An Invitation to the Second International Conference of Philosophy
Philosophy Nowadays
Cultural, educational, scientific policies in the European countries and the countries in the Black sea region
02 – 06 September, Varna, Bulgaria
Organized by:
Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences
Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences
Romanian Academy
Department of Philosophy, University of Liège, Belgium
Institute of Philosophy, Slovak Academy of Sciences
Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences
CESNA B – Serbia
Philosophy is the finest mental tool, which leads people towards the values of unity and harmony, knowledge and rationality of logic, understanding, moral and spiritual refinement. Amongst the characteristics of philosophical knowledge is that it can travel peacefully across national, cultural or geographical boundaries. It is time to remember again that without the philosophical contemplation and the devotion to think about nature and human culture, there would not have been human knowledge today which more or less binds together the human world. The roots of all sciences started from the writings, words and thoughts of the ancient philosophers.
The conference is assumed to be interdisciplinary. We hope that our proposal will be received with interest by all those who are familiar with the struggle to develop a contemporary view of the world and that the conference presentations will become an interesting contribution to the global trend of research on the possibilities for cooperation between scholars, thinkers and researchers to come together to discuss philosophical, political, economic, religious, historical, social, cultural, non-classical, axiological, educational problems and foster a deeper understanding of the related trends in the contemporary philosophical knowledge, and also its prospects to contribute for the better communication and understanding of the different cultural traditions, their competing systems of values and attitudes towards knowledge.
The conference invites contributions to the following panels. The themes are suggested, but not limited to the topics of the planned four sessions:
Session 1: New trends and challenges in the Black and Caspian seas regions (Religion and Politics)
In the contemporary scientific literature and the analyst, two main concepts have been imposed on the regional division of the Black Sea basin states. Within the first, the Black Sea region is bound to the Caspian and is defined as Black Sea-Caspian. In support of this approach is BSEC membership of such countries as Azerbaijan, which has an outlet on the Caspian Sea, and Armenia located between the two seas but without any of them. The supporters of the second concept (mostly security experts) view the region (or even the subregion) as a unified system, including the territories of countries belonging to the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian seas, thus emphasizing the interdependence between these countries and the existence of common problems in all of them. Today there are many challenges and threats to the region’s security. On one hand, important integration processes are taking place, regional transnational institutions have been established (such as the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization – Black Sea Economic Cooperation (Black Sea Economic Cooperation), which are at least capable of reassuring the tense geopolitical on the other hand, the existing ethno-political problems (Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkish Kurdistan, South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Transnistria) have a negative impact on the military security of the region.
In this panel we aim to focus our discussion on European idea about integrated maritime policy, the post-secularized reality and the variety of aspects in the following context: the post-secular thought; post-methaphysical philosophy and theology; religion and politics; axiological fundaments of religio-philosophical conceptions; projects of common religious ethos; religious identity; Political Orthodoxy; Political Islam and the global rise of Islamist extremism; how can different religions encourage dialogue and prevent violence and which are the new trends and perspectives for the region. USA has new conceptions for the region. One of them is for a “soft power” (Joseph Nye), concerning cultural exchange and diplomatic convergence. The other one is based on the architecture of the global sanction regime that should prevent a potential striker from expanding his attack potential. The aim of the panel is to complete the scientific knowledge on the field with a more in-depth view on the theories with relevance for a global perspective and with reference to globalization, democratization, ethnic pride, the cohabitation of Muslim and non-Muslim population in correlation to political aspects related to marginality in newer democracies.
Session 2: Culture, Economic, Art, Social dimensions (Dialogue areas and perspectives)
The Black and Caspian seas are bridges between cultures in Europe and Asia and at the focus of new geopolitics strategies nowadays.
Personal and common values permanently diversify as a result of the development of knowledge and increasing spread of information, as well as under the pressure of the changes produced in the historical and social environment. This process is accompanied by a conflict of values that explains the crisis of the contemporary culture. We would like to include two main strategies in the discussion: “Culture and tourism” as a part of European strategy for Danube region and Sea basin strategy (reconciliation of the so-called “blue economies”)
Session 3: Non-classical Logics – Interpretations and Applications
The talks in this section will focus on different philosophical problems and perspectives that arise in the contemporary non-classical logics. The fundamental features of these logical systems and their semantics will outline some philosophical questions, concerning logical pluralism and monism, the nature of logical values, logical consequence and the problems that appear on the border between logic, philosophy and science. We expect talks on the various applications of the contemporary non-classical logics in philosophy, epistemology, methodology of science, cognitive science, linguistics, computer science and etc. Researches connected with the technical and philosophical aspects of these logics as well as with the role that they have in the mentioned disciplines can be presented, which will reveal the importance of logical resources as well as many new directions about their usage.
Session 4: Continental and analytic philosophy: recent problems and trends
A significant part of the contemporary philosophy is rooted in our everyday experience and deals with the world which we live in. It treats questions concerning intentionality, consciousness, corporeality, the ‘end of the subject’ and the ‘reformulation of subjectivity’ as woven into the very texture of our existence. Related to the latter is another group of problems, dealing with personal and social transformation, the denunciation of ‘logocentrism’, the unity of theory and practice. Although contemporary philosophers differ on the importance they attach to the philosophical traditions of the past, research on the history of philosophy attracts much interest as well.
All these problems will be thematized in this panel. We hope to foster responses to questions concerning the historical foundations and the most recent developments in contemporary thought. Participants will be invited to discuss the role the philosophical reflection and argumentation can play in the public debate in a globalized world and the possible scenarios for the future of post-metaphysical thought.
Session 5: New trends in the educational politics of the Western European countries and Bulgaria
Educational politics are an essential part of the research fields in social sciences and humanities. An important part of these politics in the most developed countries (including Western European countries as well as Bulgaria and other regions of Europe) is to find a proper methodological framework of the theory of education which should enable an improvement of the educational practices and instruments for receiving better results in education in our contemporary changing world. An important candidate for such methodological framework in the field of philosophy of education are the Whiteheadian process philosophical principles of education that constitute a good basis, on the one hand, for generalization of the previous achievements in the philosophy of education and for outlining of new future investigations and development of the theory of education, and on the other hand, to implement into practical politics the results of interdisciplinary investigations of the theory of education that combine the achievements in the field of artificial intelligence with process philosophical approaches in the theory of education and learning. The aim of the present section is namely to outline such new investigations and approaches in Western European countries and Bulgaria in the last few years.
Session 6: Varieties of Fictionalism
Fictionalism as a philosophical position appeared in 1980 with the publication of Hartry Field’s Science Without Numbers and Bas van Fraassen’s The Scientific Image. In them, Fieldand van Fraassen suggested that the aim of inquiry need not be necessarily truth, since the acceptance of a mathematical or scientific theory need not necessarily involve belief in its content. However, fictionalism can be extended by pointing out at its usefulness in other discourses. A part of such extension is due to contrast between fictionalism and reductionism as well as between fictionalism and nonfactualism. The current literature very often confuses the positions. We welcome talks related but not limited to the following topics in the field:- Systematic account of the main feature of fictionalism per se.- Critical evaluation of fictionalism as a philosophical and methodological position.- Investigating the philosophical status of fictional entities.- Conceptual analysis of philosophical and scientific discourse of fictional entities- The theoretical usefulness of fiction in general, and fictional entities in particular- “Useful fiction” in philosophy of mathematics, metaphysics, moral philosophy, aesthetics, philosophy of religion, epistemology, philosophy of science or philosophy of language.
Session 7: Beron Family – Bulgarian trace in the science and culture
The main objective of the Round table is a comprehensive study of the Beron Family and its contributions to the intellectual development of Bulgaria and the integration of Bulgaria into European science and culture. According to yet incomplete data, members of the Beron Family were three full members of BAS (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), more than 10 professors, several associated professors and other researchers, many famous physicians, engineers, writers, philologists, translators, enlighteners, public figures, grantors (we expect our research to corroborate the thesis that members of the family were among the biggest grantors to the Sofia University, although they did not want it to be announced, so the fact did not become public at the time), politicians, local public figures. In particular, the merits of the founder of this remarkable family – Dr. Petar Beron , one of the last encyclopedists in Europe; Acad. Vasil Hadji Stoyanov-Beron, author of the first grammars of the German and French language, published in Bulgarian, textbooks on logic, natural history, ; headmaster of the Bolgrad High School; Prof. Stefan Ruskov Beron, enlightener, publicist, translator and grantor, founder of the Bulgarian Literary Society and Acad. Bogomil Beron – founder of the Medical Academy and the Clinic of Skin-Venereal Diseases, President of the European Congress of Dermatologists.
Preliminary program
01.09.2019
Arrival of participants and registration
02.09.2019
New trends and challenges in the Black and Caspian seas regions
Session 1: Religion and Politics
Session 2: Culture, economic, art, social dimensions
03.09.2019
Session 3: Non-classical Logics – Interpretations and Applications
Session 4: Continental and analytic philosophy: recent problems and trends
04.09.2019
Session 5: New trends in the educational politics of the Western European countries and Bulgaria
Session 6: Varieties of Fictionalism
05.09.2019
Session 7: Beron Family – Bulgarian trace in the science and culture
The official language of the conference will be English.
