Home Page of Altug YALCINTAS

New Book: Kantindeki Politik Ekonomi / Political Economy in the Canteen

2011-09-18T06:45:00.000-07:00

Kantindeki Politik Ekonomi: Türkiye Öğrenci Hareketlerinden Mekânsal Bir Kesit, 1994 - 2001 Dönemine İlişkin Seçilmiş Metinler / Political Economy in the Canteen: A Spatial Register of Student Movements in Turkey, Selected Papers, 1994 - 2001 is now in print and on sale here, here, here, and here. A link to Google Books will be available soon.

This book is based on the political petitions, brochures, booklets, and posters that belong to the Turkish student movement in Ankara between 1994 and 2001. It includes original texts as well as scanned versions of various images.

Here are two articles that mention or review the book - available in Turkish only:

Güney Çelik. 2011. "Altkantinde Siyaset" Yarınlar 30 (Ekim).

Kemal İnal. 2011. "Öğrenci Kantininin Ekonomi Politiği" Birgün 14 Aralık.

Here is the excerpt from the backflap - available in Turkish only:

Kantindeki Politik Ekonomi, Ankara Üniversitesi Siyasal Bilgiler Fakültesi'nde bulunan Altkantin'in 1994 - 2001 arasındaki sosyallesmelerinin ve siyasallaşmalarının ürünü olan metinlerden ve görsel materyallerden oluşuyor. Çalışmada yer alan metinler, Altkantin'cilerin, dönemin akademisyenlerinin ve entelektüellerinin üretiminden belli başlı örnekleri kapsıyor. Kantin masalarında, yemekhane kuyruklarında, sınıflarda dağıtılan bildiriler, SBF duvarlarını kaplayan afişler, öğrencilerin çıkardıkları dergiler, bültenler, öğrenci hareketi üzerine yazılmış yazılar ve fotoğraflar dönemin öğrenci hareketini bir belgesel şeklinde sunuyor.
Altkantin'den yola çıkan bu çalışma, Türkiye öğrenci hareketlerinden dönemsel ve mekânsal bir kesiti konu alırken, "mektep" ile sınırlı kalmıyor; 1990'ların başlarından 2000'lere demokratik üniversite mücadelesinin önemli uğraklarına yer veriyor.
Çalışmanın yayına hazırlanmasında emeği geçenler kitabın ilk ve diğer baskılarının satışından elde edilecek tüm geliri Mülkiyeliler Birliği Burs Fonu'na bağışlamışlardır.

http://www.phoenixkitap.com/
http://tr-tr.facebook.com/phoenixyayinevi

ANAHTAR KELİMELER: Altkantin, Ankara Üniversitesi, Siyasal Bilgiler Fakültesi, Mektebi Mülkiye, Mektep, SBF, Cebeci, Öğrenci Hareketleri, YÖK

Philosophizing Economics

2011-09-06T16:14:00.000-07:00

I will soon start working on a new project, "Philosophizing Economics" as a visiting post - doctoral researcher in the Faculty of Economics, the University of Cambridge. This project aims at examining the debate between the rhetoric of economics (McCloskey, Klamer as well as many others) and realism in economics (Lawson, Maki as well as many others) in terms of "intellectual path dependency". My intention is not to offer another way to resolve this philosophical "controversy". I rather would like to read a specific period of intellectual history of philosophical economics (from 1980s to the present) from an evolutionary perspective. The project will last until the end of August 2012, with the purpose of producing a few working papers.

Publication: "Review Essay on Deep History by David Laibman (2007)"

2011-08-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

My review article on D Laibman's Deep History (2007) has been accepted by the Journal of Philosophical Economics. It will appear in JPE in Autum.

Full citation: A. Yalcintas. 2011. "Review Essay on David Laibman's Deep History: A Study in Social Evolution and Human Agency (2007)" Journal of Philosophical Economics 5 (1) Autumn: 168 - 182.

Abstract: The frequency of historical materialist explanations in evolutionary social sciences is very low even though historical materialism and evolutionism have great many shared aims towards explaining the long term social change. David Laibman in his Deep History (2007) picks up some of the standard questions of evolutionary social theory and aims at advancing the conception of historical materialism so as to develop a Marxist theory of history from an evolutionary point of view. The contribution of Laibman’s work is to show that historical and materialist explanations are present both in Marxian and evolutionary interpretations of history, and moreover, the traditional borders of historical materialism can be enlarged so as to embrace evolutionary methodology in explaining social change. The unbalanced research methodology of Laibman’s work, however, reduces the evolutionary depth of his contribution. The two main shortcomings of Laibman’s work are discussed under the titles of “The Audience Problem” and “The Evolutionary Problem”.

Keywords: Directionality, (un-)intentionality, contingency, path dependency, evolutionary political economy, evolutionary historical materialism, critical realism.

Publication: "On Error: Undisciplined Thoughts on Intellectual Path Dependency"

2011-06-16T07:50:00.000-07:00

"On Error: Undisciplined Thoughts on One of the Causes of Intellectual Path Dependency" is now available online. Click here.

Full citation: A. Yalcintas. 2011. "On Error: Undisciplined Thoughts on One of the Causes of Intellectual Path Dependency" Ankara University SBF Review 66 (2): 215 - 233.

Abstract: Is there not any place in the history of ideas for the imperfect character of human doings (i.e. capability of error) that is repeated for so long until we lately start to think that it had long been wrong? The answer is: In the conventional histories of ideas there is almost none. The importance of the phenomenon, however, is immense. Intellectual history is full of errors. Scholarly errors are among the factors that generate intellectual pathways in which consequences of historical small events feed back up on each other positively and give rise to historical pathologies in the end. Pathways hold the intellectuals dependent on the consequences of errors which interact upon each other and prevent resulting pathologies to disappear fully. As a result, ideas do not converge to a level of perfection. Evolutionary account of errors suggests that errors in the history of ideas matter even though they are often corrected.

Greijsje is niet meer

2011-03-20T13:10:00.000-07:00

Greijsje, our sweet “Rotterdamsche meisje”, died on Friday morning. After being our companion for 9 years, she passed on due to kidney failure. Greijsje was a little cat but held a big space in our lives. You might have known her as a good humored, ladylike, grey bundle of joy who at some time might have been a house guest of yours as well. She was thankful to all of you for your kindness, love, and caring.

Post Doctoral Fellowship: University of Cambridge

2010-12-29T05:37:00.000-08:00

I have been granted a post-doctoral fellowship by the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey. This fellowship will allow me to start pursuing a new paroject, entitled "Philosophizing Economics: A Cultural Economics Perspective on Rhetoric and Realism in the Netherlands, from 1980s to the Present," at the Economics Department of the University of Cambridge as a visiting scholar and join the Cambridge Social Ontology Group from the beginning of September 2011 until the end of August 2012.

Publication: Journal of the History of Economic Thought

2010-12-16T03:39:00.000-08:00

"Intellectual Paths and Pathologies: How Small Events in Scholarly Life Accidentally Grow Big" Journal of the History of Economics 32 (4) 2010: 621 - 622.

Download the abstract at JHET website.

Popular Science III: "Kuramlar Evrilir, Peki İlerler mi?"

2010-12-08T05:24:00.000-08:00

A short article mine, "Kuramlar Evrilir, Peki İlerler mi?", has been published in NTVBLM, a popular science magazine published in Turkey, in its issue of December 2010: 68 - 71. The article - its title reads: "Theories Evolve, but Do They Progress?" - comments on the "Coase Theorem" and argues that evolution of ideas does not always amount to the progress of ideas. It claims that the "Coase Theorem" has evolved from Coase's 1960 "The Problem of Social Cost" and it now means the opposite of what the originator of the "Coase Theorem," Ronald Coase, 1991 Nobel Prize Winner, has argued.

This article relies on a discussion paper that appeared in SSRN in August 2010. Click here to read its abstract and download the full paper.

The following abstract (in Turkish) is from the website of NTVBLM http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/id/25154432/

"Ders kitaplarına yerleşmiş kuramlar, bugüne dek değişmeden gelmiş olabilir mi? Düşünce tarihçilerinin soruya cevabı net: Hayır, her zaman değil. Kuramlar da aynen doğadaki birçok tür gibi evrimleşir. Arka arkaya birkaç nesil sonra kuramlar, değişen “düşünce iklimi”, yani çevresel koşullarla, ata kuramdan farklı bir içeriğe sahip olabilir. Evrim kuramı bize tarihin sürekli olarak ilerleyen ya da gittikçe mükemmele yaklaşan patikalardan oluşmadığını söylüyor. Kuramlar da evrim süreçlerinden geçer, değişir."

Discussion Paper Online: "The 'Coase Theorem' vs. Coase Theorem Proper"

2010-08-08T02:45:00.000-07:00

The paper I presented in the Annual Meetings of ESHET 2010 (University of Amsterdam) and HES 2010 (Syracuse University), "The 'Coase Theorem' vs. Coase Theorem Proper: How an Error Emerged and Why It Remained Uncorrected So Long," is now available at SSRN - Social Science Research Network. Click here to read the abstract and download the paper.

Popular Science II: "Ahlakın İktisadi Evrimi"

2010-06-01T06:51:00.000-07:00

A short article of mine (in Turkish) has been published in the June issue of NTVBilim, a Turkish popular science maganize.

"Ahlakın İktisadi Evrimi" NTVBilim Haziran 2010.

("Economic Evolution of Morals")

Click here to visit the website

Publication: Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics

2010-04-09T07:41:00.001-07:00

The summary of my PhD dissertation, Intellectual Paths and Pathologies: How Small Events Accidentally Grow Big (2009), has been published in the Spring issue of Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics.

Visit the journal's website at http://ejpe.org/

Young Scholar Award II: History of Economics Society

2010-04-01T07:32:00.000-07:00

History of Economics Society has granted me one of this year's Young Scholar Awards to present my paper on the "Coase Theorem" at the 2010 meetings of the Society at Syracuse University. The conference program and further details will be posted at the conference web site soon: http://hes2010.syr.edu/

Wordcloud Image by RePub of Erasmus University Rotterdam

2010-03-27T06:58:00.000-07:00

I have three entries at the Erasmus University Library (RePub). The image here has been generated by the Library software according to the frequency of some of the (key-)words that are used in these entries.

http://vlin1.ubib.eur.nl/resource/aut_13604/index.html

Young Scholar Award I: The European Association for the History of Economic Thought

2010-02-24T06:24:00.000-08:00

I am awarded a grant by the European Society for the History of Economic Thought to present a paper of mine, entitled "The 'Coase Theorem' and Coase Theorem Proper: How an Error Emerged and Remained Uncorrected For So Long," at the "Young Scholar Seminar" during the ESHET 2010 Conference in the Netherlands. This event will be held at the University of Amsterdam between 25 - 28 March 2010.

To download the full program, see the ESHET 2010 Conference Website HERE!

İktisatta Evrimci Yol: İktisat Güncel Evrim Teorisine Ne Kadar Katkı Yaptı?

2010-01-27T14:02:00.000-08:00

"Evolutionary Pathways in Economics: How Much Has Economics Contributed to the Contemporary Evolutionary Theory" Ankara University, GETA Discussion Paper Series No: 108 January 2010.

This discussion paper examines the influence of economics on the contemporary evolutionary theory. Citations show that evolutionary economists, especially those working on path dependence theory, such as Paul David and Brian Arthur, are quite popular among natural scientists. Is economics now colonizing chemistry and physics?

The paper is in Turkish only. Nevertheless, it is not difficult to read its figures and diagrams which give a bit of a glimpse on the main theme of the paper. Download the figures here.

Download the full text here!

A Book Review of David Ruccio's Economic Representations: Academic and Everyday (2008)

2009-12-24T00:55:00.000-08:00

My review of David Ruccio's Economic Representations: Academic and Everyday (Routledge: 2008) has appeared in Journal of Economic Issues (December 2009). Downloadable at JEI website: http://www.mesharpe.com/mall/results1.asp?acr=jei

Popular Science I: QWERTY

2009-12-08T06:50:00.003-08:00

A short article of mine, "QWERTY: Evrim Parmaklarınızın Ucunda" ("QWERTY: Evolution at Your Fingertips"), has appeared in NTV Bilim Dergisi, a Turkish popular science magazine, in December 2009.

Download the paper in PDF here.

Log on the web site: http://www.ntvbilim.com.tr/

A Symposium on Darwin and Evolutionary Economics

2009-11-03T05:29:00.001-08:00

Hacettepe University hosts a symposium on Darwin and evolutionary economics between 19th and 20th of November 2009. I'll be presenting a paper at this event. The title of my paper is "İktisat Düşüncesinde Evrimci Yol: İktisat Güncel Evrim Teorisine Ne Katkı Yaptı? (Meraklısına Notlar)". In Turkish only ("Evolutionary Pathways in Economics: How Much did Economics Contribute to Contemporary Evolutionary Theory? [Highlights for the Interested]").

Details about the symposium can be found here: http://evrimseliktisat.hacettepe.edu.tr/

Public PhD Defense: 28 October 2009, 13:30, Senaatszaal

2009-10-17T00:58:00.000-07:00

You are cordially invited to the public defense of my PhD disseration (see the older post below) at Senaatszaal (Erasmus University Rotterdam, A Building) on 28th of October 2009 at 1:30 pm.

A promotion reception will immediately follow at Cum Laude between 2:30 - 3:30 pm.

Almut Krauss and Floris Heukelom are going to be my paranymphs during the ceremony. They are colleagues and close friends of mine from Erasmus, who were regular attendees of the seminars that Arjo Klamer organized between 2001 and 2005.

All design work in this project is by Alsu YALÇINTAŞ - alsu.yalcintas@gmail.com

Intellectual Paths and Pathologies: How Small Events in Scholarly Life Accidentally Grow Big

2009-09-25T07:59:00.000-07:00

The printed version of my dissertation, Intellectual Paths and Pathologies: How Small Events in Scholarly Life Accidentally Grow Big (2009) is now available in paperback.

Preview the book using Google Books

Open Access at Erasmus University Repository

* Download the full-length article at Informaworld: Altuğ Yalçıntaş "Historical Small Events and the Eclipse of Utopia: Perspectives on Path Dependence in Human Thought" Culture, Theory, and Critique 47 (1) 2006

Here is the excerpt from the backflap:

"The initial conditions of certain ways of thinking sometimes lock us in to particular pathways. Such pathways occur when the follow-up of small events catches intellectuals in its complex web irreversibly and grow bigger in the future. The distinctive property of such conditions is that the evolution of ideas does not necessarily lead to any pre-defined end point. Small events trigger shifts in the course of events and this leads to (extra-) positive or (extra-) negative consequences that move the system away from its systematic course. After small events take place, complex webs of scholarly life function in either of two ways: (i) as a short-cut that moves the system to a better state and elevates it to higher levels of order which could only be reached within longer time spans if there had been no interruptions or (ii) as a hindrance that would break the system down and disallow intellectuals to proceed further and achieve intellectual advancement. When historical small events become a hindrance (ii), a little uncorrected error sometimes feeds back a negative cumulative effect on the progress of scientific knowledge. When historical small events operate as a short-cut (i), however, the conditions that turn an event into a starting point of a new pathway can be the breaking point of an old one as such that they unlock the old course of events bearing path dependent properties and perhaps lead to more complex evolutionary pathways. This would mean an upward movement of the system to more coherent and sophisticated levels."

KEYWORDS (concepts): Intellectual path dependence, intellectual pathologies, the 'Coase Theorem', Coase Theorem Proper, evolutionary history of economic ideas, historical small events, Utopia, will to perfection, will to (in)dependence.

KEYWORDS (names): Brian Arthur, Ronald Coase, Charles Darwin, Paul David, Stephan J. Gould, Arjo Klamer, Deirdre McCloskey, Thomas More, Douglass North, George Stigler.

Browse the Index and References.

Taraf Gazetesi :: Türkiye’de krizin seyrine ilişkin kısa bir evrimci yorum

2009-09-08T11:26:00.000-07:00

A newspaper article published in TARAF, a Turkish daily, in July 2009. (In Turkish only)

Click here.