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The article presents the preliminary remarks regrinding the narrative on creative process in the literature of the personal document (particularly in dairies and partially in letters) of two poets: Maryla Wolska and her daughter Beata Obertyńska. The aim of the conducted analyses was to research the artistic self-awareness of both women, the description method of their own creative process and the potential relation between understanding the nature of poetry and poetry’s craft. Reading of Wolska’s and Obertyńska’s letters points towards a particular role of community of artists in the creative process, whose opinions shape the creation at last.
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The article is concerned with one of the most important aspects of Olga Tokarczuk’s oeuvre, which is the topic of writing practice. The Noble Prize winner addresses it not only in her essays, but also in her opinion pieces, showcasing through it the constant and cautious observation of her own creative process. The reflexion on the relation between literature and reality is also presented in the literary texts, to which amongst others belongs the short story Scottish Month from the volume Playing on a Multitude of Drums. The text interpretation presented in the article addresses the question of situating the creative act at the crossroads of what is real and what is imagined, being connected – as a consequence – with perceiving the writer as a person who simultaneously writes and is written. The epitome of this meta-literary multiplication is the main protagonist – the character, narrator and alter ego of the author at the same time, who becomes aware of her involvement with the multilayered structure of truth and fiction.
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This paper is an analysis of Thomas Metzinger’s self-model theory of subjectivity (SMT). Metzinger claims that beyond the biological organism and its properties, there is no individual and distinct entity that can be regarded as “self”. What really exists is the phenomenal sense of being self, which creates the illusion of the existence of something permanent. Taking the concepts of David Hume and certain early Buddhists thinkers as his starting point, Metzinger claims that during introspection, which is a type of phenomenal experience, we find nothing stable, but only impermanent impressions. As he argues, this hypothesis is supported by empirical neuroscience research, which should be considered when studying human subjectivity. Drawing extensively from the results of science and philosophy of mind, he proposes a concept of a phenomenal self-model (PSM). The PSM integrates information about the whole biological organism and makes it available from the first-person perspective.The first part of the paper presents the key issues of the SMT and the four aspects of Metzinger’s critique of the concept of the substantial self. The paper also offers a critical analysis of some of Metzinger’s ideas. The second section discusses the common features as well as differences between the SMT and the Buddhist concept of non-self (s. anātman, p. anattā). It also aims to analyse certain problematic issues of the notion of anattā and demonstrate some of the challenges connected with the use of a comparative method.
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The question of the role of the father has been at the core of human culture since ancient times. However, in Western culture and civilization, we have witnessed a historical trend of neglecting and underestimating the figure of the father. The disappearance of his primitive role as the person who sets and maintains boundaries is at the root of many of the modern problems of children, arising from the dilution of the restrictive function of upbringing. The purpose of this publication is to outline the key role of the figure and functions of the father. Attention is paid to fatherhood as an object of interpretation from the point of view of philosophy, ethics, pedagogy, psychology, and psychoanalysis.
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The paper addresses the contemporary features of aesthetic capitalism (Böhme, 2001; 2017) in the city, connecting beauty studies with established analyses of ‘territorial stigmatization’ (Wacquant, 2007) in the framework of critical whiteness studies. My argument is that beautification practices in marginal public spaces can be regarded as an attitude of aesthetic neocolonialism. The text investigates the role that art plays in establishing spaces of difference, focusing on the analysis of the idea of beauty exhibited and used in processes of urban transformation. This beautifying operation could mask the intent of domesticating the ‘urban exotic’, representing the aesthetics of the ‘urban other’, overlapping processes of hypervisibilization and invisibilization within the production of normative white visual domains. The resulting transformation is viewed as a new field of value extraction from the urban space while at the same time being a new arena for privilege and inequality production.
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This article is motivated by a reading of J.J. Abrams’ proceedings Shusterman’s Somaesthetics: From Hip Hop Philosophy to Politics and Performance Art. Of the diverse range of essays in the proceedings, I concentrate my attention primarily on those aspects of the texts that highlight Richard Shusterman’s practical somaesthetics, and in which their authors focus on the more personal aspects of Shusterman’s philosophical-artistic experimentation, as captured in The Adventures of the Man in Gold: Paths Between Art and Life, A Philosophical Tale. Through references to Foucault’s notion of care of the self and the aesthetics of existence, the article demonstrates that the individual level of Shusterman’s practical somaesthetics is not separable from the social-ethical level. This is matched by the conclusion of the text, which points out that Shusterman’s practical somaesthetics overcomes the dichotomy of private and public in Richard Rorty’s pragmatism.
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Despite recent developments in the fields of olfactory aesthetics, phenomenology of liturgy, religious aesthetics, and theological aesthetics, the complex presence of odours in the Christian culture has been scarcely discussed. This study is meant as a contribution to a future systematic exploration of the aesthetic ‘osmology’ of theology, by focusing on the fragrant chrism oil (in the Eastern Church called Holy Myron). Technical-historical explanations regarding the olfactory composition, preparation and use of this sacramental oil are followed by an examination of the semantics of its odour in patristic theology and medieval popular imaginary. This rich symbolism has been lost in the ‘anosmic’ modern Catholic and Orthodox sacramental theology.
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Helga Griffiths, a Germany-based multi-sense artist, explores the intersection of art, science, and technology through her innovative installations. Her work often incorporates olfactory elements to enhance the sensory experience and evoke memories and emotions. Griffiths' notable projects include "Observatorium," which used a device to release scents in sync with video scenes, and "Space Souvenirs," which created scents representing different planets. She has exhibited internationally, including at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris and the Nevada Museum of Art. Her installations aim to expand perceptual horizons by transforming technical data into multi-sensory experiences. Griffiths' work emphasizes the subjective nature of smell and its powerful connection to memory and identity. She has received numerous awards and residencies, and her work is featured in several permanent collections and publications. Her recent projects include "18C Essence of Coal," which explores the transformation of coal and its symbolic significance.
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This article discusses the role and significance of humanities studies in contemporary education and society. It emphasizes the historical and ongoing importance of the humanities in fostering democratic values, intercultural dialogue, empathy, and intellectual development. The article highlights the challenges faced by humanities disciplines in modern universities, where financial efficiency often overshadows their cultural and intellectual contributions. It advocates for the strategic support and systematic promotion of humanities within academic institutions, emphasizing their interdisciplinary nature and their vital role in ethical, democratic, and civic education. The article also discusses the need for a renewed understanding and support of humanities in the face of contemporary socio-economic and political challenges.
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The paper analyses the popularity of Chinese martial arts and health regimen (Wushu and Qigong) among competitors in the Chinese Bridge Proficiency in Bulgaria from 2019 to 2022. The study indicates that Chinese martial arts and Qigong are relatively popular among Bulgarian students, Taijiquan and Kung Fun Fan being the most popular styles to be presented. Furthermore, the study gives a broader perspective of how different aspects of the language and culture of China are perceived by students.
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This paper introduces the reader to the fundamentals of Critical Race Theory, which is highly influential today. The author accomplishes this not only by simply introducing the reader to the most important aspects of this relatively new teaching but also by examining each of them critically. Throughout his presentation, the author discusses all of the major influences on the development of this theory, starting with Marxism, (post)structuralism, and legal practice as a source of facticity. According to him, this academic-activist movement has at least three basic theoretical propositions: 1) the thesis about institutionalized racism in the United States from its founding to the present, 2) the thesis that race is not a biological but a cultural concept and, accordingly, the advocacy of anti-essentialism, and 3) thesis and decision to expand Critical Race Theory by introducing minorities (most notably, sexual minorities) into the game. The paper critically examines the idea that racism stems from skin colour, as well as the movement’s decision to seek support outside the circle of racism-related problems. This expansion blunts both CRT’s theoretical edge and its practical application, as evidenced by the fate of anti-racist and emancipatory movements. Finally, the author demonstrates how the entire movement conforms to the ruling racial system.
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The paper examines the historical account of punishing individuals from the earliest civilized societies to the current postmodern era. The notion of punishment is interpreted in the paper as a moral sanction (internal and external), as well as a physical punishment, which over ages turned into torture whose purpose was punishment for punishment’s sake, not moral correction of violators of custom or law, to be useful upon their return to society. The transition from torture as a religious ritual to torture which grows into a culture of punishment is pointed out. Punishment in conditions of war and peace has a specific dimension. War as a teacher of violence (Thucydides) in most cases takes away the meaning of punishment which has a moral function in peacetime. But even in times of peace, punishment is relativized. Michel Foucault writes about the contemporary panopticon and the supervision of the individual in society, who is, above all, punished by the institutions of positive morality and remains without personal identity, no longer as a self-conscious individual but as a simple individual. Under the influence of biopolitical power, he is deprived of responsibility for his own existence. He is entangled in invisible threads of social roles, like a spider’s web, that he eventually stops being the bearer of. When he wants to make a moral judgment about a social relationship or a phenomenon that does not coincide with his understanding of the social world, he feels powerlessness or remorse because he cannot bear that his isolated value judgment clashes with the interests and public opinion of the dominant social group.
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Art criticism has the privilege of being part of all the transformations in the history of Bulgarian art, with its role in the avant-garde situation in the 1990s being particularly significant, which left a lasting impression of its usefulness and necessity for the world of contemporary art. Over the past ten years, critical writing has progressively declined until the last dedicated portal for criticism has disappeared, and this circumstance has given rise to disturbing articles and questions in the public domain such as Where is criticism today?. Numerous attempts have been made to revive it, and the results have shown that not every generation is privileged to participate in a revolution, and not every decade gives rise to the writing of heroic criticism. For this reason, its temporary attenuation is not necessarily a cause for alarm—on the contrary. The self-serving writing and artificial motivation of criticism in recent years have left a more troubling sense of unprofessionalism, naivety, and illegitimate subjectivism in an age that rejects rigid norms and rules about good art. On the one hand, this ultra-democratic nature provoked dissatisfaction from connoisseurs of critical thought, but on the other hand, it placed the artist in the most liberal regional artistic situation of the last hundred years. The text analyzes the typology of contemporary art criticism, the factors contributing to its decline, and the possibilities for its legitimate emergence.
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Merleau-Ponty, starting from perception, reaches the visual through the work of Cézanne. The article applies the phenomenologist's essay to demonstrate how unfounded Cézanne's doubt was about his creative potential and the general change in art caused by him.
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The article presents an attempt to search for a different path to a philosophy of Byzantine iconography, which, through the construct of virtual transcendentalism, heuristically allows to understand the icon as a poster of the logos development of Byzantine doctrinal thought in the context of the logos development of European philosophy, summarized by the concept of logodynamism (a new term introduced by the author), which embeds medieval Christian thought in the logos environment from Heraclitus, Parmenides through Plato and Aristotle to modern European philosophy and enables the search for modern ways of understanding Christian phenomena, such as Byzantine iconography. The article brings out the connection of the icon with the archetypal and contemporary forms of the poster through the idea of message and image as a cultural phenomenon and thus achieves a different ontological status for the icon, making sense of its positioning in the contemporary cultural environment.
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A very brief overview of the definition of several philosophers according to the concept of opinion - Jaspers, Heidegger, Popper and Rorty and initially given views of Freud and Darwin as arche in relation to biological and psychological, ie, philosophical setting of the problem of opinion. Cognitive, comprehensive, instrumental, emotional, social, humanistic, technical, logical, poetic function are just some of the prerequisites for thinking about opinion.
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In the world today, under the banner of "multiculturalism is dead", a new specter of ethnocentrism is being cycled. Its protagonists are the old and the new right and the autocratic elites who would like to divide and fight the world anew. Despite these processes, modern humanity needs a new opening, respect for cultural differences, a dialogue between and permeation of cultures, building of new bridges, connecting peoples. The new generation should be imbued with the culture of peace and planetary humanism, and as the citizens of humanity, emerging communities of equal peoples and citizens, they should represent an actor of the inevitability of interculturality in the modern world of globalization, i.e. of the future that has begun – but is now, due to class and other divisions, unfairly distributed. Shouting that multiculturalism is dead is like announcing the death of humanity, its regression to the times of tribalism, new divisions and barbarism
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The paper postulates reading works by Paul Tillich mainly as a great humanist, whose background for thinking, anticipating his theological considerations, is priceless for a wide field of the humanistic reflections. The author indicates items permanently having difficulties in coming to the fore of humanistic thinking and still being profoundly elaborated and successfully applied in Tillich’s systematic perspective. The text shows up some selected items from the three subsequent volumes of Systematic Theology, linked with the categories which permit to reject dualistic claims inherent in a dominant thinking about culture, social life, science and humanities. The author situates Tillich’s reading within the horizon of “the duality turn-over” described by Lech Witkowski, and thus it makes a reference to his cognitive profiles disclosing possibilities of humanistic applications of the ideas of the great theologist beyond his institutional framework.
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