Dusseldorf drawn to the call “Come, whoever you are”

Hagia Sophia Museum, Sumela Monastery, Karagoz-Hacivat (traditional Turkish shadow entertainment) Turkish song and folk dance performances, marbling and calligraphy art demonstrations... All these and many more were in Dusseldorf over the last weekend. Calling out “Come, whoever you are”, Turkish Festival by Rumi Forum am Rhein drew tens of thousands of people from Turkish, German and many more nations on April 19-21. Turkish Consul General to Dusseldorf Firat Sunel expressed his pleasure with the festival as a cultural event rather than a trade fair.

Selflessness and the Dilemma of Human Nature

A basic assumption of many contemporary social science theories is that humans are “opportunistic” by definition and driven primarily by self-interest. This implies that a rational human being would exploit chances presented to him by immediate circumstances without any reference to moral principle or a general plan, if such exists. Being commonsensical, in other words, means maximizing your utility. Sociologists for long have argued that three things motivate human action: money, power, and social status. It is more rational to be self-interested than to care about others. Needless to say, these propositions don’t deal with emotional actions. Adherents of this belief have often coined notions such as altruism, sense of fairness, and identifying with a group as irrational.