The Pippa Bacca Incident and the Error of Ethical Philosophy…

Italian artist Giuseppina Pasqualina di Marineo, who set off from Milan to Tel Aviv in her white wedding dress for world peace and was raped and murdered in the Gebze district of Kocaeli, lost her life in 2008. Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Founding Rector of Üsküdar Üniversitesi, had penned an article titled “The Pippa Bacca Incident and the Error of Ethical Philosophy” on the subject in the same year. The article published on the Aktüel Psikoloji Mental Health Portal is attracting attention. In his article, Tarhan had used the expressions, ‘A tragic end… It left behind shame, sorrow, anger, and mourning.’

Founding Rector of Üsküdar Üniversitesi, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, made the following evaluations regarding Pippa Bacca’s tragic death.

Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan emphasized that Pippa was a good idealist but a bad realist; “She fell victim to the defenselessness of Western philosophy. Some Western philosophers had assured her that people could be trusted. To be an idealist, one must take risks. To be a realist, one calculates the feasibility of what is contemplated. For an activist, dangers must be appropriate and applicable to the goal.”

“Humanism, which sacralized humanity, transformed into a religious doctrine”

Tarhan, speaking about how Marxist humanism, liberal humanism, secular humanism, and religious humanism tried to form the ethical culture of the West; “At the root of the Protestant ethic, which views religion as the sole determinant for Catholics and places religion at the command of politics against Orthodox, lies humanistic philosophy. Humanism, which forms the essence of Western moral values, has become the religious and ethical philosophy of materialism, rejecting divine justice and transcendent values. The West was able to modernize by taking refuge in humanism from Catholic rigidity and church pressure. The leadership of reason and scientific skepticism are the methods of humanism. However, humanism, which sacralized humanity, transformed into a religious doctrine. Humanism as a secular religion, rejecting tradition, mysticism, and revelation, has become highly controversial. Humanism, which rejected the concepts of devil, sin, and hell, began to question itself after the 1990s thanks to positive science.”

Is genetic structure or environment more influential on human behavior?

Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, stating that a contribution to the discussions on ‘Is genetic structure or environment more influential on human behavior?’ came from Maryland, USA; “In recent years, Dr. Steven Suomi's research identified a gene that directs an individual towards violence. Love reduces the expression and emergence of depression, aggression, and violence from the 'evil' gene. Poor maternal behaviors accelerate the functioning of the 'evil' gene. The gene named 'Bad Behavior' gene reduces serotonin, known as the happiness hormone. A decrease in serotonin levels in the brain increases depression, anger, aggression, and violence.”

“Humanism, by rejecting the nature of evil, actually left humanity unprotected and defenseless”

Tarhan stated that humanism defined the source of creative activities in humans as pursuing pleasure; “The optimism of the humanist rationale and humanist ethical culture, which posits that humans are inherently good, pure, and clean, is now being questioned by biological psychology. The thesis 'Humans are inherently good, there's no need to teach them morality' rejected the devil and sin. The belief 'Heaven and hell are in this world' led people to either fear everything or trust everything. Because the feeling of accountability to God was removed, and an unlimited and irresponsible ethical culture was approved. Humanism, by rejecting the nature of evil, actually left humanity unprotected and defenseless. It unilaterally evaluated humanity's potential for infinite evil and infinite good.”

“The historical fallacy of humanism continues to multiply the rich but unhappy, wealthy but misguided people of the West”

Tarhan emphasized that when computers first emerged, benevolent forces aimed to use them for the benefit of humanity; “Malevolent forces and devils in human guise wrote wonderful virus programs. If anti-virus programs were not written for these virus programs, the program could not run. Similarly, in the human soul's program, when there are malevolent forces acting as viruses, ignoring evil, or devilry, cannot be a requirement of reason. The historical fallacy of humanism continues to multiply the rich but unhappy, wealthy but misguided people of the West.”

At the end of the article, Tarhan had used the expressions; “Pippa was very innocent next to the rapist who lived in these lands where Muslim culture thrives but did not carry Muslim moral values, and she was closer to Allah. With the wish that the verse meaning ‘We will not grieve those who believe in Allah and the hereafter and do good deeds’ would come to Pippa Bacca’s aid.”

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