TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. FICTION WITHIN AND BEYOND LITERATURE AND ART

1. The Idea of Imagination and Technological Desire. Donald Phillip Verene (Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, Emory University)

2. Practical Intellect and Contemplative Mind in Early Greek Epos. Gerasim Petrinski (Assoc. Professor Dr., Department of Rhetoric, University of Sofia St. Kliment Ohridski)

3. Reality as a Narrative Fiction: Intertwining Perspectives. Valentina Di Cataldo (PhD Student, Universidad de Alicante)

4. The deadly-factual word of Greek tragedies: Hоlderlin and tragedy's example of fictional reality. Evangelos Kalfopoulos (Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Sofia St. Kliment Ohridski and Collaborating Investigator at the Institute of Philosophical Studies of Coimbra University)

5. We Dreamt a Beach and Found a Desert: What It Means to Live in Post-Situationist Reality. Nataliya Atanasova (Coordinator, MA and PhD Programs in Philosophy Taught in English, University of Sofia St. Kliment Ohridski)

6. The Subjective Gaze and Fictional Reality: A Jungian Reading of The Magus. Bianca Foghel, (Dr., West University of Timisoara)

7. The Subjective Ground of Differentiation in Kant, Proust and Mamardashvili: Topology of Fiction. Gigla Gonashvili, PhD (Independent scholar residing in Germany)

II. LOGIC AND SCIENCE AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF FICTION

8. Modal Fictionalism and Self-Reference. Blagovest S. Mollov (Professor, Dr. Sc., Department of European Studies, University of Sofia St. Kliment Ohridski)

9. Lied the Raven, Evermore – Falsehood and Reality in Science,

through Fiction. Riccardo Marzullo (Graduate Student, University of Turin)

10. After the Fact: Common Sense, Paradoxical Structures, and the Retroactive Logic of Fictional Reality. Boyan Dafov (PhD Student, Department of Logic, Ethics, and Aesthetics, University of Sofia St. Kliment Ohridski)

III. FICTIONAL REALITY IN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT

11. Democracy — a Reality of Fictions. Nikolay Naidenov (Professor, Dr. Sc., Department of Theory of Politics, University of Sofia St. Kliment Ohridski)

12. Projective Ontologizing and Counseling. Vesselin Hristov Dafov (Professor, Dr. Sc. Department of Philosophy, University of Sofia St. Kliment Ohridski)

13. Infinite Circles of Fictionality. Alexander L. Gungov (Professor, Dr. Sc., Department of Logic, Ethics, and Aesthetics, University of Sofia St. Kliment Ohridski)

14. Fictional Reality in Thomas More's Utopia as the Core of the Utopian Genre. Ulrich Arnswald (PD, Dr., Department of Philosophy, University of Innsbruck)

15. Jean Baudrillard – Democracy Beyond Hyperreal Simulation. Vanessa Freerks (Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Leadership Ethics in Africa, University of Fort Hare)

16. The Fiction of Growth: Degrowth as Philosophical Critique of Economic Reality. Lukasz Chryniewicz (Doctoral Candidate, PhD Program in Philosophy Taught in English,

University of Sofia “St. Kliment Ohridski”)

17. Specters of Merit: On the Architecture of Fictional Realities in Late Capitalism. Aleksandar Todorovski (Doctoral Student, PhD Program in Philosophy Taught in English, University of Sofia “St. Kliment Ohridski”)

IV. FICTIONAL REALITY: PRO AND CONTRA THE SACRED REALM

18. Ashen Worlds: The Poetics of Apocalypse in Climate Fiction. Todor P. Todorov (Assoc. Professor, Dr., Department of History of Philosophy, University of Sofia St. Kliment Ohridski)

19. ‘Fictional Reality’: The Case of Religious Texts in a Secular Context. John Patrick Giddy (Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Kwazulu-Natal)

20. Myth After Metaphysics in The Birth of Tragedy. Anany Mishra (Doctoral Candidate, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay) and P. G. Jung (Professor of Philosophy, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay)

V. CLINICAL PRACTICE AND MEDICAL SCIENCE

CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF FICTION

21. Lateral Frontoparietal Network (L-FPN) and Midcingulo-insular Network (M-CIN) Activation in Truth vs. Delusion Discrimination Processes within Psychopathology. David Tomasi (Assoc. Professor, University of Vermont / Vermont Academy of Arts & Sciences / Vermont State Colleges / Champlain College)

22. Fictional Reality in Addiction. Eleftherios Sarantis (Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Sofia St. Kliment Ohridski)

23. Concealed and Explicit Fictions in Biomedical Research: From Animal Models to In Vitro Systems. Francesco Giorgi (PhD Student, University of Sofia St. Kliment Ohridski)

VI. A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH TO HYPERREALITY

24. Hyperreality and the Authentic Nuance of the Fake Self Shervin Mirzaeighazi (PhD Alumnus, Lund University)

25. Phenomenology as Philosophy of Mind: Scientific Theories as Fictional Realities. Alexander Muss (Senior Lecturer, Department of General Psychology, Dr., St. Petersburg State University)

26. Simulacrum as Nichtseyende. Baudrillard and Schelling on the Effectiveness of What Is Not. Enrico Schiro (Dr., University of Malta)

27. Sincerity After Authenticity: Ethical Life Under Conditions of Fictional Reality. Taimoor Farouk (PhD Student, University of Sofia St. Kliment Ohridski)

VII. BOOK REVIEW

Werner Bаtzing, Homo Destructor. Eine Mensch–Umwelt–Geschichte. Von der Entstehung des Menschen zur Zerstоrung der Welt, 2023, Mуnchen C.H. Beck Verlag, 463 pp., €32,

ISBN: 9783406806681

Ulrich Arnswald (PD, Dr., Universitаt Innsbruck)

VIII. ANNOUNCEMENTS

Master’s Program in Philosophy Taught in English at the University of Sofia “St. Kliment Ohridski”

Doctoral Program in Philosophy Taught in English at the University of Sofia “St. Kliment Ohridski”