Ragip Ege

The modernisation of the Turkish University after 1933: The contributions of refugees from Nazism

Abstract The paper deals with the abolition of the Ottoman university and the reopening of Istanbul University in 1933, and the dismissal of many scientists in Nazi Germany. This allowed the Turkish government to invite a large group of these scholars to the benefit of the academic endeavours of the young Turkish Republic. The article gives an overview on the refugees from Nazism who came as experts and advisers to the Turkish government. It then focuses on the scientific contributions and activities of the small but significant group of economists and concludes with an assessment of their impact.

Rawls with Hegel: the concept of liberalism of freedom

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to stress the common characteristics of Hegelian and Rawlsian thoughts. It is shown that Hegel and Rawls have similar objectives, since they both attempt to determine the possibility condition of the reconciliation of the reasonable and the rational, of the universal and the particular. They share a similar concern, which integrates but tries to overcome the Kantian one: their works examine how political freedom can be achieved and how an empirical and implementable theory can be built.

Rawls's justice theory and its relations to the concept of 'merit goods'

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to analyse the status that the concept of merit goods (as first stated by Musgrave in The Theory of Public Finance) has/should have in Rawlss theory. We first examine Rawlss position regarding this issue in A Theory of Justice. Next, we claim that the attitude of the ‘second’ Rawls about it is rather ambiguous and vacillates between exclusion and inclusion. We attempt to prove that thanks to the concepts Rawls has developed from 1985 onwards (especially the concept of public reason), he could have resorted to the concept of merit goods to cope better with his new objectives.

Transcendental vs. comparative approaches to justice: a reappraisal of Sen's dichotomy

Abstract In The Idea of Justice, Sen describes two competing approaches to theorising about justice: “transcendental institutionalism”, in which he includes Rawls, and “realisation-focused comparison”, in which he includes Condorcet and himself. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that a comparative approach cannot exist without a transcendental dimension. Contrary to Sen, who claims that a transcendental theory is neither necessary nor sufficient in order to frame comparative judgments, it is shown that a transcendental dimension is a necessary, albeit not sufficient, condition of any comparative approach. To illustrate our thesis, we refer to the works of three great authors: Condorcet, Sen himself and the later Rawls.

The employment contract with externalised costs: the avatars of Marxian exploitation

Abstract The paper pursues two aims. The first is to argue that the foundation of Marx’s theory of capitalist exploitation is to be found, not in the labour theory of value, but rather in the contract of employment, the legal frame of the capital-labour relation. The second is to suggest that the partial externalisation of the reproduction cost of labour power has been an important source of relative surplus value, along with the productivity increase, emphasised by Marx, in the industries supplying wage goods.

The concept of “lawfulness” in economic matters. Reading Ibn Rushd (Averroes)

Abstract In the Middle Ages the major concept through which economic matters are analysed and evaluated is the “lawful”, in Arabic jâ’iz, concept. It claims to establish whether a gain, a profit, a contract is lawful or not: that is the main question theologians examine when they are addressing the issue of appreciating any economic fact. In our study, we analyse the criteria of the “lawfulness” as found in the economic parts of Ibn Rushds work entitled Bidâyat al-mujtahid wa nihâyat al-muqtaṣid (English translation: The Distinguished Jurists Primer). Our thesis is inspired essentially by Raymond De Roovers studies on the economic thought in the Middle Ages. De Roover shows that the criteria for lawfulness are to be found in the nature of the contract between partners: a gain is lawful if the contract which generates it is lawful. Our study essentially consists in a text analysis.

Political philosophy and economics: freedom and labour

The relationship between freedom and labour is a ground for reflection where political philosophy meets economics. A good point of departure in this regard is Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s well-known general reflection regarding freedom: “the East knew and to the present day knows only that One is Free; the Greek and Roman world, that some are free; the German World knows that All are free” (Hegel 1837 [2001]: 121). The concept of freedom is understood here in the sense of political freedom, that is, a social status recognized by the state, which allows the person to take part in the decisions concerning the future of the city. The evolution of the concept of political freedom through European history could be summarized as a general transition from what we can call, following Hegel, “freedom for some” to “freedom for all”. This transition is essentially made possible by the recognition of labour as a fundamental dimension of man. In Europe, from the end of the sixteenth century, an increasingly ontological value was conferred on labour, to the point that Karl Marx in 1844 went so far as to say that “[Hegel] thus grasps the essence of labour and comprehends objective man – true, because real man – as the outcome of man’s own labour (als Resultat seinereignen Arbeit)” (1844 [1975]: 332–3). Besides, it is highly significant that the disciples of Claude Henri de Saint-Simon, one of the most powerful thinkers regarding the transformation European society experienced in modern times, characterized the latter as the “reign of labour” (Bazard and Enfantin 1829 [1924]: 96). Further, in 1858, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon wrote that “who works prays” (1858 [1932]: 178), understanding by this that in modern times labour replaces religion. In this entry, a set of concepts will be invoked in order to analyse the transition from ancient Greece up to now. Consequently, it is this specific choice of concepts which dictates the selection of the authors canvassed in the reflections that follow. Such an exercise is not exhaustive, but lays emphasis on the internal consistency of the reasoning and some essential steps in the evolution of the idea. In a world characterized by the first form of freedom, the exclusion of economic activities outside the city is the condition of the political freedom for some. Some men, deprived of freedom, have to work to allow others to be free. However, this exclusive opposition between freedom and labour – or more generally economic activities – evolved over time. Through European history, labour was progressively integrated into the sphere of political freedom. A new representation of freedom emerged progressively and supposed that you could not consider yourself as free in a society where some others were reduced to the rank of simple “animate tools” or simple objects. This new concept of freedom for all requested a positive conception of labour. The progressive integration of economic life into the city constituted, in Europe, a determining element of the conditions of modern freedom or freedom for all. Labour experienced a deep process of rehabilitation.