5 Years of Türkiye Kant Society: Thinking Together, Producing Together

Author: Gamze Keskin

On 10 January 2020, in the workshop where we came together to establish the Türkiye Kant Society, another issue discussed while discussing the issues necessary for institutionalisation and becoming a society was the 300th anniversary of Kant’s birth in 2024. In fact, while many Kant communities around the world had already started preparations for this year, we had categorised ourselves as Mediterranean people and postponed it as an issue to be dealt with when the time approached. After spending the year 2024, also called the year of Kant, to the fullest, I wanted to write such an article to present a framework of what we have done so far as we celebrate our fifth anniversary today.

The issues we prioritised during and after the first workshop were aimed at building the foundations that made the community what it is today. The Kant Society of Turkey had decided to proceed not as a legal entity, but as a voluntary organisation through a survey conducted during the establishment process. However, even though we did not set out as a legal entity, we created a statute through a statute commission in order to set things in order as if we were. According to this statute, we collected applications for the steering committee, the supervisory board, the ethics committee and the academic board. Since the only board with more than one application was the steering committee, we carried out the election with a closed-circuit survey. In addition, after the expiry of the term of office, the following people still continue their duties as there were no applications at the general assembly held:

• Steering Committee: Ayhan Çitil, Umut Eldem, Gamze Keskin, Seniye Tilev, Saniye Vatansever
• Supervisory Board: Mehmet Arslan, Aydın Gelmez, Özgüç Güven
• Ethics Committee: Elif Çetinkıran, Özlem Duva, Selda Salman
• Akademical Board: Mehmet Arslan, Özlem Duva, Umut Eldem, Bülent Gözkân, Gamze Keskin

Although they are not on the boards, I would like to remember with gratitude the names of the people who have believed in the community and have supported it since its foundation with material and moral volunteerism: Bükem Özçeri, Burkay Şimşek, Özge Öztürk, Melda Erdir, Vehbi Yurdakurban, Barış Arı.

An online meeting was held on 5 October 2020 to determine the principles of the society, and issues such as the principles that could be adopted, various boards to be established in the society, and the membership system were discussed. As a result of the work carried out with the working groups formed after the suggestions received at this meeting, the principles of the society were determined and the foundations of the membership system were strengthened. The principles we determined took their place on the web page of the society.

With an attitude that is inclusive, encompassing and caring about the subtleties in a way that points to the entirety of our principles, we have been careful to balance the ratio of female and male participants in all our activities; we have always been careful to include them in our activities in order to create a platform where graduate students can share their work with professors working in this field.

We have put an archive of Kantian philosophy in Turkish on the web page. We hope that this inventory, which includes theses, books/book chapters, translations and articles on Kantian philosophy and which continues to be updated, will benefit many people who work or will work on Kantian philosophy. In this archive, we have primarily benefited from Ümit Öztürk’s article titled “Kant Studies in Turkey”[1]. I would like to thank him and my colleagues in the archive committee, Aslı Şentürk, Gökhan Savaş, Halise Avşar and Sefa Melih Akgün, who have been working regularly to compile and update Kantian philosophy in Turkish.

On behalf of the community, we have three book studies and one project in preparation.

We have been regularly sharing blog posts on our website since 2020. Information about the blog posts (all written in Turkish) contributed by a total of 31 people so far is as follows :

o   Gamze Keskin / Türkiye Kant Topluluğu: Hayal, Fikir, Amaç (11.6.2020)

o   Lale Levin Basut / Kavramsal Bir Seçkiye Göre Kant’ın Felsefe Tarihindeki Yeri (30.10.2020)

o   Kaan Ökten / Immanuel Kant: ‘Markus Herz’e 21 Şubat 1772 Tarihli Mektup’ (3.2.2021)

o   Ayhan Çitil / Kant Neyi Başaramadı? (7.3.2021)

o   Harun Tepe / Kant Etiği Üzerine Notlar: Neden Kant Etiği? (11.4.2021)

o   Eric Rose / “Wir denken selten bei dem Licht an Finsternis…’’ (…Bizler ışıkta, karanlığı nadiren düşünürüz…) (31.5.2021)

o   Uygar Abacı / ‘Düşünüyorum, Öyleyse Özgürüm’: Kant’ın Cogitosu’na Ne Oldu? (18.6.2021)

o   Dilek Hüseyinzadegan / Kant’ın Siyaset Felsefesini Nasıl Bilirsiniz? Veya Tarih, Coğrafya ve Antropolojinin Toplum ve Siyaset Felsefesindeki Yeri ve Önemi (15.9.2021)

o   Toros Güneş Esgün / ‘Elleri Var Özgürlüğün’: Kant ve Gönüllü Kulluk (8.10.2021)

o   Umut Eldem / Kant’ı Nasıl Anlamalı? Ahlak Felsefesinde Gerçeklik ve İnşacılık Üzerine (8.11.2021)

o   Berfin Kart / Kant’ın Kozmopolitanizm Düşüncesine Ne Kadar Yakınız? (13.12.2021)

o   Seniye Tilev / Immanuel’in İmanı (13.01.2022)

o   Bülent Gözkân / ‘Saf Aklın Eleştirisi’nden Ahlaklılığın Zeminine (5.2.2022)

o   Aliye Kovanlıkaya / Kritik ve Mantık Dersleri (7.3.2022)

o   Tuğba Sevinç / John Rawls’un Adalet Teorisinin Kantçı Temelleri (8.4.2022)

o   Devrim Sezer / Arendt’in Siyasal Düşüncesinde Kantçı Dönüş: Kant’ın Siyaset Felsefesi Üzerine Dersler (6.5.2022)

o   Özlem Duva / Kant da Biliyordu Zarların Hileli Olduğunu (30.6.2022)

o   Saniye Vatansever / Üçüncü Kritik Üzerine Düşünceler: ‘Ne Gerek Vardı?’ Sorusuna Yanıt (20.09.2022)

o   Mehmet Arslan / Köprünün Altından Çok Sular Aktı mı Gerçekten? (7.10.2022)

o   Aydın Gelmez / ‘Aklın Uykusu Canavarlar Yaratır’ (7.11.2022)

o   Zeynep Savaşçın / Belirlenimsizlik Izdırabı (22.12.2022)

o   Mehmet Barış Albayrak / Kant ve Lizbon Depremi (21.3.2023)

o   Elif Çetinkıran /Felaketi Anlamaya Çalışırken Kant Etiğinin Bize Söyledikleri (28.4.23)

o   Selda Salman / §59: Estetiğin Yolu Neden Ahlakilikle Kesişir? (13.09.2023)

o   Mehmet Günenç / Kant’ı Çağırmalı mıyız? (18.12.2023)

o   Elif Çırakman / Kant’ın Aydınlanma Çağrısı: Bir Makineden Fazlası Olmak (1.01.2024)

o   Gökhan Savaş / İki Yıldönümü Arasında: Felsefenin Dünyayı Değiştirdiği Zamanları Hatırlamak (01.02.2024)

o   Gülben Salman / Kant’ın Coşkusu Bugün Nerede?: Lyotard ile Kant’ı Bugün Yeniden Düşünmek [i] (20.05.2024)

o   Fazilet Alçık / Kant, Opus Postumum ile Neyi Çözmeye Çalıştı? (5.10.2024)

o   Sefa Melih Akgün / Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü Müdürü Immanuel Kant (05.11.2024)

o   Neşe Aksoy / Kant’ta ve Fichte’de Öznelerarası Ahlaki İletişimin Diyalektiği (03.12.2024)

In 2023, we started preparations for the events we will organise in the 300th anniversary of Kant’s birth. The impression, demand and efficiency left by the events organised by the Türkiye Kant Society undoubtedly contributed to the rapid establishment of collaborations. We met, acquainted and discussed with people working on Kant’s philosophy in many cities, working at different universities / continuing their postgraduate education. We organised 14 events in 2024 in the name of Kant’s 300th birthday alone. Information about the 38 events we have organised in total since 2020 is as follows:

When we set out five years ago, I realised at the end of the first workshop that we had the enthusiasm and excitement to produce. However, that day, I could not have imagined that we would reach the point we have reached today. I owe a debt of gratitude to all the stakeholders in the institutions that have accompanied and cooperated with us on the path TKT has set out to achieve its goals. I am grateful to all my friends who, although they approach Kant’s philosophy from different perspectives, move forward in good faith, understanding, supporting and supporting each other within the society. Although I am usually given the credit as the president of the society in all events, it would not be possible for us to be such a “society” if I did not always feel the hands of my friends in the society on my back, and if we did not act with a sense of unity, solidarity and belonging. At the point we have reached today, I see trying to be worthy of happiness as the gift of the fifth year.

[1] Ümit Öztürk, ‘Türkiye’de Kant Çalışmaları’, Kutadgubilig Felsefe Bilim Araştırmaları Dergisi, Sayı 21, Mart 2012, 389-437.