Vladimir Gradev<\/strong><\/p>\n Editor-in-Chief of the Philosophy journal<\/em><\/p>\n https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53656\/phil2026-01-01<\/a><\/p>\n \"Where should the start be? If you agree, I will tell you that you must first understand the meaning of words. \u2013 You mean to say that I do not understand words, do you? \u2013 You do not understand them.\" Among philosophy's tasks is to clarify \"the meaning of words\", as Epictetus points out in his\u00a0Discourses<\/em>, and that is what the authors of this issue strive for...<\/p>\n SEE MORE<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n T<\/strong>odor Polimenov<\/strong><\/p>\n Sofia University, Sofia, Bulgaria<\/em><\/p>\n https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53656\/phil2026-01-02<\/a><\/p>\n Abstract<\/strong>.<\/strong> A fundamental distinction in Kantian philosophy is that between \u201cappearance\u201d and the \u201cthing-in-itself.\u201d Kant builds both his epistemology and his influential critique of metaphysics on this distinction. What is even more, traces of this distinction can be found also in the framework through which Kant develops his practical philosophy. This paper argues that with his conception of the \u201cthing-in-itself\u201d Kant firmly stands within \u2013 and even reinforces some aspect of \u2013 a certain philosophical tradition; a tradition that most likely begins with Parmenides and is exemplarily continued by Plato. This tradition is characterized by its disregard for, first, the notion of (shared) lifeworld practice and, second, the natural intuitions that arise from it (the so-called „common sense“). Further evidence to support this stance could be found in the semantic turn in philosophical discourse initiated by Frege. The analysis of our linguistic relation to the world and the intentions that make it comprehensible reveals the untenability of Kant\u2019s thesis that the genuine objects of our knowledge are \u201cappearances,\u201d while \u201cthings-in-themselves\u201d remain fundamentally inaccessible to us.<\/p>\n Keywords<\/em>: thing-in-itself, appearance, speaking of objects<\/p>\n SEE MORE<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Aleksandar Gungow<\/strong><\/p>\n University of Sofia<\/em>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53656\/phil2026-01-03<\/a><\/p>\n Abstract<\/strong>.<\/strong> In Religion within the Limits of Reason Itself<\/em>, Kant describes and criticizes two illusions of piety: the illusion of superstition and the illusion of self-deception. According to him, both illusions hinder the pious life prescribed by historical religions, which in them is essentially impossible in its true form. Authentic religiosity for him coincides with authentic morality exercised by free will in the light of practical reason. One can also speak of illusoriness in religious experience from the perspective of Husserl’s phenomenology. There, illusoriness would arise if religious dogmatics and ritualism were to appear as religious experience. The founder of phenomenology claims that authentic religious experience is possible, and, moreover, possessing all the attributes required by the concept of \u201cexperience\u201d. Apart from the distinction between apparent and intrinsic religiosity, both authors converge in accepting within the latter the thesis of ‘god-likeness’.<\/p>\n Keywords<\/em>: superstition, illusion, self-deception, religious experience, eidos<\/p>\n SEE MORE<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Boyan Dafov<\/strong><\/p>\n Sofia University \u201cSt. Kliment Ohridski\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53656\/phil2026-01-04<\/a><\/p>\n Abstract. <\/strong>The dominant metaphysical orientation toward necessity \u2013 whether Aristotelian, Leibnizian, or formalized in modern modal logic \u2013 presuppose atemporality, closure, and non-contradiction. Necessity is conceived as a primordial modal status \u2013 what must be the case independently of temporal becoming, historical contingency, or subjective mediation. This paper challenges that assumption by advancing a temporal and non-totalizing conception of necessity, according to which necessity is not given in advance but is retroactively constituted through processes marked by contradiction. Drawing on Kant, Hegel, Lacan, and Badiou, the paper argues that necessity emerges after time<\/em> \u2013 as the outcome of temporal articulation rather than its precondition. Kant\u2019s schematism already discloses the dependence of necessity on temporal synthesis, even as it strives to preserve modal closure. Hegel radicalizes this insight by reconceiving necessity as the result of contradictory becoming, not its negation. Lacan introduces a non-totalizing logic in which necessity appears as a retroactive inscription within the symbolic order. Finally, Badiou reformulates necessity in terms of evental fidelity, where what \u201cmust have been\u201d is established only through a contingent break within a situation. Across these trajectories, necessity is understood as a belated effect of temporal and subjective processes rather than a foundational modal given.<\/p>\n Keywords:<\/em> necessity, temporality, modality, contradiction, retroactivity, non-totalization<\/p>\n SEE MORE<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stoyan Stavru<\/strong><\/p>\n Bulgarian Academy of Sciences<\/em><\/p>\n https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53656\/phil2026-01-05<\/a><\/p>\n Abstract<\/strong>. This article focuses on three \u201ctraps\u201d that must be addressed in the conversation concerning the creation, justification, and implementation of policies aimed at managing the adverse consequences of climate change. The first trap is terminological, involving the frequent conflation within climate research of the concepts \u201cenvironment\u201d \u2013 which is material, sensory, and local \u2013 and \u201cclimate\u201d \u2013 which is abstract, statistical, and global. The second trap is transactional, characterized by the subordination of moral actions to the requirements of utilitarian logic: ethically right is only that which produces a measurable effect on emissions. The third is the teleonomic trap, highlighting one of the most evident contradictions of the contemporary world: climate sustainability comes into conflict with the pursuit of development and prosperity, both at the individual and societal levels.<\/p>\n Keywords<\/em>:<\/em> climate, energy, transition, traps, Anthropocene, ethics, virtues<\/p>\n SEE MORE<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Valentin Asparuhov<\/strong><\/p>\n Rusalena Pendzhekova-Hristeva<\/strong><\/p>\n Paisii Hilendarski<\/em> University of Plovdiv<\/em><\/p>\n https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53656\/phil2026-01-06<\/a><\/p>\n Abstract. <\/strong>This study uses the archival heritage of Mini Maritsa Iztok (Maritsa East Mines) as a starting point for philosophical reflections on memory, identity, and social transformation in the context of today\u2019s \u201cgreen\u201d policies. Through the archives \u2013 understood as carriers of lived experience, existential engagement, and cultural significance \u2013 we seek to explore those layers of Bulgaria\u2019s industrial past that may underpin the transition from the \u201cdeep uncertainty\u201d associated with \u201cgreen\u201d challenges towards possibilities for coping and inclusion in the sphere of the private, the everyday, and personal perspectives. In this sense, the archives are not merely a documentary foundation, but mediators of philosophical and social potentials through which the problematic place of industrial heritage in our present time can be meaningfully addressed.<\/p>\n Keywords:<\/em> archival heritage, industrial memory, coal mining, \u201cjust transition\u201d, unimagined future<\/p>\n SEE MORE<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nikola Vangelov<\/strong><\/p>\n Sofia University \u201cSt. Kliment Ohridski\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53656\/phil2026-01-07<\/a><\/p>\n Abstract<\/strong>. <\/strong>This article examines social network advertising from a philosophical perspective, focusing on the ethical implications of passive data collection, interactivity, and hyper-personalization. The object of analysis is contemporary advertising practices embedded within social networking platforms, understood as socio-technical systems that mediate everyday communication, identity formation, and economic exchange. The study employs a qualitative, conceptual methodology grounded in philosophical analysis, drawing on normative ethics, philosophy of technology, and critical media theory to interpret existing empirical and theoretical research on digital advertising.<\/p>\n The primary goal of the article is to assess whether hyper-personalized advertising practices undermine human autonomy and contribute to the commodification of the self. By analyzing the infrastructural conditions of data-driven advertising, the role of interactivity in shaping agency, and the normative status of personalization, the article moves from descriptive accounts of advertising mechanisms toward critical philosophical evaluation. It argues that social network advertising does not merely influence consumer behavior but increasingly participates in the construction of subjectivity itself, reshaping how individuals form preferences, exercise agency, and understand their own identities. In doing so, the article challenges traditional distinctions between persuasion and manipulation and situates social network advertising within broader debates on autonomy, power, and moral responsibility in digital environments.<\/p>\n Keywords<\/em>:<\/em> \u0430dvertising, digital advertising, social neworks, philosophy, ethics, media theory<\/p>\n SEE MORE<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stoil Mavrodiev<\/strong><\/p>\n South-West University \u201cNeofit Rilski\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53656\/phil2026-01-08<\/a><\/p>\n Abstract.<\/strong> The article presents the psychoanalytic oeuvre of Ivan Germanovich Kinkel (1883\u20131945) \u2013 the most significant figure in Bulgarian psychoanalysis during the 1920s\u20131940s, who received personal recognition from Sigmund Freud. The key themes in his works are highlighted: the genesis and phenomenology of religion (animism, projection mechanisms, paternal and maternal complexes); the connection between psychoanalysis and sociology (complementing Marxism); the philosophy and methodology of psychoanalysis (materialistic monism, libido as foundation); the psychoanalysis of mysticism and occultism (regression and projection); revolutionary movements (social psychopathy, mania); as well as crime, prostitution, and suicide (biological and socio-economic roots). The aim is to systematize Kinkel\u2019s major works and ideas, emphasizing his original synthesis of Freudianism, materialism, and interdisciplinarity, which anticipates contemporary approaches and regains relevance after 1989.<\/p>\n Keywords:<\/em> psychoanalysis, Ivan Kinkel, religion, Sigmund Freud, sociology, materialism<\/p>\n SEE MORE<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n S<\/strong>ylvia Borissova<\/strong><\/p>\n Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Bulgaria)<\/em><\/p>\nThe Thing-in-Itself<\/h3>\n
Overcoming the Illusions of Piety through Rational and Phenomenological Religiosity<\/h3>\n
Necessity after Time: Contradiction, Retroactive Determination, and the Non-Totalizing<\/h3>\n
Climate Traps: What Good are Virtues when There are No \u201cWorking\u201d Solutions?<\/h3>\n
Memoria Carbonara (Archival Memory as a Philosophical Resource: The Mini Maritsa Iztok Case)<\/h3>\n
Philosophy of Social Networks Advertising<\/h3>\n
The Psychoanalytic Legacy \u043ef Ivan Kinkel (1883 \u2013 1945)<\/h3>\n
On the Horizons, Values, Images, and Institutions in the Monograph \u201cState Planning, Culture, and Ideology\u201d<\/h3>\n