The Problem of Communication
As is well known, communication is a relationship in which messages are conveyed between two sources. If the messages flow only in one direction, no communication takes place. Feedback is a must for communication. Today, the word “communication” has mostly technological connotations. When we hear the word communication, we think of radio, television, newspapers, phones, computers, the Internet, and the like, and this technological dimension means that information can today flow between countries, nations and individuals in an unrestrained [...]
The Problem of Culture
Solving problems first requires them to be understood. Culture is a phenomenon that encompasses lifestyles and relationships. People form their cultural worlds by changing and transforming the inputs from nature through their feelings, thoughts, and actions. Cultural objects acquire a completely new existence with the human essence and form added to their natural essence and form. The human hand leaves a mark on every object it touches, and so every cultural object is like a reflective device, a mirror; [...]
Let Us Get to Know One Another
“Let us get to know one another, for it makes things easier; let us stop being strangers, let us love and be loved; for the world is no one’s to inherit.” Yunus Emre A person of Anatolia can play an active role in the development of a mutual understanding, being situated between the East and the West, and with a deep awareness of both civilizations. The key difference between the civilizations of the East and West is that while [...]
People Are Born Thrice
The first birth is surrounded by the “cultural setting”; the second birth is into “education”, when the person is shaped via pedagogical, psychological and scientific methods; and the third birth is when a person “gives birth to themselves”, referring to time when one can shape one’s own life through one’s own free will. When we are born, we enter the world with nothing but genetic features, abilities and natural tendencies. We start to become shaped by the references of [...]
The Problem of Awareness of History and Identity
Humans are historical beings “in this world.” Their nature, culture, genetic heritage, language, and social existence are historical, and as such they are finite and temporary beings. In other words, humans emerge and exist only for a certain period in the history of the world. Humans are children of nature, but are also children of history or time. The biological aspect of humans represents a possibility. They are equipped with certain capabilities that are to be realized. Humans lack [...]
The Problem of Method
In its most general usage, “method” refers to the procedure and technique used to carry out a task, to obtain and implement knowledge, and to evaluate results. Method is the term Western civilizations use to refer to such procedures. In Ancient Greece, the word kanon meant “example” and “method”, and was translated from Greek to Arabic as qanun, meaning rules and principles. I. Kant, the famous German thinker from the Enlightenment, defined kanon as “the sum total of the [...]
The Ethical Human as a Value-Generating Being
Humans are defined in many different ways, and these definitions carry the marks of various disciplines. Among these, “Humans are value-generating beings” would be a prominent definition in terms of the “discipline of ethics”. Of course, humans cannot be reduced to this, in that they are more than mere value-generating beings, just as they are more than human beings involved in “thought, action, morality, willpower, society, labour”, etc. Every reduction stems from some sort of abstraction, and the different [...]
Look At That Word and All That It Does!
In their relations with themselves and with their environment, people act consciously, and this consciousness extends both to the environment and to control. This separates people qualitatively from animals, as the closest relations to humans among all natural creatures. Animals are also conscious of their environment, but in a passive manner, while people, on the other hand, are not only conscious of their environment, but are also conscious of themselves. As the only creatures with self-awareness, humans are the [...]