Hurufat registers are important archival documents that show the regional practices in a city. The dervish lodges and zawiyas in Izmit were recorded in those registers between 1711-1806. This study mainly focused on four dervish lodges, three zawiyas, and one tekke. The units in the derwish lodges and zawiyas that have survived today are shrines and public baths. According to the obtained registers, the dervish lodges and zawiyas in the Izmit district were mostly located in the central neighborhoods, and a (...) few were in villages and hamlets. This study dealt with four dervish lodges, three zawiyas, and one tekke. As can be read in the registers, the study findings showed that the sects of "Mevleviyye," "Halvetiyye," and “Bayramiyye” had several lodged and zawiyas in the city that were categorized under three groups (i.e., dervish lodge, zawiya, and tekke) in our study. The name and duty of founders (bâni) in archival documents are acknowledged as historical documents. This study aimed to present information about the appointments, positions, founders, and assets in structures that have not survived to the present day, thus enlightening the period. It also gave information about the restorations, construction plan and material, and the current status of the surviving dervish lodges and zawiyas, supported with images, archive documents, and field research findings. The mentioned structures (i.e., the dervish lodges and zawiyas) were architecturally classified in the light of archive documents and old images. The regional plans were also considered in describing the locations of the lodges and zawiyas in the city. In this sense, the topographical and architectural information about the dervish lodges and zawiyas in İzmit was valuable information sources. (shrink)

The use of current developing communication tools has increased the sharing of ideas, while diversifying people's social relations, religious approaches and beliefs has found various areas of interaction on common platforms, as well as many regions of ideological, political, and cultural communication. These virtual places, where people from all classes can express their opinions, are created through social media and internet sites. Amongst are also websites of atheists. Atheists both gained the opportunity to express themselves actively on social media, discussing (...) the reasons for not believing in God on their platforms. These sites, which mostly discuss the inconsistency in religious claims, the criticism of current religious issues, and the problems faced by atheists in social life, also help them organize, come together, make their voices heard, and give the impression that their number is increasing day by day. In this study, three sites advocating atheism, namely 'pozitifateizm.wordpress.com', 'ateizm.blogspot.com' and 'ateistmedya.wordpress.com' will be investigated by evaluating how their supporters define themselves, and some of their main claims will be discussed at descriptive level. The primary aim of this study is not to respond to the claims of them, but to highlight the most basic arguments that define themselves and to analyze what they defend. In doing so, their internal inconsistencies and weaknesses of their criticism will also be pointed out. First of all, we tried to reveal their opinions by focusing on how atheists draw the boundaries and frameworks of their hypothesis. We then examined three issues that they heavily debated between the anti-God and anti-religious claims, which are discussed under many headings on atheist sites. These three building blocks of the main argument are that (i) the evidence for the existence of God is insufficient, (ii) the theory of evolution versus the idea of creation, and (iii) the clash of religion and science. As it is known, besides the cosmological, ontological, and teleological proofs of the existence of God, some different versions of these or derived from them can be seen as secondary proofs. In atheist sites, the "inconsistencies" of the evidence were first examined by dealing with these three basic pieces of arguments. According to them, besides this, no other evidence provides valid and sufficient reasons to believe. Following their arguments, atheists have stated that the evidence claiming God's existence is inconsistent or unfounded. Considering the universe and the living creatures in it as evidence of God's existence, which is one of the most important proofs used by theists, is an important criticism area for them. For, according to them, this issue is within the boundaries of science. Therefore, unlike theists who use the theory of creation to explain the diversity of life in the world, atheists, who resort to the theory of evolution, have argued that it is possible to explain the diversity of living things without reference to God. In the second chapter, we examined how they deal with the theory of evolution, which is defended against the creationist theories in atheist sites. Atheists have stated that evolution based on natural selection and mutation is sufficient in explaining the formation of life on earth. Although not all theists reject the theory of evolution, they object to some of the problems that the theory brings with it, some of which are that this theory, which attempts to explain life, is entirely dependent on blind mutation and natural selection; the claim that human ancestors are related to the ape species; and the primitive mutation system's capacity to create intelligent and conscious creatures. Atheists also made explanations to these objections on their websites and tried to commit the theists' opposing arguments. Another issue atheists emphasize is the relationship between religion and science. This contemporary issue continues to be discussed under the title of “conflict between religion and science” in many platforms, as supporting or not affecting each other. In this respect, our third chapter has emerged as atheists' view of the relationship between religion and science. In this chapter, we discussed on what grounds atheists explain the claim that the structure of religious thought, revelation, and the institution of prophecy do not support scientific thought, on the contrary. As a result of all these analyze, we can say that while atheists prove their claims, they use scientific data in a fragmentary and pragmatist arbitrariness and thus, imprison themselves in a populist discourse. (shrink)

The cultural and temporal context that any archaeologist is a part of will necessarily bias the way in which he or she interprets material remains. While interpretation is a crucial part of the archaeological process, the preconceived notions an archaeologist may hold can colour their interpretation of the society in question. Through examples such as the excavations at Knossos in Crete, the effect such biases can have on archaeological interpretation and discourse is studied.

La question peut paraître déconcertante tant la réponse semble évidente. C’est pourtant à cette question que se confronte le philosophe, invité à discuter de son rapport au marxisme dans le cadre du séminaire « Lectures de Marx », organisé par des étudiants de l’École normale supérieure de la rue d’Ulm. La démarche de Badiou consiste d’ailleurs plutôt à se demander si le marxisme est badiousien, autrement dit si le marxisme peut s’inscrire dans sa classification des vérités. Prenant pour poin...

Bath structures, which emerged as a result of the importance given to washing since ancient times and which mean "place to wash", provided continuity with the style created in the Roman and Byzantine periods. Turkish baths, shaped on the bath tradition of the Roman and Byzantine periods, gain a unique form in time, especially after the adoption of Islam. It is seen that with the differences with the beliefs and behaviours brought by Islam the important changes in the structure of (...) the Turkish baths emerged with the new arrangements made of the plan typology in the Ottoman period. In addition, some another various functions are attributed to these structures in the Ottoman Empire and baths are generally built for income. After the Ottoman-Russian war between 1828-1829, the "Turkish Bath" built by the Russian Tsar Nicholas as a message for his own political purposes carries traces of the aforementioned Ottoman baths. The Turkish bath, which the tsar ordered to be built in the park of Ekaterinburg, becomes a product of the project on which the important Russian architect Monigetti meticulously emphasized. Although the structure in question differs from the Ottoman bath formation, it has similar features in terms of function and decoration details. However, the external appearance of the work, which is the subject of our study, with the form of the minaret next to it, resembles the Turkish Mosque architecture. In terms of decorative features, an oriental arabesque style of decoration dominates the building. As a matter of fact, our aim in this study is to first explain the characteristics of a Turkish structure built in Russian and completely from a Russian point of view, and then reveal the similarities and differences between both the two constructions. (shrink)

The way politicians get in contact with local polities in Flanders bas been examined based on the sociological distinction between ascribed and achieved status positions. Politically active relatives were considered characteristic of ascribed local mandates.Membership of different associations was seen as a way of personally achieving a local mandate. The results indicate that a combination of both was most frequently occuring. In spite of popular convictions, family was still quite important to get in contact with politics. This is shown in (...) the high rates of respondents having politically active relatives.Next to this, a lot of political involvement occured via participation in a diversity of associations. Participations considered were membership, diligence and officeholding in a political party, a union, a health insurance organisation, an advisory body and all other political or non-political associations. (shrink)

Fātima is an important figure in Islamic society, both religiously and historically, and is regarded as a symbol of innocence and sanctity, especially in the Shīʿa faith. In this context, her marriage to ʿAlī is considered in Shīʿa theology not only as the union of two great personalities but also as a divine covenant representing the beginning of the chain of imāmate. According to Shīʿa sources, this marriage took place in accordance with God's will and gained a sacred dimension with (...) the Prophet's approval. The marriage also came to the fore as an important element that reinforced the legitimacy of ʿAlī’s caliphate. This article aims to analyze the marriage of Fātima, one of the most important figures in Islamic history, to ʿAlī within the framework of Shīʿa sources and to determine the impact of the religious-political events of later periods on the narratives related to this marriage. While Sunnī sources written in the second and third centuries of the Hijri era contain limited information about Fātima’s biography, Shīʿa sources, especially from the fourth century onwards, contain a large number of narrations about certain periods of her life. From this century onwards, the influence of Shīʿa beliefs on the biography of Fātima became evident in the works of Shīʿa authors. In this process, the roles attributed to Fātima began to diverge from Sunnī sources. These narratives focus on the events of Fātima’s birth, her marriage, and her short life after the death of her father. While Sunnī sources present only a few narratives about her marriage, in Shīʿa literature, this marriage took on an ontological meaning and began to carry a divine character. In the narrations, the choice between the marriage of the first caliphs, who had requested to marry Fātima but were rejected, and ʿAlī’s marriage was reflected in the caliphate debates in the following period and became the starting point of the belief in imāmate. The marriage is seen as a symbol of the religious and political conflicts between ʿAlī and the first caliphs in the early periods and with the Shiite groups in the later periods. The marriage is seen as a symbol of the religious and political conflicts between ʿAlī and the first caliphs in the early periods and with the Shiite groups in the later periods. This article analyzes the marriage of Fātima in historical and theological contexts and reveals the religious and political meanings of this marriage. It critically evaluates how these narratives developed in line with sectarian differences and how they transformed over time in the context of the impact of sociocultural and political elements on these narratives. The analysis reveals that the marriage of Fātima and ʿAlī had a significant impact on religious and political events in Islamic history. While Shīʿa sources consider this marriage as the manifestation of a divine command, they present the characteristics of Fātima and ʿAlī as elements that reinforce the legitimacy of the imāmate. It has been determined that marriage constitutes the ontological foundations of imāmah and has become one of the cornerstones of Shīʿa belief. In Sunnī sources, on the other hand, marriage is treated more as a familial event, which reveals the different perspectives between the two sects. This situation clearly reveals the differences in the historical narratives of marriage. In the narratives, the rejection of the first caliphs who proposed to Fātima led to the formation of a sub-message that they did not deserve the caliphate. Over time, this idea led to marriage acquiring a divine character in Shīʿa theology and becoming a symbolic representation of imāmah. Moreover, the Sunnī sources' treatment of marriage in a simpler context contrasts with the deep theological analysis in Shīʿa sources. In conclusion, the marriage of Fātima and ʿAlī is a critical event that affected the religious and political dynamics of Islamic society and deepened the divergent understandings between the two sects. The differences in narratives about the marriage provide a powerful example of how religious and historical narratives are shaped by social and political factors. (shrink)

Via a historical reconstruction, this paper primarily demonstrates how the societal debate on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) gradually extended in terms of actors involved and concerns reflected. It is argued that the implementation of recombinant DNA technology out of the laboratory and into civil society entailed a “complex of concerns.” In this complex, distinctions between environmental, agricultural, socio-economic, and ethical issues proved to be blurred. This fueled the confusion between the wider debate on genetic modification and the risk assessment of (...) transgenic crops in the European Union. In this paper, the lasting skeptical and/or ambivalent attitude of Europeans towards agro-food biotechnology is interpreted as signaling an ongoing social request – and even a quest – for an evaluation of biotechnology with Sense and Sensibility. In this (re)quest, a broader-than-scientific dimension is sought for that allows addressing the GMO debate in a more “sensible” way, whilst making “sense” of the different stances taken in it. Here, the restyling of the European regulatory frame on transgenic agro-food products and of science communication models are discussed and taken to be indicative of the (re)quest to move from a merely scientific evaluation and risk-based policy towards a socially more robust evaluation that takes the “non-scientific” concerns at stake in the GMO debate seriously. (shrink)

Moral distress has been characterised as one of the main ethical problems affecting nurses in all health systems, and has been depicted as a threat to nurses’ integrity and to the quality of patient care. In recent years, several studies tried to investigate moral distress, its causes and consequences for health professionals, clients and organisations. However, such studies are considered controversial and vulnerable, mainly because they lack a solid philosophical and empirical basis. The present article aimed at elaborating a theoretical (...) model for moral distress, considering the process of moral deliberation, spaces of power and resistance and patient advocacy, and sought to carry out a reflection that culminated with the creation of a broader concept of moral distress. (shrink)

De filosofen willen de wereld niet alleen verschillend interpreteren, maar ook veranderen! Wat blijft er van dat project in het hedendaagse 'denken in Parijs': nu Sartre en Althusser verdwenen, de politiek en de cultuur sterk ge.

According to the new public management, the interaction between governments and their citizens should be "client oriented". It is considered crucial for policy-makers that they know how citizens perceive the policy process, that they know if citizens are satisfied with policy outcomes.Our empirical study deals with the satisfaction with global local policy. We examine the main determinants of satisfaction with global local policy. This study is based on a face-to-face survey among citizens entitled to vote in Ghent. More than 1500 (...) respondents, spread over 2 surveys, took part in our research. Attention is also paid to the satisfaction with more specific aspects of local policy. We linked the voter's satisfaction with the global local policy to a wide range of traditional and less traditional independent variables. Finally, we discuss the satisfaction of the electorate of the different political parties. (shrink)

Via a historical reconstruction, this paper primarily demonstrates how the societal debate on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) gradually extended in terms of actors involved and concerns reflected. It is argued that the implementation of recombinant DNA technology out of the laboratory and into civil society entailed a “complex of concerns.” In this complex, distinctions between environmental, agricultural, socio-economic, and ethical issues proved to be blurred. This fueled the confusion between the wider debate on genetic modification and the risk assessment of (...) transgenic crops in the European Union. In this paper, the lasting skeptical and/or ambivalent attitude of Europeans towards agro-food biotechnology is interpreted as signaling an ongoing social request – and even a quest – for an evaluation of biotechnology with Sense and Sensibility. In this (re)quest, a broader-than-scientific dimension is sought for that allows addressing the GMO debate in a more “sensible” way, whilst making “sense” of the different stances taken in it. Here, the restyling of the European regulatory frame on transgenic agro-food products and of science communication models are discussed and taken to be indicative of the (re)quest to move from a merely scientific evaluation and risk-based policy towards a socially more robust evaluation that takes the “non-scientific” concerns at stake in the GMO debate seriously. (shrink)

This paper examines the nature of “asceticism” (rīyāḍat) in Sufism, revolving around the works of the 13th century Persian Sufi Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī Balkī and exploring two critical inquiries: Firstly, it seeks to determine whether Rūmī’s mystical perspective on asceticism is world-rejecting or world-affirming. Secondly, it investigates potential parallels and divergences between Rūmī and Meister Eckhart’s stances—specifically, through the Dominican’s Sermons and Treatises—and assesses the implications for the two figures. In examining Rūmī’s works, the current research primarily relies (...) on secondary sources within the Persian intellectual tradition to provide an intracultural context. Utilizing horizontal and vertical interpretations, this study examines critical themes in Rūmī’s works, such as love, detachment (zuhd), the world’s deceptive nature, and seclusion. The findings reveal that Rūmī’s asceticism is not “monastic” (ruhbānī); instead, it balances moderate abstinence and worldly engagement, underpinned by the Quran and the ḥadīth teachings. Rūmī and Eckhart underscore asceticism as an inner transformation rather than mere physical austerity, emphasizing inner purification, self-transcendence, and spiritual detachment as routes to divine unity. The two thinkers’ teachings are catalysts for profound personal transformation and a more fulfilling life in today’s world. (shrink)

Prayer windows are architectural elements of various forms that are opened on the surface of the walls of mosques, tombs, lodges, cemeteries, or treasuries in the direction of people's passage and usually have inscriptions. The prayer windows opened on the body or courtyard wall of the tombs exhibit an imposing appearance in a way to attracts people's attention. In front of such windows, in the presence of the deceased, prayers and requests are made to Allah for his sake. Eyüp Sultan (...) Mosque and Mausoleum are places where crowds of people gather on holy days of religious importance such as Friday. The prayer windows were made near the graves of common people who were not considered religious leaders, even if they had a high social status, and buried in the cemeteries around Eyüp Sultan Tomb, and in the openings in the enclosure wall of these cemeteries, have been the subject of our study with their inscriptions ending with the request for Fatiha. It is understood that the prayer windows, which are in the position that constitutes the connection of the treasuries with the street, were opened to request prayer by attracting the attention of people passing by to visit mosques and tombs. We have tried to determine the place of prayer windows in the discipline of art history since they were not applied in the first period of Islam but were an elegant practice that emerged especially in the Ottoman period and had not been studied before. We have endeavored to determine the effect and reflection of the visit tradition shaped by the Ottoman period adherents of the Islamic religion on Islamic art throughout this subject. In our research, we have tried to find the first information about prayer windows. We have tried to determine the place of prayer windows in the discipline of art history since they were not applied in the first period of Islam but emerged especially in the Ottoman period and have not been studied before. We have endeavored to determine the effect and reflection of the visiting tradition shaped by the Ottoman period followers of the Islamic religion on Islamic art throughout this subject. In the first part of our research on prayer windows, Eyüp Sultan Mosque and Tomb in terms of the tradition of visitation in Islam; in the second part, the purpose and importance of the construction of prayer windows and the evaluation of these building elements in terms of form, material-technique, writing, ornamentation, and identity are discussed. In this process, the necessary permissions and usable data were obtained from the Directorate of Tombs, Istanbul Directorate of Cemeteries, and the General Directorate of Foundations Istanbul 1st Regional Directorate for the examination of 11 windows that we identified in the cemeteries around Eyüp Sultan, and the measurements of the windows were taken in a process of approximately two weeks. Within the framework of the necessary security measures, tools such as ladders and tripods were used to take the correct measurements of the high windows. The stumpage technique was applied to the inscriptions and high-relief decorations. There were some difficulties in measuring and photographing the windows due to the location of the land and the passage point of the people. The photographs were taken in detail and shared as general views and only general views were used in order not to exceed the volume of the article. The gravestones related to the subject in the background of the windows were also identified one by one by scanning the whole of the treasuries. With the data obtained because of measurement and photography, the windows were drawn with the AutoCAD program in about one and a half months. Sources on the subject were researched in many libraries in Istanbul and Ankara and on the net and collected in an average of one month. In the evaluation phase, the inscriptions of each prayer window and the associated tombstones were read and analyzed, and inferences about the art and the master were made with the signatures of the artisans on the inscriptions. In terms of art history, subheadings were opened according to the forms of the windows, and definitions were made. As an example of an application specific to the Ottoman period in Islamic architecture and art, our main aim has been to bring the prayer windows opened in the cemeteries around Eyüp Tomb to the discipline of Art History in the context of form, ornamentation, writing, and death. The text created by evaluating all the data is the result of a meticulous, comprehensive, and long-term process. With this study, it has been attempted to understand the Muslim view of death and the cultural heritage developed within this framework based on the building elements in question. (shrink)

We propose in this article an indexing and retrieval approach applied on outline shapes. Models of objects are stored in a database using the textual descriptors of their silhouettes. We extract from the textual description a set of efficient similarity measures to index the silhouettes. The extracted features are the geometric quasi-invariants that vary slightly with the small change in the viewpoint. We use a textual description and quasi-invariant features to minimize the storage space and to achieve an efficient indexing (...) process. We also use the quad-tree structure to improve processing time during indexing. Using both geometric features and quad-tree decomposition facilitates recognition and retrieval processes. Our approach is applied on the outline shapes of three-dimensional objects. Experiments conducted on two well-known databases show the efficiency of our method in real-world applications, especially for image indexing and retrieval. (shrink)

In the context of change to the “new modernity” described in Beck’s work, companies develop management modes and methods that focus more and more on individuals. Constitutive of the individualization process, human resources practices have become ambivalent as the process itself. This contribution examines how a managerial and organizational innovation as telework contributes to the process of individualization, and the paradoxes it addresses to management. At the interface of the social and the technical, teleworking appears as a flexible arrangement, meeting (...) employees’ and employer’s demands – which is a characteristic of the process of individualization – by simultaneously fragmenting collectivity, exposing individuals to social risk, and producing exclusion. The authors focus on two consecutive paradoxes of such individualized managerial practices: the individual–collective dilemma and the autonomy–control paradox. Finally, the paper reveals HRM as a new institution of individualization in a world where regulation functions are more and more transferred to individuals themselves. (shrink)