sas.upenn
eduI am a philosopher from Istanbul. Currently, I am an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, I was a postdoctoral fellow in the Society of Fellows for Humanities and a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at Columbia University. I received my Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2022.
I work on political disagreement—its material foundations, psychological and social manifestations, and epistemic properties.
My dissertation project examines how ideology is installed in our minds, generating social contestation not only over matters of fact or judgments of value, but also over what’s salient to each of us. I call these contestations ‘perspectival clashes’. I have been advised by and derive much inspiration from Susanna Siegel, Mark Richard, Bernhard Nickel, and Jane Friedman.
Drafts of my recent work are available for presentation and discussion:
"Ideological questions" examines the notion of an ideological question and its consequences for theories of ideology.
"Contestations of salience" offers a theory of interpersonal conflict that accommodates the idea that differences in salience can give rise to conflict in the absence of a disagreement between parties to the conflict.
(Title redacted due to review) A paper that questions the value of open-mindedness as an epistemic virtue, and argues that open-mindedness, in its standard conception, erodes rather than promotes certain democratic values.
(Title redacted due to review) proposes an affordance-theoretic account of salience properties in perceptual experience.
“Whence interrogative contents” draws a distinction between two kinds of inquisitive attitudes, only one of which admits the popular interrogative content analysis.
"Will you join me?" questions the notion of manipulation in political philosophy of language through an examination of norm enactment via political speech.
Publications, also listed on PhilPapers:
"What’s in a perspective? Social Perspectives, Interpretation, and Inquiry". Feminist Philosophy Quarterly, forthcoming.
I am a charter member of my graduate student worker union and a member of UAW's reform caucus. I have also organized with CFCU-UAW . You can email me to talk about organizing your academic workplace, bargaining a contract, running an issue-based campaign, and strike organizing at yumusaksas.upennedu
Recently, I’ve written for Boston Review (Why Unions Need More Democracy), the Forge magazine (An Uprising for a Democratic University in Turkey), the Point magazine (Where is the University?), Aesthetics for Birds (The Crusoes of this World), and the Drift magazine (#MeToo’s Strike Test).
You can find my CV on my academic profile. My name is pronounced like this.