Current Graduate Students
Burak Arıcı
I received my Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy from Boğaziçi University. Over the course of my studies, I have been primarily interested in epistemology and the philosophy of science on the grounds of the scientific realist and positivist approaches by questioning the fundamental nature of knowledge and reality. Along with that, my curiosity also encompasses the philosophy of religion, ancient philosophy, philosophy as a way of life, existentialism, physics, cosmology, and cognitive science.
Berker Bahceci
My research is on general philosophy of science. I focus on scientific realism and theory choice by looking more closely at different accounts of scientific evidence and confirmation. I also have interests in social epistemology of science; particularly in values in science, science's role in society, and how they bear on the realism debate. Sometimes, I'm pondering to what extent issues regarding evidence and theory choice in science can be imparted to the moral domain.
Irem Cesur
Zeynep Coşkunkan
My current research lies at the intersection of epistemology, philosophy of curiosity and David Hume’s value theory. In my MA thesis, I aim to show that Hume’s account of curiosity and of pleasure supports an affirmative answer to the question whether insatiable curiosity - curiosity about an unknowable entity - is valuable. Beyond this project, I am interested in ethics, moral psychology, practical reason, and practical knowledge.
Yaqub Muslim Eneborg
Ayten Alara Kusetoğlu
I completed my undergraduate degree at Galatasaray University. During my undergraduate studies, I worked on contemporary French Philosophy. I have been particularly interested in Deleuze’s earlier works, especially on Logique du Sens. After graduating from Galatasaray, I made the transition from French-language education to English and broadened my interests beyond the continental tradition.
As an MA student at Koç University, I am working on empathy and its psychological, political, and ethical dimensions. Do we need to empathize with one another in order to understand one another? Does justice require empathy? What is the relationship between empathy and care? In my work on these and other questions, I reject the view that continental philosophy and analytic philosophy are at odds with one another. I aim to show that both of these traditions have resources that can help us to find answers to deep philosophical questions.
In addition to my current research on empathy, I am also interested in aesthetics and feminist philosophy. My non-academic interests include literature, especially late-Ottoman Armenian literature, contemporary art and art in general, and questions related to minorities in Turkey. I complete translations from French and English to Turkish under the name Alâra Kuset.
Omar Khaled Saleh Mostafa
I am interested in ancient Greek philosophy and Arabic philosophy. My research lies in the intersection of epistemology, philosophy of language, and ethics.
İbrahim Oruçoğlu
Ceren Polat
Ece Sezgince
Selma Slocum Çetin
I received my BA in Philosophy from Istanbul Şehir University. I was valedictorian of my graduating class. I am currently a Philosophy MA student at Koç University. In my MA thesis I aim to develop an original response to the question of agency, which asks what it is that makes an event an action. Recently, I presented a section from my thesis at ECOM's 4th Graduate Conference. I am interested in topics within philosophy of action, philosophy of mind and philosophy of language. Some of these are the disappearing agent problem, the mind-body problem, theories of consciousness, theories of meaning, and semiotics. I hope to further explore some of these interests at a PhD level. Philosophy continually pushes me to ask new questions and find new answers. Although this means I'm in a state of uncertainty for most of the time, I have found that, once I commit to the question and see it through, I eventually find an answer. And, so, I have come to appreciate the struggle for knowledge. Overall, I find the study of philosophy to be a very humbling and rewarding experience.
Ugur Yildirim
Kaj Zeller