Topic of the issue: PHILOSOPHY, SCIENCE, SOCIETY
Issue editors: Doroteya Angelova and Martin Tabakov
CONTENTS & Abstracts & Keywords
Doroteya Angelova – One Interpretation of Fuzzy Relevant Logic
Abstract: In the paper are presented briefly the most substantial features of fuzzy logic and relevant logic in relation to vague predicates and sorites paradoxes. Their advantages and disadvantages with respect to Priest’s fuzzy relevant logic are compared. The aim is to be provided arguments that fuzzy relevant logic could be used successfully to clarify the problem of vagueness. In this connection, I propose an interpretation of Priest’s logic that shows it is capable of modelling the sorites sequence.
Keywords: fuzzy relevant logic, vagueness, sorites paradox.
Svetla Yordanova – The Logical use of Variables and the Semantic Relationism
Abstract: Relation semantics is not a new approach in logic. Recently however, many logicians have been paying increasing attention to semantic relationism. There are different opinions on the latter. Some authors see semantic relationism as a very promising approach, while others believe there is nothing revolutionary in it. In this paper, I shall discuss how the semantic relational approach works as regards the proper use of variables in logic. On the one hand, I shall show the advantages of this approach in variables usage; on the other hand, my position is that the semantic relationism has a disadvantage when applied to certain non-declarative expressions (questions). The thesis of the article is that the proper logical use of variables should not be equated with semantic relationism in every case; otherwise, this would lead to a change of some logical properties of non-declarative expressions.
Keywords: semantic relationism, variables, logic, questions.
Nikolai Obreshkov – Formal Ontologies: Historical-philosophical and Historical-logical Analysis (Part 1)
Abstract: The author proposes certain possible historical-logical and philosophical approaches to the study of semantic structures in various logical systems. The character of these systems is independent of modal specification of operators and syntactic structure. There are three levels of semantic analysis here – a purely logical, a historical and a philosophical. Through these ways of research, it may be possible to ground an effective approach to the construction of certain interesting systems of formal phenomenology.
Keywords: logical systems, semantics, ontology, phenomenology.
Abstract: In the paper are presented briefly the most substantial features of fuzzy logic and relevant logic in relation to vague predicates and sorites paradoxes. Their advantages and disadvantages with respect to Priest’s fuzzy relevant logic are compared. The aim is to be provided arguments that fuzzy relevant logic could be used successfully to clarify the problem of vagueness. In this connection, I propose an interpretation of Priest’s logic that shows it is capable of modelling the sorites sequence.
Keywords: fuzzy relevant logic, vagueness, sorites paradox.
Svetla Yordanova – The Logical use of Variables and the Semantic Relationism
Abstract: Relation semantics is not a new approach in logic. Recently however, many logicians have been paying increasing attention to semantic relationism. There are different opinions on the latter. Some authors see semantic relationism as a very promising approach, while others believe there is nothing revolutionary in it. In this paper, I shall discuss how the semantic relational approach works as regards the proper use of variables in logic. On the one hand, I shall show the advantages of this approach in variables usage; on the other hand, my position is that the semantic relationism has a disadvantage when applied to certain non-declarative expressions (questions). The thesis of the article is that the proper logical use of variables should not be equated with semantic relationism in every case; otherwise, this would lead to a change of some logical properties of non-declarative expressions.
Keywords: semantic relationism, variables, logic, questions.
Nikolai Obreshkov – Formal Ontologies: Historical-philosophical and Historical-logical Analysis (Part 1)
Abstract: The author proposes certain possible historical-logical and philosophical approaches to the study of semantic structures in various logical systems. The character of these systems is independent of modal specification of operators and syntactic structure. There are three levels of semantic analysis here – a purely logical, a historical and a philosophical. Through these ways of research, it may be possible to ground an effective approach to the construction of certain interesting systems of formal phenomenology.
Keywords: logical systems, semantics, ontology, phenomenology.
Charles S. Peirce – Evolutionary Love
Abstract: The following essay by Charles S. Peirce is translated for the first time into Bulgarian. Originally published in 1893, it was the last text from Peirce’s metaphysical series written for the Monist. In it, he develops his doctrine of agapism, according to which the law of love is operative in the universe, and argues that, of the three kinds of evolution – by fortuitous variation, by mechanical necessity and by creative love – the third is the most fundamental.
Keywords: Charles S. Peirce, metaphysics, evolution, agapism, synechism, tychism, anancism.
Aleksandar Feodorov – The Evolutionary Cosmology of Charles S. Peirce
Abstract: The article presents the evolutionary cosmology of the great American philosopher Charles S. Peirce (1839–1914). For that purpose, the text features a short overview of his pragmatism and semiotics, in order to lead the reader to a comprehensive understanding of Peirce’s transition from nominalism to realism. The article then traces the consequences of Pierce’s adopting the doctrine of objective idealism and applying his three universal categories to the field of speculative thought and the problems of evolutionary growth. The last part of the article discusses the essay Evolutionary Love (1893), in which he developed his doctrines of tychism, anancism and agapism, according to which three evolutionary elements are active in the universe: chance, law and love (or sympathy).
Keywords: pragmatism, semiotics, evolution, tychism, anancism, agapism, synechism.
Petko Ganchev – Hierarchical systems – fundamental dependencies and vanguard factors in the universal evolution
Abstract: The paper analyzes fundamental dependencies between the various basic forms of the Universe in the course of Universal Evolution. These issues have been developed in greater detail in the author’s two-volume monograph „The Philosophy of Universal History as Fundamental Philosophy“ (vol. І, 2010; vol. II, 2012, Sofia).
The article also analyzes, for the first time in philosophical literature, various vanguard factors that have caused great revolutionary transitions in the course of Universal Evolution /Universal History.
Keywords: Universal Evolution, Universum, fundamental dependencies, logic of evolution, fundamental structure of the Universe.
Theodora Dimitrova – Systems Biology between Evolution and Intelligent Design
Abstract: Systems biology is a new biological discipline that has evolved since the beginning of the 21st century, although its roots can be traced back to the works of Ludwig von Bertalanffy, D'Arcy Thompson, Robert Rosen, and Denis Noble in the 1950s and 60s. It was aimed at overcoming the conceptual difficulties arising from the accumulation of a huge amount of experimental data in molecular biology, genetics and others fields, and the inability to use these data productively on the basis of the prevailing reductionist methodology.
Keywords: systems biology, neo-Darwinism, intelligent design, David Snoke.
Abstract: The following essay by Charles S. Peirce is translated for the first time into Bulgarian. Originally published in 1893, it was the last text from Peirce’s metaphysical series written for the Monist. In it, he develops his doctrine of agapism, according to which the law of love is operative in the universe, and argues that, of the three kinds of evolution – by fortuitous variation, by mechanical necessity and by creative love – the third is the most fundamental.
Keywords: Charles S. Peirce, metaphysics, evolution, agapism, synechism, tychism, anancism.
Aleksandar Feodorov – The Evolutionary Cosmology of Charles S. Peirce
Abstract: The article presents the evolutionary cosmology of the great American philosopher Charles S. Peirce (1839–1914). For that purpose, the text features a short overview of his pragmatism and semiotics, in order to lead the reader to a comprehensive understanding of Peirce’s transition from nominalism to realism. The article then traces the consequences of Pierce’s adopting the doctrine of objective idealism and applying his three universal categories to the field of speculative thought and the problems of evolutionary growth. The last part of the article discusses the essay Evolutionary Love (1893), in which he developed his doctrines of tychism, anancism and agapism, according to which three evolutionary elements are active in the universe: chance, law and love (or sympathy).
Keywords: pragmatism, semiotics, evolution, tychism, anancism, agapism, synechism.
Petko Ganchev – Hierarchical systems – fundamental dependencies and vanguard factors in the universal evolution
Abstract: The paper analyzes fundamental dependencies between the various basic forms of the Universe in the course of Universal Evolution. These issues have been developed in greater detail in the author’s two-volume monograph „The Philosophy of Universal History as Fundamental Philosophy“ (vol. І, 2010; vol. II, 2012, Sofia).
The article also analyzes, for the first time in philosophical literature, various vanguard factors that have caused great revolutionary transitions in the course of Universal Evolution /Universal History.
Keywords: Universal Evolution, Universum, fundamental dependencies, logic of evolution, fundamental structure of the Universe.
Theodora Dimitrova – Systems Biology between Evolution and Intelligent Design
Abstract: Systems biology is a new biological discipline that has evolved since the beginning of the 21st century, although its roots can be traced back to the works of Ludwig von Bertalanffy, D'Arcy Thompson, Robert Rosen, and Denis Noble in the 1950s and 60s. It was aimed at overcoming the conceptual difficulties arising from the accumulation of a huge amount of experimental data in molecular biology, genetics and others fields, and the inability to use these data productively on the basis of the prevailing reductionist methodology.
Keywords: systems biology, neo-Darwinism, intelligent design, David Snoke.
Ivan Katsarski – Philosophy and Social Theory in Karl Marx’s Kreuznach Manuscript (Part 1)
Abstract: The study deals with Marx’s Kreuznach manuscript (summer, 1843). The manuscript has two basic layers of analysis: a general philosophical one and a specific one related to social theory; they are interconnected but not of equal value. The author argues that Marx’s general philosophical scheme, regardless of Marx’s claims, does not differ in principle from the Hegelian one; this is a source of great conceptual difficulties, which are latent in this manuscript but, logically, appear in later works as well. From a contemporary point of view, the value of the manuscript lies in its social theoretical analysis, which includes ideas on the structure of history, of modern society and of modern democracy.
Keywords: Marx, Hegel, Kreuznach manuscript, civil society, private property, monarchy, aristocracy, bureaucracy, democracy.
Martin Tabakov – Marxism after the Collapse of the System (A Logical Side View)(Part2) Abstract: The problem with Marxism is that it became the official ideology of an undemocratic system. Do Marxists today recognize this system as a fulfillment of their ideas, or do they consider that it abused those ideas?
The determining relations are the functional ones: „rulers and ruled“, „empowered and powerless“.
Marxism also became an official ideology by which a superpower (an empire) justified its right to rule over and control a whole bloc of countries. Marxism would be hard to revive today if it is prepared to recognize the USSR as a fulfillment of Marxist ideas!
In fact, the economic nomenklatura of the totalitarian party and its secret service were, and still are, a „comprador bourgeoisie“.
Bulgarian Russophile Marxists should rethink their stance. A „Russophile“ is a connoisseur of Russian culture, which he likes, admires and publicly supports. He is not one who „defends Russian imperial geopolitical interests“. A „Russophile“ should also have sympathy for „Czarist Russia“, but Bulgarian Marxists sharply criticized it during a long period.
Practically and legally, serfs in Russia were in a similar position as slaves in the US.
Marxism is related to the European system of values, while, according to many specialists, the Russian nation has a different value system. It is disputable how close the Bulgarian national psychology is to the Russian one.
Keywords: Marxism, ideology, superpower, empire, USSR, Russia, value system, geopolitics, nomenklatura, comprador bourgeoisie, Russophile.
Dimitar Ganov – TTIP and Surplus Value
Abstract: The article examines the proposed agreement Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership (TTIP) in the perspective of Rosa Luxemburg’s interpretative schema regarding the expansion of capitalist social relations beyond their own sphere. The author presents a specific interpretation of the notion of „precapitalist social relations“ and their relation to the capitalist.
Keywords: surplus value, capitalist social relations, precapitalist social relations, work, working time, TTIP.
Hristina Ambareva – How Hacker Ethics Prepared a Coup in the Heart of Neoliberal Capitalism
Abstract: The article addresses the question whether it could be said that the ethics of informationalism provides an alternative to the basic tools of capitalism, such as private ownership over the means of production and wage labor, and whether changes caused by the Internet culture accompany the decay of capitalism. The author’s answer to the question is influenced by M. Castells’s book The Internet Galaxy and P. Himanen’s Hacker Ethics.
The most important elements of hacker ethics are the rejection of private ownership over knowledge and the creation of the Open Source licenses. The ethics of informationalism is a source of positive social change because it initiates the Open Source movement, large-scale voluntary work in the Web, ideas about the freedom of the Internet and access to the Internet for all. The role of the Internet for overcoming social inequalities stems from the fact that it overcomes the limitations of time and space, social isolation, and invisibility. The social role of the Internet stems from the rise of a new type of citizenship, which employs an increasing number of ever better instruments for participation in society.
Keywords: Marx, Internet culture, hacker ethics, social inequality, open source, digital citizen
Abstract: The study deals with Marx’s Kreuznach manuscript (summer, 1843). The manuscript has two basic layers of analysis: a general philosophical one and a specific one related to social theory; they are interconnected but not of equal value. The author argues that Marx’s general philosophical scheme, regardless of Marx’s claims, does not differ in principle from the Hegelian one; this is a source of great conceptual difficulties, which are latent in this manuscript but, logically, appear in later works as well. From a contemporary point of view, the value of the manuscript lies in its social theoretical analysis, which includes ideas on the structure of history, of modern society and of modern democracy.
Keywords: Marx, Hegel, Kreuznach manuscript, civil society, private property, monarchy, aristocracy, bureaucracy, democracy.
Martin Tabakov – Marxism after the Collapse of the System (A Logical Side View)(Part2) Abstract: The problem with Marxism is that it became the official ideology of an undemocratic system. Do Marxists today recognize this system as a fulfillment of their ideas, or do they consider that it abused those ideas?
The determining relations are the functional ones: „rulers and ruled“, „empowered and powerless“.
Marxism also became an official ideology by which a superpower (an empire) justified its right to rule over and control a whole bloc of countries. Marxism would be hard to revive today if it is prepared to recognize the USSR as a fulfillment of Marxist ideas!
In fact, the economic nomenklatura of the totalitarian party and its secret service were, and still are, a „comprador bourgeoisie“.
Bulgarian Russophile Marxists should rethink their stance. A „Russophile“ is a connoisseur of Russian culture, which he likes, admires and publicly supports. He is not one who „defends Russian imperial geopolitical interests“. A „Russophile“ should also have sympathy for „Czarist Russia“, but Bulgarian Marxists sharply criticized it during a long period.
Practically and legally, serfs in Russia were in a similar position as slaves in the US.
Marxism is related to the European system of values, while, according to many specialists, the Russian nation has a different value system. It is disputable how close the Bulgarian national psychology is to the Russian one.
Keywords: Marxism, ideology, superpower, empire, USSR, Russia, value system, geopolitics, nomenklatura, comprador bourgeoisie, Russophile.
Dimitar Ganov – TTIP and Surplus Value
Abstract: The article examines the proposed agreement Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership (TTIP) in the perspective of Rosa Luxemburg’s interpretative schema regarding the expansion of capitalist social relations beyond their own sphere. The author presents a specific interpretation of the notion of „precapitalist social relations“ and their relation to the capitalist.
Keywords: surplus value, capitalist social relations, precapitalist social relations, work, working time, TTIP.
Hristina Ambareva – How Hacker Ethics Prepared a Coup in the Heart of Neoliberal Capitalism
Abstract: The article addresses the question whether it could be said that the ethics of informationalism provides an alternative to the basic tools of capitalism, such as private ownership over the means of production and wage labor, and whether changes caused by the Internet culture accompany the decay of capitalism. The author’s answer to the question is influenced by M. Castells’s book The Internet Galaxy and P. Himanen’s Hacker Ethics.
The most important elements of hacker ethics are the rejection of private ownership over knowledge and the creation of the Open Source licenses. The ethics of informationalism is a source of positive social change because it initiates the Open Source movement, large-scale voluntary work in the Web, ideas about the freedom of the Internet and access to the Internet for all. The role of the Internet for overcoming social inequalities stems from the fact that it overcomes the limitations of time and space, social isolation, and invisibility. The social role of the Internet stems from the rise of a new type of citizenship, which employs an increasing number of ever better instruments for participation in society.
Keywords: Marx, Internet culture, hacker ethics, social inequality, open source, digital citizen
Duhomir Minev, Maria Jeliazkova – Roots of the Crisis in EU: Public Policies, Citizenship, Democracy and Manipulation
Abstract: The article presents the results of civil monitoring of basic documents (Annual Growth Survey, Country Specific Recommendations, and National Reform Programmes) of the EU annual political cycle (European Semester). The period of monitoring includes the last two years of the European Commission chaired by Jose Manuel Baroso. The monitoring identifies signs of intentional cognitive distortions in the elaboration of the documents and, as a consequence, the appearance of a new informal layer of policies whose aims do not coincide with the publicly announced aims of the Semester.
Keywords: European Semester, Annual Growth Survey, Country Specific Recommendations, National Reform Programs, civil monitoring, manipulation, non-public policies.
Momchil Badzhakov – Is Objective Political Analysis Possible?
Abstract: The article aims to problematize the grounds of political science as regards the very possibility it can be a science per se. In this connection, the author examines the connection between scientific objectivity, value neutrality and impartiality. The article argues that, in order to be objective, political science must be impartial but cannot always be value neutral. In other words, Max Weber's requirement for value neutrality of science should not be taken in an absolute sense. Otherwise, attaining scientific truth, especially when analysing intractable political conflicts, may prove impossible.
Keywords: scientific objectivity, value neutrality, impartiality, political values, intractable conflicts.
Abstract: The article presents the results of civil monitoring of basic documents (Annual Growth Survey, Country Specific Recommendations, and National Reform Programmes) of the EU annual political cycle (European Semester). The period of monitoring includes the last two years of the European Commission chaired by Jose Manuel Baroso. The monitoring identifies signs of intentional cognitive distortions in the elaboration of the documents and, as a consequence, the appearance of a new informal layer of policies whose aims do not coincide with the publicly announced aims of the Semester.
Keywords: European Semester, Annual Growth Survey, Country Specific Recommendations, National Reform Programs, civil monitoring, manipulation, non-public policies.
Momchil Badzhakov – Is Objective Political Analysis Possible?
Abstract: The article aims to problematize the grounds of political science as regards the very possibility it can be a science per se. In this connection, the author examines the connection between scientific objectivity, value neutrality and impartiality. The article argues that, in order to be objective, political science must be impartial but cannot always be value neutral. In other words, Max Weber's requirement for value neutrality of science should not be taken in an absolute sense. Otherwise, attaining scientific truth, especially when analysing intractable political conflicts, may prove impossible.
Keywords: scientific objectivity, value neutrality, impartiality, political values, intractable conflicts.
Sergey Gerdzhikov – Vicious Circles (On the Present-day Level of Philosophical Education)
Abstract: The article analyses aspects of the contemporary situation of education related to the philosophical disciplines in secondary schools and, respectively, in tertiary schools. The author attempts to provide a complex diagnosis, general conclusion, and recommendations.
Keywords: Philosophy, education, standards, Bulgaria
Abstract: The article analyses aspects of the contemporary situation of education related to the philosophical disciplines in secondary schools and, respectively, in tertiary schools. The author attempts to provide a complex diagnosis, general conclusion, and recommendations.
Keywords: Philosophy, education, standards, Bulgaria
Stoyan Stavru – Ecology and Ethics have a Common Home: the 10th National Conference on Ethics
Nina Dimitrova – Experiencing Death in Dostoyevsky
Kiril Popov – Poetry Commensurate with the Pure Existential
Kiril Popov – Poetry Commensurate with the Pure Existential