Neo-Humanism and Diminution of the Concept of the Human

Year 2017, Volume: 8 Issue: 1, 7 - 27, 24.06.2017

Kasım Küçükalp

https://doi.org/10.12730/13091719.2017.81.157

Abstract

The argument of this study is that the horizon of the “human” concept in premodern eras underwent a gradual constriction in terms of content and meaning upon the emergence of modern thought; accordingly, such constriction and diminution are examined within the course of history. Therefore, the diminution of concept of the “human” is discussed, first, within the context of “modern secular humanism,” in the sense of the bereavement of the idea of complete being and completion (kamāl) in the wake of positioning the knowing (rational) subject into the center of being and thought. Second, the same discussion is offered in more detail with regard to the transformation of the knowing subject into the desiring/willing subject under the influence of the legitimizing effect of Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis. According to this study, abovementioned diminution or constriction in the concept of the human has occurred over a course that led to the decentralization of the subject; nevertheless, it paved the way for a new human condition with no ground of legitimacy other than unconscious desires. Consequently, man has remained in the middle of a complete experience of nihilism in the sense of total disconnection from truth, in line with the reproduction of being and values arising pursuant to the culture of consumption and the image.

Keywords

Modern secular humanism, Neo-humanism, libidinal, psychoanalysis, culture of consumption, nihilism

References

• Ashley, David. History without a Subject: The Postmodern Condition. Boulder: Westview Press, 1997.
• Aydın, Hüseyin. Metafizikçi Olarak Nietzsche. Bursa: Uludağ Üniversi-tesi Basımevi, 1984.
• Baudrillard, Jean. Kötülüğün Şeffaflığı: Aşırı Fenomenler Üzerine Bir Deneme. Translated by Işık Ergüden. 2nd ed. Istanbul: Ayrıntı Yayın-ları, 1998.
• Baudrillard, Jean. Sessiz Yığınların Gölgesinde: Toplumsalın Sonu. Translated by Oğuz Adanır. Ankara: Doğu Batı Yayınları, 2013.
• Bertens, Hans. The Idea of the Postmodern: A History. London & New York: Routledge, 1995. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203359327
• Best, Steven and Douglas Kellner. Postmodern Teori: Eleştirel Soruşturma-lar. Translated by Mehmet Küçük. Istanbul: Ayrıntı Yayınları, 1998.
• Cevizci, Ahmet. İlk Çağ Felsefesi Tarihi. Bursa: Asa Yayınları, 2000.
• Cevizci, Ahmet. Paradigma Felsefe Sözlüğü. Istanbul: Paradigma, 2010.
• Deleuze, Gilles. “Göçebe Düşünce.” Translated by Aslı Kayhan. Toplumbilim: Gilles Deleuze Özel Sayısı 5 (1996): 53-57.
• Foucault, Michel. Öznenin Yorumbilgisi: College de France Dersleri 1981-1982. Translated by Ferda Keskin. Istanbul: İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları, 2015.
• Heidegger, Martin. “The Word of Nietzsche: ‘God is Dead’.” In The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays, translated by William Lovitt, 53-112. New York & London: Garland Publishing, 1977.
• Heller, Eric. The Importance of Nietzsche: Ten Essays. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1988.
• Kolakowski, Leszek. Modernliğin Sonsuz Duruşması. Translated by Selahattin Ayaz. Istanbul: Pınar Yayınları, 1999.
• Küçükalp, Derda. “Heidegger ve Nihilizm.” Kutadgubilig: Heidegger Özel Sayısı 30 (2016): 481-494.
• Küçükalp, Derda. “Siyaset Felsefesini Yeniden Düşünmek.” Türkiye Günlüğü 128 (2016): 90-96.
• Küçükalp, Derda. Siyaset Felsefesi. Bursa: Dora Yayınları, 2016.
• Küçükalp, Kasım. Nietzsche ve Postmodernizm. Istanbul: Kibele, 2010.
• May, Todd. Postyapısalcı Anarşizmin Siyaset Felsefesi. Translated by Rahmi G. Öğdül. Istanbul: Ayrıntı Yayınları, 2000.
• Miller, David. Blackwell’in Siyasal Düşünce Ansiklopedisi. 3 vols. Trans-lated by Nevzat Kıraç and Bülent Peker. Ankara: Ümit Yayıncılık, 1995.
• Nietzsche, Friedrich. Böyle Buyurdu Zerdüşt. Translated by A. Turan Oflazoğlu. Bursa: Asa Kitabevi, 1999.
• Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Will to Power. Translated by Walter Kaufmann and R. J. Hollingdale. New York: Random House, 1967.
• Owen, David. Maturity and Modernity: Nietzsche, Weber, Foucault and the Ambivalence of Reason. London: Routledge, 1994.
• Özel, İsmet. Tahrir Vazifeleri VII. Istanbul: Çıdam Yayınları, 1993.
• Sarup, Madan. Post-yapısalcılık ve Postmodernizm. Translated by Abdülbaki Güçlü. Ankara: Ark Yayınevi, 1995.
• Schumacher, E. F. Aklı Karışıklar İçin Kılavuz. Translated by Mustafa Özel. Istanbul: Küre Yayınları, 2015.
• Vattimo, Gianni. Modernliğin Sonu: Postmodern Kültürde Nihilizm ve Hermenötik. Translated by Şahabettin Yalçın. Istanbul: İz Yayıncılık, 1999.