In his Critical corpus, Kant makes two seemingly inconsistent claims concerning the highest good and its relation to the postulates of immortality and God. On the one hand, he argues that the highest good is a duty to be promoted that must therefore be possible by human powers (‘ought implies can’). On the other hand, he asserts that the highest good is an “unconditioned object” of practical reason that can only be attained on the ground of the postulates of immortality (...) and the aid of God. In order to resolve this apparent conflict in Kant’s claims, I intend to argue in this paper that Kant implicitly classifies the highest good as a wide obligation (imperfect duty), which is to be promoted in the world by human agency but goes beyond the limits of human powers and must be assisted and complemented by the postulates of immortality and God. To do so, I argue that the highest good stems from the moral law since the moral law embodies the ground of absolute goodness and holiness that is never fully achievable by rational agents and thus can generate duties that are impossible to attain. In parallel, I argue that two of the components of the highest good, namely moral worthiness and distribution of happiness, are classified as wide obligations that the moral law commands us to pursue infinitely and with the aid of God. In sum, I try to resolve the initial conflict by suggesting that the highest good as an infinite progress towards the holiness demanded by the moral law signifies a wide obligation, which is not achievable merely by human agency but fundamentally requires the postulates of immortality and the existence of God as a complementing and assisting ground. (shrink)

Traditional normative theories of belief in epistemology presume that belief-forming includes a reflective component and a mental agency component. Beliefs are regarded as conscious doxastic attitudes with propositional contents. Let’s call this view the Transcendental View about Belief (TVB). First, I argue that reputed norms of belief as the truth norm, the knowledge norm and the rationality norm all incorporate TVB. Further, I argue that the empirical evidence concerning belief-forming collected in the last two decades by Rüdiger Seitz, Hans-Ferdinant Angel, (...) Raymond Paloutzian and their colleagues suggests that primal beliefs do not correspond to the description provided by TVB. Primal beliefs are byproducts of perceptive and affective type 1 processing. As such, they are non-propositional multilayer relational states of a cognitive system S that do not presuppose conscious awareness. Thus, I maintain that TVB is normatively inadequate, because it is descriptively false. I presume that a good normative account of beliefs should be able to accommodate primal beliefs and provide a norm of primal belief. I conclude by attempting to outline such a positive account. (shrink)

We offer an overview of the relation between formal logic and naturalism. In Section 2, examples are considered of empirically-motivated logics. In Section 3, an empirically-motivated interpretation of alethic modalities is outlined. Through both issues, we attempt to support the thesis that formal logic can be regarded as a quasi-empirical, or already naturalized discipline.

This article suggests an explorative approach to the character and meaning of individual autonomy in higher education through a particular conception of social relations. Following Axel Honneth, a theoretical framework is outlined in which subjectivity and autonomy are results of underlying institutionalised relations of recognition in the forms of love, legal respect, and social esteem. It is argued that when higher education is seen as self-formation and as a field of relations of recognition due to its collegial, legal, and evaluative (...) features, it is possible to conceive of its institutional environment as supportive or obstructive to recognition and, consequently, to the advancement of individual autonomy. Such a theoretical tool, based on Honneth’s recognition theory, could then translate into a critical instrument able to extend the understanding of what constitutes matters of individual autonomy in and across specific institutionalised contexts, including higher education. (shrink)

The theory of modality deals with objective possibility and impossibility. Modality is an intensely discussed topic in current analytic philosophy. The discussion concerns both epistemology and metaphysics. How do we know modalities, and how are they grounded in reality? Naturalism is also an intensely discussed project in current analytic philosophy. This project gives rise to the subtask of naturalizing modality. Historically, modality has been a topic of interest to David Hume, who is often regarded as one of the forerunners of (...) current naturalism. I aim at bringing together the topics of modality and naturalism in outlining two alternatives for naturalizing modality in the work of Hume. (shrink)

There is a worry about the intellectual legitimacy of philosophy. Although the sciences have a progressive history, with later theories largely building on earlier ones, and a tremendous amount of agreement within the scientific community about the approximate truth of current theory, philosophy is different. We do not see a progressive history of philosophical theorizing, and there is little agreement within the philosophical community about which theories are even roughly correct. This not only encourages a certain skepticism about the possibility (...) of philosophical knowledge, but a real question about whether the activity of philosophical theorizing is intellectually legitimate. It is argued here that there are features of a naturalistic methodology in philosophy which have the resources to respond to these concerns. (shrink)

This article tackles the possibility of reframing Cézanne’s reception of still life as a meta-painting in which individuals occasionally become objectified, gathering objects with other ontological dignities, such as things and tools, in a Heideggerian manner. One of the rare situations in which individuals are presented like objects throughout a still life is represented by the series of Card Players. I will argue that the still life form is reflected in objectual painting in which the insertion of individuals is performed (...) in order to recover a Bergsonian élan vital, of which Cézanne retains, by engaging Impressionist techniques, only an instance: the circumstance of a meditative, decisive, ludic action, taken during the game. Once humanised, still life has, in Cézanne’s version, the capacity to express the human condition through two inherent determinations, luck and sociability, reflecting what Arendt would call “the human corner”–something that anyone needs in order to preserve natural instincts, to be “happy around things” and to begin a civilisational process, supported by the double realm of arbitrariness and normativity that lies at the heart of a game. (shrink)

In the present paper we investigate the role of human values in the reception of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (better known as ‘the Istanbul Convention’) within the EU. By establishing a certain relationship between the most important arguments raised in favor of or against the convention and values from Schwartz’s theory of human values, we formulate certain hypotheses about the influence of the importance the people from a given EU member state ascribe (...) to certain values on the decision of that EU member state on whether the convention should be ratified. We also hypothesize that human values have played the role of mediator between the decision in question and the waves of immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa to the EU. All hypotheses are tested using the results from the European Social Survey. These results suggest that: 1) a more positive attitude towards the convention is correlated with higher importance of the value ‘universalism-concern’ and lower importance of the value ‘tradition’; 2) the value ‘universalism-concern’ has played the role of mediator described above. (shrink)

The article explores and attempts the possibility of reading normative cultural relativism into J. S. Mill’s On Liberty. This article examines J. S. Mill’s On Liberty. It argues that even though Mill is often described as a moral universalist as evident in the methodology employed in the postulation of his ethical utilitarianism, one could also argue that his position maintained in On Liberty qualifies him to be a normative cultural relativist. Basically, the article contends that beyond the universalist reading of (...) Mill’s works, he is qualified to be called a normative cultural relativist. The article interrogates and interprets the position maintained by J. S. Mill’s in the On Liberty that commits him to normative cultural relativism. The paper concludes that anyone that maintains such a position as Mill need not necessarily reject normative cultural relativism. (shrink)

I propose a reconsideration of the role that ‘interpellations’ play in the dynamic process of identity construction. ‘Interpellation’ is a quasi-technical term introduced by Louis Althusser (1969) that I reinterpret using the lens of contemporary social ontology. I therefore look at it as an identity proposal that the individual can either accept, reject, negotiate, or outright ignore. In the original text, Althusser mentions the fact that the individual’s acceptance is the essential moment of an interpellation, but he does not elaborate (...) on the other options available to the individual. I believe it is important to analyze the individual’s options and the factors that may influence whether the individual’s freedom of choice is fully exercised in such contexts. I further discuss the human vulnerabilities that cause ‘interpellations’ to be adopted without much reflection, even in the absence of a repressive system that would try to enforce a mainstream ideology. (shrink)

The paper re-examines the work of Jakob Böhme (1575–1624) through the lens of environmental ethics. Specifically, it delves into the concept of dwelling (wohnen) as articulated in Six Theosophic Points (1620), The Six Mystical Points (1620), and On the Early and Heavenly Mystery (1620). To illuminate the significance of this concept for environmental ethics, the paper will juxtapose it with Martin Heidegger’s idea of dwelling. This comparative approach not only sheds light on the environmental-ethical implications, but also allows for a (...) broader exploration of methodological considerations inherent in such a scholarly endeavor. The paper raises questions about the potential constraints in reinterpreting the intellectual legacy of past thinkers, that is, their identity over the course of the history of philosophy. (shrink)

This paper aims to examine what is called “diasporic identity.” The complexity related to this research arises due to the inherent uncertainty and indefinability of identity itself, which is further compounded by the additional layer of uncertainty introduced by the concept of diaspora. The diaspora is not a ready-made, indisputable reality; establishing its existence demands substantiating the claim that it possesses a distinct identity. However, merely demonstrating a shared geographical distance from the homeland raises pertinent questions: Why should the negative (...) circumstance of being distanced from one’s homeland serve as a unifying factor, and does this dispersion give rise to an identity transcending national boundaries? Answering these questions involves looking at the historical context of identity and diaspora and introducing concepts that help understand them. The central thesis posited herein asserts that the manifestation of diasporic identity primarily assumes a narrative form, elucidated through both disciplinary discourse and literary works. With specific reference to the Armenian Diaspora, this exposition contends that, in certain instances, reliance solely on academic discourse proves insufficient in establishing a comprehensive comprehension of diasporic identity. It is asserted that literature, with its metaphoric language, emerges as an essential instrument, providing access to the profound layers inherent to the domain, thereby facilitating a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of diasporic identity. (shrink)

This article discusses the Mekrijärvi boreal lake system in North Karelia, Finland, and the Koitajoki river. It traces historico-cultural interactions with the lake, from its role as an epicenter of Karelian rune singing and traditional practices, to the natural and cultural disruptions caused by large-scale natural resource extraction that shattered forests, peatlands, and waterbodies, and on into a new era of restoration. In the 2000s a community-driven NGO began to document oral histories and scientific evidence of the lake’s condition. In (...) the 2020s, this effort evolved into a landscape-scale eco-cultural revitalization effort. Habitat for endangered whitefish and degraded peatlands are being restored and traditional knowledge has become a central force in rebuilding and re-imagining traditional northern societies. Snippets of personal memories and oral poetry offer a window into a unique boreal world which, though once thought to be lost, is in a state of re-discovery and healing. (shrink)

Humans tend to seek their identity as entities existing over a period of time by making narratives. The paper argues that seeking diachronic self-identity through narratives or stories results in the self-experience being one of separation or alienation from the real world. This happens because language is primarily a form of secondary representation, and the means by which we attempt to find identity often appear in the form of narratives. The dominance of the metaphor of life as a journey shows (...) this. The remedy is to reduce the hold of narrativity by making self-experience fundamentally episodic. (shrink)

The main objective of this article is to analyze the reasons behind Thomas Ligotti’s recognition of Peter Wessel Zapffe as an anti-natalist. Specifically, I argue that Ligotti’s focus on Zapffe’s early essay The Last Messiah (1933) alone results in some misunderstandings of Zapffe’s views, which make room for coining him an antinatalist. These misunderstandings ground associated dichotomies of the type, Ligotti’s misinterpretation versus Zapffe’s theory, such as the dichotomy of self-deception versus heterotelic metaphysical activity of phantasy, as embedded in that (...) of illusions versus fixations, and the dichotomy tragedy versus necessary tragic. Comparing and contrasting Ligotti’s analysis of three examples of Zapffe’s works including The Last Messiah and Fragments of an Interview (1959), as well as choosing one more example – that of Zapffe’s monograph On the Tragic (1941) – I aim to demonstrate why reducing Zapffe’s ideas of the necessary tragic and multifrontal conflicts to anti-natalism per se simplifies the unique philosophical background in which these ideas occur. (shrink)

Building upon recent studies in new materialisms and feminist critical posthumanism with a focus on human and more-than-human relationships, this paper examines how the posthuman paradigm, by postulating the queering of identit(ies) via entanglement with the more-than-human (including technology), and by offering a critical examination of diverse modes of existence within a broader ecological context, can foster more inclusive and ethically sound ways of being in the world. Although posthumanism encompasses a wide range of perspectives and theories, including transhumanism, at (...) its core, it challenges traditional notions of humanism, blurring the boundaries between what is human and what is more-than-human, while calling for a revaluation of anthropocentric, onto-epistemological, and ethical frameworks. This paper mobilises the framework and methodology of composting-with-care as an analytical tool to foster epistemic diversity, from quantum field theory to speculative fabulation, in the examination of the issue concerning human identity. It concludes by proposing a view where the self is not confined to the individual human but emerges through interactions (and intra-actions) with the world(s) of which the human is part, acknowledging the agency and influence of actors beyond the human on identity formation. (shrink)

This is a review of: Димитър Цацов, Димитър Михалчев – „Философски студии. Принос към критиката на модерния психологизъм. – 1909 г.“, София: Авангард Прима, 2023.