We regard philosophy teaching as “providing an individual with a comprehensive perspective and questioning every life space, every way of life; providing ourselves with talking frankly and reckoning with ourselves and the world”. In this sense, philosophy teaching is raising wisdom traveller, who questions the value of philosophy in life and runs after wisdom, as a person who is mentally authentic and autonomous, who is free with their thoughts and life, and who also acknowledges the rights and freedoms of other people. With their critical viewpoint and prejudice-free personality and identity, such a wisdom traveller tries to understand, explain, change positively, and develop their culture, history, and formation conditions.
SAU Department of Philosophy, which was founded in 1999 to raise philosophers who will contribute to Turkish intellectual life, who are free of prejudgements, and who have the ability of interpretation and independent thinking, inaugurated undergraduate education in the academic year 2001-2002, graduate education (within the body of Programme of Philosophy, Institute of Social Sciences) in the academic year 2002-2003, and doctorate education (within the body of Programme of Philosophy, Institute of Social Sciences) in the academic year 2009-2010. SAU Department of Philosophy, which aims to offer philosophical formation in a different way from similar departments, with content also embracing our cultural-scientific world, consists of four main fields of study:
Systematic Philosophy and Logic
(With sub-fields such as Ontology, Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, Ethics, Political Philosophy, Aesthetics, Philosophy of Art, Philosophy of History, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Language, Methodology, Classical Logic, and Modern Logic...)
History of Philosophy
(With sub-fields such as Ancient Indian and Chinese Thought, Ancient Greek Philosophy, Western Medieval Philosophy, Renaissance Philosophy, Western Modern Philosophy, and Contemporary Philosophical Movements...)
History of Turkish-Islamic Thought
(With sub-fields such as Pre-Islamic Turkish Thought, Islamic Philosophy, Sufism, 16th-18th Century Turkish Thought, and Contemporary Turkish Thought...)
History of Science
(With sub-fields such as General History of Science, History of Islamic Science, History of Ottoman Science, and History of Positive Science...)
Besides, Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Ottoman Turkish languages are involved in the curriculum as elective courses to provide students with a background of classical languages required for philosophical thought.
Students may also be involved in the ERASMUS program at the following universities.
Holland ( Erasmus Rotterdam University)
Germany (Eberhard Karl's University of Tubingen)
Italy (University of Foggia)
Italy ((University of Rome 'La Sapienza')
Czech Republic (University of Hradec Kralove)
Slovakia (University of Presov)
Bulgaria (St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Turnovo)
Portugal (University of Coimbra)
In addition to philosophy courses, psychology and sociology courses with sufficient credits are given to our students so that they can become philosophy teachers at secondary schools. Since the academic year 2004-2005, our first-year students -on a certain quota- have obtained the opportunity to get an optional foreign language preparatory education.
A total of 15 faculty members work in the department, including 3 Professors, 5 Associate Professors, 2 Assistant Professors, 1 Instructor, and 4 Assistants. There are 190 enrolled students at the Department of Philosophy, which produced its first graduates in the 2004-2005 academic year.
