МЕТАФОРИКА НА ПОЗНАНИЕТО?

Author(s): Andrey Leshkov / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 1/2016

The article aims to present Maurice Merleau-Ponty's philosophy, mainly as documented in the writings of his last period, as essentially metaphorical. The au-thor studies this French philosopher's conception, which is based on the idea that metaphorization embodies a peculiar mode of cognition that possesses a philosophical dignity of its own. It is suggested that the metaphor provides an effective door to a proper understanding of the ontology of cognition as determined by the ontology of the flesh. The author maintains that what Merleau-Ponty means by Being and being cannot be understood without seriously taking into consideration metaphorics as a form of cognizing in the proper sense of the term. This approach to metaphorics should further clarify the idea of „sensible concepts“ in his work.

Интелигентният дизайн и съвременната еволюционна биология

Author(s): Georgi Marinov / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 2/2016

In the last few decades, intelligent design (ID) has been the focal point of opposition against evolutionary theory, which attempts to present itself as a scientifically valid alternative to the purely materialistic understanding of the evolutionary process. So far, it has had almost no success among professional biologists, but has occasionally been more warmly received by non-specialists within the academic community and by the general public, even though the main goal of the ID movement – to introduce the teaching of ID in schools as an official alternative to evolution – remains out of reach. Biologists are the ones most resistant to ID ideas, not because of a rigid ideological commitment to materialism on their part, but rather because the main ID arguments are based on a combination of deep misunderstanding and dishonest misrepresentation of evolutionary theory. The article discusses these arguments in detail and gives a brief introduction to the history of the ID movement and its underlying motivation.

Има ли Разум във вселената?

Author(s): Hristo Gagov / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 4/2016

Some issues of the theory of Intelligent Design (ID) are discussed in detail. The possibilities and limits of empirical science in proving claims related to the origin of life and macroevolution are analyzed. A few examples of data interpretations supporting the theory of evolution are examined. The metaphysical nature of ID is clarified. Living organisms are compared to non-living thermodynamic systems. Finally, the article looks at some implications of the theory of evolution for social processes.

Интелигентният дизайн: какво той е и какво не е и как обикновен непрофесионализъм компрометира родната философия (и наука)

Author(s): Lilia Gurova / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 4/2016

This article is a response to the publication of Theodora Dimitrova’s „On the Top Ten Scientific Problems of Biological and Chemical Evolution“ (Philosophical Alternatives 1/2016). In her paper, T. D. restates the arguments against the evolutionary explanations of the origins of life and species as summarized by Casey Luskin, a famous proponent of the intelligent design theory. T. D.’s article contains no critical discussion of these arguments nor refers to sources where such a discussion could be found. It is difficult to say whether these lacks are a result of mere ignorance or of an unscientific bias towards evolutionary theory. In any case, the publication of such an article in a respectable academic journal brings shame upon the journal and its associates. In support of the latter claim, this paper draws attention to those aspects of the intelligent design movement that show its unscientific and anti-intellectual nature.

Възможността, която желае (за една динамична онтология)

Author(s): Boyan Manchev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2-3/2017

This article discusses aspects of transformationalist materialism, or modal ontology, attempting to synthetically present its program, as introduced in my books The Body-Metamorphosis (2007), La métamorphose et l’instant - Désorganisation de la vie (2009) and especially L’altération du monde (2009). Today the crucial philosophical question of materialism is posed, as always, imperatively and urgently, and under radically transformed conditions. What will be the future destiny of matter, given that a quasi-organic substance is violently imposed on the world? Is materialistic thought still possible in this seemingly immaterial world? In clear opposition to the new para-materialist or quasi-materialist obsessions with “objects”, I believe that the question regarding the matter of the world, the modalities of its expansion and transformations - in other words, the question of “things” – is, paradoxically, crucial today primarily as an extension and radicalization of the question of subjectivity, and hence of agencies and forces; thereby, the political question of decision, rupture and change is also radicalized. Hence, the central question I pose is the question of change, the question of movement, the question of the dialectical connection between thing and process, thing and change. This way of reflecting on the issue tries to approach the premisses of the decisive questions of contemporary philosophy, science and politics. What is a subject, or in a more general perspective, what is an agent? What is process? What is change? What is it that remains unchanged? What is persistence? What is decision? What is the force of desire? What is the desire of the things, the desire of matter?

„Абсолютна метафорология“ ли е „абсолютната митология“? Мостът между Лосев и Блуменберг

Author(s): Silvia Borisova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2-3/2017

The article seeks to find and highlight the conceptual links between Losev’s “absolute mythology” and Blumenberg’s “absolute metaphorology”, viewed in the context of Blumenberg’s work on myth. For this purpose, the simultaneous affinity and contradistinction of myth and metaphor is taken as a support; the two are seen in their inevitable dialectic and in the ontological impossibility of one existing without the other. This dialectic marked Schelling’s idea of primordial (pre-mythical, pre-metaphorical) monotheism, of consubstantiality with otherness. For it’s part, Schelling’s philosophy of myth produces a kind of “mythology of the lost paradise”, which the author outlines in the article, beyond the formulations given in Schelling’s early and later writings. The author thereby proposes a possible way of consolidating the bridge between Losev’s and Blumenberg’s ideas.

Екстатичната времевост като общ корен на δύναμισ и ἐνέργεια

Author(s): Vladimir Radenkov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2-3/2017

The article offers an interpretation of the two Aristotelian concepts in the perspective of their productive assimilation by Heidegger. Primary to this interpretation is the assumption that the German philosopher reveals the possibility of thinking of δύναμις and ἐνέργεια as different and co-belonging aspects of the unitary structural integrity of the way in which the disclosure of the existing in its being is effectuated, a disclosure that is constitutive for human existence. First of all, based on the texts that present Heidegger’s reception most fully and coherently, the article attempts to show that, according to Heidegger’s interpretation, δύναμις is essentially an ec-static possibility of existence and as such it has its own constraint in terms of being located in the perspective toward some production (εργον), i.e. it is performed as ἐνέργεια. Further on, the article presents Heidegger’s understanding, merely alluded to by the German philosopher, that the two concepts have a common root in the so-called ecstatic temporality – together with the concept of λόγος, they are referred to the three “consubstantial” moments of this temporality. Finally, in a productive step, the article sketches the thesis that in every non-everyday reference of a human being to the existent, there is an "interference" between the available inventory of δύναμις (misinterpreted as an present possibility) and the temporal horizon (which transcends the present) of the co-belonging δύναμις and ἐνέργεια.

Francis Bacon, Jan Baptist Van Helmont and Demetrius Cantemir. Family resemblances of auctoritas in Early Modern Europe

Author(s): Sorin Ciutacu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

The present paper stakes out the destiny of certain ideas on scientific methods and epistemic and ontological representations that spread in 17th century Europe like a cultural epidemiology of representations against a deist, theosophical, empiricist and occult maze-like background. Our intellectual history study evaluates the family resemblances of auctoritas of three polymaths: Francis Bacon, Jan Baptist Van Helmont and Demetrius Cantemir along the cultural corridors of knowledge. If Francis Bacon was a theoretical founder of doctrines and Jan Baptist Van Helmont was a complex experimenting spirit, Demetrius Cantemir was an able disseminator of philosophy in South Eastern Europe and a creative synthetic spirit bridging the Divan ideas of Western and Eastern minds caught up in the busy exchange of ideas of the Republic of Letters.

Regimul juridic al răspunderii pentru încălcarea normelor deontologice în activitatea de elaborare a tezelor de doctorat – între etica academică și provocările logicii

Author(s): Ionela Cuciureanu,Dragoș - Adrian Bantaș / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 14/2020

Undoubtedly, scientific research is one of the foundations of the intellectual development of a society. In its absence, human societies are rapidly losing touch with the latest developments in the field, entering a state of backwardness which, in the age of the information society, can only be a potentially fatal source of vulnerabilities. Given its importance, scientific research must be carried out in a framework characterized by strict compliance with ethical standards. On the other hand, however, these rules must be designed in such a way that they do not stand in the way of scientific development, do not become an obstacle to the honest researcher or offer detractors that any scientist will almost inevitably encounter arguments not from lack of honesty, but from the imperfect wording of the law. For this reason, in our approach we will try to highlight the main elements of the normative framework that regulates the responsibility for violating the ethical norms in the elaboration of doctoral theses, but also its possible imperfections, formulating, at the same time, a series of proposals for improvement.

GENEZA IN OMEJITVE DOMINANTNE EPISTEMOLOGIJE PREUČEVANJA RASIZMA TER KRITIČNI POTENCIAL ZGODOVINSKO UTIŠANIH ALTERNATIVNIH EPISTEMOLOGIJ

Author(s): Blaž Vrečko / Language(s): Slovenian Issue: 93/2020

The rise of racist phenomena both globally and locally is perceived ever more as a crucial issue in the present socio-political context. This has led to the substantial growth of intellectual considerations on the phenomena, even in local contexts where racisms have rarely been analysed. The article critically analyses the central issues of the dominant epistemology of most existing research and reductionist understandings of racisms, their historical developments and persistence in liberaldemocratic capitalistic societies organised as nation states. By reflecting on the genesis and fundamental coordinates of the dominant epistemology and utilising the insights of alternative epistemologies, a framework is established for a more nuanced understanding of racisms that mirrors the complexity of these phenomena.

BAZELE NEURO-FIZIOLOGICE ALE COMPORTAMENTULUI INTENȚIONAL

Author(s): Dan PSATTA / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2020

The intentionality was brought as a theme of philosophical meditation by Husserl, and his theories had and have a great impact in the Romanian philosophy. The main problem of philosophical thinking of all time was the lack of objective validation. I proposed the functional (neuro-physiological) research of mental activity as a fundamental means of validating the philosophy of the spirit, naming this approach neurophilosophy. From this perspective, most of Husserl's statements are invalid. The mental activity has, from a neuro-physiological point of view, two spheres: one of the receptor type (sensory) within the retro-Rolandic headquarters/associative areas, another of the effector type (action) within an area of pre-Rolandic anatomical projection.Intentionality is not sensory, as Husserl (in the theory of the "intentional object") believed, but is a psycho-motor "hinge" between the two spheres, action-oriented and has, from a neuro-physiological point of view, a very complex mechanism, evolving on the animal scale in specific stages, which we try to demonstrate.

Философски интерпретации на некласическите логики

Author(s): Martin Tabakov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 6/2020

The paper examines questions that are essential to the philosophical interpretation of modern logic. The enormous number of different non-classical logics leads some philosophers to doubt the possibility of classifying them. Our objective requires a classification corresponding to the philosophical interpretation and importance of the systems rather than to their formal technical elements. This will not be a classification in the precise sense of the word, but a “typologization”, since a system may have different interpretations and the demarcation will not be strictly exclusive. I propose the following “typologization” of logics, corresponding to their philosophical evaluation (this is a “typologization”, and maybe even a classification, of the basic, most important and crucial philosophical-methodological interpretations of logical systems): “Logical systems serving as bases for a mathematical theory”; “Logical systems – attempts for the explication of logical inference”; “Logical systems expressing epistemological aspects. Logical systems related to ontological aspects”; “Logical systems as pure mathematical models without philosophical justification”; “Applied logic”; “Quasi-logical studies of language”.

Бъдещето на фронетичните социални науки

Author(s): Silvia Serafimova / Language(s): English Issue: 6/2020

In this article, I aim to clarify why the idea of prudence or practical rationality, as embodied in Aristotle’s concept of phronesis, is an object of special interest to some prominent social scientists such as G. H. von Wright and B. Flyvbjerg. I raise the hypothesis that if the concept of phronesis is elaborated upon as a value-rationality, as von Wright suggests, one can find some methodological hints for re-enchanting the status of the social sciences. Specifically, one can take a new stance in the debate whether or not social sciences can meet the requirements of so-called normal science, as the natural sciences do. As a crucial premise for outlining both the methodological advantages and disadvantages of phronetic social sciences in Flyvbjerg’s sense, I point out the role of what I call provocative humanism, which displays a developed vision of von Wright’s theory of provocative pessimism.

Ecumenical issues in Józef Herbut’s philosophy of religion

Author(s): Kazimierz M. Wolsza / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 20/2020

The philosophy of religion constituted one of the main fields of research by Prof. Józef Herbut. He created an original version of the analytical philosophy of religion. With the use of logical means, he analysed various dimensions of religion, primarily religious language. During the last period of his work, Herbut included ecumenical issues in his philosophical research. His research on these issues consisted of two stages. During the first stage, Herbut tried to create a specific logic of ecumenism. He hypothesised that the reason for the crisis of ecumenical dialogue consists in the lack of a clearly defined goal. Using the logical set theory, Herbut constructed possible models of doctrinal unity of different denominations. These models were constructed a priori, without reference to actual dialogues. During the second stage of his project, Herbut focused on the content of Catholic and Evangelical doctrines presented in catechisms. Here, he also put forward a research hypothesis that the languages of Catholic and Evangelical theology are different because they include different philosophical assumptions. These assumptions reach back to the medieval problem of universals. The language of Catholic theology is heavily influenced by moderate realism, and the language of Evangelical theology is influenced by moderate nominalism (these are two of the four standpoints in the problem of universals). Herbut’s research project is original and innovative in terms of Polish philosophical and theological literature. However, in foreign language literature it is possible to find ones analogous to Herbut’s project (József Fuisz, Charles Morerod).

Цветан Тодоров и Клод Леви-Строс

Author(s): Ivaylo Znepolski / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2020

LES EXPRESSIONS DE L’ESSENCE DANS LA TRADUCTION ET LE COMMENTAIRE DU TIMÉE PAR CALCIDIUS (IVE SIÈCLE)

Author(s): Béatrice Bakhouche / Language(s): French Issue: 18-19/2021

Expressing ‘essence’ in the translation and commentary of Timaeus by Calcidius (4th c. p.D.) depends on Platonist terminology which is not completely stabilised. We will see how, in his translation, Calcidius translated Greek words as οὐσία or φύσις, but also how he used the word substantia whereas there was no expression of essence in the Greek text. The Latin commentator used both essentia and substantia, but the latter quite often. However, in doing so, he weakened the meaning of the word substantia. Lastly, Calcidius translated into Latin and used Greek no‑Platonist expressions with a very specific signification of ‘essence’.

WILLIAM JAMES: ON THE BORDER BETWEEN SCIENCES AND RELIGION

Author(s): Mirela Radu / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

"The American philosopher and psychologist William James (1842-1910) is known to the world of medicine for being the first psychologist in his country. But his influence on universal culture was much deeper. Together with the mathematician and philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) he laid the foundation for pragmatism. James considers the human mind as a dynamic concept. James also contributed to functional psychology by attempting to define the subconscious in relation to the perception of personal existence. His medical studies led him to perceive psychology as a branch of biology. In the book he published only a year before he passed away, The Meaning of Truth (1909), James postulated radical empiricism. According to the American psychologist, human consciousness is a complex process, not just a data flow, but also the creation of networks and connections between these fragments, and human experience is a cumulative, non-random connection process. Numerous philosophers, sociologists, psychologists, logicians, mathematicians, and even literary writers are indebted to William James for his innovative ideas. The multidisciplinarity of this visionary man’s theories is unquestionable. He managed to create a system of thinking which blended all the aspects encountered when studying human mind.”

Essay on the manner of understanding truth in criminal proceedings

Author(s): Małgorzata Żbikowska / Language(s): English Issue: 30 (2)/2020

The subject matter of the article is a short reflection on the concept of truth in criminal proceedings. The author raises the question about the manner of understanding the truth in a criminal trial, as well as about the relation of truth to proof and probability – are such concepts compatible, mutually exclusive or differentiated in terms of categories? As a result of such contemplation, the author decided that the text of Article 2 § 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure concerning material truth – in view of the today’s criminal law scholars and commentators – is similar to the concept of ontological truth, i.e. the understanding of truth in a way that does not refer to the state of affairs only (ontic truth), but also to the statements and judgements made with respect thereto. Such an understanding of truth also allows one to acknowledge the fact that the truth and belief that a certain event (that needs to be proven or made plausible) occurred are two different epistemic categories.

THE MENDING OF A FRACTURED SELF. ON THE SELF AS A PRODUCED AND SUSTAINED ENTITY

Author(s): Sterling Hall / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

Experientially, we often have a sense of self which is relatively constant across moments in one’s personal timeline. There are instances where this sense of self fractures, though, and self-identity becomes difficult to sustain. This essay argues that such fracturing is the result of an interruption in a process of self-narrativization—an interruption which can be mended, at least partially, through creative and communal practices which allow for the possibility of recreating narratives at the site of their failure—and explores the meaning of this fracturing and mending process in terms of colonial violence as an example of a fracturing situation.

URBANA SOCIOLOGIJA U RADOVIMA KLASIČNE NJEMAČKE I ČIKAŠKE SOCIOLOGIJE

Author(s): Alisabri Šabani / Language(s): Bosnian,Croatian,Serbian Issue: 1-2/2014

The paper discusses the contributions of German classical sociologist to urban sociology at the beginning of the last century, with particular emphasis on the work of Georg Simmel. Highlights the fact that they much influenced to the work of R.E. Park and L. Wirth, as the central figure in the Chicago classical urban sociology. Despite the fact that the German and Chicago urban experience is different, the urban theory represents continuity in these traditions. Modern thinking on urban are unthinkable without reflection on these traditions.