Prof. Dr. MURAT BAÇ


E-mail: mbac@metu.edu.tr

Phone: +90 312 210 5339 Office: B-139

Address: METU Department of Philosophy Universiteler Mah. Dumlupinar Blv. No:1, 06800 Ankara/TURKEY


AREAS OF RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS

Epistemology, Ontology, Truth, Metaphilosophy, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Technology, Philosophy of Contemporary Culture

EDUCATION

Ph.D., 2001, University of Alberta (Philosophy)

M.A., 1992, Middle East Technical University (Philosophy)

B.Sc., 1989, Middle East Technical University (Electronics Engineering)

POST-DOCTORAL RESEARCH

2010-2011:  Visiting Scholar, Departament de Filosofia, Universitat de Barcelona

2001-2003:  Killam Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Philosophy, Dalhousie University

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

2017-present:  Professor, Department of Philosophy, Middle East Technical University

2011-2017:  Professor, Department of Philosophy, Boğaziçi University

2006-2011:  Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Boğaziçi University

2003-2006:  Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Boğaziçi University

1996-1998:  Teaching Assistant, Department of Philosophy, University of Alberta

1990-1996:  Teaching Assistant, Department of Philosophy, Middle East Technical University

BOOKS

Kaos Kelam Hijyen Şiddet [Chaos Logos Hygiene Violence], İstanbul: Yeni İnsan Yayınevi, 2012.

Epistemoloji [Epistemology], textbook commissioned by Anadolu University, Anadolu Univ. Publ. no: 2137, Open Edu. Faculty Publ. no: 1165, Demet Taşdelen (ed.), second edition, Eskişehir: Anadolu Üniversitesi Yayınları, 2011.

ACADEMIC PAPERS (in English)

International publications in indexed journals

(With Büke Temizler, second author) "The Question of Transcendence and Constraint in a Panartifactual Account of Being, Knowing and Making", Metaphysica [Q1], vol. 23, no. 2, 2022, 409-425. (https://doi.org/10.1515/mp-2022-0019)

“The Foundationalism-Coherentism Debate in Light of Post-Wittgensteinian Ontological Enlightenment”, Philosophia: International Journal of Philosophy [AHCI], vol. 18, no. 2, 2017, 141-157.

(With Nurbay Irmak, second author) “Knowing Wrongly: An Obvious Oxymoron, or a Threat for the Alleged Universality of Epistemological Analyses?”, Croatian Journal of Philosophy [AHCI], vol. 11, no. 33, 2011, 305-321.

“The Controversy Over Res in Philosophy of Science and Mysteries of Ontological Neutrality,” Filozofia [AHCI], vol. 66, no. 2, 2011, 141-153.

“Memories of the Fourth Condition and Lessons to be Learned from a Suspicious Externalism,” ORGANON F [AHCI], vol. 16, no. 2, 2009, 127-145.

“Cultural Frameworks, Goldman’s Ontological Wardrobe, and a New Perspective Over Veritas,” Philosophia: International Journal of Philosophy [AHCI], vol. 37, no. 1, 2008, 96-107.

“Causal Determinants, Reasons, and Substantive Autonomy: A Critical Approach to Agency,” Problemos [AHCI], vol. 72, 2007, 135-144.

“Epistemological Naturalism, Skeptical Threat and the Question of Normativity in Post-Apocalyptic Times,” Filozofia [AHCI], vol. 62, no. 7, 2007, 590-600.

“Pluralistic Kantianism,” The Philosophical Forum [AHCI], vol. 37, no. 2, 2006, 183-204.

“The Myth of Nonepistemic Truth as a Necessary Condition of Knowledge,” Philosophical Writings [Phil Index], vol. 30, 2005, 33-48.

“Can Realists Know that They Know?”, Acta Analytica [AHCI], vol. 19, issue 32, 2004, 65-90.

(With Renée Elio, second author) “Scheme-based Alethic Realism: Agency, the Environment, and Truthmaking,” Minds and Machines [SCI-E], vol. 14, no. 2, 2004, 173-196.

“The Ontological Status of Truthmakers: An Alternative to Tractarianism and Metaphysical Anti-Realism,” Metaphysica [Phil Index], vol. 4, no. 2, 2003, 5-28.

“Structure versus Process: Mach, Hertz, and the Normative Aspect of Science,” Journal for General Philosophy of Science (Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie) [Phil Index], vol. 31, no. 1, 2000, 39-56.

“Is Causation ‘In Here’ or ‘Out There’?: Hume’s Two Definitions of ‘Cause’,” History of Philosophy Quarterly [Phil Index], vol. 16, no. 1, 1999, 19-35.

“All Are Divine and All Are Natural: The Hippocratic Conception of the Science/Art of Medicine,” Bridges: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Theology, Philosophy, History and Science [Phil Index], vol. 6, no.s 1-2, 1999, 39-58.

“Propositional Knowledge and the Enigma of Realism,” Philosophia [AHCI], vol. 27, no.s 1-2, 1999, 199-223.

Book reviews, proceeding papers, other refereed articles

“Knowing Full Well,” solicited review of Ernest Sosa’s book Knowing Full Well (Princeton University Press, 2011), Prolegomena: Journal of Philosophy [AHCI], vol. 11, no. 1, 2012, 118-122.

“Truth As One and Many,” solicited review of Michael Lynch’s book Truth As One and Many (Oxford University Press, 2009), International Studies in the Philosophy of Science [Phil Index], vol. 24, no. 1, 2010, 122-125.

“Pluralistic Kantianism and Understanding the 'Other',” in L. Scarantino (ed.), Proceedings of the Twenty-First World Congress of Philosophy, vol. 11 (Contemporary Philosophy), Ankara: Philosophical Society of Turkey, 2007, 13-18.

“ ‘Immortalia Mortali Sermone Notantes’ or An Essay on Solitude and Death,” Fait Accomplit: A Literary Miscellany, Spring 1999, 60-62.

“Philosophy in Experimental Psychology: A Philosopher’s Reply,” Explorations in Knowledge, vol. XIII-2, 1996, 1-10.

ACADEMIC PAPERS (in Turkish)

Papers published in Turkish journals covered by international indexes

“Teknoloji Felsefesinin Antropolojik ve Görüngübilimsel Kipleri Üzerine Bir Sorgulama” [An Investigation on the Anthropological and Phenomenological Modes of Philosophy of Technology], Kilikya Felsefe Dergisi [Phil Index], vol. 2, 2022, 1-22.

(With Çağlar Çömez, second author) “Hakikat, Dünya, Sınırlı Gerçekçilik: Çağdaş Ontolojik Tartışmalar Çerçevesinde Heideggerci bir Yorum Denemesi” [Truth, World, Constrained Realism: An Attempt at a Heideggerian Interpretation Within the Framework of Contemporary Ontological Debates], Felsefi Düşün [Phil Index], vol. 8, 2017, 316-341.

“Doğrunun Bilinmesi, Bilgiye İlişkin Yalın Doğrular, Eleştirel Bir İrdeleme” [Knowing Truth, Plain Truths About Knowledge, A Critical Scrutiny], Yeditepe’de Felsefe [Phil Index], vol. 10, 2011, 2-34.

“Çağdaş Bir Görüngü Olarak Özgürlüğün Dağıtımı ve Tüketimi” [Distribution and Consumption of Freedom as a Contemporary Phenomenon], Felsefe Tartışmaları: A Turkish Journal of Philosophy (Special Issue on “Freedom”) [Phil Index], vol. 31, 2003, 11-32.

“Doğruluğun Doğası ve ‘Pragma’nın Evi” [The Nature of Truth and Pragma’s House], Yeditepe’de Felsefe [Phil Index], vol. 2, 2003, 383-401.

“Hume, Nedensellik ve Nesnelerin Varlıksal Konumu: Genelgeçer Yorumların Bir Eleştirisi” [Hume, Causation, and the Ontological Status of Objects: A Critique of the Common Interpretations], Felsefe Tartışmaları: A Turkish Journal of Philosophy [Phil Index], vol. 29, 2002, 1-13.

“Hacıkadiroğlu’na Yanıt ve Deneyimcilik Üzerine Birkaç Söz” [Reply to Hacıkadiroğlu and Remarks On Empiricism], Felsefe Tartışmaları: A Turkish Journal of Philosophy [Phil Index], vol. 29, 2002, 21-27.

National publications in other refereed journals

“Hakikatin Savuşturulması, Ötelenmesi ve Geri Dönüşü Üzerine,” Pasajlar (“Post-Truth Çağı” özel sayısı), vol. 4, Ocak 2020, 17-34.

“Wittgenstein ve Anlamın ‘Ortalıkta’ Olması” [Wittgenstein and Meaning’s Being ‘Public’], Felsefe Tartışmaları (unindexed series), vol. 28, 2001, 47-60.

“Felsefede Temellendirme İşe Yarar mı?” [Does Substantiation Work?], Felsefe Tartışmaları (unindexed series), vol. 23, 1998, 54-59.

“Aristoteles’in ‘Öz’ ve ‘Töz’ Kavramları Üzerine” [On Aristotle’s Conception of ‘Essence’ and ‘Substance’], Felsefe Dünyası (unindexed series), vol. 12, 1994, 62-65.

Book chapters, proceeding papers, encyclopedia articles

"Bildiğimiz Dünya: Deneyime Açılan Gerçeklik, Doğruluk Bağıntısı ve Nesnellik Sorunsalı Üzerine Düşünceler" [The World as We Know It: The Reality Opening Up to Experience, Relation of Truth, and Thoughts on the Problématique of Objectivity], in Eylem Yenisoy Şahin and Mahmut Özer (eds), Çağdaş Epistemolojide Temel Problemler, Ankara: Sentez Yayıncılık, 2023, 13-36.

“Deneyimsel Bilginin En Önemli, En İşlevsiz Koşulu” [The Most Significant, Least Functional Condition of Empirical Knowledge], in Zekiye Kutlusoy (ed.), Tutarsızlığın İz Sürücüsü, Dilde/Düşüncede: Teo Grünberg’e Armağan, Ankara: İmge Kitabevi, 2013, 371-384.

“Epistemoloji” [Epistemology], in Nebi Mehdiyev (ed.), Çağdaş Epistemolojiye Giriş, İstanbul: İnsan Yayınları, 2011, 21-48.

“Bilgi ve Varlık Alanlarında Yeni-Kantçılık ve Nesnellik Sorunu” [Epistemo-Ontological Neo-Kantianism and the Problem of Objectivity], in Betül Çotuksöken and Ahu Tunçel (eds), Bilgi Felsefesi, İstanbul: Heyamola Yayınları, 2010, 177-193.

“Doğru Kavramının Nesnelliği Üzerine Kantçı Yaklaşımlar” [Kantian Approaches to the Objectivity of the Concept of Truth], in Sibel Kibar, Selma Aydın Bayram ve Ayhan Sol (compiling team), Anlam Kavramı Üzerine Yeni Denemeler, İstanbul: Legal Kitapevi, 2010, 67-77.

“Felsefe Nedir?” [What is Philosophy?]; Epistemoloji” [Epistemology]; “Bilim Felsefesi” [Philosophy of Science]; “Yakın Dönem Felsefesi” [Contemporary Philosophy], chapters from Felsefe, textbook commissioned by Anadolu University, Demet Taşdelen (ed.), Eskişehir: Anadolu Üniversitesi Yayınları, 2007, 1-13; 21-35; 93-107; 269-284.

“Epistemoloji” [Epistemology], in Ahmet Cevizci (ed.), Felsefe Ansiklopedisi, vol. 5, İstanbul: Babil Yayıncılık, 2007, 567-581.

“Bilgi Kavramının Çözümlenmesinin Karanlıkta Kalan Yüzleri” [Dark Sides of the Analysis of the Concept of Knowledge], in Aydan Turanlı and Gürcan Koçan (eds), Vehbi Hacıkadiroğlu Çalıştayı Bildirileri, İstanbul: İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi Yayınları, 2006, 46-55.

“Donald Davidson,” in Ahmet Cevizci (ed.), Felsefe Ansiklopedisi, vol. 4, İstanbul: Babil Yayıncılık, 2006, 30-35.

“Dışsalcılık” [Externalism], in Ahmet Cevizci (ed.), Felsefe Ansiklopedisi, vol. 4, İstanbul: Babil Yayıncılık, 2006, 305-309.

“Bağdaşımcılık” [Coherentism], in Ahmet Cevizci (ed.), Felsefe Ansiklopedisi, vol. 2, İstanbul: Etik Yayınları, 2004, 46-50.

(With Itır Güneş, second author) “Sükût ve Kelâm: Geçmişin ve Geleceğin Sessizlikleri İçin Görüngübilimsel Önsöylemler” [Silence and Word: Phenomenological Prolegomena to Past and Future Silences], in Doğan Özlem, Hayrettin Ökçesiz and Şükrü Argın (eds), Vehbi Hacıkadiroğlu Armağanı: Felsefe Tartışmaları, İstanbul: İstanbul Everest Yayınları, 2002, 152-160.

Popular articles, interviews

“Felsefe Röportajları,” https://onculanalitikfelsefe.com/felsefe-roportajlari-4-murat-bac/, 2019.

“Felsefe Ne İş Yapar” (interview), in Sosyal Bilimler ‘Ne İşe Yarar’,” İstanbul: Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Yayınevi, 2015, 17-49.

“Manastırın Ontolojik Hırsızı,” Sahipsiz Kent, 2013.

“Suvari Ölmüştü; Biz Biraz Daha Yalnız Kalmıştık,” Us Atölyesi Felsefe Dergisi, vol. 19, Nisan-Mayıs 2008, 42-43.

“Görülmeyecek Yerler Ansiklopedisi’nin ‘Batı Kanada'da Nasıl Gezilir’ Bölümü İçin Temel Oluşturacak Felsefi Düşünceler,” Us Atölyesi Felsefe Dergisi, vol. 18, Şubat-Mart 2008, 13-15.

“Kanada’da Felsefeci Olmak” (interview), ODTÜ Baraka Dergisi, Eylül 2001, 28-30.

“Felsefe ve Felsefeci Üzerine,” Tübitak Bilim ve Teknik, vol. 329, 1995, 54.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES

“On the Polychromatic Composition of Philosophy”, presented at The IJAS International Conference for Academic Disciplines, Florence, April 2013.

“Natural Ontological Misrepresentation and Subtleties of Neo-Realism,” presented at The Third Conference of the European Philosophy of Science Association, Athens, October 2011.

“The Ontological Softening of Truth and Hope For Neo-Realists,” presented at the Sixth European Congress of Analytic Philosophy, Krakow, August 2008.

“How Soft Can Truth Get?”, presented at The Third Things and Thoughts Symposium, Boğaziçi University, İstanbul, October 2007.

“Truth Returns: Factualism With a Human Face,” presented at the Third World Conference of Metaphysics, Rome, July 2006.

“Realist Goes Relativist: New Perspectives Over Some Old Ontological Issues,” presented at the Fourth Boğaziçi-Athens Philosophy Conference titled Realism/Universalism vs. Relativism/Culturalism: Philosophical, Historical and Political Perspectives, İstanbul, May 2006.

“States of Affairs, the Intensionalistic Turn, and Alethic Humility,” presented at the Fourth European Congress of Dialogue and Universalism, Warsaw, July 2005.

“Pluralistic Kantianism and Understanding the ‘Other’,” presented at the 21st World Congress of Philosophy, İstanbul, August 2003.

“The Making of Truths,” presented at Language, Thought, and Reality: East-West Perspectives, California State University, California, April 2001.

EDITORIAL WORK, BOARD MEMBERSHIP AND REFEREEING

Journal editorship

Co-editor of Felsefe Tartışmaları: A Turkish Journal of Philosophy (biannual) for volumes #34-45 (2005-2010)

Advisory board membership

Advisory Board member of Felsefe Tartışmaları: A Turkish Journal of Philosophy (2010-present)

Advisory Board member of Trespassing Journal: An Online Journal of Trespassing Art, Science and Philosophy (2011-present)

Advisory Board member of Felsefi Düşün: Academic Journal of Philosophy (2014-present)

International paper refereeing

Refereed for journals Philosophia, Philosophical Papers and Reviews, Erkenntnis, Dialectica, History of Philosophy Quarterly

National paper refereeing

Refereed for journals Felsefe Tartşmaları: A Turkish Journal of Philosophy, Yeditepe’de Felsefe, G.S.Ü. İletişim Dergisi, FLSF: Felsefe ve Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi

SCHOLARSHIPS AND ACADEMIC AWARDS

Associate Professor Level:

     TÜBİTAK Research Scholarship, Universitat de Barcelona, 2011

Assistant Professor Level:

     Award for Superior Achievement in Academic Research (Araştırmada Üstün Başarı Ödülü), Boğaziçi University, 2004

Post-Doctoral Level:

     Izaak Walton Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dalhousie University, 2001-2003

     Izaak Walton Killam Research Grant, Dalhousie University, 2002

     Izaak Walton Killam Conference Grant, Dalhousie University, 2003

Doctoral Level:

     Mary Louise Imrie Graduate Student Award, University of Alberta, 2001

     Andrew Stewart Memorial Graduate Prize, University of Alberta, 2000-2001

     Dissertation Fellowship, University of Alberta, 2000-2001

     Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship, University of Alberta, 1998-2000

     University of Alberta Ph.D. Scholarship, University of Alberta, 1996-1998

ADMINISTRATIVE AND ADVISORY WORK

Member of the Academic Committee for Promotion Criteria, METU, 2019-2020.
Member of the Academic Committee of the Boğaziçi University Foundation (BUVAK),
Boğaziçi University, 2012-2017
Graduate students advisor, Boğaziçi University, Philosophy Department, 2012-2017
Member of the BUVAK Support Committee for Academic Activities, Boğaziçi University, 2011-2017
Transfer students advisor, Boğaziçi University, Philosophy Department, 2011-2012
Graduate students advisor, Boğaziçi University, Philosophy Department, 2006-2010
Departmental Vice-Chair, Boğaziçi University, Philosophy Department, 2005-2008
Departmental coordinator for ERASMUS and other exchange programs, Boğaziçi University, Philosophy Department, 2005-2006
Internet coordinator, Boğaziçi University, Philosophy Department, 2003-2010
Departmental representative for budget commissions, Boğaziçi University, Philosophy Department, 2003-2005
Advisory work for juniors and seniors, Boğaziçi University, Philosophy Department, 2003-2005


Last Updated:
22/12/2023 - 16:45