M.A. Theses
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Item Love, reason and transcendence : ‘Ineffable’ love and the limits of sense(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2022., 2022) Kurtar, Buse.; Sidiropoulou, Chryssi.Love is one of the greatest phenomena if not the greatest. Thus, in my MA thesis, I am investigating the concept of Love in its connections to transcendence, to the divine in contrast to the limits of “sense” both as the empirical world and linguistic expression. Through the comparative close reading of Plato’s Symposium in connection with Phaedrus and Phaedo, and İlham Dilman’s Love: Its Forms, Dimensions and Paradoxes, I am arguing for a normative understanding of Love. Particularly I am focusing on the account of Love (Greek erôs) as in between human and divine, mortal and immortal, as an ascent from bodily love to the Form of Beauty. Within this framework, I am claiming that the ethical is the foundation of love as a transcendence which is an “ineffable” personal inner experience, and that Socrates, as the main character of the Socratic dialogues, is a fictitious character and the main argument of Plato’s account of Love as in between Reason and Transcendence, in person. He [Socrates] serves the purpose of illustrating, via personification, the embodiment of taking ‘no particular standpoint’ but instead being in an active and dynamic state of inquiry, operating within various dialogues as contexts. I am arguing that this is to reveal the ethical dimensions of the particular way of life Plato finds as worth living, that is a philosophical life.Item Meno’s paradox and the possibility of inquiry(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2022., 2022) Panahee, Mohammad Raziq.; Sidiropoulou, Chryssi.Plato in his Meno puts forward a challenge against the possibility of inquiry. This challenge has two stages, at one, Meno’s questions challenge the possibility of inquiry in the case of how different kinds of knowledge about one thing are related to each other, at another, Socrates’ argument is supposed to show that either possessing or lacking knowledge about an object entails that one cannot inquire into it. In this study, I present a reading arguing that these two are different challenges; the former is based on strict Socratic requirements on knowing and the latter brings up a puzzle whether inquiry is possible in a general sense. In addition to this, I will analytically discuss and evaluate different possible formulations of Socrates’ argument, some are valid while others are invalid. But before discussing these topics, I will present and evaluate the accounts of Aristotle, Dominic Scott, and Gail Fine in terms of how they understand and solve Meno’s Paradox. I will also investigate whether and how Ilhan Inan’s theory of conceptual curiosity and the specification of the object of one’s curiosity can provide any help to the puzzle of the possibility of inquiry in the Meno.Item The human soul, free will and determinism under capitalism through Cronenberg’s films(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2015., 2015.) Yamalıoğlu, Beste.; Silier, Yıldız.In this thesis, I will explore the effects of capitalism on human nature, in particular on whether we have free will or not, as portrayed in David Cronenberg films. In the first half I will make an introduction to determinism and relate the debate between compatibilism and incompatibilism. Then I will deal with the question of whether there is a human nature, and if there is whether it is fixed or not, historical or ahistorical, based on a basic comparison of Sartre, Marx and Freud on this issue. I will give Sartre’s defense of free will and Marx’s historical account of human nature. In the second half, I will describe Freud’s deterministic human nature concept and analyze Cronenberg’s main characters who think they have free will while they are living in fully determined worlds regarding these issues. Are they in self-deception (if incompatibilism is right) or not (if compatibilism is right)? Using Marcuse’s arguments I will argue that they are in self- deception and this is a feature of how capitalism shapes individual psychodynamics. At the end of the thesis I will explore Marcuse's optimism about the future as based on compatibilism compared with Cronenberg's pessimism that is based on his incompatibilist ideas. I will try to see whether an alternative society is possible in which technology is used as a means for emancipation. Here I will compare and relate Marcuse’s, Haraway’s and Wilde’s arguments on the emancipator potentials of technology.Item Justifying oneself as a foundation of morality(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2015., 2015.) Çimendereli, Yener Çağla.; Kurtsal, İrem.In this thesis, I aim to expose a common pattern in Meta-ethics. It consists in comparing ethics and science in order to understand the nature of ethics. I believe that this pattern makes more harm than good, and should be replaced with a better approach for the sake of meta-ethical studies. To this end, I devote this thesis to a close analysis of an instance of that pattern, namely Gilbert Harman’s argument in The Nature of Morality: An Introduction to Ethics. Harman argues that unlike science, morality does not have a certain explanatory power, and that, accordingly, it does not need to be postulated. I try to show that even though morality might not need to be postulated for the reason why science needs to be postulated, it might need to be postulated for other reasons. I argue that this other reason is the justificatory power of morality.Item Fundamental quantification and the ontology room(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2015., 2015.) Kazaklı, Doğan Can.; Irmak, Nurbay.If ontologists use quantifiers in different meanings, does it lead to a merely verbal disagreement or does their disagreement concern something substantive about how the world is? According to Theodore Sider, the disagreement is substantive, in that some meanings are capable of describing the world better than others. In fact, he argues that there is a perfect (i.e. fundamental) quantifier meaning, capable of describing the world better than any other, and that we can find that meaning. However, I argue, given that there is such a meaning, that finding the most fundamental quantifier meaning requires epistemic access to every quantifier meaning which we do not have and, hence, that even if we found that meaning we would not be able to tell that it is, in fact, the most fundamental one.Item A philosophical interpretation of the unconscious in light of Wilfrid Sellars’ reasons – causes dichotomy(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2015., 2015.) Kuyumcuoğlu Tütüncüoğlu, Nezihe Müge.; Voss, Steven.Wilfrid Sellars’ contribution to the nature versus intellect problem is to challenge the idea that knowledge involves a causal relation between nature and intellect. He transformed the distinction by showing that ontological differences are not relevant as far as knowledge is concerned. Instead, he identified the distinctive feature of the epistemic as normativity in terms of logical-inferential liability, as opposed to the nonepistemic, which is neutral, natural, causal. He epitomized this idea in his distinction of the logical space of reasons versus the material space of causes. I aim to investigate the challenge posed by Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic framework of the unconscious to Sellars’ framework, in terms of the space of reasons - space of causes distinction. Specifically, I evaluate Wilfred Bion’s psychoanalytic account of the development of thinking, and apply Sellars’ framework to Bion’s theories. As a result of my analysis, I argue that the logical space of reasons is not limited to conscious endorsements, and that it involves the unconscious as well. This would be possible if we take meaning as an external, inter-subjective reality that the subject has to commit to. Conscious awareness is not required for a subject’s commitment to the meaning of content, propositional awareness is sufficient. If commitment can be differentiated from endorsement, the phenomenon of repression can be logically consistent with this framework.Item Conceptual and factual relativity and realism: a theory of absolutism regarding microphysical facts and concepts(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2015., 2015.) Adaklı, Nazım.; Baç, Murat.Conceptual relativity emerges from Hilary Putnam’s argument referred to as “Carnap and the Polish Logician” and Ernest Sosa’s argument referred to as “the Explosion of Reality”. It is a genuine phenomenon despite Donald Davidson’s rejections, but it does not entail factual relativity as Michael Lynch argues. Furthermore, Lynch’s position is not compatible with metaphysical and alethic realism as he claims. Previous positions defending or rejecting factual relativity claim either all of the facts are relative, or none of them are. Only Ernest Sosa argued that solely philosophically abstracted facts are absolute. I take his lead of non-maximalism regarding factual relativity and offer my own alternative as absolute facts. My theory offers that what is referred to as ideal microphysical subvenient first-order facts in David Armstrong’s physicalist and naturalist metaphysics should be the only absolute part of the factual reality. But unlike Armstrong, I argued for a one-way, non-reciprocal supervenience between the first order and second order facts. Similarly exhibiting an asymmetrical structure, absolute facts do not correspond but respond to relative propositions while generating truth. Also, relative schemes are not commensurable with the absolute scheme, but they are mensurable in it. Dealing with all these issues, the thesis becomes an introduction to a brave new theory of factual reality, truthmaking and conceptual schemes, still maintaining the initial idea of compatibility between conceptual relativity and metaphysical and alethic realism.Item Drawing the mark of the normative(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2015., 2015.) Jernberg, Matthew.; Kurtsal, İrem.What is normativity? What is the mark of the normative? What distinguishes normative from descriptive properties, facts and propositions? A good start at answering these questions is to provide necessary and sufficient conditions for when any proposition is a normative proposition. I proceed to answer these questions by identifying necessary and sufficient conditions for when a proposition is normative, as these conditions track the normativity of a proposition. What I do not do in this thesis is advocate for a specific answer. That goal is beyond the scope of the current work. Instead, I examine two approaches and critically assess their prospects for success. The first is inspired by the work of Kit Fine and Gideon Rosen, which is based on the modal status of a proposition. The second is by Barry Maguire, which is based on the grounding relations between propositions. Along the way, I explicate certain constraints upon the normativity of propositions, which furnish us partial answers by providing necessary conditions, yet sufficiency conditions remain elusive. Making progress on this front by providing conceptual constraints on which propositions are normative contributes towards philosophical debates concerning the reality of ethics, its reducibility, its necessity, as well as reformulations of Hume’s Dictum that Ought-Statements are not derivable from Is-Statements.Item Musical paideia in Plato’s republic(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2015., 2015.) Coşkun, İlter.; Sidiropoulou, Chryssi.This thesis intends to unsettle, at least to some degree, the conviction that music, poetry and fine arts in general do not have a salient status in Platonic philosophy. To this end, the conception of musical education that we find in the Republic, in which there is a harsh criticism of poetry, is examined. First a picture of the education environment that harbors virtue is offered through a comparative review of dramatic and figurative examples from the dialogues that are involved with the themes of love and beauty such as the Symposium and Lysis in addition to the Republic. Then follows an articulation of Plato’s imitation theory of fine arts together with its aesthetical, ethical and political outlooks. However in result of a scrutinization of the musical analysis that is expounded in Republic III, it is maintained that his understanding of fine arts is not limited with the notion of imitation and a conception of a type of fine arts, which stems from the virtuous soul rather than the appearances and which is based upon a knowledge of soul’s nature, is detected in Platonic philosophy. In parallel, it is concluded that the birth of the virtue of moderation in the education community is obtained by the blending of the teacher’s virtuous soul with the sensual desires of the student whose soul is by nature capable of virtue, in the context of musical practice. On the other hand, lastly, the virtue of courage is inspected to be generated in the community by the elements of sensual beauty that arise from the communal harmony and that represent virtue in a beautiful way so that they entice the student into virtue and preclude him from deserting true opinion.Item A moderate defense of cognitive phenomenology(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2014., 2014.) Arıkan, Hakkı Kaan.; Thorpe, Lucas.Is there a specific phenomenology of thinking? Cognitive phenomenology debate goes about possible answers for this question. According to a liberal conception of phenomenal consciousness, thinking has a sui generis phenomenology in addition to sensory phenomenology. A conservative conception of phenomenal consciousness rejects this liberal proposition and holds forth that the domain of phenomenology must be only sensory experiences. A detailed examination of the opposing arguments of the two rival approaches is the main topic of the present thesis study. The most common strategy for liberalism to argue for the existence of cognitive phenomenology is to appeal to introspection and claim that cognitive phenomenological properties are available to its subject by introspection. I propose that direct appeals to introspection cannot provide conclusive results and this is the main reason why conservatives cannot be persuaded by the liberal arguments from introspection. Another argument form that is commonly used by liberals is based on the notion of phenomenal contrast and liberals argue that the best explanation for phenomenal contrast scenarios is the existence of cognitive phenomenology. On the other hand, conservatives argue that the phenomenal contrast scenarios are explainable not by cognitive phenomenology but by sensory phenomenology and that there is no need to grant the existence of cognitive phenomenology. The general line of thinking of conservatives against the liberal arguments is a reductionist approach. I argue that this reductionist approach cannot prove the inexistence of cognitive phenomenology and support my claim with adverbialism. Moreover I argue that adverbialism conflicts with neither liberals nor conservatives and believe that the adverbialist approach can reconcile the two rival views.Item The emergence of inostensible reference(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2015., 2015.) Doğru, Gökhan.; İnan, İlhan.This thesis is a struggle to combine the developments in modern linguistics and philosophy of language by focusing on the emergence of inostensible reference. Inostensible reference is a linguistic tool that allows speakers/thinkers to refer to the unknown. My thesis claims that two stages in the biological evolution of language were necessary for inostensible reference to flourish: i) lexicalization: the operation transforming concepts into lexical items. ii) Merge: the operation combining lexical items according to grammatical principles. Though these two operations are foundational for inostensible reference, I claim that they are not sufficient because these same operations are also the basis of ordinary ostensible reference (and of the birth of full language faculty itself). I think that a third factor must have contributed to the rise of the inostensible reference. This third factor is glossogenetic in nature, namely it is due to a cultural change, not biological. And lastly, I suggest that a new connection between the core language faculty and conceptual-intentional system (allowing inference) may have allowed human being to use ostensible terms to form inostensible terms from them. By making us of the findings in different disciplines studying language such as philosophy of language, linguistics, cognitive science, evolutionary biology and cognitive psychology, the thesis aims at encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration.Item Is language a prerequisite for belief? An alternative approach to false-belief understanding and meta-representation(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2015., 2015.) Sertalp, Ayşe Büşra.; Thorpe, Lucas.Positioning belief within the discussion of philosophy of mind is one of the major issues in this thesis. I find most of the theories developed in this area to be somewhat process-blind and one-sided, such as the ones I investigate within the body of my project: Davidson and Armstrong. Developing a mono system philosophy of mind understanding that attributes all importance to language causes major problems within the discussion, as well as ignoring a way much more crucial aspect: falsebelief understanding. In order to shed more light on the process of belief acquirement, I refer to studies in the field of developmental psychology. The comparison of non-human animals and human babies is crucial for my project since I find strong resemblance between them in terms of mental capabilities until certain ages of the babies. Developmental psychology studies point out to a more crucial mental capability rather than language, false-belief understanding, and stress the importance of a dual system understanding of mind. I leverage this approach within my project and try to blend these findings with philosophical approach by importing Heidegger`s understanding of Dasein and its everydayness. Heidegger opens a gate for me to discuss dual system of mind, which explains the complex belief mechanism distinguishing human beings from other animals with meta-representation and this, in turn, is the mental capacity for developing false-belief understanding.Item Precursory comprehension of being and problem of time in Heidegger's ontology(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute of Social Sciences, 1996., 1996.) Meriç, Tendü.; Canevi, F. Pınar.The subject matter of this thesis is precursory comprehension of Being which is the point of departure of Heidegger's question of Being. Heidegger brings out a new conception of time as the possibility of this comprehension. This conception is grounded in an interpretation of transcendental imagination which forms time. together with Being as the precondition of its comprehension. This study attempts to explore precursory comprehension of Being, on the basis of Dasein which is in the possession of this comprehension, in relation to time.Item A critique of Kantian morality from virtue ethics perspective(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2014., 2014.) Tilev, Seniye.; Thorpe, Lucas.In this thesis my aim is to provide an analysis of Kantian Morality from virtue ethics perspective. Kantian morality is commonly misinterpreted, and regarded in an over-simplified and caricaturized manner. As a result of this unfair reading, it is subjected to several criticisms from virtue ethicists. Nevertheless, a deeper analysis of Kantian morality seems to provide a defense against these accusations. Therefore, to evaluate this possibility firstly I give an account of these criticisms under eight categories. Secondly, I examine basic components of Kantian morality. From here I conclude that, it is wrong to think Kantian morality as a stagnant rule-following. Under the light of given arguments; I claim that it is possible to consider ethics of deontology as compatible with authenticity, perfection and constant self-retrospection.Item A critical examination of the philosophical defense of free logics(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2014., 2014.) Altan, Emre.; Kılınç, Berna.In classical quantification theory, each singular term available in the formal language must denote some member of the quantificational domain. In this sense, standard systems of predicate logic do not allow for non-denoting singular terms of our ordinary discourse. In a non-standard family of logics called free logics, this classical requirement is dispensed with. This study is about these non-standard logics. It has a two-fold aim. Firstly, to provide a survey of free logics. To this end, I introduce definitions and characteristics of these systems, present axiomatic formulations of certain types of free logics, give a summary of different semantic approaches in free logics, and finally provide a brief historical information about their origins. Secondly, I discuss whether the adoption of free logics instead of classical logic is justified or not. To this end, I present and discuss six different kind of motivations behind the adoption of free systems. I ultimately conclude that none of the motivations provides us with enough reason to replace classical quantification theory with free logics. The study ends with a suggestion of a more successful argument in favor of free systems.Item From semantic relativism to reality relativism(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2014., 2014.) Toy, Tolgahan.; Kurtsal, İrem.This thesis is a defense of the view that reality is relative. First I start with semantic relativism, then, I show that semantic relativism implies reality relativism. To argue for semantic relativism, motivated by arguments by W.V. O. Quine and L. Wittgenstein, I use two examples about personal identity. The first one is about abortion and the second one is about brain transplantation cases. Next, I show that if meaning is relative then whatever we call reality is also relative since our access to reality is through language. After my arguments, I consider two objections. The first one is David Lewis’ objection. Lewis claims that due to the natural structure of the world words tend to refer to some objects (or set of objects) as opposed to others. Hence, he argues against the semantic relativity thesis. The second objection is that relativism is self-refuting because it relativizes itself. I reply to both objections.Item A strong value-neutral theory of autonomy(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2014., 2014.) Güreli, Ozan.; Silier, Yıldız.Manipulation and oppressive socialization are among the most senous issues of the contemporary debates on autonomy. Procedual theories of autonomy focus on the way our beliefs are formed and don't rule out or necessitate having certain norms for autonomy to obtain. In this sense, procedural theories are contentneutral. However, these theories are limited to an analysis of our mental structure and preference formation. Thus, they lack analytical tools to account for the relation between autonomy and social phenonmena like oppressive socialization. Substantive theories, on the other hand, associate heteronomy in such cases with the presence or absence of certain norms and values, albeit in problematic ways. While substantive theories bite the bullet and approach the problem of oppressive socialization in a more serious way, they do it at the expense of losing value-neutrality and defining autonomy in an arbitrary way. In this work, an alternative social theory of autonomy is propounded in order to explicate the problem of oppressive socialization in the context of autonomy. By employing the method of "via negativa", a definition of autonomy is reached by showing what it shouln't be. Various works of philosophers like Gerald Dworkin, Harry Frankfurt, John Christman, Natalie Stoljar, Sigurdur Kristonsson are criticized in order to reach an alternative which doesn't have their common defect, namely epistemic individualism, a concept further developed within the context of autonomy by Peter Nelsen. In this context, indispensability of a power relations oriented analysis for a social theory of autonomy is stressed. While contentneutrality is preserved, it is demonstrated that achieving various degrees of autonomy is mainly determined by social conditions and attainment of these conditions may require radical social change. This is how a strong content-neutral approach, a seeming oxymoron is turned into a plausible theory.Item Hegel's concept of concept and Its relationship to Kant's negative magnitudes and Marx's concept of capital in his capital(2014.) Kuyumcuoğlu, Hüseyin Sungur.; Fritsche, Johannes.The relationship between Marx's works on political economy and Hegel's philosophy has been the subject matter of numerous discussions and inquiries. Many of those inquiries take an issue with the relationship between Marx's Capital and Hegel's Logic. In this work, the focal issue is narrowed down to the relationship between Marx's concept of capital in his Capital and Hegel's concept of concept. It is argued here that Marx benefits from Hegel's concept of concept when he defines what capital is and how it works. The inquiry is further expanded with the relationship between Hegel's concept of concept and his concept of essence and the relationship between Hegel's concept of essence and Kant's negative magnitudes. In the overall analysis, I aim to disclose the metaphysical roots of Marx's concept of capital through Kant's negative magnitudes, Hegel's concept of essence and Hegel's concept of concept.Item Socio-political conditions of desire’s freedom in Spinoza and Hegel(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2014., 2014.) Çelik, Olcay.; Silier, Yıldız.In Spinoza and Hegel desire is defined as the very essence of everything and their philosophies provide us a perspective through which we can understand that the movements of our thoughts and bodies are taken actually movements of our desire. Besides, for both philosophers, freedom of desire can only be attained in an empowering social and political context. At this point, Spinoza and Hegel provide two different accounts of how desire becomes free in a socio-political structure. In Hegel, liberation is a process that starts with self-interested people’s struggle for recognition and reaches its climax in a society where different subjective wills, needs and abilities of people are integrated with each other through time and finally constitute a socially stratified Ethical Life in which every individual knows, wills and acts accordingly to the universal will. When it comes to Spinoza, we see that desire can become freer insofar autonomous individuals increase their joy by focusing on the commons. In this manner, Spinoza’s system suggests a political strategy, which eliminates unequal social conditions that make people torn by affects while Hegel takes differences as the basis and thus, freedom requires the integration of social classes that emerge from natural differences among people. Hence, it can be said that unlike Hegel’s recognition model that takes actual identity of individuals as given, Spinozian recognition focuses rather on what one can become. This suggests that Spinozian recognition model serves better for constitutive politics in practice because its socio-political ontology of desire always reminds us our being structures with a capacity to rebuild ourselves in a more liberatory way and avoid the risk of assuming asymmetrical subjection as freedom.Item The unconcealedness of the truth: a study in Heideggerian understanding of truth(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2014., 2014.) Kılıkçıer, Ahmet Serkan.; Sidiropoulou, Chryssi.This thesis attempts to elaborate on different accounts of truth in Heidegger’s philosophy to investigate whether Heidegger’s understanding of Being as manifestness is metaphysically constructed. After this our investigation will continue with whether Heidegger’s understanding of Being in relation to his treatment of the notion of truth is open to hierarchies or not, keeping in mind Plato’s claim on “beingly beings” in Republic. To accomplish this I firstly expand on Heidegger’s notion of truth in his magnum opus Being and Time. Afterwards I try to elaborate on the later works of Heidegger to indicate the change in his thinking about the notion of truth and to unravel possible outcomes of Heideggerian reading of truth in its relation to ontology in the history of Western philosophy. According to the mainstream Heidegger scholarship, Heidegger was focused on the meaning of Being in his earlier period whereas he was engaged in the truth of Being in his later period. However Richard Capobianco claims that Heidegger always engaged in the truth of Being and in his later philosophy this motivation became clearer. Accordingly the manifestness of Being has a structural primordiality over our meaning-giving activities. In my view this is a very plausible argument. For beings to be subject of perception and to make sense to us, they have to be there, they have to be manifested. Something that is not ontologically manifested cannot have any ground to be and to be something. At the end of the thesis instead of reaching to conclusions I try to bring forth even more questions that will allow us to question Heidegger’s understanding of Being in relation to metaphysical hierarchies.