Topic of the Issue: POWER, IDEOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY
Issue editors: Dimitar Ganov and Valeri Lichev
CONTENTS & Abstracts & Keywords
Petar Cholakov – John of Paris on Property and Resistance against Power
Abstract: The paper explores the views of John of Paris on property and resistance, as expressed in his treatise On Royal and Papal Power. The chief contribution of the Dominican monk to the debate on the limitations of government consists in his arguments in support of his view that the encroachment of property justifies initiating actions against the powers that be. This stance remains far removed from the subsequent liberal discourse on the natural rights of man. The essential difference between the mediaeval and the liberal ideas on resistance stems from the fact that the latter give prominence not to the importance of the Christian community, but to the value of individual, to his inherent inalienable sphere, in which the state must not interfere.
Keywords: John of Paris, medieval ideas on property, resistance against power, medieval constitutionalism, natural rights of man.
Iva Kuyumdjieva – Ideology as Structures and Ideologies as Narratives
Abstract: This article discusses the problem of “deideologization” as an element of modern ideological production in Bulgaria after the fall of state socialism. It systematizes different theoretical approaches to conceptualizing the term “ideology” and presents an overview of two models of interpreting how ideology works: in terms of multiple narratives and in terms of ideology as a power structure. The emphasis of the article is on the analysis of the structural path to dealing with the problem of ideology in the works of post-Marxists such as Althusser, Foucault and Bourdieu. In situating their theories in the contemporary context, the author aims to create an instrument for the analysis of the working of ideology today as a set of formalized ideological apparatuses of the government and as informal networks of institutions and individuals whose actions are not determined by a homogenized and “canonized” ideological narrative.
Keywords: ideology, structures, strategy, ideological apparatuses, deideologization.
Hristo Prodanov – The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Digital Postcapitalisms
Abstract: The new information and communication technologies (ICT), on which the Fourth Industrial Revolution is based, are bringing about unprecedentedly rapid and large-scale changes to societies and economy. In the view of many scholars, these technologies are paving the way to post-capitalism. The conceptions of post-capitalism presented by Paul Mason and Jeremy Rifkin are gaining in popularity. According to Rifkin, ICT are creating the so-called “collaborative commons”, which are in a permanent struggle with the capitalist market and are becoming a formative factor of a new “hybrid economy”. According to Mason, the capitalist system of today is breaking down due to growing consumer debts and deficits, and decreasing industrial production. These ideas are debatable because they do not make sufficiently clear how the growth of of social inequality could be prevented and who could be the agent of post-capitalist transformation.
Keywords: Digital post-capitalism, Fourth Technological Revolution, collaborative commons, prosumerism, marginal cost, digital platforms, underclass, digital networks, digital capitalism, hybrid economy, internet of things.
Ivan Katzarski – The Failures of the Left and the Rise of Right Extremism
Abstract: In the last decades, left-wing parties and movements have been losing the positions they held in the first decades after World War II. Leaving aside objective factors, this is largely due to the suicidal behavior of the social democratic left, which became part of the new liberal consensus. At least in the richest societies, the left has lost its authentic sensitivity, has become weak, has become fragmented, and largely has lost its international character. As paradoxical as it may be, the extreme right has started to identify with traditionally left causes: against the expansion of transnational corporations, against the “American system” as an embodiment of contemporary economic, military, media and cultural dominance, and for the protection of national communities and cultures. The extreme right has turned towards the people who lose by new liberal policies and, in fact, is gaining their approval not on the basis of leftist universalist principles but on the basis of ideas of national and “Aryan” racial solidarity. Contrary to cliches regarding the impossibility of international cooperation between ultra nationalist formations, the extreme right has turned out capable of uniting ideologically and organizationally at a trans-national level. Here lies the secret of its success among diverse groups of the population. For its opponents, this makes it a hard nut to crack.
Keywords: failure of the left, progress of the right, extremism, new liberal consensus, war and antimilitary movement
Abstract: The paper explores the views of John of Paris on property and resistance, as expressed in his treatise On Royal and Papal Power. The chief contribution of the Dominican monk to the debate on the limitations of government consists in his arguments in support of his view that the encroachment of property justifies initiating actions against the powers that be. This stance remains far removed from the subsequent liberal discourse on the natural rights of man. The essential difference between the mediaeval and the liberal ideas on resistance stems from the fact that the latter give prominence not to the importance of the Christian community, but to the value of individual, to his inherent inalienable sphere, in which the state must not interfere.
Keywords: John of Paris, medieval ideas on property, resistance against power, medieval constitutionalism, natural rights of man.
Iva Kuyumdjieva – Ideology as Structures and Ideologies as Narratives
Abstract: This article discusses the problem of “deideologization” as an element of modern ideological production in Bulgaria after the fall of state socialism. It systematizes different theoretical approaches to conceptualizing the term “ideology” and presents an overview of two models of interpreting how ideology works: in terms of multiple narratives and in terms of ideology as a power structure. The emphasis of the article is on the analysis of the structural path to dealing with the problem of ideology in the works of post-Marxists such as Althusser, Foucault and Bourdieu. In situating their theories in the contemporary context, the author aims to create an instrument for the analysis of the working of ideology today as a set of formalized ideological apparatuses of the government and as informal networks of institutions and individuals whose actions are not determined by a homogenized and “canonized” ideological narrative.
Keywords: ideology, structures, strategy, ideological apparatuses, deideologization.
Hristo Prodanov – The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Digital Postcapitalisms
Abstract: The new information and communication technologies (ICT), on which the Fourth Industrial Revolution is based, are bringing about unprecedentedly rapid and large-scale changes to societies and economy. In the view of many scholars, these technologies are paving the way to post-capitalism. The conceptions of post-capitalism presented by Paul Mason and Jeremy Rifkin are gaining in popularity. According to Rifkin, ICT are creating the so-called “collaborative commons”, which are in a permanent struggle with the capitalist market and are becoming a formative factor of a new “hybrid economy”. According to Mason, the capitalist system of today is breaking down due to growing consumer debts and deficits, and decreasing industrial production. These ideas are debatable because they do not make sufficiently clear how the growth of of social inequality could be prevented and who could be the agent of post-capitalist transformation.
Keywords: Digital post-capitalism, Fourth Technological Revolution, collaborative commons, prosumerism, marginal cost, digital platforms, underclass, digital networks, digital capitalism, hybrid economy, internet of things.
Ivan Katzarski – The Failures of the Left and the Rise of Right Extremism
Abstract: In the last decades, left-wing parties and movements have been losing the positions they held in the first decades after World War II. Leaving aside objective factors, this is largely due to the suicidal behavior of the social democratic left, which became part of the new liberal consensus. At least in the richest societies, the left has lost its authentic sensitivity, has become weak, has become fragmented, and largely has lost its international character. As paradoxical as it may be, the extreme right has started to identify with traditionally left causes: against the expansion of transnational corporations, against the “American system” as an embodiment of contemporary economic, military, media and cultural dominance, and for the protection of national communities and cultures. The extreme right has turned towards the people who lose by new liberal policies and, in fact, is gaining their approval not on the basis of leftist universalist principles but on the basis of ideas of national and “Aryan” racial solidarity. Contrary to cliches regarding the impossibility of international cooperation between ultra nationalist formations, the extreme right has turned out capable of uniting ideologically and organizationally at a trans-national level. Here lies the secret of its success among diverse groups of the population. For its opponents, this makes it a hard nut to crack.
Keywords: failure of the left, progress of the right, extremism, new liberal consensus, war and antimilitary movement
Iva Manova – Georgij Plekhanov vs. Friedrich Albert Lange: Two Contrasting Approaches to the History of Materialism
Abstract: Georgij Plekhanov (1856–1918), the “father” of the Russian social-democratic movement, was one of the earliest writers who attempted to interpret the history of philosophy from the dialectical materialist standpoint. In the present article, Plekhanov’s approach to the history of philosophy is compared with the approach of the neo-Kantian philosopher Friedrich Albert Lange (1828–1875), whose book Geschichte des Materialismus greatly influenced the social-democratic thinkers of the revisionist current. Plekhanov disagreed with Lange on crucial issues, going as far as to accuse him of having contributed to the spread of a completely false notion of the essence and history of materialism. The aim of this article is to bring into focus the main differences between the two authors as regards their views on the history of materialism, and to outline the importance of “Plekhanov’s heritage” for the development of Soviet philosophical historiography.
Keywords: history of materialism, history of philosophical historiography, Neo-Kantianism, Marxism, Soviet philosophical historiography.
Maksim Mizov – Zimmerwald 1915–2015: Does History Repeat Itself or Does Something Different Happen?
Abstract: The article analyzes certain aspects of the “shadow” that the Zimmerwald conference casts on our times. On this basis, the author traces analogies between disturbing processes and trends in the ideological-political and organizational crises of social democracy in these two historical times. The betrayal of the left elites proves to be characteristic not only of the past but of the present as well. The author studies the trends of immorality and corruption of political elites, leading to the birth of radical left-wing moods and movements in political time-space. The article explains the causes and technique of the schism at the „tops“ of the left and its effects for the fragmentation and weakening of the left’s role in states and societies. The author shows how in both historical ages under comparison, Reason, Peace and Progress are brutally and perfidiously substituted with Greed, War, and Regress.
Keywords: immoralization, erosion of ideas, class peace, manifest, peace, neo-liberalism, organizational erosion, postmodernity, betrayal, venality of elites, revolution, social democracy, strategy, tactics, tragedy, hybrid war.
Abstract: Georgij Plekhanov (1856–1918), the “father” of the Russian social-democratic movement, was one of the earliest writers who attempted to interpret the history of philosophy from the dialectical materialist standpoint. In the present article, Plekhanov’s approach to the history of philosophy is compared with the approach of the neo-Kantian philosopher Friedrich Albert Lange (1828–1875), whose book Geschichte des Materialismus greatly influenced the social-democratic thinkers of the revisionist current. Plekhanov disagreed with Lange on crucial issues, going as far as to accuse him of having contributed to the spread of a completely false notion of the essence and history of materialism. The aim of this article is to bring into focus the main differences between the two authors as regards their views on the history of materialism, and to outline the importance of “Plekhanov’s heritage” for the development of Soviet philosophical historiography.
Keywords: history of materialism, history of philosophical historiography, Neo-Kantianism, Marxism, Soviet philosophical historiography.
Maksim Mizov – Zimmerwald 1915–2015: Does History Repeat Itself or Does Something Different Happen?
Abstract: The article analyzes certain aspects of the “shadow” that the Zimmerwald conference casts on our times. On this basis, the author traces analogies between disturbing processes and trends in the ideological-political and organizational crises of social democracy in these two historical times. The betrayal of the left elites proves to be characteristic not only of the past but of the present as well. The author studies the trends of immorality and corruption of political elites, leading to the birth of radical left-wing moods and movements in political time-space. The article explains the causes and technique of the schism at the „tops“ of the left and its effects for the fragmentation and weakening of the left’s role in states and societies. The author shows how in both historical ages under comparison, Reason, Peace and Progress are brutally and perfidiously substituted with Greed, War, and Regress.
Keywords: immoralization, erosion of ideas, class peace, manifest, peace, neo-liberalism, organizational erosion, postmodernity, betrayal, venality of elites, revolution, social democracy, strategy, tactics, tragedy, hybrid war.
Anani Stoynev – Introduction to Spiridon Kazandjiev on Pencho Slaveykov
Abstract: This article is an introduction to a moderately sized study on Spiridon Kazandjieva and Pencho Slaveykov. The author presents a picture of the times in which Kazandjiev lived – times of modernization of Bulgarian literature and culture – and his philosophical views, reflected most comprehensively in his essay “At the Spring of Life” (1923), which was introductory to his eponymous book published in 1937. The philosophical and literary quality of this essay has been insufficiently appreciated; in it, Kazandjiev, influenced by Nietzsche, points out the relativity of knowledge, art, attitudes, public life, thereby anticipating what has emerged in recent decades as a post-modern, or post-metaphysical, philosophy. As for the history of literature, the essay in question is, on the one hand, the foundation and, on the other, the horizon, of Kazandjiev’s philosophical views. Referring to it, we can more easily, and in a well-argued manner, clarify his analyses of Pencho Slaveykov’s philosophical constructions.
Keywords: relative, modern, post-modern, Nietzsche, national literature, systematic, essayistic.
Sava Sivriev – The Odd Wanderer in Yavorov’s Poems (1901, 1904)
Abstract:In his famous preface to P. K. Yavorov’s Poems (1904), Pencho Slaveykov wrote that the lyrical character who wanders through emotional, spiritual and mental spaces, as portrayed in the poem “Odd Fellow” in the collection, is a central character in Yavorov’s early lyrics.
Each cultural paradigm designates the wandering life according to its own specific axiology.
In Medieval Bulgaria, man viewed himself as a wanderer and a stranger on earth. His home, which he has lost, is in the afterlife, with Jesus Christ.
During the Bulgarian National Revival, the concept was that the home is built here, in one’s own land, where the native rivers, valleys, and mountains are, where one’s generic universe is – one’s mother, father, brothers. Leaving home represents pain and suffering. The wanderer in foreign places, foreign lands, is a sufferer.
Where is man’s home in modern times? It is difficult to say. Efforts to find the home, the road leading to it, and a life of wandering, varied and found different solutions in Bulgarian lyrical poetry in the age following the National Revival – depending on the personal existential ideas and the philosophy of life of the different authors: Nirvana and Death in the case of Mihaylovski; the intoxication whereby life is surmounted in Kiril Hristov; the Island of the Blissful in Pencho Slaveikov, etc. In Yavorov, the wanderer travels to the depths of his emotional, spiritual, and mental world, to the drama of self-knowledge, to the drama of seeking values and meaning that he shall never find.
After “The Odd One”, and until his late poetry, Yavorov presented the numerous faces, the psychological and mental capacity of his literary character, who wanders in search of a meaning for himself and for the world.
Keywords: wanderer, axiology, modernism, time, Bulgarian, poet, P. K. Yavorov, emotional, spiritual, mental, drama, meaning.
Yana Miteva – The “New” and “Old” Hume
Abstract: This article discusses two interpretations of David Hume’s theory of causality. On one side of the debate, there is the Old Hume, whose thought culminated in skepticism, especially with regard to the concept of causality. On the other side is the New Hume, interpreted as accepting the reality of causality. The New Hume rejects the traditional skepticism of the other Hume’s interpretations. The author presents the main theses and characteristics of both the Old and New Hume. Thus emerge the key problem fields of the two interpretations, which appear to be formally identical. The Old and the New Hume apply Hume’s theses but leave their origin framework in Hume’s texts. The result is an epistemological thesis in an ontological context and an ontological thesis in an epistemological context. The problem is resolved by differentiating between these interpretations and their fields. The New Hume is related to an interpretation of causality in the context of relation of ideas. The Old Hume is related to a discussion of matters of facts. Keywords: causality, David Hume, matters of facts, the „New“ Hume, relations of ideas.
Abstract: This article is an introduction to a moderately sized study on Spiridon Kazandjieva and Pencho Slaveykov. The author presents a picture of the times in which Kazandjiev lived – times of modernization of Bulgarian literature and culture – and his philosophical views, reflected most comprehensively in his essay “At the Spring of Life” (1923), which was introductory to his eponymous book published in 1937. The philosophical and literary quality of this essay has been insufficiently appreciated; in it, Kazandjiev, influenced by Nietzsche, points out the relativity of knowledge, art, attitudes, public life, thereby anticipating what has emerged in recent decades as a post-modern, or post-metaphysical, philosophy. As for the history of literature, the essay in question is, on the one hand, the foundation and, on the other, the horizon, of Kazandjiev’s philosophical views. Referring to it, we can more easily, and in a well-argued manner, clarify his analyses of Pencho Slaveykov’s philosophical constructions.
Keywords: relative, modern, post-modern, Nietzsche, national literature, systematic, essayistic.
Sava Sivriev – The Odd Wanderer in Yavorov’s Poems (1901, 1904)
Abstract:In his famous preface to P. K. Yavorov’s Poems (1904), Pencho Slaveykov wrote that the lyrical character who wanders through emotional, spiritual and mental spaces, as portrayed in the poem “Odd Fellow” in the collection, is a central character in Yavorov’s early lyrics.
Each cultural paradigm designates the wandering life according to its own specific axiology.
In Medieval Bulgaria, man viewed himself as a wanderer and a stranger on earth. His home, which he has lost, is in the afterlife, with Jesus Christ.
During the Bulgarian National Revival, the concept was that the home is built here, in one’s own land, where the native rivers, valleys, and mountains are, where one’s generic universe is – one’s mother, father, brothers. Leaving home represents pain and suffering. The wanderer in foreign places, foreign lands, is a sufferer.
Where is man’s home in modern times? It is difficult to say. Efforts to find the home, the road leading to it, and a life of wandering, varied and found different solutions in Bulgarian lyrical poetry in the age following the National Revival – depending on the personal existential ideas and the philosophy of life of the different authors: Nirvana and Death in the case of Mihaylovski; the intoxication whereby life is surmounted in Kiril Hristov; the Island of the Blissful in Pencho Slaveikov, etc. In Yavorov, the wanderer travels to the depths of his emotional, spiritual, and mental world, to the drama of self-knowledge, to the drama of seeking values and meaning that he shall never find.
After “The Odd One”, and until his late poetry, Yavorov presented the numerous faces, the psychological and mental capacity of his literary character, who wanders in search of a meaning for himself and for the world.
Keywords: wanderer, axiology, modernism, time, Bulgarian, poet, P. K. Yavorov, emotional, spiritual, mental, drama, meaning.
Yana Miteva – The “New” and “Old” Hume
Abstract: This article discusses two interpretations of David Hume’s theory of causality. On one side of the debate, there is the Old Hume, whose thought culminated in skepticism, especially with regard to the concept of causality. On the other side is the New Hume, interpreted as accepting the reality of causality. The New Hume rejects the traditional skepticism of the other Hume’s interpretations. The author presents the main theses and characteristics of both the Old and New Hume. Thus emerge the key problem fields of the two interpretations, which appear to be formally identical. The Old and the New Hume apply Hume’s theses but leave their origin framework in Hume’s texts. The result is an epistemological thesis in an ontological context and an ontological thesis in an epistemological context. The problem is resolved by differentiating between these interpretations and their fields. The New Hume is related to an interpretation of causality in the context of relation of ideas. The Old Hume is related to a discussion of matters of facts. Keywords: causality, David Hume, matters of facts, the „New“ Hume, relations of ideas.
Iliya Todorov – Actual Freedom as Possible through the Other
Abstract: The article aims to reveal the crucial relationship between the concept of freedom and the figure of the Other (another conscious being) as enshrined in the philosophical reflections of Friedrich Schelling and Jean-Paul Sartre. In studies on the two philosophers conducted in the tradition of conceptual clarification of the subject–object relationship, in the light of transcendental idealism philosophy, we find symptomatic similarities used as keys to understanding the problem of freedom defined in the phenomenological perspective.
Keywords: subject–object, freedom, Friedrich Schelling, Jean-Paul Sartre, Immanuel Kant, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, phenomenology, transcendental idealism, the Other.
Vinitsiy Petrov – Personal Identity and Love
Abstract: The article explores the connection between the concept of personal identity and the concept of love, focusing on the possibility of personal identity. The investigation starts from the premise that personal identity has a transcendental status with respect to philosophical inquiry, especially in the domain of ethics. Then the author outlines some major problems involved in the clear explication of the concept of personal identity. The proposed solution is that personal identity is constituted by the relation to a loved one. The conclusion is that love has a transcendental status with regard to personal identity, which means it also has transcendental status with respect to all activities contingent on personal identity.
Keywords: personal identity, love, possibility condition/ transcendental status.
Abstract: The article aims to reveal the crucial relationship between the concept of freedom and the figure of the Other (another conscious being) as enshrined in the philosophical reflections of Friedrich Schelling and Jean-Paul Sartre. In studies on the two philosophers conducted in the tradition of conceptual clarification of the subject–object relationship, in the light of transcendental idealism philosophy, we find symptomatic similarities used as keys to understanding the problem of freedom defined in the phenomenological perspective.
Keywords: subject–object, freedom, Friedrich Schelling, Jean-Paul Sartre, Immanuel Kant, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, phenomenology, transcendental idealism, the Other.
Vinitsiy Petrov – Personal Identity and Love
Abstract: The article explores the connection between the concept of personal identity and the concept of love, focusing on the possibility of personal identity. The investigation starts from the premise that personal identity has a transcendental status with respect to philosophical inquiry, especially in the domain of ethics. Then the author outlines some major problems involved in the clear explication of the concept of personal identity. The proposed solution is that personal identity is constituted by the relation to a loved one. The conclusion is that love has a transcendental status with regard to personal identity, which means it also has transcendental status with respect to all activities contingent on personal identity.
Keywords: personal identity, love, possibility condition/ transcendental status.
Silviya Kristeva – The 31st International Hegel Congress
Nonka Bogomilova – Ethno-symbolism and Identity
Petya Pachkova – “Politics as a Sense of Smell and Perfumery” (Maksim Mizov)
Ivanka Stapova – The Language of Colours
Nonka Bogomilova – Ethno-symbolism and Identity
Petya Pachkova – “Politics as a Sense of Smell and Perfumery” (Maksim Mizov)
Ivanka Stapova – The Language of Colours