Monsters and Philosophers: Bilkent-Style Philosophy Day Celebrations
The Philosophy Department held its annual one-day conference to celebrate World Philosophy Day on Thursday, November 17. The conference was organized by Dr. Sandrine Berges, who was also responsible for this year's topic, "Monsters and Philosophers." Celebrated since 2002 at UNESCO's initiative, the essential purpose of World Philosophy Day is one of sharing: a sharing of the place, relevance and importance of philosophy in everyday life, all of which, unfortunately, too often go unnoticed or overlooked.
Yet, at Bilkent, the desire to highlight the significance of philosophical thinking and to establish connections between philosophers (dead or alive!) and the public seems to be yielding its fruit, following the six previous Philosophy Day conferences Bilkent's Department of Philosophy has organized. In addition to the impressive turnout at this year's event, not only were half of the talks given by students, but there were student respondents to many of the talks, and most of the discussions during the question sessions after each talk were dominated by students.
The event began with Department of Philosophy Chair Prof. Varol Akman's welcome address, which offered interesting insights into the origins of "monster" with reference to the Old Testament.
Based on his own arguments on automatism and the discussion of texts on dreams and responsibility in Plato, Aristotle and Augustine, Dr. Simon Wigley's presentation examined the subject of what, if any, responsibility can be attributed to people who commit violent acts while sleepwalking.
Elif Boyacıoğlu (HIST/PhD) provided a fascinating discussion of medieval practices concerning revenants - the returning dead -- to which Doğan Erişen (PHIL/I) responded by drawing attention to certain aspects of Schopenhauer's philosophy that appear to specifically address these medieval customs.
Oya Canlı (PHIL/IV) considered the ethical issues surrounding chimera research, looking at a number of moral objections -- none of them convincing, according to Canlı -- to the fusing of cells from human and nonhuman animals for the purpose of research.
Senem Yıldırım (POLS/PhD) discussed Hannah Arendt's report on the trial of Adolf Eichmann and the contention that despite the monstrosity of his acts, he was a normal person.
Dr. Kourken Michaelian's talk, entitled "Cyborg Memories," delved into the topic of cognitive prosthetics and the possibility or feasibility of externalized cognitive functions, with reference to recent debates in the philosophy of mind and also to various works of art.
The talks concluded with Dr. Istvan Aranyosi's most entertaining, nonetheless thought-provoking, discussion concerning philosophical zombies, angels and demons (all distinct from their Hollywood counterparts, Dr. Aranyosi made clear, hence proving beyond any reasonable doubt that this year's Philosophy Day title was no mere shocking slogan), which revolved around a long-existing debate best known as the mind-body problem. Kaan Arıkan (PHIL/IV) responded to Dr. Aranyosi's discussions with similarly innovative insights.
As is often the case where philosophers are concerned, the end of the time formally allocated to the talks hardly meant an end to the debates and exchange of ideas. Trustworthy sources report that discussions continued well into the late hours of the night at different locales on campus.