Modern bilimin kuruluş sürecinde, Grek menşeli atomcu felsefenin bir etkisinin olup-olmadığı ya da olduysa hangi bakımlardan olduğu bir tartışma konusudur. Söz gelimi E. Burtt, A. Koyré ve T. Kuhn gibi bilim filozofları, modern bilimin kuruluşunda atomcu felsefenin, bariz bir etkisinin olmadığını ileri sürerlerken, A. Chalmers ve D.C. Lindberg gibi düşünürler ise belirli bir düzeyde etkisinin olduğunu iddia etmişlerdir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, modern bilimin oluşum sürecinde Grek menşeli atomcu öğretinin ne türden bir etki ve öneme sahip olduğunu araştırmaktır. Bu maksatla öncelikle (...) Grek menşeli atomcu öğretinin temel görüş ve tezleri, kısaca ortaya konulmuş daha sonra bu görüşlerin tarihsel süreç içerisindeki seyri betimlenmiş ve nihayetinde bu öğretinin modern dönemde özellikle de P. Gassendi, R. Boyle ve I. Newton gibi düşünürler üzerinde ne türden bir etkisinin olduğu ortaya konulmuştur. Nihayetinde modern bilimi nihai formuna ulaştıran düşünürün I. Newton olduğu kabul edildiğinde, Epikuros üzerinden alınan atomcu öğretinin, Newtoncu bilim tasarımını oldukça şekillendirdiği söylenebilir. (shrink)

Authorship Analysis (AA) is a natural language processing field that examines the previous works of writers to identify the author of a text based on its features. Studies in authorship analysis include authorship identification, authorship profiling, and authorship verification. Due to its relevance, to many applications in this field attention has been paid. It is widely used in the attribution of historical literature. Other applications include legal linguistics, criminal law, forensic investigations, and computer forensics. This paper aims to provide an (...) overview of the work done and the techniques applied in the authorship analysis domain. The examination of recent developments in this field is the principal focus. Many different criteria can be used to define a writer’s style. This paper investigates stylometric features in different author-related tasks, including lexical, syntactic, semantic, structural, and content-specific ones. A lot of classification methods have been applied to authorship analysis tasks. We examine many research studies that use different machine learning and deep learning techniques. As a means of pointing the direction for future studies, we present the most relevant methods recently proposed. The reviewed studies include documents of different types and different languages. In summary, due to the fact that each natural language has its own set of features, there is no standard technique generically applicable for solving the AA problem. (shrink)

This paper attempts to account for the contrastive discourse connective (tam) tersine (‘on the contrary’) in Turkish discourse. We suggest that this connective evokes a discourse structure which has at least three parts: the material in the prior linguistic context, its refutation, and then rectification in the clause where the connective is hosted. Since negation is obligatory in the discourse context for refutation, we include a discussion of negation and we conclude that the obligatory negative clauses are instances of descriptive (...) negation rather than metalinguistic negation. We show that linguistic and cognitive contexts interact in producing and interpreting the discourse adverbial connective under discussion and the discourse structure in which it is used. It is claimed that (tam) tersine serves to bring closer the cognitive context of the intended audience to that of the writer’s while minimizing any potential discrepancies in the audience’s and the writer’s cognitive context. We argue that this discourse connective and the discourse it evokes are used in the argumentative mode. (shrink)

Medical malpractice has attracted the attention of people and the media all over the world. In Turkey, malpractice cases are tried according to both criminal and civil law. Nurses and midwives in Turkey fulfill important duties in the distribution of health services. The aim of this study was to reveal the legal procedures followed in malpractice allegations and malpractice lawsuits in which nurses and midwives were named as defendants. We reviewed 59 nursing and midwifery lawsuits reported to the Higher Health (...) Council between 1993 and 1998. Health professionals were held liable in 59% of the lawsuits. Midwives had the highest percentage of malpractice liability (52%), followed by physicians (29%) and nurses (19%). To reduce potential liability, nurse education should be improved, a nursing malpractice law should be enacted, and instructions for nursing procedures should be formulated. (shrink)

Bioethics education has remarkably grown across the globe in the last few decades. The data of the UNESCO Global Ethics Observatory proves that bioethics education is a global phenomenon with various bioethics institutions, teaching programs, and academicians. However, this situation does not mean that bioethics education has reached a stable and flawless level. Especially, the effectiveness of bioethics programs or their quality assessment is a major area that should be analyzed through more academic works. For filling that gap, this article (...) aims to formulate a general framework to address the quality standards and indicators in bioethics education. The article adapts Donabedian’s three approaches—structure, process, and outcome— as three levels to measure quality in bioethics education. The proposed model considers the indicators the ultimate quantifiable points by creating a sequential classification as the three levels, main categories, standards, and indicators, which means that it applies an inductive approach following a path from the indicators to the standards, from the standards to the main categories, and from the main categories to the levels in order to reach a conclusion about the effectiveness of each level. (shrink)

Despite their strong transnational links and support in the second half of the 1990s, Turkish NGOs have not yet had a “tremendous” impact on domestic political and social change. But new points of contact have been established in the public sphere between governmental agencies and the IHV and IHD, with both sides engaged in an argumentative process, which may, in the long run, lead to the subscriptive phase of “human rights talk” and deed. The general tenor of this essay may (...) lend itself to suggesting two prerequisites for establishing such a sustainable human rights regime in this geography: the first is “capacity building”, the other is grounding this regime in an accurate perception of the structures of power, domestic and international, so as to “integrate” the human rights bundle into all aspects of life, at all levels, within all traditions and institutions by empowering the community into the language of human rights. Most of all, integration of human rights into a liberal democratic order requires coming to terms with the past.Capacity building can be defined in different terms: in the words of Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, it is “facing-up to the bullies.” It is a cliché that the legalistic entrenchment of human rights is sufficient guarantee against their violation. It is almost unrealistic to expect a system to volunteer to set up a human rights regime that will limit and cripple the power it wields. So, what to do? Mary Robinson suggests a “national plan,” as, opposed to fragmented political notions, building a sustainable model with strong bricks and mortar. As Robinson notes, “even where there are plans, plans without effective strategies for implementation are empty vessels.” We could add more: in contexts like Turkey where “special circumstances” provide the pretext for legitimating an anti-human rights discourse, Mary Robinson's national plan's chances of success depend on building a strong survival capacity for any civilian government that works to bring, itself, the urban middle classes, civil society and the military into the realities embedded in human rights. (shrink)

Bu makalede Marmara Denizi’nin Kuzeybatısında yer alan Rodosçuk/Tekirdağ kazasında yaşayan halkın beslenme kültürü ele alınmıştır. Hangi ürünlerin yaygın olarak tüketildiğini belirlemek için başvurulan temel kaynak narh defterleridir. Bilindiği üzere narh, mal ve hizmet fiyatlarının esnaf örgütlerinin görüşü alınarak devlet tarafından belirlenen üst sınırını ifade etmektedir. Piyasada bulunan malların listelerini barındırdığı için ayrı bir önem taşıyan narh defterleri ilgili kazaya ait şer’iyye sicillerinde yer almaktadır. 1638-1730 yıllarına ait narh listelerinde bulunan ürünler türlerine göre sınıflandırılarak başlıklar halinde değerlendirilmiştir. Bu araştırmada ayrıca narh (...) defterlerine yansıdığı kadarıyla Rodosçuk piyasasında bulunan yiyecek maddelerinin çeşitliliği, yakınlığı nedeniyle özellikle İstanbul’da ve Saray’da tüketilen ürünlerle karşılaştırılarak zaman içinde meydan gelen değişimler belirlenmiş ve incelenen dönemin başından sonuna kadar önemli bir dönüşümün yaşanmadığı ortaya çıkmıştır. Varılan sonuçlardan bir diğeri de Amerikan menşeli yiyeceklerin henüz Rodosçuk’ta sahneye çıkmamış olmasıdır. (shrink)

The principle of respect for autonomy requires informing patients adequately and appropriately about diagnoses, treatments, and prognoses. However, some clinical cases may cause ethical dilemmas regarding telling the truth. Under the existence especially of certain cultural, social, and religious circumstances, disclosing all the relevant information to all pertinent parties might create harmful effects. Even though the virtue of telling the truth is unquestionable, sometimes de facto conditions compel physicians to act paternalistically to protect the patient/patients from imminent dangers. This article, (...) which aims to study the issue of whether a physician should always tell the truth, analyzes an interesting case that represents the detection of misattributed paternity during pre-transplant tests for a kidney transplant from the son to the father in Turkey, where social, cultural, and religious factors have considerable impact on marital infidelity. After analyzing the concept of telling the truth and its relationship with paternalism and two major ethical theories, consequentialism and deontology, it is concluded that the value of the integrity of life and survival overrides the value of telling the truth. For this reason, in the case of a high possibility of severe and imminent threats, withholding some information is ethically justifiable. (shrink)

Healthcare services should be provided according to contemporary ethical norms that require patients’ active engagement in all the relevant processes. However, authoritarian attitudes and behaviors in healthcare, one of which is paternalism, put patients in a passive role. But, as Avedis Donabedian emphasizes, patients are co-producers of care, reformers of healthcare, informants, and definers and evaluators of quality. Overlooking these significant functions and merely focusing on physicians’ benevolence due to their medical knowledge and skills in the production of healthcare services (...) would leave the fate of patients in the hands of clinicians and impose physicians’ hegemony on patients and their choices. Nevertheless, the concept of co-production is a practical and effective mechanism to redefine the language used in healthcare by recognizing patients as co-producers and equal partners. The application of co-production in healthcare would improve the therapeutic relationship, decrease ethical violations, and promote the patient’s dignity. (shrink)

The case, which occurred in a public hospital in Turkey in 2005, exhibits a striking dilemma between a mother’s and her fetus’ interests. For a number of reasons, the mother refused to cooperate with the midwives and obstetrician in the process of giving birth, and wanted to leave the hospital. The care providers evaluated the case as a matter of maternal autonomy and asked the mother to give her consent to be discharged from the hospital, which she did despite the (...) fact that her cervix was fully open. She left the hospital and gave birth shortly thereafter. Subsequently, the baby died two days later. In light of the contemporary ethical principles, the mother’s competency could be debatable due to the physical and psychological conditions the mother confronted. Furthermore, protection of the fetus’ life should have been taken into account by the caregivers when making a decision concerning discharging of the mother. (shrink)

Kidney transplantation is a lifesaving medical treatment. However, very high demand for kidneys with low kidney donation causes a black market that exploits patients’ desperation and donors’ vulnerability. The current kidney donation programs fail to produce promising results to avoid illegal and unethical kidney trafficking and commercialism. Even though the primary goal of kidney donation is to increase the number of deceased organ donations, in some countries, like Turkey, due to religious or cultural concerns, it is impossible to supply adequate (...) deceased kidney donations. In this view, the aim of this paper is to examine kidney trafficking in the scope of Turkey's current organ donation system and propose a new model, named the Incentivized Kidney Donation Model (IKDM), to increase kidney donation from living donors. The model encompasses the following benefits offered to kidney donors; lifetime health insurance, exemptions from copayments/contribution shares, priority when receiving an organ, priority when finding a job, income tax exemptions for salaried employees, and free or discounted public utilities. This normative model has the potential to promote donors’ altruistic acts as well as the solidarity and loyalty among members of a society without violating ethical values and internationally accepted principles. (shrink)

The institutional model as delineated by classical Public Administration has limited utility for public administration in the developing countries. There are unlikely to be any uniform structural remedies foradministrative defects in those countries. Similar relationships do not have similar consequences in different contexts. An increased awareness along these lines led to the emergence of Development Administration- an effort to relate structures to goals - and Comparative Public Administration - analysis of administrative structures in their own societal contexts. The basic argument (...) of the present articles is that despite our increased sophistication on these matters the relevance in Development Administration cannot be obtained if one relies only on theoretical knowledge. It is noted that in Development Administration thinking must descend from the heights of systematic theory to the open country of praxis. (shrink)

Many authors have taken up the challenge of formulating physicalism as a supervenience thesis. These endeavors have met with varying response, but it seems that the general consensus still remains that a supervenience thesis that is both sufficient and necessary for physicalism has yet to be developed. Terence Horgan1 and Jaegwon Kim2 have most famously argued that supervenience theses are not sufficiently strong for physicalism. Nonetheless, several recent articles suggest that there are philosophers who still hold out hope for some (...) type of supervenience of the mental upon the physical being, if not both sufficient and necessary, at least necessary for physicalism.3 In this paper, I will 1) investigate some of the motivation for finding a supervenience thesis that characterizes physicalism, 2) briefly review the types of supervenience theses that have been proposed as necessary (or necessary and sufficient) for physicalism, and 3) investigate in some detail the recent supervenience thesis proposed by Frank Jackson and expounded upon by Gene Witmer. Jackson, in his recent book, claims to have a supervenience thesis that is both necessary and sufficient for physicalism. (shrink)