Topic of the Issue: „PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURE”
Issue editor: Kamelia Zhabilova
CONTENTS& Abstracts & Keywords
Nikolay Turlakov – The Existential Phenomenology of the Forest in Nikolay Haytov's Hornbeam Leaves
Abstract: This essay attempts to outline the authentic existential phenomenology of the forest, and specifically, the existential meaning and feeling related to hornbeam and oak trees, in Haytov's famous work Hornbeam Leaves. The article argues that in this book, Haytov`s insightful descriptions of trees, of the hornbeam and the oak, the pine and the creeping pine, the beech and the hazel, etc., deploy an amazing existential phenomenology of the Bulgarian forest, which amounts to no less than a genuine phenomenology of the Bulgarian soul.
Keywords: forest, mountain, meaning, authenticity, the people's soul, literature, existential phenomenology.
Plamen Antov – Vazov: Literature and Philosophy of History
Abstract: This article summarizes the author's theses presented in his larger monograph devoted to the works of Ivan Vazov (the absolute national classic) written in the 1880s. The poetic cycle Epic of the Forgotten (1881–84), the novella Uncles (1885) and the epic novel Under the Yoke (1888) not only constitute the absolute core of the national literary canon, but have also been seen as a complete model of the national philosophy of history, of the Bulgarian collective being in History. The article examines two important points. The first is related to how these major works (the Epic, Uncles and Under the Yoke) construct Vazov's national-ideological and national-philosophical model in terms of the Hegelian dialectic of thesis–antithesis–synthesis. The second point is related to how this Vazovian model is significantly placed in the framework of two figures – the national hero Vasil Levski (in Epic) and the idiot Muncho (in Under the Yoke) – that are both contrasting and functionally identical. The article analyzes their “high” historical-philosophical representative features.
Keywords: Vazov's “high” national-ideological literary works in the 1880s, the national philosophy of history, Hegel's dialectic (thesis–antithesis–synthesis).
Abstract: This essay attempts to outline the authentic existential phenomenology of the forest, and specifically, the existential meaning and feeling related to hornbeam and oak trees, in Haytov's famous work Hornbeam Leaves. The article argues that in this book, Haytov`s insightful descriptions of trees, of the hornbeam and the oak, the pine and the creeping pine, the beech and the hazel, etc., deploy an amazing existential phenomenology of the Bulgarian forest, which amounts to no less than a genuine phenomenology of the Bulgarian soul.
Keywords: forest, mountain, meaning, authenticity, the people's soul, literature, existential phenomenology.
Plamen Antov – Vazov: Literature and Philosophy of History
Abstract: This article summarizes the author's theses presented in his larger monograph devoted to the works of Ivan Vazov (the absolute national classic) written in the 1880s. The poetic cycle Epic of the Forgotten (1881–84), the novella Uncles (1885) and the epic novel Under the Yoke (1888) not only constitute the absolute core of the national literary canon, but have also been seen as a complete model of the national philosophy of history, of the Bulgarian collective being in History. The article examines two important points. The first is related to how these major works (the Epic, Uncles and Under the Yoke) construct Vazov's national-ideological and national-philosophical model in terms of the Hegelian dialectic of thesis–antithesis–synthesis. The second point is related to how this Vazovian model is significantly placed in the framework of two figures – the national hero Vasil Levski (in Epic) and the idiot Muncho (in Under the Yoke) – that are both contrasting and functionally identical. The article analyzes their “high” historical-philosophical representative features.
Keywords: Vazov's “high” national-ideological literary works in the 1880s, the national philosophy of history, Hegel's dialectic (thesis–antithesis–synthesis).
Anani Stoynev – A Possible Interpretation of On the Island of the Blissful
Abstract: The article proposes a new, “ontological”, interpretation of Pencho Slaveykov's anthology On the Island of the Blessed. This is Slaveykov's obsessively Nietzschean book, and hence is analyzed in terms of fundamental modes of Nietzsche's internally changeable philosophy (transformed by Slaveykov in the anthology) such as perspective, interpretation, play, mask. The article analyzes the changeability of the Self and the subject, which is fundamental to the changeability of the universal poetic subject of the anthology, embodied by Slaveykov, who unfolds in a multiplicity of real poetical presences in the text.
Keywords: Slaveykov, Nietzsche, interpretation, perspective, play, mask, universal poetic subject, real poetical presences.
Nina Dimitrova – Antichrist. Nietzsche and Yanko Yanev: the Original and the Epigone
Abstract: The article is focused on the specific veneration that the Bulgarian poet and philosopher Yanko Yanev felt for Nietzsche, in memory of whom, in 1926, he published a book entitled Antichrist, conceived, planned and written to express Yanev's complete agreement and identification with the German philosopher. In the book, Yanev lends the aura of divinity to Nietzsche. The article points out that this book was preceded and followed by other works specifically devoted to Nietzsche and discussing the impact of the latter's legacy on the world many years after his death. Yanev's early philosophical-poetical works, published in the journal Listopad, present this Bulgarian author in a way that has led him to be viewed, by the public at that time, as a sort of Nietzsche of the Balkans. Interpretations of Thus Spoke Zarathustra are central to Yanev's thought. But even in his earliest works devoted to Nietzsche, certain discrepancies between Yanev and his favorite author begin to appear. The shade of difference stems from the fact that Nietzsche is very definite in his anti-Christian assertions, while the Bulgarian author does not seem aware that he is going beyond Nietzsche's stark negation and is in fact seeking a synthesis of contraries – in the terminology of Dostoyevsky (another author whom Yanev holds in reverence), a synthesis of the Divine-Human and Human-Divine. We see this gradually deepening change in Yanev's articles in the newpaper Pryaporets in the late 1920s and early 1930s. In other words, regardless of what Yanev's initial intentions might have been, the “prestigious connection” expressed by this Bulgarian reading of Nietzsche's works consists, in fact, of a synthesis between the Nietzschean Übermensch and the Christian God-Man.
Keywords: Interwar period, Yanko Yanev, Nietzsche, Antichrist, Übermensch, God-Man.
Dimitar Tsatsov – Emanuil Popdimitrov: Both Philosophy and Àrt!
Abstract: The article compares P. Slaveykov, Y. Yanev and E. Popdimitrov in respect to the relation between philosophy and art (literature). Pencho Slaveykov begins with the philosophy of Nietzsche, but remains entirely in the context of literature. Conversely, Yanko Yanev begins with poetry, but remains entirely in philosophy, while Emanuil Popdimitrov combines both in his works. This thesis is illustrated by an analysis of Popdimitrov's philosophical views and poetical works.
Keywords: Bergson, creativity, intuition, evolution, transfiguration.
Kamelia Zhabilova – The Bulgarian Zarathustra. Between Translation and Reading (Pencho Slaveykov and Nikolay Raynov)
Abstract: Undoubtedly, the perception of Nietzsche's work by philosophers belonging to other nations and cultures is a particularly popular topic in world history of philosophy. Numerous studies have recently been devoted to Nietzsche's influence on the spiritual traditions not only of Western and Eastern Europe but also of America and Asia. The Nietzsche Style is a challenge, equally in its provoking ideas, its “non-academic discourse” and with regard to its translation. This article aims to outline the general reception of Nietzsche's ideas in Bulgarian culture seen through the various Bulgarian translations of Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
Keywords: Nietzsche, reception of Nietzsche's philosophy, Ðencho Slaveykov, Nikolay Raynov.
Abstract: The article proposes a new, “ontological”, interpretation of Pencho Slaveykov's anthology On the Island of the Blessed. This is Slaveykov's obsessively Nietzschean book, and hence is analyzed in terms of fundamental modes of Nietzsche's internally changeable philosophy (transformed by Slaveykov in the anthology) such as perspective, interpretation, play, mask. The article analyzes the changeability of the Self and the subject, which is fundamental to the changeability of the universal poetic subject of the anthology, embodied by Slaveykov, who unfolds in a multiplicity of real poetical presences in the text.
Keywords: Slaveykov, Nietzsche, interpretation, perspective, play, mask, universal poetic subject, real poetical presences.
Nina Dimitrova – Antichrist. Nietzsche and Yanko Yanev: the Original and the Epigone
Abstract: The article is focused on the specific veneration that the Bulgarian poet and philosopher Yanko Yanev felt for Nietzsche, in memory of whom, in 1926, he published a book entitled Antichrist, conceived, planned and written to express Yanev's complete agreement and identification with the German philosopher. In the book, Yanev lends the aura of divinity to Nietzsche. The article points out that this book was preceded and followed by other works specifically devoted to Nietzsche and discussing the impact of the latter's legacy on the world many years after his death. Yanev's early philosophical-poetical works, published in the journal Listopad, present this Bulgarian author in a way that has led him to be viewed, by the public at that time, as a sort of Nietzsche of the Balkans. Interpretations of Thus Spoke Zarathustra are central to Yanev's thought. But even in his earliest works devoted to Nietzsche, certain discrepancies between Yanev and his favorite author begin to appear. The shade of difference stems from the fact that Nietzsche is very definite in his anti-Christian assertions, while the Bulgarian author does not seem aware that he is going beyond Nietzsche's stark negation and is in fact seeking a synthesis of contraries – in the terminology of Dostoyevsky (another author whom Yanev holds in reverence), a synthesis of the Divine-Human and Human-Divine. We see this gradually deepening change in Yanev's articles in the newpaper Pryaporets in the late 1920s and early 1930s. In other words, regardless of what Yanev's initial intentions might have been, the “prestigious connection” expressed by this Bulgarian reading of Nietzsche's works consists, in fact, of a synthesis between the Nietzschean Übermensch and the Christian God-Man.
Keywords: Interwar period, Yanko Yanev, Nietzsche, Antichrist, Übermensch, God-Man.
Dimitar Tsatsov – Emanuil Popdimitrov: Both Philosophy and Àrt!
Abstract: The article compares P. Slaveykov, Y. Yanev and E. Popdimitrov in respect to the relation between philosophy and art (literature). Pencho Slaveykov begins with the philosophy of Nietzsche, but remains entirely in the context of literature. Conversely, Yanko Yanev begins with poetry, but remains entirely in philosophy, while Emanuil Popdimitrov combines both in his works. This thesis is illustrated by an analysis of Popdimitrov's philosophical views and poetical works.
Keywords: Bergson, creativity, intuition, evolution, transfiguration.
Kamelia Zhabilova – The Bulgarian Zarathustra. Between Translation and Reading (Pencho Slaveykov and Nikolay Raynov)
Abstract: Undoubtedly, the perception of Nietzsche's work by philosophers belonging to other nations and cultures is a particularly popular topic in world history of philosophy. Numerous studies have recently been devoted to Nietzsche's influence on the spiritual traditions not only of Western and Eastern Europe but also of America and Asia. The Nietzsche Style is a challenge, equally in its provoking ideas, its “non-academic discourse” and with regard to its translation. This article aims to outline the general reception of Nietzsche's ideas in Bulgarian culture seen through the various Bulgarian translations of Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
Keywords: Nietzsche, reception of Nietzsche's philosophy, Ðencho Slaveykov, Nikolay Raynov.
Ivanka Stapova – The Bulgarian Trace and the Problem of the Divided Personality
Abstract: The article is built around three themes: a focus on the problem of the divided personality and the destructive role of the double; a few remarks on the figure of the devil; and several illustrations related to the split personality, taken from works by Bulgarian diabolists. The author's theoretical analyses of the divided personality in Bulgarian literature, especially as depicted by the Bulgarian diabolists, are supported by the works of Vladimir Polyanov and Svetoslav Minkov, who are the main writers pertaining to this literary current.
Keywords: divided personality, devil, crisis of identification, depersonalization, Vladimir Polyanov, Svetoslav Minkov, diabolism.
Tatyana Batuleva – Charles Nodier's Fantastic Universe. From Smarra, or The Demons of Night
Abstract: The text, which includes translated excerpts from Charles Nodier's novel Smarra, or The Demons of Night, attempts to present a reading of the fantastic world depicted by Nodier interpreted through Sartre's essay “Aminadab, or The Fantastic Considered as a Language”: it covers the whole universe and cannot remain at the level of the event. It represents the inverted image of the union between soul and body, and the rebellion of the tools against the goals. This inverted world amounts to a different way of seeing our human reality.
Keywords: Nodier, fantastic, fantastic universe/event, imagination, rational-irrational, dreams.
Ivan Marinov – Schopenhauer in the Prehistory of Psychoanalysis? Some Notes
Abstract: This article examines Schopenhauer's impact on psychoanalysis in relation to Freud's intellectual evolution. The historical origin of some common psychoanalytic concepts is discussed in close connection to Schopenhauer's voluntaristic psychology.
Keywords: Schopenhauer, Freud, psychoanalysis.
Abstract: The article is built around three themes: a focus on the problem of the divided personality and the destructive role of the double; a few remarks on the figure of the devil; and several illustrations related to the split personality, taken from works by Bulgarian diabolists. The author's theoretical analyses of the divided personality in Bulgarian literature, especially as depicted by the Bulgarian diabolists, are supported by the works of Vladimir Polyanov and Svetoslav Minkov, who are the main writers pertaining to this literary current.
Keywords: divided personality, devil, crisis of identification, depersonalization, Vladimir Polyanov, Svetoslav Minkov, diabolism.
Tatyana Batuleva – Charles Nodier's Fantastic Universe. From Smarra, or The Demons of Night
Abstract: The text, which includes translated excerpts from Charles Nodier's novel Smarra, or The Demons of Night, attempts to present a reading of the fantastic world depicted by Nodier interpreted through Sartre's essay “Aminadab, or The Fantastic Considered as a Language”: it covers the whole universe and cannot remain at the level of the event. It represents the inverted image of the union between soul and body, and the rebellion of the tools against the goals. This inverted world amounts to a different way of seeing our human reality.
Keywords: Nodier, fantastic, fantastic universe/event, imagination, rational-irrational, dreams.
Ivan Marinov – Schopenhauer in the Prehistory of Psychoanalysis? Some Notes
Abstract: This article examines Schopenhauer's impact on psychoanalysis in relation to Freud's intellectual evolution. The historical origin of some common psychoanalytic concepts is discussed in close connection to Schopenhauer's voluntaristic psychology.
Keywords: Schopenhauer, Freud, psychoanalysis.
Krasimir Delchev – Philosophy of the Concept of Artifact. The Importance of Artifacts in Personal-biographical, Tribal, State, National, and World History
Abstract: This article investigates the concept of “artifact”.
Keywords: art, culture, technique, philosophy
Viorella Manolache – The Posthuman Ñondition of Europe
Abstract: The present study, focused on the concept of posthuman condition, aims to warn, monitor and comment on the path started / traced from the condition of postmodernity / postmodern condition to the posthuman condition. This approach will focus on a case-by-case analysis, after a thorough re-examination, and on a double counting, applied to “scores” that focus on new philosophical-political data. These influence the creative dimensions and the combining of the prefix post-, managing to modify it, adjust it, and orient it towards particular rebirths and uses. Recognizing the existence of the posthuman condition and inventing ways of accommodating the human to posthuman demands, the positioning of current crises explicitly calls for new benchmarks, transferring them from the theoretical level to the field of practical questions. With regard to the changing configurations of Europe and the world, the posthuman condition generates news, concern, up to the minute issues, a recent paradigm not only in the academic-scientific area, but also in the area of institutional and legislative resolutions and initiatives. Aware (via Habermas) of the enthusiasm and the anxiety that such post-positioning involves, Rosi Braidotti offers a set of clarifications which she considers to be essential for clarifying and redefining the role of Europe in the light of the posthuman condition, which is, in fact, a plea for the launching of a posthuman project of Europe.
Keywords: the condition of postmodernity/postmodern condition, posthuman condition, Lyotard-Harvey, Habermas-Braidotti, posthuman security, affirmative politics.
Abstract: This article investigates the concept of “artifact”.
Keywords: art, culture, technique, philosophy
Viorella Manolache – The Posthuman Ñondition of Europe
Abstract: The present study, focused on the concept of posthuman condition, aims to warn, monitor and comment on the path started / traced from the condition of postmodernity / postmodern condition to the posthuman condition. This approach will focus on a case-by-case analysis, after a thorough re-examination, and on a double counting, applied to “scores” that focus on new philosophical-political data. These influence the creative dimensions and the combining of the prefix post-, managing to modify it, adjust it, and orient it towards particular rebirths and uses. Recognizing the existence of the posthuman condition and inventing ways of accommodating the human to posthuman demands, the positioning of current crises explicitly calls for new benchmarks, transferring them from the theoretical level to the field of practical questions. With regard to the changing configurations of Europe and the world, the posthuman condition generates news, concern, up to the minute issues, a recent paradigm not only in the academic-scientific area, but also in the area of institutional and legislative resolutions and initiatives. Aware (via Habermas) of the enthusiasm and the anxiety that such post-positioning involves, Rosi Braidotti offers a set of clarifications which she considers to be essential for clarifying and redefining the role of Europe in the light of the posthuman condition, which is, in fact, a plea for the launching of a posthuman project of Europe.
Keywords: the condition of postmodernity/postmodern condition, posthuman condition, Lyotard-Harvey, Habermas-Braidotti, posthuman security, affirmative politics.
Spiridon Kazandjiev – A Look at the Works of Dr. Krastev
Yanko Yanev – Pencho Slaveykov
Atanas Iliev – Artistic and Scientific Creativity
Yanko Yanev – Pencho Slaveykov
Atanas Iliev – Artistic and Scientific Creativity
Valentin Kanawrow – Fundamental Essay on the Hermeneutical Approach Towards Ethics
Anton Donchev, Madelaine Angelova, Marina Bakalova, Dimitar Elchinov, Lilia Gurova –The 9th European Congress of Analytic Philosophy (ECAP 9)
Abstract: We present an overview of the 9th European Congress of Analytic Philosophy (ECAP 9), held from August 21 to 26, 2017, at Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich. The article begins with the presentation of some general information about the congress and its history. Then we focus on the main topics of the congress, including its plenary talks and symposia. Three ongoing tendencies in contemporary analytic philosophy are outlined: 1) a widening of the scope of analytic philosophy (now including disciplines such as analytic metaphysics and analytic aesthetics); 2) a blurring of the lines between the traditional philosophical disciplines (e.g., between methodology of science and analytic metaphysics, or between analytic epistemology and ethics); 3) the addition of new methods in the toolbox of traditional analytic philosophy (such as computer simulations and even experimental techniques). Last but not least, we note the considerable Bulgarian presence at ECAP 9, and argue that the road towards a regular strong Bulgarian presence at international philosophical congresses goes through an educational reform that emphasizes building skills for clear and consistent argumentative writing.
Keywords: analytic philosophy, congress, ECAP 9, European Society for Analytic Philosophy, Bulgarian participation.
Anton Donchev, Madelaine Angelova, Marina Bakalova, Dimitar Elchinov, Lilia Gurova –The 9th European Congress of Analytic Philosophy (ECAP 9)
Abstract: We present an overview of the 9th European Congress of Analytic Philosophy (ECAP 9), held from August 21 to 26, 2017, at Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich. The article begins with the presentation of some general information about the congress and its history. Then we focus on the main topics of the congress, including its plenary talks and symposia. Three ongoing tendencies in contemporary analytic philosophy are outlined: 1) a widening of the scope of analytic philosophy (now including disciplines such as analytic metaphysics and analytic aesthetics); 2) a blurring of the lines between the traditional philosophical disciplines (e.g., between methodology of science and analytic metaphysics, or between analytic epistemology and ethics); 3) the addition of new methods in the toolbox of traditional analytic philosophy (such as computer simulations and even experimental techniques). Last but not least, we note the considerable Bulgarian presence at ECAP 9, and argue that the road towards a regular strong Bulgarian presence at international philosophical congresses goes through an educational reform that emphasizes building skills for clear and consistent argumentative writing.
Keywords: analytic philosophy, congress, ECAP 9, European Society for Analytic Philosophy, Bulgarian participation.
Lyudmila Ivancheva – Erika Lazarova: A Remarkable Bulgarian Science Studies Scholar, Methodologist, and Historian of Science
Iliyana Ermolina – Like Moving on a Taut String over an Abyss
Iliyana Ermolina – Like Moving on a Taut String over an Abyss