معرفی
Dr. Uğur Aytaç serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Utrecht University's Faculty of Humanities, where he is affiliated with the Ethics Institute. His scholarly work centers on political power, legitimacy, and democratic theory, with particular focus on digital governance, economic institutions, and state power structures.
Dr. Aytaç's research program comprises two interconnected strands. His first line of inquiry examines theories of political legitimacy, arguing that normative standards should extend beyond state power to encompass broader social relations including patriarchy and capitalism. He employs ideology critique and other normative methods to study how social actors can resist illegitimate power structures. His second research line analyzes how social media companies' powers transform the digital public sphere, investigating whether these powers can be compatible with democratic values like political equality and free speech, and exploring governance schemes to democratize Big Tech corporations.
His scholarly contributions have been published in premier journals including the American Political Science Review, Political Theory, The Journal of Politics, Political Studies, Constellations, and the Journal of Social Philosophy. Dr. Aytaç actively contributes to academic community building as co-coordinator of the political philosophy study group at the Dutch Research School of Philosophy. He also engages with public audiences through lectures such as his 2023 presentation on democracy and social media at the Utrecht Day of Philosophy, and a 5-episode Turkish-language podcast series on political philosophy he hosted during 2021-2022.
