on the ancient Greek ethics he was working on in his last period, are of a quality that will appeal to today's ‘self-occupied’ people. These ethical studies, which Foucault called the ‘aesthetics of existence’, also promised freedom to the ‘subject’. Therefore, the ‘aesthetics of existence’ can offer a kind of exit door to the idea and practice of self-realization, which has lost its ethical and political aspects today.Öğe Rethinking the commons: the importance of the feminist perspective(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2022) Akın, Gülşah; Keskin, FerdaABSTRACT: Today, the commons has become an increasingly popular concept both in and outside of academia. It is possible to interpret the increasing popularity of the concept in today's capitalist society with neoliberal policies and the harmful consequences of these policies. Although neoliberalism has many differences in historical and geographical context, it often brings with it displacement, enclosure, and exploitation. In such an order, the disadvantaged groups in society are the most affected by this situation. Therefore, social movements today are more heated than ever before. The potential of the commons to offer alternatives for a more equal, just, and participatory world allows us to see many social movements as anticapitalist struggles around the commons. Therefore, this thesis focuses on a movement that may arise from a coalition of feminism and the commons by questioning the position of women, who are in a more disadvantaged and vulnerable position with the transition to capitalism, in the capitalist society. While there is no single and exact formula for how the commons will be constructed, I will present the common struggles and unique practices of both movements as the first steps for such a coalition while focusing on a struggle that will arise from the coalition of the commons and feminism.Öğe Thumos and Psukhe from mythology to Plato(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2022) Fayetörbay, Aybüke; Albayrak, Ömer BehiçABSTRACT: This study discusses the meanings, change, and transformation of psukhe and thumos concepts encountered in Ancient Greece, and points out where they have reached in Plato. The discussion turns around the mythological texts, tragedies, and Plato’s works. Though the use of psukhe in mythology is roughly limited by ‘the thing abandoning the body upon death, after Pythagoras defines the philosophy as an activity that makes the salvation of psukhe possible, psukhe becomes one of the central concepts of philosophy, and psukhe’s articulation process starts. According to Plato, it is a part of this process as a stage reached in the search for justification of human competence and knowledge with psukhe. Plato thinks of the nature of psukhe in three parts and defines and establishes thumos as one of the parts of psukhe. This type of thinking leads us towards a totally different mentality because the Greeks’ aporia is not whether the source is this or that, but is that it is/may be both this and that and that it is impossible to distinguish them, while in Plato, aletheia is handled as a problem regarding the existence of human, i.e. the tension in the existence of human. Acting at all times within the borders of this tension between the one which is knowable and the one which is unknowable, human is now the actor/maker of their own choices. And the tragic existence of humans confronts us in this relationship between spirit (psukhe) and body (soma). In the last part of this study, it will be stated that it is in fact the Love that enables both transition and self-creation of the human in his tension between psukhe and soma, and that the Love is indeed kinesis emerging upon activation of thumos, and it will be noted and seen that the power encouraging the human to discover the gateway between what’s humane and what’s divine is thumosÖğe The problem of the necessary objective grounds of the Occursus and its relation to practices of knowledge in the philosophy of Spinoza(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2022) Kızıltaş, Fatih Abdullah; Keskin, FerdaABSTRACT: The main objective of this study is composed of a twofold examination. The main intention behind examination is; for determining and hence exposing the necessary connection between the Occursus and the Conatus. In this way, as the togetherness of humans, how the different communities present a formation process through the necessary liaison between the Occursus and the Conatus could be considered. When Spinoza’s philosophical activity has been taken into account as a whole, this aim also necessitates the explanation of a pre-requirement condition of the Occursus. This pre-requirement must be taken into account more precisely in this way; when the different systems of the significations of the Occursus have been regarded, this yields nothing but the problem of the a priori objective grounds of the Occursus. Hence the pre-requirement and the indication of its problem provide the main investigation scope of this thesis, in that, merely through the explanation of this pre-requirement, the necessary relation between the Occursus and the Conatus must be understood. More precisely, when the a priori objective stratum of the Occursus has been interrogated through the interpretation of the substance, God, the attribute, and the mode, then it must open room for that which is ethical and epistemological through the practices of the community merely in this way... Since the Occursus through its objective stratum and with the Conatus enable nothing but the different appearance styles of the constitution of the experience through the different communities... For this very reason, Occursus must be predicated through the interpretation of that which is “a priori objective”... Since through this activity of predication, Occursus has been considered as the stratum of the dynamic movements of the Conatus and then these conclusions of the investigation must be attained. 1. The problem of the mechanism and animation must be explained through the necessary collective consequences of the experience of the absoluteeternal. In this way, it is possible to ascend the problem of the a priori objective grounds of the Occursus. 2. From very this way, the necessary connection between the Occursus and the Conatus must be disclosed and considered as the two façets of the same domain. From also this, how the liaison between the Conatus, epistemology, and ethics make some corollaries through the different types of communities must be considered. When the investigation is realized from this point, it also necessitates the exposition of the Conatus through construe-action, since it enables the many-folds meanings. When the Conatus is defined as the moving force of the human singularity through the stratum of Occursus, it also provides the main domain for the formation process of the experience of the human and the operation of the epistemology through the different communities. And this consideration is another investigation practice that which also necessitated by the main intention of this thesis.Öğe Psychoanalysis as a truth game in the constitution of the neoliberal subject(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2022) Yeşildağ, Zeynep Duygu; Keskin, FerdaABSTRACT: In this study, "the quest for the self" as a notion of the ongoing search for absolute truth in human history will be analyzed from the perspective of Michel Foucault and Sigmund Freud. In the first chapter, Michel Foucault's ideas on power will be discussed comprehensively and the factors that constitute the subject willbe explained together with the subject and truth section by emphasizing the importance of knowledge-power relations. At the end of the first part, the notions of rationality and irrationality will be discussed together with their historicity, and it will be pointed out that these concepts are discoursively produced. After claiming that those who are outside of reason are marginalized by dominant systems, the second part will discuss Sigmund Freud and the theory of psychoanalysis. The function of ‘psy’ disciplines in forming personality and the limitations that psychoanalysis brings to the individual in this direction will be explained. In the third part, the neoliberal system will be introduced to the discussion and the notions regarding the positioning of the subject of the society functioning under the influence of neoliberal governmentality will be explained. Michel Foucault's model of biopolitics, which deals with the processing of bodies in systems of governmentality, and finally the facets of the formation of the subject in line with the historical realities of neoliberal governmentality will be described. The factors of the objectivities claimed by Sigmund Freud with his theory corresponding to subjective objectivities within the scope of Michel Foucault's thoughts will be explained, and the effect of the neoliberal system on the self will be discussed. In the fourth chapter, the aspects of the individual's questioning and quest for the self for centuries will be discussed from the perspective of Sigmund Freud and Michel Foucault. Finally, the theory of psychoanalysis in the practices of selfunderstanding will be discussed as the truth game that legitimizes the neoliberal order. The scope of the study will be limited to the neoliberal subject formed within the framework of neoliberal rationality from the perspective of Christian Laval and Pierre Dardot in line with Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory and the insights that led it to be referred to as a cultural theory and Michel Foucault's thoughts on the manifestation of truth games in the context of power relations. The aim of the study is to position the theory of psychoanalysis, which is discussed in the corpus of Michel Foucault but not in detail, within the neoliberal order.Öğe The transformation of the notion of crime under Covid-19 and the new model of power(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2022) Şimşek, Nuray; Keskin, FerdaABSTRACT: In this study, the transformation of the concepts of crime and power under Covid19 will be discussed. The objective is to look at the current pandemic experience on the basis of Foucault’s analyses of the changes in and crossrelations between power relations at times of epidemics in order to understand how power relations are structured in this experience and how the notion of crime takes a new form. During the discussion, the models of sovereignty, discipline and governmentality, which are the models of power described by Foucault, will be examined by thinking the current experience in terms of these models, and by questioning their similarities and differences. How the current model of power uses new tools, including changing technology, the possibilities these new tools provide to those in power, and the 'opportunities' offered by the Pandemic, which can also be described as a 'state of exception', will be evaluated. And the change in the definition of the concept of crime, which is perhaps at the center of all this, will be discussed. Since this study is based on a current experience, it will be possible to consider current examples. Although the examples and the general attitudes of other countries will be considered, the practices in Turkey will mainly be focused on. Althouhh Foucault's thoughts are taken as the basis, the articles containing observations and analyses of the pandemic by thinkers around the world since the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic have been used in the context of the subject.Öğe Consequences of conceptualizing the political as a friend - enemy distinction and the possibility of another definition of the political(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2022) Solakoğlu, Melis; Keskin, FerdaABSTRACT: It is an inevitable fact that world history has witnessed various wars and struggles. This thesis, however, can be considered as the product of the last 15 years, specifically of what I have witnessed and observed ever since the assassination of Hrant Dink in 2007. Regarding my personal observations and experiences throughout the time, I have come to the conclusion that any group that is defined as minorities by the dominant population, has faced similar hardships, oppression and violation of human rights. In this respect, my thesis aimed to present the theoretical outcomes and the practical examples of my observations in the context of Thomas Hobbes, Carl Schmitt and Johan Galtung. It is my observation that from the broad everyday practices to an exceptional situation of war, in all the stages, states can be seen in parallel with how Hobbes constructs the sovereign and the improvement of human nature in the Leviathan. In this context, I can say that the closest and most developed version of Hobbes’s understanding of the state, can be found in Schmitt’s definition of politics. While according to Hobbes, the state’s duty is to protect the physical existence of the society, Carl Schmitt argues a similar idea in terms of politics. According to Schmitt, politics and political practice only stand for the ability to make a separation between the friend and the enemy. The duty of the state and the sovereign, besides, is to maintain the physical protection of the group that can make such separation. However, as usually seen, such one-way practices to provide the so-called physical security, cause violations of human rights widely. So, in this study, I tried to examine the political practices and their effects on human rights with examples from the world and Turkey in terms of Schmitt’s definition. Regarding Galtung’s arguments, in the fourth chapter, I tried to present that another definition of politics is also possible, by claiming that politics does not merely mean separation between the friend and the enemy, so it should also be possible that an individual is protected in terms of the individual rights.Öğe Examination of King Oedipus, a fictional character, through ethical and political values(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2022) Köse, Nihayet Nihal; Keskin, FerdaABSTRACT: The choice of the thesis subject comes from today's social problems concerning the distinction between good and evil preferences of action. The sum total of these preferences, therefore, creates a culture. Thus, the whole reality of life, positive or negative, that we encounter today and that we are currently exposed to, conveys to us as a result of the sum of these action preferences. In particular, a healthy analysis or interpretation of the effects of social events that we have experienced in our country over the past two decades on the distinction of good and evil will be able to contribute to the production of life. I believe that this assumption will be possible by examining the Ancient Greece philosopher Aristotle's ethical and political concepts with this study. I also find it valuable that my thesis forms a direction through Aristotle's ethical and political understanding. Of course, this is an -activity of thinking-. First of all, it should be noted how the proceeding of the thesis will be. There will be a detailed examination of the origin of myth and tragedy, and in the light of this information, the myth of King Oedipus will be conveyed in the first chapter. The ethical and the political will be explained and reinterpreted in the sub-title from Aristotle's philosophical point of view in the second chapter. The action preferences of the fictional character, King Oedipus, will be examined through ethical and political values, that are the subject of philosophy in the third chapter, which is the last chapter. The purpose here is to see the reflections of the fictional character King Oedipus's actions that he performed as a result of his preferences on ethical and political concepts, to bring to light the details that serve as a guide for us today or at least to develop a practice of thinking. It can be seen that opening the action of King Oedipus to interpretation with Aristotle's ethical and political understanding is possible for today's people to think about the possibility of good action, but only by reaching the knowledge of the reason and just/ethical good -the state of perpetuation.Öğe Posthuman's experience in a post-digital era(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2021) Özkan, Esra; Keskin, FerdaABSTRACT: This thesis looks at the experiences of the Posthuman in the Post-Digital era and the bilateral effects of developments between humans and technology. The thesis presents the role of humans in these melting borders, the human quest for new avenues of discovery, their efforts in understanding how the brain works. In short, the thesis presents different perspectives on the role of the human being in this postdigital era. To this effect, the thesis, which also describes a historical process, discusses the breaking points of the Postdigital era and the Posthuman era. When and how discussions started and changed constitute a significant portion of the thesis. In this context, the answers to the questions “How do we create information with technology in this era?”, “How do we form relationships between the working system of the brain and machines?” and “How does postdigital art deal with technology and posthuman works?” are discussed. In addition to these discussions, the thesis features an interview with Prof. Dr. Türker Kılıç on brain studies, the ideas of Descartes, Bacon and Newton, and the human genome project.The thesis also presents a second interview. This second interview was conducted with the GPT3 algorithm developed by Open Ai. In the interview, the algorithm answered questions on three main topics: Information and Technology, Feminism Studies andPost-Human studies.Öğe Examining the issue of essence and the concept of ecstasy in singularity and community in relation to acting(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2021) Elçin, Seçil; Keskin, FerdaABSTRACT: This thesis aims to discuss the relationship between theatre acting and the ideas of community and singularity. In the first chapter, I will draw from Nancy, Blanchot, and Agamben’s thoughts on the subject of essences and combine and analyze my findings within the context of acting. If having an essence implies owning, possessing a form of being, refusing to let it go, obstructing any possible change; or if it implies having been attributed a particular property or identity, then this type of ownership/possession is incompatible with the idea of community that I intend to highlight; it also has the effect of reducing the actors’ common creative space, their range of possibilities. My claim is that actors hold the potential to change and transform because they refuse to own any property as a part of their essence. This allows them to open up towards others –that is anyone who can be considered their “stage partners.” Refusing to reduce things into a set of essences; refusing to impart immanence to beings; refusing to ignore the distinctions and particularities; and refusing to define the multiplicity of beings through active/passive recognition relationships and through attributed identities they assumed to have, leads to progress along with and despite the presence of the unknown into the possibility of community and creative space. My third chapter will focus on the notion of ecstasy and a particular interpretation thereof. According to which, ecstasy can be seen as a way to step into the community which consists of singularities that are defined mainly by their interactions with others. Community manifests where Being shares a limit with others outside itself, out there, in the external world, where it opens itself up to contestation. Ecstasy is a waypoint, a source of inspiration for the creative process of the actors who explore the interspaces between bodies, atmospheres, and histories. Ultimately, I intend to combine philosophical views that are shaped around the ideas of community and singularity with those of dramaturgists and make a comparative, interactive reading between the two.Öğe An Antihumanist reinterpretation of the philosophy of singularity(Kaygı. Uludağ Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Felsefe Dergisi, 2016) Bilgisel, DilaraAbstract: This article takes a close look at the discussion of singularity in Jean-Luc Nancy’s The Inoperative Community and Being Singular Plural as an attempt to negate the subject/object dichotomy and create a new context for a re-evaluation of resistance. With its aim of refuting individualistic subjectivity, the philosophy of singularity puts forward that the humanist point of view unnecessarily polarizes individuality and community. By placing a challenging scenario of antihumanism against the humanist sense of responsibility, the philosophy of singularity questions whether it is possible to do philosophy without saying ‘I’. This antihumanist stance, which replaces the ‘I’/‘other’ differentiation with Nancy’s ‘the other of another,’ chooses to strengthen the link between ontology and resistance in the notion of coexistence, beyond traditional hypotheses on immanence or transcendence. In order to discover the manifestation of coexistence within the frame of an antihumanist philosophy of singularity, this article begins with digging deep under the notion of individualistic subjectivity to show that it embodies a hollow and plastic category. Following this, Nancy’s stress on the term ‘ecstasy’ will be grounded upon the Freudian theory of drives and the concept of coexistence will be situated in a dark realm that the humanist worldview would expect in the least. And finally, against the background of this theoretical structure, values such as modesty and responsibility will be highlighted as an attempt to uncover an alternative moral consciousness that weaves itself out of an indefinite possibility lurking under the skin of the individual/community enigmÖğe Karl Marx and Michel Foucault and the concept of Ideology(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2021) Özen, Umut Mahir; Keskin, FerdaABSTRACT: In The German Ideology, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels accept the material life, that is, all the intellectual and physical activities, as a result of the activity carried out by humans to earn their living. Thus, the mode of production "conditions" the material life itself. The concept of ideology belongs to this discussion. Michel Foucault, on the other hand, focuses on the relationship between subject and truth while working on why the existing human relations and the “material life” take place the way they are through experiences such as the madness, crime, and sexuality. The polemics on ideology are essentially a discussion of the understanding of truth. In this study, the ideas put forward by Karl Marx and Michel Foucault on this subject will be examined. Even though Marx and Foucault are seen or depicted as opposites or adversaries, a review of Foucault's texts can clarify this issue. Contrary to what one might think, what Foucault and Marx said about ideology, discourse or truth is not contradictory, but rather complementary. Michel Foucault is not an adversary of Marx but a thinker who has read and implemented Marx. His problem is with a kind of reductionist and determinist understanding of Marxism.Öğe Foucault, neoliberalism, freedom(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2021) Ataç, Sırma Elif Sevand; Keskin, FerdaABSTRACT: This thesis aims to investigate the neoliberal rationality and the ideas and principles of the neoliberal truth games as presented by Michel Foucault in his writings and the changes that these ideas and principles have undergone since the birth of neoliberalism. Michel Foucault explored the truth regime of neoliberalism in his lectures at College de France, particularly in Society Must be Defended, Security, Territory, Population and The Birth of Biopolitics. The principles of political economy, competition and enterprise subject have played a defining role in the constitution of subjectivity and of the society of neoliberalism; the ideal of individualistic freedom has been exploited by the truth regime of neoliberalism to create governmentelizable individuals who have lost their faith of and means for collective freedom. I argue that the principles and ideas of the neoliberal rationality have lost their relevance in today’s society with neoliberalism’s ever-increasing demand for sacrifice from the individual. Another world is not only possible but as we are bearing witness with the Covid-19 pandemic, it is urgently and unquestionably required.Öğe A comparative and critical analysis of human conceptions of Thomas Hobbes and Adam Smith(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2021) Doruk, Sırma; Albayrak, Ömer BehiçABSTRACT: This study aims to examine how the modern state functions in accordance with the political and economic structures that fragment the collective life. As being inventors of the social contract theory and political economy, Thomas Hobbes and Adam Smith consider society as a summation of isolated human beings bonded together with individual interests. This thesis criticises their quest for certainty and their deterministic approach to human nature by examining their method. We argue that Hobbes's and Smith's human conceptions reflect the social interactions resulting from the related period's defined relations of production. We try to show that their theoretical frameworks seem to contradict with their observations.Öğe Identity and conscience: a critique of bourgeois idea of citizenship(İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2021) Karataş, İbrahim Halil; Keskin, Ferda KemalABSTRACT: This study intends to examine the bourgeois or liberal-democratic idea of citizenship by concentrating on its two main categories: 'General Will' and 'Public Opinion.' We discuss these two categories by clarifying their relations with 'Identity' and 'Conscience.' Firstly, the results of the human-citizen identity that liberal democratic citizenship aims to establish through the general will category is touched upon. This identity implies the construction of a 'universal self-consciousness,' which means associating the moral subject and the political subject under the concept of the citizen subject. Furthermore, a critique of the idea of liberal democratic citizenship is presented based on Etienne Balibar's assessments on distinctions such as activepassive citizen and human rights-citizen rights. Secondly, the study focuses on the role of the reduction of conscientious judgment to opinion in the formation of the Public Opinion category. It is pointed out that the category of modern public opinion is designed as an organ devoted to the spread of public virtues, to equip generations with these virtues, and to ensure that citizens reach the ideal of the public use of reason through education. It is claimed that the category of public opinion is the rationality of bourgeois publicity. In order to justify this claim, an evaluation of the concept of 'instrumental reason' is made. The thesis to be put forward in this study is that the relevant categories of liberal democratic citizenship thought have inherent contradictions, and these contradictions are rooted in the identifying thought in the Adornian sense. The crisis of citizenship in the 21st century is understood as a result of this thought. The last part of the study is framed as an introduction to the evaluation of the consequences of the crisis of citizenship. The situation of the citizen subject is analyzed in terms of the dissolution of social citizenship and the category of public opinion. Then, it is expressed that the failure of the attempt to identify the political subject with the moral subject has gave rise to a movement for the citizen subject, a movement that is called the return to morality. Finally, it is argued that this movement means the replacement of the collapsing universal identity by conscience. The ideological character of the concept of conscience gained as a result of these developments is elaborated.
