Philosophy of Education as an Academic Discipline in Turkey: The Past and the Present

This article aims to present the past and present state and future possibilities of philosophy of education as an academic discipline in Turkey as related to teacher training programs and academic studies in higher education institutions. It takes philosophy of education as consisting of the approaches that have emerged in its history. It has come to Turkey as a part of the modernization of education. It seems that during the Republican era in Turkey before World War II, mainly due to the dominance of the German conception of educational studies, the pedagogy and the history of pedagogy courses and the textbooks for them, which were central to the curricula of teacher training schools, contained the subjects of philosophy of education in its continental form; and after World War II philosophy of education is mostly understood, primarily due to Turkey’s changing international relations and the spread of American influence, as the isms and the doctrines approaches as found in the USA between the 1940s and 1960s, while other approaches in the field have been less influential. The article identifies how the restructuring of the teacher training system and the curricula of Faculties of Education in 1998 was a serious blow to the discipline, since it excluded philosophy of education from the curricula of teacher preparation schools, and the flourishing discipline thus lost its hold and importance in the undergraduate programs, and then in graduate programs. But the 2006 revision of the curricula has given a kiss of life to the discipline. There are reasons to think that it can recover in the coming period.

Philosophy and Chinese Philosophy

Philosophy can be divided into two systems, i.e. the vertical and the horizontal. Characterized with the creation of spirit and the logical evolution of concepts, the vertical system expresses historical reflections on the achievements of human culture. Meanwhile, the horizontal system focuses on the analysis of cognitive activities to explore the nature of subject and object, the elements of knowledge, and the basis of its certainty. Chinese philosophers, such as Hu Shih, Fung Yulan, Zhang Dainian, Mou Zongsan and Zhang Shiying, have previously explored the various definitions of philosophy. Their explorations manifest the internationalization of Chinese philosophy during different eras. This paper defines philosophy as human beings’ awareness of their environment and systematical reflections on their activities and ensuing consequences. As part of world philosophy, Chinese philosophy encapsulates the essence of Chinese culture, as the thinking method of Chinese people, and as a set of thought systems possessing a unique style.     

坐在扶椅上能追求到什么?

这是<哲学的哲学>一书的导言部分,作者指出了该书的基本思想是:第一,认为哲学不同于自然科学研究的例外论假定是错误的,甚至先验与后验之间的区分最终遮蔽了内在的相似性.第二,哲学与其他科学之间在主题上的差异,也不如我们通常认为的那样深.第三,当前的哲学主流未能清楚地阐明一种适当的哲学方法论,部分地是由于它陷入了对数据的心理学化的传统认识论错误.本书对哲学方法论的再思考,包含了在一种恰当的抽象水平上理解如何做哲学.     

意识哲学,还是身体哲学——中国传统哲学理论范式的重新认识

在当代西方哲学面临从意识哲学向后意识的身体哲学的理论转型之际,其也为我们重新认识中国传统哲学的理论范式提供了契机。一种对中西传统哲学的深入比较将使我们发现,与传统西方哲学不同,中国传统哲学与其说是坚持一种“反思”的取向,不如说是坚持一种“反身”的取向;与其说是具有一种“祛性”的特征,不如说是具有一种“尊性”的特征;与其说是以“还原论”为其原则,不如说是以“系谱学”为其原则。凡此种种,都使中国传统哲学在其理论范式上,更多地体现为一种身体性哲学而非意识性哲学。故我们看到,在中国传统哲学中,古人不仅坚持“即身而道在”把身体提升到“道”的高度,而且还使该“身道”一以贯之地贯彻在诸如宇宙论、伦理学以及宗教观等中国古代的理论之中,使之成为通向中国传统哲学文化精神的真正的不二法门。     

Transcendental Philosophy As Capacities-First Philosophy

In this essay, I propose a novel way of thinking about Kant’s philosophical methodology during the critical period. According to this interpretation, the critical Kant can generally be understood as operating within a “capacities-first” philosophical framework – that is, within a framework in which our basic rational or cognitive capacities play both an explanatorily and epistemically fundamental role in philosophy – or, at least, in the sort of philosophy that limited creatures like us are capable of. In discussing this idea, I consider the complicated relationship between the explanatory and epistemic roles that such capacities play in Kant. I also sketch how this way of thinking about Kant’s methodology can illuminate the foundations of both his theoretical and his practical philosophy, before discussing some of Kant’s reasons for finding this approach to philosophy attractive. I close with a brief discussion of the contemporary relevance of this approach.     

Political Islam in Secular Turkey

In recent years Islam has become more visible in Turkish public space. For over half a century the Kemalist establishment had succeeded in keeping Islam out of politics and public discourse. In the 1980s and 1990s, however, a new political Islam challenged the Kemalist principles of the Republic more than ever before. In 1996 the Islamist veteran, Erbakan, became for one year the first Islamist Prime Minister of Turkey, and in 2000 the Justice and Development Party (AKP), a party with Islamist roots, won a landslide victory in the elections. The AKP presents itself, however, as a party of the conservative mainstream. It could be argued that traditional political Islam had been losing ground from the mid-1990s onwards. Since then, the Islamist movement has split and the moderate wing has become more mature.     

暴力的哲学还是哲学的暴力?--与冈特·嫩宁的谈话

布洛赫重申自己是一个马克思主义哲学家.对他来说,唯物主义问题并不是简单的唯物主义问题,马克思主义中一开始就包含了唯心主义,哲学的最伟大业绩多半是唯心主义思想家完成的.暴力是阶级社会特有的现象,国家乃是暴力的潜力本身,国家的消亡是一个无暴力的、和平的过程.被压迫者的革命运动依然存在,大学生运动不会消亡.无神论与基督教并不是二者择一的问题,无神论与基督教的对话也不是一场徒劳的对话.世界过程本身处于过程之中,而这一过程尚未被获取,但也尚未被挫败."已知的希望"取决于把科学投入于希望的国度之中.存在第二真理,即乌托邦的-具体的真理问题,这是真理所固有的问题.     

On Progress in Philosophy

This article seeks to clarify the concept of progress in philosophy. It treats progress as a kind of development. But not every development is a progress. When we talk about progress, what really matters is the direction of development. In some cases it is relatively easy to reach agreement about this direction. But not in the case of philosophy, if we abstract it from the obvious and the trivial, like the number of books on philosophy. As a result, the article concludes that there cannot be progress in philosophy. Instead we see a continual multiplication of interpretations.