Issue editor: Kristiyan Enchev
CONTENTS & Abstracts & Keywords
Plamen Antov – 1914 and the End of the Bulgarian National Revival: Yavorov as a Collective Metaphor
Abstract: This article, which may conventionally be classified under the genre philosophy of history, develops two metaphors of high symbolic value. The first is the year 1914, as the start of World War I, the third and last in a series of wars at the start of the 20th century in which Bulgaria was involved. It led teleologically to the year 1919 (Neuilly) which marked the symbolic – therefore absolute – end of the Bulgarian National Revival. The second metaphor is the figure of Yavorov in its his mytho-biographical projection – the poet’s suicide in October 1914 can be seen as a collective metaphor, as a metaphor of a collective ontological loss; but also as an attainment of a qualitatively new state; as the loss of the Revival’s monolithic national aspect and the acquiring of the tragic experience of Modernity and its social fragmentariness.
Keywords: National Revival – Modernity; collective „soul“ – individual „soul”; people – state; intramental experience – real history; I World War; Yavorov; 1930s; Hegel
Andrey Leshkov – Metaphorics of Cognition?
Abstract: The article aims to present Maurice Merleau-Ponty's philosophy, mainly as documented in the writings of his last period, as essentially metaphorical. The author 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.
Keywords: aesthetics, Blumenberg, cognition, meaning/sense, Merleau-Ponty, metaphor/metaphorology, ontology, philosophy.
Abstract: This article, which may conventionally be classified under the genre philosophy of history, develops two metaphors of high symbolic value. The first is the year 1914, as the start of World War I, the third and last in a series of wars at the start of the 20th century in which Bulgaria was involved. It led teleologically to the year 1919 (Neuilly) which marked the symbolic – therefore absolute – end of the Bulgarian National Revival. The second metaphor is the figure of Yavorov in its his mytho-biographical projection – the poet’s suicide in October 1914 can be seen as a collective metaphor, as a metaphor of a collective ontological loss; but also as an attainment of a qualitatively new state; as the loss of the Revival’s monolithic national aspect and the acquiring of the tragic experience of Modernity and its social fragmentariness.
Keywords: National Revival – Modernity; collective „soul“ – individual „soul”; people – state; intramental experience – real history; I World War; Yavorov; 1930s; Hegel
Andrey Leshkov – Metaphorics of Cognition?
Abstract: The article aims to present Maurice Merleau-Ponty's philosophy, mainly as documented in the writings of his last period, as essentially metaphorical. The author 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.
Keywords: aesthetics, Blumenberg, cognition, meaning/sense, Merleau-Ponty, metaphor/metaphorology, ontology, philosophy.
Magdalena Garvanova – What is Prostitution and Can it Take Root in Socialist Bulgaria?
Abstract: The article aims to show how the problem of prostitution was constructed as a form of social deviation and discusses the legitimate practices undertaken for its neutralization during the socialist period – 1944-1989. The historical-sociological analysis applied in the article shows that, in the time of totalitarianism, „paid love“ was ideologically deprived of a social ontology, and the authorities began a secret struggle with the „priestesses of Venus“ by undertaking a series of repressive actions against prostitutes, aimed at disciplining and resocializing them. However, with the expansion of the nomenklatura system, the authorities took a differentiated view on the prostitute: she was used, on one hand, as a mechanism for imposing communist morality and social control, on the other hand, as a means serving the dark side of the oligarchy apparatus.
Keywords: prostitution, totalitarianism, official ideology, social deviation, legitimate practices.
Abstract: The article aims to show how the problem of prostitution was constructed as a form of social deviation and discusses the legitimate practices undertaken for its neutralization during the socialist period – 1944-1989. The historical-sociological analysis applied in the article shows that, in the time of totalitarianism, „paid love“ was ideologically deprived of a social ontology, and the authorities began a secret struggle with the „priestesses of Venus“ by undertaking a series of repressive actions against prostitutes, aimed at disciplining and resocializing them. However, with the expansion of the nomenklatura system, the authorities took a differentiated view on the prostitute: she was used, on one hand, as a mechanism for imposing communist morality and social control, on the other hand, as a means serving the dark side of the oligarchy apparatus.
Keywords: prostitution, totalitarianism, official ideology, social deviation, legitimate practices.
Olga Vlasova – Disease as a New Anthropological Horizon: the Critical Anthropology of Ivan Illich
Abstract: The article discusses the problem of disease in the critical anthropology of Ivan Illich. It examines some of his works, hitherto not translated into Russian, devoted to medicine and the body, disease and health, in which Illich develops a strategy of radical social critique, reassesses the status of medicine in contemporary society, and proposes his own view on health and the healthcare system.
Keywords: Ivan Illich, anthropology, counterproductivity, disease, suffering, health.
Stoyan Stavru – Alzheimer’s Disease: the (Anti)art of Forgetting. Solidarity after Identity
Abstract: The article discusses the autobiographical approach to identity in the context of Alzheimer's disease. The author studies various types of memory and how they are affected by the disease. The article questions the philosophical and legal discourse that defines the person in terms of his/her ability to store and arrange memories. Finally, the possibility of solidarity after identity is discussed.
Keywords: disease, Alzheimer's, memory, identity, autobiography, solidarity.
Abstract: The article discusses the problem of disease in the critical anthropology of Ivan Illich. It examines some of his works, hitherto not translated into Russian, devoted to medicine and the body, disease and health, in which Illich develops a strategy of radical social critique, reassesses the status of medicine in contemporary society, and proposes his own view on health and the healthcare system.
Keywords: Ivan Illich, anthropology, counterproductivity, disease, suffering, health.
Stoyan Stavru – Alzheimer’s Disease: the (Anti)art of Forgetting. Solidarity after Identity
Abstract: The article discusses the autobiographical approach to identity in the context of Alzheimer's disease. The author studies various types of memory and how they are affected by the disease. The article questions the philosophical and legal discourse that defines the person in terms of his/her ability to store and arrange memories. Finally, the possibility of solidarity after identity is discussed.
Keywords: disease, Alzheimer's, memory, identity, autobiography, solidarity.
Lyuben Sivilov – The Bishop and the Philosophers: Moore
Abstract: In a series of six articles, the author traces the responses of philosophers to the epoch-making achievement of Bishop Berkeley, set out in his An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision. The comments on Berkeley’s theory serve as an occasion for the modern reader to focus on some overwhelming conclusions about philosophical life and philosophical education in Bulgaria. The second article deals with George Edward Moore.
Keywords: refutation, idealism, solipsism, Bulgarian philosophy.
Abstract: In a series of six articles, the author traces the responses of philosophers to the epoch-making achievement of Bishop Berkeley, set out in his An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision. The comments on Berkeley’s theory serve as an occasion for the modern reader to focus on some overwhelming conclusions about philosophical life and philosophical education in Bulgaria. The second article deals with George Edward Moore.
Keywords: refutation, idealism, solipsism, Bulgarian philosophy.
Theodora Dimitrova – On the Top Ten Scientific Problems of Biological and Chemical Evolution
Abstract: In order to challenge the consistency of existing theories of chemical and biological evolution, Casey Luskin, the proponent of intelligent design (ID) , formulate d ten theses , which be later expounded in several texts . Failing to find a solution to the complex problem of o rigin of life within materialism/naturalism, he propose d using ID-theory. The article discusses the proposals of a number of leading scientists in this field, who, as the author argues, have not found suitable explanations of origin on the basis of the metaphysical assumptions they make.
Keywords: origins of life, evolutionary theory, Intelligent Design, Darwinism, neo-Darwinism, Casey Luskin.
Abstract: In order to challenge the consistency of existing theories of chemical and biological evolution, Casey Luskin, the proponent of intelligent design (ID) , formulate d ten theses , which be later expounded in several texts . Failing to find a solution to the complex problem of o rigin of life within materialism/naturalism, he propose d using ID-theory. The article discusses the proposals of a number of leading scientists in this field, who, as the author argues, have not found suitable explanations of origin on the basis of the metaphysical assumptions they make.
Keywords: origins of life, evolutionary theory, Intelligent Design, Darwinism, neo-Darwinism, Casey Luskin.
Rosen Stapov – Human Consciousness as a Cognitive-Emotive Whole
Ivanka Raynova – Ontology of the Ideal as Philosophical Praxis
Martin Tabakov – Rosen: faced with reality
Lilia Gurova – Personal Memories of Non-personal Things
Nonka Bogomilova – About Rosen and the „Fundamental Knot“
Elena Panova – One of the Eternal Problems of Philosophy
Sasho Markov – Ontologism: A Many-layered Methodological Programme
Ivanka Raynova – Ontology of the Ideal as Philosophical Praxis
Martin Tabakov – Rosen: faced with reality
Lilia Gurova – Personal Memories of Non-personal Things
Nonka Bogomilova – About Rosen and the „Fundamental Knot“
Elena Panova – One of the Eternal Problems of Philosophy
Sasho Markov – Ontologism: A Many-layered Methodological Programme
Dimitar Tsatsov – Remark: A Warning to the Reader Not to Believe Declarations of Honesty
Veselina Vasileva – Contemporary People Also Need Epictetus’ Advice
Veselina Vasileva – Contemporary People Also Need Epictetus’ Advice