Rector of KAEU Prof. Dr. Vatan Karakaya participated as a speaker at the conference on "Justice of Knowledge in Recognizing Existence" organized by the Academic Development and Thought Society. Vice-Rector Prof. Dr. Mustafa Kasım Karahocagil, Secretary-General Mehmet Zeki Küçük, deans, heads of departments, principals, journalists, and students attended to the conference held on 10 December 2021 at the 15 July Milli İrade Hall.

Prof. Dr. Vatan Karakaya started the conference by saying that he knows the difficulty of the subject and drew attention to the fact that it is difficult to overcome the levels of existence without overcoming this difficulty. Expressing that they will seek an answer to the question of understanding and acquiring knowledge and how to build ourselves with that knowledge in the conference, Karakaya said that he would try to explain the essence of the subject as much as he could tell.

Knowing Where Knowledge Will Be Unjust is Guiding in Reaching the Knowledge of Existence

Emphasizing that the greatest value creation gives to man is comprehension, Rector Karakaya noted that thanks to comprehension, man reach the consciousness of knowing both themselves and their creator. Karakaya, who exchanged ideas on how we know existence, defined existence as the whole of things that are open to sensory perception and exist outside our will, which needs a creation. Stating that the history of philosophy has passed by discussing the ways of this understanding, Karakaya said, "Some have claimed rationality or materialism by refering what they see, while others have searched for the truth with a viewpoint of what is visible to us. The 2500-year history of philosophy has dealt with these two questions; Will I be content with what I see or will I look for what is behind what I see? All the discussions originated from here, and there are still discussions, and I think it should be discussed because knowing where the information will be unjust is guiding in reaching the knowledge of existence.

Man is the Paradigm of the Universe

Rector of KAEU Prof. Dr. Vatan Karakaya emphasised in his conversation that man is the paradigm of the universe, stated that with the disappearance of man from the world, there will be no such thing as meaningfulness, and no meaning and understanding will emerge. Karakaya, who defines the nonvolitional things as the images of existing beings that belong to the world of reality, explained that the things you see in the market in a day are not with us when you think of them at the evening, they are only images and information related to them is obtained through images. Rector Karakaya pointed out that for this reason, the only part of the outside world that we have received are images.

Prof. Dr. Vatan Karakaya, in the continuation of his words, revealed the views of Aristotle, Plato, and Islamic Mashayih Philosophers and their perspectives on existence with examples. Referring to the view of Molla Sadra that if a tree had not been created, the nature could not be derived from it, Karakaya deduced that at this point, man has a free will to protect their nature or to stray from it. Rector Karakaya stated that reaching the creator is the main and final component of self-knowledge.

Karakaya Defines Happiness as a State of Disconnection from the Outside World

Rector Karakaya, who emphasized "one's own world" while describing happiness, defined happiness as a state of being disconnected from the outside world. Karakaya ended his words as follows: “If you make sense of the outside, establish your own true world, and connect it with the creator, you will be liberated and happy. When a person returns to his own truth by putting all the commodities he owns aside, he is happy and free. There is no obstacle in front of that person. If there is faith, there is possibility, and such is the state of mind.