BEING IN HARRAN ON WORLD PHILOSOPHY DAY

The progress made in the fields of quantum mechanics, the Godel theory, the chaos theory, fractal geometry, the big-bang, self-organization, unpredictability, complexity and control (premonition) in the last few years is said to have changed our worldview. Some refer to these studies as postmodern science. They claim that such studies cause drastic philosophical and epistemological shifts. That we have entered a new era from the beginning of mid 70’s, all the scientific inclinations have been left aside and that the determinist philosophy has conspicuously moved towards irrationalism and nihilism.

Furthermore, it is said that everything, history in specific and humanism, ideologies, modernity have come to an end. Humanity is claimed to have reached the "end point of mankind's ideological evolution." According to them, the modern natural sciences are a regulator or mechanism, which could provide grounds for a historical transformation and therefore they fixed history to develop in a certain direction. The evolition of human behaviour can be observed in the growing uniformity of modern societies. The ultimate consequences of any given human act or decision of men in the development of human societies can be predicted.

The only thing that can interrupt with this monotonous course is one’s inner journey, when man can ironically rediscover himself. This can be possible only by staying outside of the monotonous course and by starting anew as an ordinary but different person. Who knows how many times these new beginnings have taken place throughout the unwritten history that changed in all directions?

The Philosophy Days in Harran is not exploration, but it is one of the merely travel that stand against the uniformity of human lives becoming more and more common lately. Harran Philosophy Days is a journey, taking stard in Harran, by young people to “end point of mankind’s ideological evolution” in order to reanimate philosophy that is claimed to have come to an end. If this travel is an irony, then the port chosen for this is right: Harran, one of the three locations that philosophy took root in. If this journey is a metaphor, then the port chosen is right onece again: Harran, the port that Prophet Abraham had stopped by on his voyage from Ur to the Promised Land.

Harran Philosophy Days is not an attempt to rebuild Babylon Tower in Mesopotamia. The young people who come to Harran do not have a claim of power as “Ultimate Man”. While the youngsters came together at nights in Harran to dance hand-in-hand around the fire lit by Zarathustra, Sin the God of Moon that lives on carved into the stones remaining from his temple must have seen each one’s faces turned upon their own planets.

Ismail from Harran asks the participants of the Harran Philosophy Days to return to Harran to complete the rest of their mythology, in defiant of those who claim that it is impossible to write new mythologies anymore. The young people who miss Harran have asked Zuhal Karahan Kara if she could meet them again in the Harran Castle, where they hope to find the lost Mankind.