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Books by Emre Kazim

In Kant on Conscience Emre Kazim offers the first systematic treatment of Kant’s theory of consci... more In Kant on Conscience Emre Kazim offers the first systematic treatment of Kant’s theory of conscience. Contrary to the scholarly consensus, Kazim argues that Kant’s various discussions of conscience - as practical reason, as a feeling, as a power, as a court, as judgement, as the voice of God, etc. - are philosophically coherent aspects of the same unified thing (‘Unity Thesis’). Through conceptual reconstruction and historical contextualisation of the primary texts, Kazim both presents Kant’s notion of conscience as it relates to his critical thought and philosophically evaluates the coherence of his various claims. In light of this, Kazim shows the central role that conscience plays in the understanding of Kantian ethics as a whole.

Papers by Emre Kazim

20. yy Türk şiir ve literatürünün merkezi figürlerinden Nazım Hikmet, yaygın olarak enternasyonal... more 20. yy Türk şiir ve literatürünün merkezi figürlerinden Nazım Hikmet, yaygın olarak enternasyonalist komünist bir devrimci olarak algılanmaktadır. Hikmet’in siyasi görüşleri, hapsedilişi ve Sovyet Rusya’da sürgündeyken ölümü bu eğilimi şüphesiz desteklemektedir. Bu kısa makale, Hikmet’i endişesi yerel olan, daha geleneksel bir Türk şairi olarak yansıtmayı amaçlamaktadır. En büyük eseri olan Memleketimden İnsan Manzaraları’na odaklanarak ulusunun bütün seslerine olan girift ilgisi ortaya konulmakta ve şairin enternasyonalist / yabancı bir ajandayı ileri süren bir kimsedense Türk kolektif hafızasının bir küratörü olarak okunması gerektiği tartışılmaktadır. Böylece Hikmet, ikincil literatürün çoğunun iddialarından ziyade daha çok ulusal gerçeklik kavramı çerçevesinde okunacaktır.

The spirit of Topçu is relevant today. Like the first decades of the previous century, the first ... more The spirit of Topçu is relevant today. Like the first decades of the previous century, the first decades of the 21st century are tumultuous and in flux. Global forces and ideologies are in conflict. Topçu’s implorations for compassionate idealism would be well received. The birth of the rebellious human is desperately required: responsible and burdened internally by the existential quest for meaning, yet externally neither destructive nor chaotic, neither ideologically committed nor under the yoke of despotic servitude. Topçu invites us to step back in order for us to meaningfully step forward. Perhaps it is high time for this philosopher to be brought to the ear. It is my hope that through this note, appropriate attention will be given to Topçu’s work in the English (and Turkish) literature.

Nazim Hikmet, a central figure within 20th century Turkish poetry and literature, is popularly pe... more Nazim Hikmet, a central figure within 20th century Turkish poetry and literature, is popularly perceived as an internationalist communist revolutionary. No doubt Hikmet's political views, his imprisonment in Turkey and death while exiled in Soviet Russia, supplement such a cast. This short article seeks to represent Nazim Hikmet as a more traditional Turkish poet whose concerns are local. By focusing on the his magnum opus, namely, Memleketimden İnsan Manzaraları, Hikmet's intricate concern for all the voices within his nation is shown and it is argued that he should be read as a curator of Turkish collective memory rather than as introducing an internationalist/foreign agenda. As such Hikmet is to be read more within the notion of national authenticity than much of the secondary literature attests.

The Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant (d. 1804) delved into the freedom and determinism debate b... more The Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant (d. 1804) delved into the freedom and determinism debate by offering a distinct and highly idiosyncratic approach to the issue. Kant’s approach is integrated with views on epistemology, the limits of metaphysics, as-well-as the implications of freedom and determinism upon morality itself. A justifiable treatment of Kant’s views on these subjects will require an extensive book length study; as such my concern in this paper will be solely focused on the architectonic of the Third Antimony section of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. I will not be concerned with the resolution of the Third Antimony; rather I will investigate the basis upon which the antithetic stands. Contrary to the prevalent view in the secondary literature, which holds that the Third Antimony is an argument from the Second Analogy, I sketch the outlines of an argument that claims the Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR) is principally at work (the rationalistic view). In order to achieve this, I will: first briefly provide the background concepts that are necessary to understand the Third Antimony; second, provide an overview of the arguments in the Third Antinomy; third, reconstruct the arguments of the Antimony highlighting the role of the PSR - I will do this primarily by comparison with the contemporary interpretations of the Third Antinomy found in the works of Eric Watkins’s Kant and the Metaphysics of Causality (representing the rationalist view) and Henry Allison’s Kant’s Theory of Freedom (representing the Analogies view); and finally, I will explore the two ways in which the SPR is being used in the Antimony – I will achieve this by presenting textual evidence of how Kant discusses the PSR in the Critique of Pure Reason. I will conclude that, in light of my argument, Kant must be thought of as closer to rational metaphysics than is generally acknowledged; however I acknowledge this suggestion would take a more extensive and through investigation to establish by further scholarship.

Kant’s short essay entitled ‘What is Enlightenment?’ (1784) continues until the present to be deb... more Kant’s short essay entitled ‘What is Enlightenment?’ (1784) continues until the present to be debated and discussed, with major 20th century philosophers, such as Foucault and Habermas, contributing to this debate. This essay will be concerned with the text in-itself, rather than the reactions of various philosophers, and will proceed through a close reading of ‘What is Enlightenment?’ Although the historical epoch and context of writing are central to understanding Kant’s text, this essay will be primarily concerned with the philosophical issues that are contained within it. I will argue that when the relevant themes within the essay are integrated, the ‘Totalitarian Criticism’ – which amounts to the claim that Kantian Enlightenment leads to repressive political regimes (directed at Kant by the likes of G. F. Hegel in The Phenomenology of Spirit and M. Horkheimer and T. Adorno in Dialectic of Enlightenment) - can be responded to by claims that Kant is promoting a particular view of civil society that operates contra the Totalitarian Criticism. My methodology will be to present each theme (namely: the idea of Authority; Private-Public reasoning; the political conditions of freedom and stability; Autonomy; and History) of the text, and in the final section of the essay bring together these themes with a view to presenting Kant’s view of political philosophy and civil society as a conclusion that these views provide a sufficient response to the Totalitarian Criticism.

Talks by Emre Kazim

Yukarıdaki analiz dinamik muhafazakârlar için temel politik gücün devlette değil de halkta olduğu... more Yukarıdaki analiz dinamik muhafazakârlar için temel politik gücün devlette değil de halkta olduğunu ima eder. İnsanların politik programlarda istikrar (politik muhafazakârlık) istemeleri sağlıklıdır çünkü bu tarz bir düşünce şekli sosyal olarak dinamik ve ileri düşünceli bir toplumu temsil eder. Böyle seçmenler uzun dönemli kararlar verebilmek, ayrıca da eğitime ve işlerine yatırım yapmak için tahmin edilebilirlik, güven ve devamlılık hissi isterler. Böyle yönetilen bir toplumda sanatsal ve ruhani uğraşlar gelişir, yerel ve ülkenin kendine has olan kültürü yaşarır. Bu toplumların sorunları zorunlu olmadıkça politik değildir. Somut ve istikrarlı şeyleri risk ve başkaldırıya tercih ederler.

Book Reviews by Emre Kazim

This is a comment on RUSI’s report “Data Analytics and Algorithms in Policing in England and Wale... more This is a comment on RUSI’s report “Data Analytics and Algorithms in Policing in England and Wales: Towards A New Policy Framework”

Review: Moral Conscience through the Ages – Fifth Century to the Present - Richard Sorabji Oxfo... more Review: Moral Conscience through the Ages – Fifth Century to the Present
- Richard Sorabji
Oxford University Press (2014), pp.. 265

Review: Writing Religion – The Making of Turkish Alevi Islam - Marcus Dressler Oxford Universi... more Review: Writing Religion – The Making of Turkish Alevi Islam
- Marcus Dressler

Oxford University Press (2013), pp.. 323

Review: Grammatology and Literary Modernity in Turkey Nergis Erturk Oxford University Press (201... more Review: Grammatology and Literary Modernity in Turkey
Nergis Erturk
Oxford University Press (2011), pp.. 216
23/06/17

Review: The God of Spinoza: A Philosophical Study - Richard Mason Cambridge University Press (19... more Review: The God of Spinoza: A Philosophical Study
- Richard Mason
Cambridge University Press (1997).

Review: Writing Religion – The Making of Turkish Alevi Islam - Marcus Dressler Oxford Universi... more Review: Writing Religion – The Making of Turkish Alevi Islam
- Marcus Dressler

Oxford University Press (2013), pp.. 323