Lilia Gurova | New Bulgarian University (original) (raw)

Papers by Lilia Gurova

Balkan Journal of Philosophy, 2024

Философски алтернативи, 2016

Balkan Journal of Philosophy, 2017

In the Autumn of 2015, a small group of members of the European Philosophy of Science Association... more In the Autumn of 2015, a small group of members of the European Philosophy of Science Association (EPSA) decided to found what is known today as the East European Network for Philosophy of Science (EENPS). 1 The Inaugural conference of EENPS was held in Sofia on June 24–26, 2016, and was hosted by New Bulgarian University. The conference was a great success: about 70 scholars from 22 different countries took part, and three of the founders of the EPSA accepted invitations to give keynote talks. The keynote speakers Stephan Hartmann, 2 Stathis Psillos, 3 and Roman Frigg 4 also agreed to answer some awkward questions about the mission of philosophy of science in the present world, the role of networking among philosophers for the completion of their mission, and the value which professional organizations such as EPSA and EENPS add to the lives of those who are committed to the mission of philosophy of science. The questions were asked by Lilia Gurova, who chaired the Local Organizing Committee of the Inaugural con-

International Studies in the Philosophy of Science

Diogenes, 2019

In this rejoinder to D. Elchinov’s paper “For” the explanatory fundamentality of dispositional ex... more In this rejoinder to D. Elchinov’s paper “For” the explanatory fundamentality of dispositional explanations I point to some deficiencies of the suggested concept of explanatory fundamentality. I argue, in particular, that this concept does not allow for treating the dispositional explanations of explanations as more fundamental than e.g. the causal explanations of explanations although the dispositional explanations do make a distinctive contribution to the inferential content of our knowledge. Therefore, I propose to abandon the suggested concept of explanatory fundamentality as practically useless and focus instead on the conceptual differentiation between the understanding yielded by the explanations of other explanations and the understanding provided by the explained explanations on their own.

Problemi na postmodernostta, 2014

The paper presents retrospectively the Sokal Affair, one of the most wide-ranging academic scanda... more The paper presents retrospectively the Sokal Affair, one of the most wide-ranging academic scandals of the late 20th century. Special attention is drawn to three questions which were in the focus of the follow up discussions: Why did Sokal take such an unusual step? What the Sokal case does and does not prove? Was Sokal's behavior unethical?

Humans are exceptionally good at inferring the intentions behind particular behavior even when th... more Humans are exceptionally good at inferring the intentions behind particular behavior even when the situation is complex or the context is completely new. In this paper we explore the hypothesis that a kind of analogical transfer from past experience to present situations plays an important role in the process of attributing intentions to ambiguous actions. The participants in our experiment were presented with two stories, the latter containing an ambiguous action. They were asked to evaluate how plausible was that the actor in the second story had a particular intention, either positive, or negative, or neutral. We found that the participants rated higher the plausibility of a negative intention when the preceding story was relationally similar and its actor manifested negative intentions. The attribution of intention to the ambiguous action was not different from that in the control condition when the preceding story was dissimilar or perceptually similar, or when its actor manife...

In a series of publications, which appeared in the last 3 years 1 Jerry Fodor launched an attack ... more In a series of publications, which appeared in the last 3 years 1 Jerry Fodor launched an attack at what many believe is the core of Darwinian theory of evolution -the theory of natural selection. Fodor complains that the theory of natural selection "can't explain the distribution of phenotypic traits in biological populations" (Fodor, 2008, p.11) and his main argument, slightly simplified 2 , is the following: In order to play its explanatory role properly, the theory of natural selection must rely on "nomologically necessary generalizations about the mechanisms of adaptation as such" (Fodor, 2008, p.23). There are not good candidates for such "nomologically necessary generalizations", therefore, the theory of natural selection cannot explain what it is supposed to explain. Not surprisingly, Fodor's attack provoked a strong, mostly negative, reaction 3 . Fodor's critics have complained that he does not really understand how evolutionary ...

Cognitive Science, 2014

Analogical transfer of intentions Luiza Shahbazyan (l.shahbazyan@gmail.com) Georgi Petkov (gpetko... more Analogical transfer of intentions Luiza Shahbazyan (l.shahbazyan@gmail.com) Georgi Petkov (gpetkov@cogs.nbu.bg) Lilia Gurova (lgurova@nbu.bg) Central and East European Center for Cognitive Science Department of Cognitive Science and Psychology New Bulgarian University 21 Montevideo Str., Sofia 1618, Bulgaria present by establishing similarities with the past (Penn, Holyoak, & Povellini, 2008; Baldwin, 2002; Heusmann, 1998; Dodge, 2006). Their views diverge, however, when it comes to the mechanisms that enable us to accomplish such inferences. Surprisingly, little empirical evidence has been accumulated so far that might help to resolve the debate. The next section highlights what the main controversy is about. Abstract Humans are exceptionally good at inferring the intentions behind particular behavior even when the situation is complex or the context is completely new. In this paper we explore the hypothesis that a kind of analogical transfer from past experience to present situati...

When Bradley Lewis announced in 2014 that psychiatry needed to make a "narrative turn",... more When Bradley Lewis announced in 2014 that psychiatry needed to make a "narrative turn", he backed up his appeal as follows: (1) the different explanatory models of mental disorders that are currently competing in psychiatry tell us different stories about mental health; (2) none of these stories has the privilege of being the only true one, and its alternatives the wrong ones; (3) the choice of a model in each case should be made in a dialogue with the patient in order to ensure that the model will be chosen that best meets the patient’s goals and desires and, accordingly, would best support the process of recovery. The latter suggestion however is not easy to follow when the patients’ subjective goals and desires and the goal of returning the patients to a normal way of life diverge, as is the case with the so-called factitious disorders. The problem is worsen by the theory-ladenness of the interpretations of patients’ first-person narratives. This paper argues against a ...

!!!!Categorization: Theories and Empirical Effects It is broadly accepted that categorization (or... more !!!!Categorization: Theories and Empirical Effects It is broadly accepted that categorization (or grouping together entities which are otherwise seen as non-identical) is a basic cognitive ability. In the same time, none of the proposed theories of categorization has gained unanimity so far. The pros and cons of four major views on categorization (the so-called „classical” view, the prototype view, the exemplar view, and the theory view) will be discussed against the background of a large set of empirical phenomena. The students will be involved in practical exercises of planning, being participants in, and discussing the results of experimental studies of the most famous categorization effects.

Those who argue that dispositional explanations are genuine explanations usually construe them as... more Those who argue that dispositional explanations are genuine explanations usually construe them as causal explanations. There are several well-known arguments against the causal efficacy of dispositions, but there are as well demonstrations that on some minimal conditions, dispositions could be viewed as causally relevant to the effects which they are taken to explain. Although the latter position is generally tenable, it may be shown that in some important cases it is not a good idea to commit to a causal construal of dispositional explanations. The argument goes as follows: (1) Dispositional explanations are valued for certain specific extra-inferences which they allow us to draw; (2) The causal construal of dispositional explanations can account for some of these extra-inferences only on the assumption that the disposition is a common cause of its manifestations; (3) However, under certain circumstances, the common cause assumption is refuted on theoretical or empirical grounds; T...

In a series of recent publications Jerry Fodor has attacked what many believe is the core of Darw... more In a series of recent publications Jerry Fodor has attacked what many believe is the core of Darwinian theory of evolution – the theory of natural selection. Not surprisingly, Fodor’s attack has provoked a strong negative reaction. Fodor’s critics have insisted both that his main argument is unsound and that his central claim that the theory of natural selection “can’t explain the distribution of phenotypic traits in biological populations” is untenable. I can generally agree with the first part of the launched criticism: Fodor’s “putative argument” does rely on controversial premises which make it unsound. However, I don’t think that Fodor’s critics have succeeded in their attempts to refute his central claim. The refutation strategy that most of them have undertaken is to show examples of successful evolutionary explanations by natural selection. In what follows, two of these examples are put into scrutiny. The analysis reveals that: (1) The theory of natural selection should be o...

When Bradley Lewis announced in 2014 that psychiatry needed to make a "narrative turn",... more When Bradley Lewis announced in 2014 that psychiatry needed to make a "narrative turn", he backed up his appeal as follows: (1) the different explanatory models of mental disorders that are currently competing in psychiatry tell us different stories about mental health; (2) none of these stories has the privilege of being the only true one, and its alternatives the wrong ones; (3) the choice of a model in each case should be made in dialogue with the patient in order to ensure that the model will be chosen that best meets the patient’s goals and desires and, accordingly, would best support the process of recovery. The latter suggestion, however, is not easy to follow when the patients’ subjective goals and desires diverge from the clinical goal of returning the patients to a normal way of life, as is the case with the so-called factitious disorders. The problem is worsened by the theory-ladenness of the interpretations of patients’ first-person narratives. This paper argue...

One reason why people prefer the causal construal of explanation, both in everyday life and in sc... more One reason why people prefer the causal construal of explanation, both in everyday life and in science, is that causal explanations are useful as they provide information on how to eventually get control over the explained phenomena. The causal construal of explanation, however, does not always seem to be useful. There are cases where non-causal accounts do a better job. In support of the latter claim it will be shown in this paper that in the case of personality trait explanations: (a) the causal construal, although possible, faces serious empirical and conceptual problems; (b) the non-causal construal of trait explanations as category-based explanations better grasps their explanatory virtues such as the potential to rule out alternative explanations and to allow for new predictions about the explained phenomena. The continuity of the proposed categorical account of trait explanations with similar views is discussed.

Balkan Journal of Philosophy, 2017

Balkan Journal of Philosophy, 2024

Философски алтернативи, 2016

Balkan Journal of Philosophy, 2017

International Studies in the Philosophy of Science

Diogenes, 2019

Problemi na postmodernostta, 2014

Cognitive Science, 2014

When Bradley Lewis announced in 2014 that psychiatry needed to make a "narrative turn",... more When Bradley Lewis announced in 2014 that psychiatry needed to make a "narrative turn", he backed up his appeal as follows: (1) the different explanatory models of mental disorders that are currently competing in psychiatry tell us different stories about mental health; (2) none of these stories has the privilege of being the only true one, and its alternatives the wrong ones; (3) the choice of a model in each case should be made in dialogue with the patient in order to ensure that the model will be chosen that best meets the patient’s goals and desires and, accordingly, would best support the process of recovery. The latter suggestion, however, is not easy to follow when the patients’ subjective goals and desires diverge from the clinical goal of returning the patients to a normal way of life, as is the case with the so-called factitious disorders. The problem is worsened by the theory-ladenness of the interpretations of patients’ first-person narratives. This paper argue...

Balkan Journal of Philosophy, 2017