Topic of the issue :: PHILOSOPHY, LOGIC, SCIENCE
Issue editors: Kristiyan Enchev and Sylvia Borissova
CONTENTS & Abstracts & Keywords & The authors in the issue
Angel S. Stefanov (Corresponding Member of BAS, DSc., Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology , Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)
A Quantum Logic and Constructive Approach to the Micro-world
Abstract: The aim of the paper is to reveal the epistemological pretensions and possibilities of the two general approaches to providing understanding of the strange behavior of the quantum objects. The first one is quantum logical, the other is theoretical-and constructive one. It has been shown that quantum logic based on the basic mathematical structure of quantum mechanics, the Hilbert space, demonstrates the empirical adequacy of this first theory about the micro-world. However, quantum logic refers to the empirical level of the behavior of quantum objects. It provides us with knowledge how they behave in different experimental situations, but remains silent about why they behave in this way, and not in another one. The latter knowledge could be principally reached through the theoretic-and-constructive approach. It exploits classical logic, but its results are non-classical theoretical models of quantum objects.
Keywords: quantum mechanics; quantum logical approach; constructive approach; non-classical theories of the micro-world.
Doroteya Angelova (Associate Professor, PhD, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, BAS)
Non-classical Logics and the Sorites Paradoxes
Abstract: In this article, I will present the role of some non-classical logics with regard to certain logical problems known as sorites paradoxes. I will analyze the terms and the specific characteristics of these logics and at the same time I will highlight the shortcomings of some of these with regard to the logical problems in question. On the one hand, I will present arguments as to which of the considered logics are suited to overcome the sorites paradoxes and I will offer my interpretations of the problem. On the other hand, I will propose two of my own approaches through which it is possible to resolve the sorites paradoxes: the first of these approaches is heterogeneous, and the second is based on three-valued logic.
Keywords: sorites paradoxes; vagueness; fuzzy relevant logic; heterogeneous approach.|
Martin Tabakov(DSc., Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology , BAS )
– Philosophical Interpretations of Non-classical Logics
Abstract: 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”.
Keywords: logic; non-classical logic; logical system; mathematics; logical inference; paradox; material implication; epistemology; ontology; applied logic
Kristiyan Enchev (Associate Professor, PhD, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, BAS)
Fracture Figures: Non-classical Models and Modalizations
Abstract: In the present experimental text I will show how thinking the body as an image-body refers to the impossible figures of its infinite 1) heterosimultaneous opening (unfolding the layers to the figure of a monster) and 2) shrinking to a point of impossibility (of narrative suspension, freezing in a figure) – which are two ideal poles. This double impossibility constitutes a fracture, conceived through illustricture as a (meta)figure. The collaborative work of two models – that of the Galilean pendulum, adapted for stage production, and the topological-quantum model of Deleuze and Guattari – will serve to analyze modalizations, in which analysis, alter-potentiality will be tested as a non-classical alternative in different contexts of subjectivation. The disjunctive synthesis of points from co-impossible surfaces, in the perspective of the connected models, allows us to think as unpredictable the development of the conceptual potentiality of autopoietic production beyond the stopping point of figuring in a figure.
Keywords: fracture figures; illustricture; image-body; heterosimultaneity; co-impossibility; subjectivation; Galilean pendulum model; topological-quantum model; alter-potentiality; autopoiesis
A Quantum Logic and Constructive Approach to the Micro-world
Abstract: The aim of the paper is to reveal the epistemological pretensions and possibilities of the two general approaches to providing understanding of the strange behavior of the quantum objects. The first one is quantum logical, the other is theoretical-and constructive one. It has been shown that quantum logic based on the basic mathematical structure of quantum mechanics, the Hilbert space, demonstrates the empirical adequacy of this first theory about the micro-world. However, quantum logic refers to the empirical level of the behavior of quantum objects. It provides us with knowledge how they behave in different experimental situations, but remains silent about why they behave in this way, and not in another one. The latter knowledge could be principally reached through the theoretic-and-constructive approach. It exploits classical logic, but its results are non-classical theoretical models of quantum objects.
Keywords: quantum mechanics; quantum logical approach; constructive approach; non-classical theories of the micro-world.
Doroteya Angelova (Associate Professor, PhD, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, BAS)
Non-classical Logics and the Sorites Paradoxes
Abstract: In this article, I will present the role of some non-classical logics with regard to certain logical problems known as sorites paradoxes. I will analyze the terms and the specific characteristics of these logics and at the same time I will highlight the shortcomings of some of these with regard to the logical problems in question. On the one hand, I will present arguments as to which of the considered logics are suited to overcome the sorites paradoxes and I will offer my interpretations of the problem. On the other hand, I will propose two of my own approaches through which it is possible to resolve the sorites paradoxes: the first of these approaches is heterogeneous, and the second is based on three-valued logic.
Keywords: sorites paradoxes; vagueness; fuzzy relevant logic; heterogeneous approach.|
Martin Tabakov(DSc., Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology , BAS )
– Philosophical Interpretations of Non-classical Logics
Abstract: 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”.
Keywords: logic; non-classical logic; logical system; mathematics; logical inference; paradox; material implication; epistemology; ontology; applied logic
Kristiyan Enchev (Associate Professor, PhD, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, BAS)
Fracture Figures: Non-classical Models and Modalizations
Abstract: In the present experimental text I will show how thinking the body as an image-body refers to the impossible figures of its infinite 1) heterosimultaneous opening (unfolding the layers to the figure of a monster) and 2) shrinking to a point of impossibility (of narrative suspension, freezing in a figure) – which are two ideal poles. This double impossibility constitutes a fracture, conceived through illustricture as a (meta)figure. The collaborative work of two models – that of the Galilean pendulum, adapted for stage production, and the topological-quantum model of Deleuze and Guattari – will serve to analyze modalizations, in which analysis, alter-potentiality will be tested as a non-classical alternative in different contexts of subjectivation. The disjunctive synthesis of points from co-impossible surfaces, in the perspective of the connected models, allows us to think as unpredictable the development of the conceptual potentiality of autopoietic production beyond the stopping point of figuring in a figure.
Keywords: fracture figures; illustricture; image-body; heterosimultaneity; co-impossibility; subjectivation; Galilean pendulum model; topological-quantum model; alter-potentiality; autopoiesis
Bozhidar Ivkov (DSc., Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology , Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)
On the Philosophical Concept of Disease in Medicine: Pro et Contra
Abstract: This article focuses on contemporary discussions on the general concept of disease and its significance for clinical practice. Some authors (e.g., Haslow) believe that the general concept of disease does not play a key role in clinical decision-making. Others (Pellegrino, Clouser, Culver and Gert), on the contrary, emphasize the importance of the concept for public health and for the methodology of medical practice. Emphasis is also placed on the importance of the methodology of medical theory; it is pointed out that these debates started in the 1960s.
Keywords: medicine; concept of disease; clinical practice; methodology of medical theory.
Yulia Vaseva-Dikova (Associate Professor, PhD, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, BAS)
Jacob Stegenga's “Medical Nihilism”
Abstract: Philosophy of medicine is one of the fast-growing branches in contemporary philosophy. In 2018, Jacob Stegenga published the book Medical Nihilism. The main goal of this article is to present some of the key ideas of the book to the Bulgarian audience. The work, which has not been translated into Bulgarian, is an important text for all who work in the field of philosophy of medicine.
Keywords: philosophy of medicine; medical nihilism; philosophy of science; demarcation; RCT; EBM
On the Philosophical Concept of Disease in Medicine: Pro et Contra
Abstract: This article focuses on contemporary discussions on the general concept of disease and its significance for clinical practice. Some authors (e.g., Haslow) believe that the general concept of disease does not play a key role in clinical decision-making. Others (Pellegrino, Clouser, Culver and Gert), on the contrary, emphasize the importance of the concept for public health and for the methodology of medical practice. Emphasis is also placed on the importance of the methodology of medical theory; it is pointed out that these debates started in the 1960s.
Keywords: medicine; concept of disease; clinical practice; methodology of medical theory.
Yulia Vaseva-Dikova (Associate Professor, PhD, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, BAS)
Jacob Stegenga's “Medical Nihilism”
Abstract: Philosophy of medicine is one of the fast-growing branches in contemporary philosophy. In 2018, Jacob Stegenga published the book Medical Nihilism. The main goal of this article is to present some of the key ideas of the book to the Bulgarian audience. The work, which has not been translated into Bulgarian, is an important text for all who work in the field of philosophy of medicine.
Keywords: philosophy of medicine; medical nihilism; philosophy of science; demarcation; RCT; EBM
Asen Dimitrov (Associate Professor, PhD, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, BAS)
Time Waves and Their Superposition
Abstract: A thought experiment with spatial structures formed by running water, establishes their phantom nature. We find their parts are always distributed over time, and the structures themselves never exist simultaneously in their entirety at any particular moment. The real problem, however, stems from the fact that, when something moves, it is also distributed over time. Hence, because of the motion of their constituent microparticles (molecules, atoms and elementary particles), all real physical structures are, in fact, phantom structures, i.e., they never simultaneously exist in their entirety at any particular moment. Therefore, they are indeed phantom structures, in the sense of being physically inaccessible to causal interaction in their entirety at any particular point of time. This calls into question the assumption of simultaneity and makes it possible to suggest the superposition of independent asynchronous, i.e., non-simultaneous, time waves existing in a shared space.
Keywords: simultaneity; spatial structures distributed over time; wave superposition; superimposed asynchronous time waves.
Kaloyan Nechev (PhD Graduate Student at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”)
The Phenomenon of Intuition from a Neurobiological Perspective
Abstract: The word intuition is widely used as an umbrella term both in the non-specialized everyday environment and in specialized humanities literature. It is often accepted unconditionally, even though there is a lack of consistent and satisfactory attempts to clearly define the notion. In the field of philosophical inquiries, it is a common practice to use the notion of intuition as an implicit argumentative component as well as a guarantor of legitimacy in the unfolding of speculative “discourses”. Taking this to be the prevailing case, considering the term in question from a neurobiological perspective seems to be a somewhat productive endeavor insofar as it can provide clarity on the physiological prerequisites involved in the realization of the specific subjective attitudes and dispositions, the latter of which play a certain role in the adoption of rationally substantiated arguments and conclusions. A number of scientific studies report a direct correlation between the higher cognitive functions, responsible for the making of logico-rational inferences, and the limbic system, which governs the manifestation of unreflected irrational attitudes and reactions. In the light of such empirical evidence, any frivolous usage and reference to methodological components such as “rational intuition” seems highly problematic, to say the least.
Keywords: intuition; neurobiology; physiology; rationality.
Silviya Serafimova (Associate Professor, PhD, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, BAS)
The Future of Phronetic Social Sciences. How Can We Revive Value-Rationality in a Time of Crisis?
Abstract: 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.
Keywords: phronetic social sciences; value-rationality; practical rationality; provocative pessimism; provocative humanism
Time Waves and Their Superposition
Abstract: A thought experiment with spatial structures formed by running water, establishes their phantom nature. We find their parts are always distributed over time, and the structures themselves never exist simultaneously in their entirety at any particular moment. The real problem, however, stems from the fact that, when something moves, it is also distributed over time. Hence, because of the motion of their constituent microparticles (molecules, atoms and elementary particles), all real physical structures are, in fact, phantom structures, i.e., they never simultaneously exist in their entirety at any particular moment. Therefore, they are indeed phantom structures, in the sense of being physically inaccessible to causal interaction in their entirety at any particular point of time. This calls into question the assumption of simultaneity and makes it possible to suggest the superposition of independent asynchronous, i.e., non-simultaneous, time waves existing in a shared space.
Keywords: simultaneity; spatial structures distributed over time; wave superposition; superimposed asynchronous time waves.
Kaloyan Nechev (PhD Graduate Student at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”)
The Phenomenon of Intuition from a Neurobiological Perspective
Abstract: The word intuition is widely used as an umbrella term both in the non-specialized everyday environment and in specialized humanities literature. It is often accepted unconditionally, even though there is a lack of consistent and satisfactory attempts to clearly define the notion. In the field of philosophical inquiries, it is a common practice to use the notion of intuition as an implicit argumentative component as well as a guarantor of legitimacy in the unfolding of speculative “discourses”. Taking this to be the prevailing case, considering the term in question from a neurobiological perspective seems to be a somewhat productive endeavor insofar as it can provide clarity on the physiological prerequisites involved in the realization of the specific subjective attitudes and dispositions, the latter of which play a certain role in the adoption of rationally substantiated arguments and conclusions. A number of scientific studies report a direct correlation between the higher cognitive functions, responsible for the making of logico-rational inferences, and the limbic system, which governs the manifestation of unreflected irrational attitudes and reactions. In the light of such empirical evidence, any frivolous usage and reference to methodological components such as “rational intuition” seems highly problematic, to say the least.
Keywords: intuition; neurobiology; physiology; rationality.
Silviya Serafimova (Associate Professor, PhD, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, BAS)
The Future of Phronetic Social Sciences. How Can We Revive Value-Rationality in a Time of Crisis?
Abstract: 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.
Keywords: phronetic social sciences; value-rationality; practical rationality; provocative pessimism; provocative humanism
Andrey Leshkov (Associate Professor, PhD,1960-2020!)
The Dreams of the Philosopher (Propositions in Connection with Descartes)
Abstract: The main objective of this paper is to provide a hermeneutical reading of dreams as these are presented by Renй Descartes. The choice of the mnemocentric approach plays a crucial role when analyzing the way in which Descartes presents three of his dreams. The three are examined from the perspective of three main corresponding propositions put forward for consideration. The analysis of Descartes' dreams shows that reaching the path of truth, which concerns both the process of dreaming and what is dreamt, is closely tied not with the return to Paradise, but with the fulfilled prophecy of the Revelation. The author raises the issue whether or not the basic dream that marks the philosophically tinged unconscious, as is displayed by Descartes' dreams, embodies the hope that one day, when language, with its polysemy, will have disappeared, people will finally succeed in contemplating truth surrounded by unspeakable silence.
Keywords: René Descartes; dreams; mnemocentric approach
The Dreams of the Philosopher (Propositions in Connection with Descartes)
Abstract: The main objective of this paper is to provide a hermeneutical reading of dreams as these are presented by Renй Descartes. The choice of the mnemocentric approach plays a crucial role when analyzing the way in which Descartes presents three of his dreams. The three are examined from the perspective of three main corresponding propositions put forward for consideration. The analysis of Descartes' dreams shows that reaching the path of truth, which concerns both the process of dreaming and what is dreamt, is closely tied not with the return to Paradise, but with the fulfilled prophecy of the Revelation. The author raises the issue whether or not the basic dream that marks the philosophically tinged unconscious, as is displayed by Descartes' dreams, embodies the hope that one day, when language, with its polysemy, will have disappeared, people will finally succeed in contemplating truth surrounded by unspeakable silence.
Keywords: René Descartes; dreams; mnemocentric approach
Goergi Belogashev (Assoc. Prof. at the University of Veliko Tarnovo “St. Cyril and St. Methodius”)
A Contribution to Studies on Early German Romanticism
Nonka Bogomilova (DSc., Professor, Retired)
Reflections on Bulgarian Philosophical Culture