Isaiah Berlin made a now classic distinction between negative and positive conceptions of freedom. This book, first published in 2005, introduces a fresh way of looking at these conceptions and presents a new defence of the positive conception of freedom. Revealing how the internal debate between various versions of negative freedom give rise to hybrid conceptions of freedom which in turn are superseded by various versions of the positive conception of freedom, Silier concludes that Marx’s concrete historical account of positive (...) freedom resolves many of the key debates in this area and provides a fruitful framework to evaluate the freedoms and unfreedoms that are specific to capitalism. (shrink)

Roots, Cogwheels and Clouds: A Tale of Encounters In her first book The Illusion of Freedom published in 2006 and in The Age of Gluttony published in 2010 Yıldız Silier focused on the notions of freedom and happiness respectively. This last book on justice completes her trilogy. Instead of taking injustices as a discourse on victimization, she focuses on the life experiences of resisting subjects and collates them through semi fictional tales, letters and diaries. The concrete, material foundations of injustices (...) are exposed in the Roots. The Cogwheels, puts forward what happens when the rebellions fail and the Clouds predict what would have happened if the rebellions had succeeded. Through these three axes, the past (the lost possibilities), the present (dystopia) and the future (utopia) are merged. -/- Those that resist the dictator in the country of animals, peasant risings in the 14th century England, women’s rebellion during the witch hunts in the 16th century Italy, 18th century slave riots in the plantations of West Indies and in workers’ rebellion in the 21st century in a Chinese factory that produces tablets and mobile phones; these are the main subjects of these semi fictional tales. In the second part of the book on “the meeting of old class mates” five friends having different political views discuss “what will happen to our country?” and uncompromising conflicts appear. The last part of the book includes three essays on the Gezi rebellion, Pontecorvo’s film Burn and Calvino’s book Invisible Cities. (shrink)

Kapitalizm, bireysel özgürlüğün son durağı mı? Liberal kuramcılar diyor ki: "Serbest piyasa ekonomisi, belki eşitlik, kardeşlik ve adalet sağlayamıyor ama hiç olmazsa özgürlüğü garanti altına alıyor." Özgürlüğün, tüketicilerin marka seçme özgürlüğüne ya da soyut vatandaşların eşit yasal haklarına indirgenemeyeceğini düşünüyorsak, liberalizmin ilk eleştirmenlerinden Rousseau ve Marx'ın alternatif özgürlük anlayışlarından hâlâ öğreneceğimiz çok şey var. Çoğumuz, ya özgürlüğü kuralsızlık olarak tanımlayıp, mutlak özgürlüğün hiçbir toplumda var olamayacağını düşünüyoruz, ya da özgürlüğü "özel alan" içindeki serbestliğe indirgeyip, kendimizi özgür hissetmenin özgür olmak için (...) yeterli olduğuna inanıyoruz. Peki, ya Rousseau'nun iddia ettiği gibi ayağımızdaki zincirleri halhal zannedip çiçeklerle süslüyorsak? Özgürleşmenin ilk adımı, şu anda neden özgür olmadığımızı kavramaktan geçiyor. Modern toplumda içine düştüğümüz "özgürlük yanılsaması"nı açıklayan Rousseau ve Marx, özgürlüğün ihtiyaçlarla ilişkisine dair iki farklı tez öne sürüyor. Rousseau'ya göre, uygarlık, arzuları ve bağımlılıkları artırdıkça toplumlar yozlaşır ve insanlar farkına varmadan özgürlüklerini kaybeder. Özgürlüğün koşulu "yapay arzular"dan kurtularak yetenekler ve ihtiyaçlar arasında denge kurulmasıdır. Oysa Marx'a göre özgürleşme ancak ihtiyaçların artması ve insancıllaşmasıyla mümkündür. Bütün ihtiyaçlarımızı para ihtiyacına indirgeyen "meta fetişizmi"nden kurtulma mücadelesi, yabancılaşmanın aşılmasının da önünü açar. Bu kitap, "Biz kimiz? Nereden geldik? Nereye gidiyoruz? Nasıl özgürleşebiliriz?" sorularının peşine düşen herkesi düşünsel bir yolculuğa davet ediyor. (shrink)

A picture which reflects the contradictions of our era: Glutton adults, who are always bored and constantly demand new toys and hungry children who have grown untimely. Completely different lives in the same world: Those in the display windows and those in the garbage... This picture is the starting point of the Age of Gluttony. -/- Silier who uses a plain and fluent language, starts from a story of Kafka and touches upon the reasons of obedience to authorities, the internal (...) fears that hinder freedom and issues related with the “meaning of life”. She then proceeds by searching answers to new questions: How does the fetishism of happiness encourage individualism and prevent the flourishing of individuality? Taking inspiration from Kant, Marx, Mill and Sartre can we form a conceptual frame for critical and objective ethical values? -/- What are the different accounts of individuality that lay at the foundations of Marx’s goal of overcoming alienation and existentialists’ yearning for authenticity? How does postmodernism confuse different conceptions of “reason” and “progress”, to charge the Enlightenment as guilty for the crimes and devastation caused by capitalism? How were women transformed through history from goddess to pariah by being domesticated? Can motherhood experiences be saved from the oppressive effects of “motherhood ideology” and have a liberating potential? What kind of link exists between narcissistic individuals who relate freedom with the absence of rules and limits and the ideology of consumerism, which redefines gluttony as a virtue? As greedy companies which rule the world shape both consumers and employers in their image, how does the “irrational” system at the basis of “deformed” and alienated individuals become naturalised and invisible? (shrink)