Abstract: This text was presented at the discussion “Time and Signs”: Sociology in Intergenerational Dialogue, organized by the Bulgarian Sociological Association. It attempts to acces, from a contemporary viewpoint, the empirical sociological information contained in the study Ethnic Conflict in Bulgaria, 1989, focused on the turbulent socioeconomic changes.

Abstract: The article reflects upon the increased significance of cultural differences today, both in the constitution of social realities and, even more, in their perceptions, experiences and interpretations. Typical examples of aggressive and even terrorist manifestation, caused by such differences recently, are given and analyzed in the text. They put new and difficult to formulate questions about the rights of certain individuals, groups and communities in the European societies, including the Bulgarian one.

Abstract: The article reflects upon the increased significance of cultural differences today, both in the constitution of social realities and, even more, in their perceptions, experiences and interpretations. Typical examples of aggressive and even terrorist manifestation, caused by such differences recently, are given and analyzed in the text. They put new and difficult to formulate questions about the rights of certain individuals, groups and communities in the European societies, including the Bulgarian one.

Abstract: Uncertainty is a universal form of human attitude towards the life-world, but it is in any case contextual or historically defined. At the beginning of the modern age, uncertainty was thematized and problematized. Man is at the center of his own life-world. The main question is, what can become human – not what it was; what can become society, not what it was or what it is. The fundamental assumption is that people and society can cope with uncertainty and achieve certainty. Social development is considered linear. The later modern age imposes the principle of non-linear social development. The place of Man changes substantially in the post-human society. Humans are cohabiting with, and dependent on, non-humans. Uncertainty becomes virtually permanent and certainty can not be a final goal. New living conditions require new solutions to the new problems of Man and society.

Abstract: The article presents the views of the eminent Bulgarian philosopher Bernard Muntyan on society and humankind. The 21st century brought drastic intensity to the contradiction between the objectivity of knowledge in the sphere of science, and non-objectivity/the lie in the sphere of ideology; between the global universal human problems and the search for regional/national benefits derived from unilateral decisions. Muntyan looks for the root of this contradiction, defines the risks it holds, and the ways to overcome it. The lie is part of the ideology that legitimates and upholds the clashing interests of different social groups and communities. In fact, universal human interests are a priority on the social agenda. Thus, the lie becomes a global problem. Moreover, it is a basic problem, because, on the one hand, it is a barrier that must be surmounted in order to overcome all other barriers; on the other hand, the barrier is growing higher instead of being reduced.

Abstract: This article proceeds from Bulgarian philosopher Bernard Muntyan’s conception of ideological lie and offers an illustration of, and a critical reflection on, the lie through the historical example of National Socialism and Adolf Hitler’s views on truth and lie. With the help of numerous references to original texts and speeches, we argue that Hitler constructs a bi-polar world perception divided by the images of “us”, as bearers of truth, and “them” as advocates of lying. It simultaneously confirms Muntyan’s “single truth theory” regarding extreme ideologies and evokes issues related to subjectivity of viewpoints on lying and the difficulties of defining reliable instruments against false knowledge.

Abstract: In dialogue with Peter-Emil Mitev’s analysis of the ideas of Bernard Muntyan, the article formulates questions related to the scientific and civic responsibility of the scientist reflecting on the global problems of the modern world. For Muntyan, the cognitive and civic ideal of the scientist is “the whole truth”, viewed as “intolerance towards lies”, as “a struggle against all lies”, as a possibility for achieving a humanity in which society and the individual shall preserve the all-human.

Abstract: The family in Western Europe and North America has undergone multiple transformations since its theorization by Parsons in the 1950s. From now on, the ideal of conjugality is gender equality. Its formulation was made possible, thanks to the mobilization of the feminist movement, by the recognition of women’s right to control their own fertility in the 1970s. It is this ideal of conjugality that presided over the legalization of same-sex marriage during the 2000s. Since then, the axis of common family law is filiation not marriage. Today, it is the child who should be at the heart of the new family law, but the legislator (for example, in Quebec or France) is slow to materialize this major transformation in the construction of the contemporary family.