PHIL 101 Introduction to Philosophy

Department of Philosophy
Yeditepe University, Istanbul

Asst. Prof. Melike DURMAZ

E-mail: melike.durmaz@yeditepe.edu.tr
Room: 7th Floor, 723

Course Description:
The inner and discreet aim of this class is to find an answer to the question “what is
philosophy?”. Students will be provided with the different ways of philosophizing of
different philosophers throughout the history of philosophy. Sub-fields of philosophy (ethics,
ontology, and epistemology, political philosophy) will be demarcated.
The difference between philosophy and other fields concerning their ways of working, along
with the types of be-ing, knowing and the whatness of concept will be discussed. The
question “what is...?” is posed as the basic determining question of philosophy. Students are
informed about ethics, epistemology, ontology and also aesthetics.

Grading:
Midterm Exam: 40%
Final Exam : 60%
COURSE SCHEDULE (Subject to Change)
 Week 1: Introduction: What is Philosophy?
 Week 2: The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selcetion of Texts
(G. S. Kirk, J. E. Raven, M. Schofield, Cambridge University Press): THE IONIAN
THINKERS; Pythagoras of Samos; Parmenides of Elea; Empedocles of Acragas; The
Alomists: Leucippus of Miletus and Democritus of Abdera.
 Week 3: Plato: Republic , Book VI: Different types of Be-ing and Knowledge (Focus
Philosophical Library, 2007, trans: Joe Sachs – Devlet, Kabalcı Yayınevi,
Türkiye İş Bankası Yayınları
 Week 4: Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics (BilgeSu Yayınları, çev.: Saffet Babür 2012
/ Focus Publishing, trans.: Joe Sachs, 2002), Book VIII-IX; Politics (Focus
Publishing, trans.: Joe Sachs, 2012), Book I.
 Week 5: Augustinus: The Concept of Time: Confessions (Oxford university
Press), Book XI: XII - XX, Aristoteles, Heidegger ve Augustinus’ta Zaman
Kavramı (İmge Yayınevi)
 Week: 6 Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan ( Revised Student Edition, Cambridge
University Press, 1996), Chapters: 1 – 2 – 13 – 14 – 17.
 Week 7: David Hume: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (Hackett
Publishing, 1993), “Of the Idea of Necessary Connexion”, İnsanın Anlama Yetisi
Üzerine Bir Soruşturma, (Say Yayınları, çev. Oruç Aruoba), "Zorunlu Bağlantı İdeası
Üzerine".
 Week 8: MIDTERM
 Week 9: Immanuel Kant: Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung?,
Königsberg, 1784. “An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?” (Hackett
Publishing, 1992)
 Week 10: Friedrich Nietzsche: "Über Wahrheit und Lüge im aussermoralischen
Sinne", 1873. ‘On Truth and Lying in an Extra-Moral Sense’ (Oxford University
Press). https://archive.org/details/NietzscheOnTruthAndLying/mode/2up
 Week 11: Hannah Arendt: The Human Condition (The University of Chicago Press,
1998), Chapter I, Chapter II: The Public and the Private Realm - 7. The Public Realm:
The Common, Chapter V: 1. The Disclosure of the Agent in Speech and Action.
 Week 12: Paul K. Feyerabend: Against Method (Verso Books, 2002 – Ayrıntı
Yayınları), Chapters: I-VI; Science In a Free Society (Verso Books, 1982 – Ayrıntı
Yayınları), Part II (1, 2, 3, 4).
 Week 13: The Concept of Human Rights: Examination of The “Universal”
Declaration of Human Rights; Ioanna Kuçuradi: İnsan Hakları: Kavramları ve
Sorunları ( TFK Yayınları): “Human Rights as Ethical Principles and as Premises for
the Deduction of Law.” – “Etik İlkeler ve Hukukun Temel öncülleri Olarak İnsan
Hakları”.
 Week 14: Human Rights: İonanna Kuçuradi: İnsan Hakları: Kavramları ve
Sorunları ( TFK Yayınları): “Human Rights as Ethical Principles and as Premises for
the Deduction of Law.” – “Etik İlkeler ve Hukukun Temel öncülleri Olarak İnsan
Hakları”.
 Week 15: Review Week
 FINAL EXAM: 02.06.2022 – 16:00