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Hegel's republican idea of freedom: A comparision between Hegel's idea of freedom and Pettit's freedom as non-domination
In the history of modern political philosophy, Hegel's political thought has been interpreted in many different and incompatible ways. While some have ascribed him the label of totalitarian, others have considered him as a liberal. In this thesis, my aim is to show that Hegel's political philosophy and chiefly, his concept of freedom, has its roots in republican political thought. I compare Hegel's concept of freedom with modern republicanism, especially Philip Pettit's conception of freedom as non-domination. Despite the fact that Pettit and Hegel have different starting points and their theories of freedom are based on different metaphysics, I argue that their understandings of freedom and their emphasis on recognition, do not differ. More precisely, I will argue that the structure of the modern republican idea of freedom as non-domination can be understood as Hegel's 'being-with-oneself-in-an-other'. However, at the same time, we will see that in the application of his modern republican idea of freedom to the institutions of Sittlichkeit, Hegel reverts to the classical republicanism and therefore contradicts himself. In order to show all this, I start by taking freedom to be at the center of Hegel's social and political thought. In the second chapter, I position my interpretation among the three main broad readings of Hegel. After briefly discussing totalitarian, metaphysical and non-metaphysical, that is Kantian or 'self-actualization' readings of Hegel, I argue for the latter and offer particular support for Alan Patten's 'civic humanist' interpretation. The third chapter will be entirely concerned with the third possibility of defining freedom that is freedom as non-domination. After elaborating the main points of Pettit's modern republicanism, I compare it with Hegel's understanding of freedom in the fourth chapter. We will see that for Hegel, as well as for Pettit, relations to others, what we can call recognitive relations, are constitutive of freedom. In the last chapter, I will show how Hegel's republican idea of freedom is realized in the ethical institutions of the modern state. While Hegel designs ethical institutions that are determined to be necessary by the structure of freedom itself, we will see that, in contrast to his modern republican idea of freedom, these institutions – family, civil society and the state – expose many to dependency and domination.
The naturalistic fallacy in Hume's moral and political philosophy
The naturalistic fallacy —first explicitly exposed by Hume— amounts to an attempt to infer a prescriptive claim from a descriptive one. However, the fact/value dichotomy presupposed by the naturalistic fallacy seems to run contrary to Hume's moral naturalism. In my thesis, I first present a systematic classification of the various responses to Hume's take on the issue. Then, following Sayre-McCord and Pigden, I argue that, contrary to the received view, Hume's goal is to overcome the naturalistic fallacy. Accordingly, I contend that Hume's focus on thick concepts indicates that for him, thick concepts can function as analytical bridges to produce prescriptive claims from descriptive ones.
Economic development and the state: Industrial upgrading policies in Turkey, the case of Manisa
In the field of policy analysis, neoinstitutionalism suggests that state pursues policies through mediating contradictory benefits for common good of all social groups. Contrarily, I will argue from the field research in Manisa and policy document analysis that short-term benefits of certain groups, mostly capital groups, are determinant on state policies, and state does not prioritize industrial upgrading policies over other sectors like housing, finance, energy. If there is urgent need in industry, state makes necessary intervention occasionally. Besides, while there is absolute shift towards participation and subsidiarity mechanisms, Turkey's preexisting infrastructural and cultural dynamics challenges the efficiency of policies.
Çatışsal yıkıcılığı yeniden düşünmek: Siyasal çatışmanın siyasal inanç sistemine etkisine dair normatif bir inceleme
This thesis aims to search for a ground on which political belief feeds upon political conflict. The argument of the thesis is that political conflict is a positive asset that contributes to the construction of the individual's political belief system contrary to the traditional conception of conflict as a phenomenon that should be done away with. The necessary conditions that constitute political belief display a direct affinity to political conflict, which is established upon a particular approach to social relations as composed of the integrative and disintegrative continuum of conflict and change. The main purpose is not to deny the fact that political conflict has great potential to escalate into war and bring forth misery, violence and destruction as history has taught us, but rather it is to attract attention to that the specific depiction of political conflict introduced hereby cannot be overlooked with regards to its inevitability in and contribution to social relations. In order to accomplish my goal, I have dwelled upon Rudolph J. Rummel's Conflict Helix where conflict is explained in terms of perception which is the continual balancing of outward directed and inward bearing vectors of power, manifested as perpetual conflict. Rummel's conception of conflict is a normative one that saves the world against following an inevitable course with predetermined trajectory. In contradiction, I have shown how Thomas Hobbes's political philosophy favors social and political order against the danger of conflict in Leviathan. I have related the necessary conditions that constitute the formation of the political belief system to political conflict. This indicates that the role of political conflict is vital and central in the formation process of the conditions required for the existence of a person's political belief system.
Mizah meşrulaştırılmak zorunda mıdır?: Politik bir olgu olarak mizah üzerine bir araştırma
The purpose of this thesis would be to find the principles in order to justify humour in terms of ethics. Power element of humour would bring the need for justification of humour. It also creates the links between humour and the political and the humour and ethics. Political justification of humour would depend on political virtues such as justice and freedom and power relations. Therefore, humour can be justifiable politically as long as it degrades the dominants by the dominated ones. However, that would not be the case for ethical justification of humour since it will seek an answer at cosmopolitan level. Accordingly, justification of humour in terms of ethics is provided by Kantian principles, it would be the subjective decision depending on the Golden Rule for the author of humour.