NotaBene

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Possibilities and Creative Improvisations

In this issue

Journal NotaBene Issue 52 (2021) Editor: Antoaneta Nikolova

Topic of the issue: Possibilities and Creative Improvisations

The Objective Scope of Thinking in Kant’s Transcendental Dialectic

In the Transcendental Dialectic of Critique of Pure Reason, Kant poses a task hitherto unexplored in the territory of logic: to find and derive universal forms in the realization of the supreme unity of thought. In concrete terms, these must be the higher a priori forms of reason or its supreme concepts: transcendental ideas. They base the whole thinking in its higher synthetic functions which are cast into the extension to universality of the inference functions of thinking. On this scale, the projection of the ultimate and general scope of thinking opens, which Kant defines as the “totality of the conditions” in thinking in general, and as a pure and supreme functional element of the unconditioned of thinking. There is no way that this innovatively set and solved task will not lead to new formations in view of the general nature and action of the higher concepts of reason. These transcendental logical formations and procedures form a new construction of whole thinking and illuminate its general objective possibilities.
Keywords: Kant, transcendental philosophy, transcendental logic, the unconditioned, the principle of determination.

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Improvisation in Lace

The article presents possible new ways created by the author to use the traditional lace shuttle technology as a possible way to develop lace. In the conceptual framework of Michel de Certo’s theory of the invention of everyday life the text examines the improvisation in the creation of individual authorial models, the legacy of the classics in lace and freedom in application, the transformation of the known, and the transfer of skills.
Key words: shuttle lace, cultural technology, improvisation, development of tradition, introduction, invention of everyday life, art, creativity, motivation.

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Art and pandemic – crisis as chance

The article analyzes the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on arts and culture worldwide and in Bulgaria. The effects of the crisis on human thinking and behavior have been studied. The important psychological and social effects of the creation and perception of art during a crisis are emphasized. The issue of rearrangement of values is considered - both in the life of the individual and the whole society. An attempt has been made to conceptualize the crisis in the arts not as a disaster, but as a chance for change, awakening of human creativity, new discoveries and qualitative changes. The article discusses process of digitalization of all arts and new aesthetic, methodological, philosophical, practical and theoretical challenges which are a consequence of it. One of the important consequences of digitalization and free access to art is reaching new audiences. The changes in the attitude towards art and the differences between the perceptions in real and digital presentation of an artifact or event are indicated. Various examples are given of overcoming the effects of isolation and social distance through various initiatives and new ways of connecting artists and their audiences.
Key words: art, creativity, pandemic, crisis, chance, digitalization.

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Philosophical models of Antiquity gravitating on freedom and determinism

The purpose of this article is to explore the relationship between the concepts of freedom and determinism in the European tradition by conceptualizing through historical and philosophical analysis their connection to different patterns of thinking, typical for the ancient period. In this way, gravitating on theses based on the so-called "Principle of bivalence", the text also represents the views of Aristotle, Cicero, Epicurus and the philosophy of the Stoics.
Key words: Ancient philosophy, freedom, fate, determinism

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Podium

Psychological Aspects of the Inclusion of Children with Cognitive Disabilities Living in an Orphan Boarding House in Musical Creative Work

A global problem is the increasing birth rate of children with cognitive impairments. The psychological characteristics of such children, their isolation and confinement in orphanages abandoned by their parents raise many questions for the public. What are the psychological characteristics of such children, is it possible for them, like others, to be involved in the creative process? In this regard, the psychology of creativity will be a defining methodological direction in this study. The fact is that creativity as universal human ability is inherent in children with profound cognitive disabilities. Their involvement in music brings them new impressions in the sensually poor environment of the orphanage where they are raised and educated. In the musical activity of the child with cognitive disabilities in development, who sometimes has very poor command of the speech apparatus, creativity is expressed in the performance of music with the help of children's musical noise instruments. Accompaniment of musical works, movements in musical performances, accompaniment to musical pieces, participation in music lessons after the concert – all these forms of active involvement of children with cognitive disabilities in music are promising and perspective in the creative development of such children. The musical activity brings these children joy, positive emotions and positive mood in their life in the orphanage.
Key words: psychology of creativity, children with cognitive disabilities, orphanages

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Humorous versions of the history of Bulgaria

The article comments on various attempts at a humorous presentation of the history of Bulgaria and the Bulgarians. Several such versions have been analyzed – they date from the interwar period (their authors are Hristo Brazitzov, Georgi Tsarkovski and Rayko Alexiev), from the second half of the eighties (Nikolay Genchev) and from the last period, the nineties (Georgi Konstantinov, Ivan Kulekov). All of them are presented as stories parallel to the official historical discourse, the purpose of which is to parody the present in which they are written, as well as to entertain. In all of them a number of features of Bulgarian folk psychology are ridiculed. Particular attention is paid to the work of Nikolai Genchev "Short-Funny History of Bulgaria", as the author is the only professional historian among the others. It is concluded that creating a humorous version of the story of the past - scientific, artistic, mythological, etc., is always a creative challenge. To varying degrees, the narratives discussed in the article are a necessary corrective to the "serious" historical interpretation.

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Realms of Imagination in the Film "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus"

The article presents and analyses some of the mythological images, archetypes and symbols that can be found in the movie"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus", one of the iconic, provocative and debatable films of the original contemporary director Terry Gilliam.
Key words: "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus", Terry Gilliam, imagination, archetypes

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Minima moralia

Marxism, Neo-Nazism and Democracy (forms of ideology)

The text provides a perusal of the relational dependence between Marxism, Neo-Nazism and Democracy The latter is the prerequisite for upbringing to happen as a social phenomenon, burdened with ideological connotations of time and historical situation. The research makes a comparative characterization of the phenomena in the search of the relation between them. Democracy as a form of government establishes its own ideology, the projections of which are an imitation of forms of ideology known from the past, which use the same discourse practices. Within this sense, the social upbringing shall always be the voice of messages that prove to be predictable.
Key words: ideology, social upbringing, Marxism, Neo-Nazism, Democracy, Discourse

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Political Anthropology as an Estalishing Academic Discipline

The purpose of this article is to show the subject of a comparatively young science - political anthropology. The article provides basic information about political anthropology as an invention of the colonial and ethnographic research.
Keywords: anthropology, colonialism, theories, approachеs.

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Babylon

Thumbelina

The French philosopher, anthropologist and historian of science Michel Serres (1930 - 2019) is known to the Bulgarian reader with his books "Atlas" and "Five Senses". His essay "Thumbelina" was published in France in 2012 and quickly became a bestseller. In it, the author addresses the anthropological change in the age of new technologies related to the different use of cognitive abilities and the organisation of knowledge. He argues that children from the time of Internet and mobile phones have greater access to knowledge and various personalities in comparison to the previous generations. We present here a few paragraphs from the second chapter - "The School".
"Thumbelina" by Michel Serres will be published by SONM publishing house, translator Rada Sharlandzhieva

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Announcement

Niklas Luhmann and the concept of society

The two characteristics with which we can identify Niklas Luhmann and his work are innovation and objectivity. The former points out the originality of his way of thinking, respectively his concept of the society. The latter satisfies (to perfection) Max Weber's condition to make a clear difference in science between facts and values; even the hidden irony that Luhmann (in some places) shows is in an abstract context.
The present work refers to some more important aspects of the conceptual architectonics of the methodical theoretician Niklas Luhmann for the society, and in particular those which are related to its definition.
Keywords: society, sociology, systems theory, system/s, social systems, communication, difference / differentiation, mental systems, meaning, contingency, Alter, Ego, observation (first and second order), observer, (first and second placement).

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Commentary: Lecture by Dr. Mordechai Kedar - The Middle East: Tribalism and Not Nationalism

Dr. Mordechai Kedar, an expert in the Arabic language and Islamic culture from Bar-Ilan University, opens for us a window so that we can understand how the tribes in the Middle East were created and how the tribal society constitutes the source of the wars in the Middle East.

According to Kedar, the factor that most characterizes the Middle East is the fact that it is a desert region without a large number of water sources. The sparse water resources (wells, rivers, puddles, etc.) cause people to fiercely defend the water resources they have.

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Poiesis

Poem by Petar Tchouhov

Petar Tchouhov was born on 23.06.1961 in Sofia, Bulgaria. He published 13 collections of poetry, a novel, two collections of short stories and a children’s book. His works has been translated into 20 languages and included in many newspapers, journals and anthologies in Bulgaria and abroad. He plays guitar in rock bands, writes music and lyrics. Petar performed his writing and music at festivals and other events in Japan, USA, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Turkey, Romania, Slovakia, Albania and Macedonia. He is the winner of the top prize at the 61st Basho Festival in Japan and many more others. Recently, he has been performing his poetry with the spoken rock band LaText (latext.eu) and has been playing also with the bands Gologan and Par Avion Band.
Petar is a member of the Bulgarian P.E.N.-Centre’s Management Board, the Association of Bulgarian Writers, the Sofia Haiku Club, the World Haiku Association, and Musicautor.

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Keyholes. Photos by Elena Krasteva

Elena Krasteva is radioengineer, PhD in Physics. She worked at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. She is a member of Color Group - Bulgaria and has a number of participations with her photos in seminars and conferences organised by this group. In February 2020 she won the First Prize in the 21x21 competition for abstract art at the a-cube contemporary gallery. In January-February 2021, her solo photo exhibition "OUTSIDE" was presented in the gallery.

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Рецензии

Muta eloquentia: Baroque Rhetoric as the Voice of Wordless Arts

The article is a review with debatable philosophical-aesthetic elements of the latest book by Prof. Rositsa Yordanova, Varna Free University ‘Chernorizets Hrabar’, containing three essays in the field of history of rhetoric and art history:
Yordanova, R. 2020. Baroque rhetoric. ISBN 9786191901845. Varna: Slavena. 192 pages, with color illustrations. [Originally in Bulgarian: Йорданова, Р. 2020. Барокова реторика. ISBN 9786191901845. Варна: Славена. 192 страници, с цветни илюстрации.]

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Believing Rationally

Review of the monograph of Anna Ivanova, Ivanova, A. 2020. Believing Rationally. Veliko Tarnovo: “ITI”

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