What drives individuals to generate utopian fictions, and how does this process take place? From a sociological perspective, we can phrase this question as follows: Why and how, in a given society, at a given point of its history, do some individuals design some idealized forms of social organization? Surprisingly, the process through which utopias are produced has not been widely addressed in utopian studies.Indeed, four types of research question dominate this scholarship :First, following Engels’s critique of utopianism and Mannheim’s (...) countercritique, some reflections explore how utopian logics... (shrink)

This article is the introduction to the special issue ‘Sociology and psychology: what intersections?’ In addition to presenting the articles included in this issue, the present text outlines the general stakes of interdisciplinarity between psychology and sociology. It argues that interdisciplinarity requires a specific conversion work between disciplines and that, in the particular case of sociology and psychology, importations and exportations of concepts and ideas have existed since the beginning of these disciplines.

Explaining Mental Illness est un manuel de sociologie sur la santé mentale dont l’ambition est explicitée dès l’introduction: il s’agit d’articuler les recherches sur la santé mentale avec la sociologie générale. Le livre est coécrit par Baptiste Brossard et Amy Chandler, tous les deux spécialistes de l’automutilation et du suicide, ainsi que chercheurs à l’université de York (Royaume-Uni). L’originalité de l’ouvrage se reflète dans son titre, il s’agit d’expliquer (explaining) la santé menta...

Que la situation de certaines femmes se soit améliorée, cela ne signifie pas que la condition des femmes en général a changé en profondeur, et que le féminisme peut prendre congé. Au contraire, à la fois comme pensée, comme discours, comme pratique et comme éthique, le féminisme reste indispensable à l'avènement d'un monde meilleur.Although some women fare better in our society, this does not mean that the situation of women in general is no longer problematic, and that feminism is no (...) longer needed. On the contrary, as a way of thinking, as a discourse, as a praxis and as an ethics, feminism remains essential to the coming of a better society. (shrink)

Baptiste Rappin | : Cet article appréhende la pensée de Jean-François Mattéi en prenant pour fil directeur le thème de la dualité. Pourquoi ce choix? Parce que le philosophe y voit une fidélité à la tradition grecque caractérisée par l’éternel balancement entre deux pôles. Sont alors passés en revue les couples suivants : philosophie/sophistique, étonnement/indignation, civilisation/barbarie, Europe/autres, qui forment autant de tensions à explorer et à penser. | : This article attempts to grasp Jean-François Mattéi’s thought by exploring the (...) theme of duality. Why do we make this choice? Because a philosopher can see here Mattéi’s fidelity to the Greek tradition in its constant move from one pole to the other. As illustrations, we take into consideration the following couples : philosophy/sophistry, wonder/indignation, civilization/barbarism, Europe and opposites ; they all create tensions requiring a great deal of exploration and thought. (shrink)

Dans les textes inédits « Effets moraux de l’accélération de l’histoire» (1969-1970) et « Sommes-nous libres?» (1989-1990), Jules Vuillemin montre un visage peu connu : celui d’un observateur engagé de son époque. Il y critique des mouvements sociaux et politiques contemporains – mai 1968 et la réforme du Code pénal de 1989 – en s’appuyant sur des considérations métaphysiques et morales. Plus que des tribunes politiques, ces textes montrent que la politique n’est pas, pour Vuillemin, simple affaire d’« opinion» et (...) que l’engagement n’a de valeur que soutenu par l’argumentation. (shrink)

Comment concilier réfutation du critère par les sceptiques et adoption d’un critère par les sceptiques? La première partie de l’article revient sur les formulations de la réfutation du critère dans les différentes sources sur le scepticisme et expose la manière dont Sextus Empiricus présente le scepticisme moins comme une négation de l’existence du critère que comme une mise en suspens sur la nature et l’existence du critère dogmatique. La deuxième partie de l’article rappelle les passages, de Cicéron à Galien, en (...) passant par le Commentateur anonyme du Théétète et Diogène Laërce, qui attribuent plus ou moins explicitement quelque chose comme un critère aux sceptiques. Plus précisément, ce critère, comme l’énoncera de la manière la plus claire Sextus Empiricus, est un critère d’action distinct d’un critère de vérité, cette distinction valant comme un moyen de faire la part entre scepticisme et dogmatisme mais aussi comme un argument décisif pour répondre aux objections dogmatiques contre le scepticisme. La troisième partie de l’article est consacrée à un approfondissement de la compréhension du critère sceptique comme critère pratique. Les textes de Sextus Empiricus permettent de montrer en quoi cette conception ne doit pas être confondue avec la restriction du critère au strict domaine de la conduite de la vie, ni avec une manière d’user de la vie ordinaire comme critère de vérité. (shrink)

The question of the division of cognitive labor has given rise to various models characterizing the way scientists should distribute their efforts. These models often consider the scientific community as a self-governed sphere constituted by rational agents making choices on the basis of fixed rules. Such models have recently been criticized for not taking into account the real mechanisms of science funding. Hence, the question of the utility of the DCL models in guiding science policy remains an open one. In (...) this paper, we show that two unconsidered dimensions would have to be taken into account. First, DCL studies miss the existence of distinct levels of epistemic objectives organizing the research process. Indeed, the scientific field is structured as a system of hierarchical, interconnected practices which are defined both by their inherent purposes and by various superposed external functions. Second, I criticize the absence of ontological considerations, since the epistemological significance of pluralism is highly dependent on the nature of the object under study. Because of these missing dimensions, current DCL models might have a limited usefulness to identify good practices of research governance. (shrink)

. Given the importance of the issue of scientific objectivity in our democratic societies and the significant development of citizen science, it is crucial to investigate how citizen science may either undermine or foster scientific objectivity. This paper identifies a variety of epistemic risks and benefits that participation of lay citizens in scientific inquiries may bring. It also discusses concrete actions and pending issues that should be addressed in order to foster objectivity in citizen science programs.

The issue of the conservatism of scientific research questions the nature and the role of the internal and external forces controlling the emergence of new research questions or problems, the exploration of risky directions of research, or the use of risky research methods. This issue has recently gained a new framing in connection with the growing importance of the peer-review process and of the social and economic pressures weighing on the funding of scientific research. Current literature then interrogates the external (...) and internal features that promote what are described as conservative tendencies in scientific research. In this paper, I propose to contribute to this debate by clarifying what might be internal sources of conservatism in science; that is, that are inherent to the research process itself. I distinguish two possible understandings of the sources and manifestations of this internal conservatism. I first present a representational description of the nature and origin of conservatism in science, which brings to the fore the difficulties researchers find in setting aside their conceptual framework. I then offer for consideration a larger perspective on conservatism by arguing for the existence of a practical conservatism generated by all the dimensions of scientific activities. In this framework, conservatism in science can be explained by the tendency of all practices to close in on their own local objectives. I illustrate this view by reference to an historical episode: the discovery of the chemical nature of genes by Avery. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:St. Thomas Aquinas's Appeal to St. John the Baptist as a Benchmark of Spiritual GreatnessJohn Baptist Ku, O.P.When we think of sources of St. Thomas Aquinas's speculative theology, we rightly recall teachings given in Scripture—such as that sin came into the world through one man (Rom 5:12) or that all that the Father has belongs also to the Son (John 16:15)—as well as teachings, based on Scripture, imparted by (...) Church councils or Fathers, such as that Christ is one person with two natures1 or that the human nature of Christ is an instrument of his divinity.2 In the project of faith seeking understanding, these teachings lead expeditiously to distinctions and clarifications concerning person and nature, habit and action, primary and instrumental causality, intellect and will, faith and reason, and the like. However, the saints themselves too serve as a source for Aquinas's speculative theological reflection. Though they admittedly constitute a less abundant source than scriptural, conciliar, or patristic teaching, the saints' contribution to Aquinas's theology merits our attention.For instance, in "Jean-Baptiste: figure du prêcheur chez Thomas d'Aquin," Jean-Pierre Torrell observes that Aquinas's research into the Fathers of the Church for the Catena aurea bore considerable influence on his subsequent works, and Torrell documents how Aquinas's treatment of John the Baptist is a precise case that shows this influence.3 More recent [End Page 1119] scholarship has, fortunately, taken note of the saints' contribution to Aquinas's theology—in the figures of St. Benedict and the virgin martyrs.4This article will therefore examine St. John the Baptist as just such a source of Aquinas's speculative theology. Aquinas appeals to St. John as a benchmark of spiritual greatness against which to situate other figures: Christ, angels, Mary, apostles, prophets, evangelists, priests, and the people of God. By examining these cases, we will not only observe the Angelic Doctor's appreciation of the saints as our teachers, as examples to be imitated, and as proofs of God's love in transformative grace; we will also witness aspects of the Dominican master's theological method, that is, in his manner of interpreting Scripture and his application of reason to scriptural data to make arguments and draw conclusions.5 For instance, in his treatment of the least in the kingdom of heaven, Scripture will definitively confirm what theological reasoning can determine concerning the knowledge of those with the beatific vision. Furthermore, his exposition on the Blessed Virgin will reveal that he reads the Bible as a whole with one divine author, in support of traditional interpretations.6 However, he is not naive about diverse human authorship and the literal versus the spiritual senses [End Page 1120] of Scripture,7 and his methodology unveils his explicit conviction that Scripture must be the basis of theological claims.8My presentation will unfold in five sections. After (1) a glance at some of Aquinas's comments on the authority of various sources of theology so as to situate our conversation about the saints as a source of theology, I will review Aquinas's enlistment of John the Baptist as a standard by which to establish: (2) three simple points about Christians and Christ—that all of the articles of faith must be accepted, that prepubescent children can enter religious life, and that Christ's baptism manifests divine power—(3) the superiority of angels to wayfarers, among whom John the Baptist is the greatest, followed by apostles, prophets, and evangelists; (4) the eminence of John the Baptist and a ranking, in order, of God, angels, John the Baptist, prophets, priests, and then God's people; and (5) the holiness of Mary the Mother of God.The Authority of Various Sources of TheologyIn just a few lines in the Summa theologiae, Aquinas identifies the roles of reason and authority in theology. On one hand, "it is most proper" to theology to offer "proofs from authority," since theology's "principles are known through revelation"—making theological arguments dependent on "the authority of those making the revelation." But on the other hand, theology "also uses human reason, not to... (shrink)

Cette approche considère la greffe d’organes, non seulement comme un problème d’éthique médicale, mais comme un symptôme pour une enquête ontologique. Notre hypothèse de travail est la suivante : il est pertinent d’envisager l’éthique médicale comme le lieu de la mise à l’épreuve des schèmes ontologiques élaborés par l’anthropologie de la nature de Philippe Descola. La greffe d’organes serait un révélateur des conflits d’ontologie de l’Occident naturaliste, parce que la médecine a pour objet le corps comme nexus, où se rencontrent (...) le corps comme machine organique (physicalité), et le corps comme entité dotée d’intériorité. « Cet » organisme et « mon » corps senti. C’est le lieu où peuvent s’exprimer ces conflits d’ontologie entre animisme et naturalisme, qui révèlent certains fondements architectoniques du monde mental collectif dans lequel nous vivons. (shrink)

La flânerie offre un pont qui relie les rives de la gestion et de la philosophie. Cet article clarifie d’abord le sens de la flânerie chez Taylor, sa distinction entre flâneries naturelle et systématique, et l’attention spécifique porté par Taylor à cette dernière, collective, organisée et sournoise, donc plus difficilement rationalisable. Il confronte ensuite Taylor aux réflexions de Benjamin s’attachant aux métamorphoses du flâneur dans le Paris du xix e siècle, pour interroger enfin l’ambiguïté de la flânerie et son potentiel (...) révolutionnaire : pour Taylor, la maîtrise du désir devient l’objet même du management ; pour Benjamin, la flânerie apparaît comme l’une des dernières possibilités de voir éclater l’espace-temps homogène de la Fin de l’Histoire. Le management contemporain clôt cette tension en intégrant les actions et les pensées des travailleurs dans de multiples boucles de rétroaction. (shrink)

En 1911, dans ses Principes du Management Scientifique, Frederick Winslow Taylor notait que toutes les activités humaines pouvaient se prêter au management. Max Weber observait, quant à lui, que la « cage de fer » bureaucratique concerne tout autant les entreprises privées que l’armée, les hôpitaux et les partis politiques. Ce qu’annonçaient le fondateur du management et le sociologue au début du xxe siècle, se réalise et même s’accomplit sous nos yeux, un siècle plus tard : la révolution m..

Philosophe structural tout autant qu’historien structural de la philosophie, Jules Vuillemin fonde la classification des systèmes philosophiques sur une structure jumelle : la classification des formes de prédication. Essayant d’appliquer à l’œuvre de Vuillemin la méthode qu’il appliquait à ses objets d’étude, nous montrons que la structure de ces deux classifications peut être déduite de la combinaison de trois critères : le caractère intelligible ou sensible de l’objet, le caractère a priori ou a posteriori de la connaissance et le caractère (...) objectif ou subjectif de l’état de choses décrit. La classification peut ainsi être décrite comme un tableau cubique contenant cinq systèmes cohérents et trois systèmes contradictoires. (shrink)

Transition education is a major challenge to be taken up. It is not simply a question of teaching a person a specific area of ​​knowledge – in this case ecological and societal questions – but rather recognizing that individuals are built by their reflections, with their feelings and according to their experiences. None of these dimensions should be left aside if we want to promote the full development of each individual. In this sense it seems important to us to explain (...) the values ​​that underlie our educational offer and the goals pursued by transition education, as well as its founding roots. This chapter thus starts by presenting the pillars for head-heart-body learning, namely a pedagogy that is relational and transformational, integrative and holistic, inter- and transdisciplinary, rooted and open. Secondly, we structure the pedagogy of the transition around six major areas of questioning, corresponding to the six gates of the FORTES approach. Eventually, drawing on the competency-based approach we present the six main transversal skills to be acquired. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the conception and use of machine-learning algorithms for marketing. In the last years, specialized service providers as well as in-house data scientists have been increasingly using machine learning to predict consumer behavior for large companies. Predictive marketing thus revives the old dream of one-to-one, perfectly adjusted selling techniques, now at an unprecedented scale. How do predictive marketing devices change the way corporations know and model their customers? Drawing from STS and the sociology of quantification, I propose (...) to study the original ambivalence that characterizes the promise of a mass personalization, i.e. algorithmic processes in which the precise adjustment of prediction to unique individuals involves the computation of massive datasets. By studying algorithms in practice, I show how the active embedding of local preexisting consumer knowledge and punctual de-personalization mechanisms are keys to the epistemic and organizational success of predictive marketing. This paper argues for the study of algorithms in their contexts and suggests new perspectives on algorithmic objectivity. (shrink)

Jean-François Mattéi est un philosophe français né en 1941 à Oran et décédé en 2014 à Marseille. Sa disparition laisse incontestablement un vide dans le paysage intellectuel français contemporain, car peu de voix ne se sont élevées avec tant de force et de brio pour dénoncer l'imposture de la pensée faible et du postmodernisme, ces répliques modernes de la sophistique que Platon combattait déjà vigoureusement à l'aube de la philosophie. Un premier ouvrage collectif parut en 2015, De Platon à Matrix (...) - L'Âme du monde, qui rendit hommage au penseur sur un mode complice, amical et touchant. Une chaire vit le jour au Centre Universitaire de la Méditerranée (CUM) de Nice, dont l'ambition annoncée est de prolonger l'œuvre de Mattéi en fournissant des travaux de réflexion autour du génie méditerranéen de la pensée et de la civilisation européenne.La rame à l'épaule, expression tirée de l'Odyssée, emprunte une tierce voie, qui ne relève ni de la proximité amicale ni du travail universitaire d'érudition. Ce que vise ici Baptiste Rappin, c'est en effet le cœur de la pensée de Jean-François Mattéi : à savoir que le mythe confère à la raison son sens et son horizon, et seul lui permet de s'articuler au monde. Les symboles préservent de la sorte le langage de l'autoréférentialité et de l'inarticulation barbare. Si cet essai scrute attentivement l'œuvre de Mattéi, il en ressort, du fait même de son objet, une relecture de l'histoire de la philosophie qui s'exprime à travers les analogies de l'architecture, du ciel, de l'étoile, de la musique et du tissu qui traversent la pensée européenne de ses aurores platonicienne et même pythagoricienne jusqu'à Nietzsche, Heidegger, Arendt ou encore Boutang. (shrink)

Il est parfois fécond, en philosophie des sciences, de chercher si les concepts techniques relèvent d’une nécessité de structure plutôt que des seuls hasards de l’invention. En essayant de fonder de la sorte les concepts fondamentaux des systèmes d’exploitation que sont les notions de processus et de fichier, on s’aperçoit qu’ils sont, depuis Unix, les pendants des notions ontologiques abstraites d’acte et d’objet, et qu’ils satisfont toutes les propriétés que la théorie des catégories peut en attendre. La programmation peut dès (...) lors être vue comme une thématisation, c’est-à-dire la transformation de l’acte qu’est le processus en l’objet qu’est le fichier ; mais on découvre également que l’exécution de programmes joue le rôle d’une « antithématisation », transformation d’objets en actes dont l’histoire récente des mathématiques fournit également des exemples. Par ses concepts comme par ses procédés, la pratique informatique est pour la philosophie un objet aussi pur que les mathématiques. (shrink)

Si l’on devait en croire les revendications explicites de Jules Vuillemin, sa relation envers Martial Gueroult aurait essentiellement été d’élève à maître. Un examen plus attentif de l’œuvre de Vuillemin révèle pourtant des écarts significatifs quoique non revendiqués. Nous analyserons dans un premier temps l’autoportrait de Vuillemin en disciple – d’une œuvre, d’une autorité et d’un chef d’école. Nous décrirons ensuite à quelles transformations, dans son œuvre concrète, il soumet celle de Gueroult : des procédés de sélection, de traduction et (...) d’élargissement. Nous montrerons enfin que l’élève, tôt et résolument, s’écarte du maître au moment – sinon dans la mesure – même où il s’en réclame. (shrink)

In a previous paper recently published in this journal, we argue that the two main theories of carcinogenesis should be considered as compatible, at the metaphysical, epistemological and biological levels. In a reply to our contribution, Bizzarri and Cucina claim we are wrong since SMT and TOFT are opposite and incompatible paradigms. Here, we show that their arguments are not satisfactory. Indeed, the authors go through the same mistakes that we already addressed. In particular, they confuse reductionism, as an ontological (...) frame, and genetic determinism, as a causal pathway. Beside, they make an inadequate use of the Kuhnian notion of paradigm shift. Finally, we confirm our previous conclusion: there is no strong argument to totally abandon the somatic mutation theory. It describes a partial causal pathway, compatible with the one proposed by TOFT. (shrink)

In this chapter we identify seven transversal principles which guide our pedagogical approach, and which are today widely shared by teachers. These principles also seem to us to be consistent with research in neuroscience, in particular that of Stanislas “Dehaene, Stanislas. Apprendre! les talents du cerveau, le défi des machines. Odile Jacob, Paris, (2018)” and his four pillars of learning – attention, active engagement, error and surprise signals and the consolidation of acquired knowledge – or those of Antonio “Damasio, Antonio (...) R. L’erreur de Descartes: la raison des émotions. Odile Jacob, Paris, (1995)” on the fundamental role of emotions in supporting learning. The principles advocated are: solicitation of curiosity and commitment; learning through sensitive experiences; connection of knowledge, emotions and values; reappropriation of assessment methods; multifaceted posture of the teacher; politicization of education; self-awareness and striving for common good.The principles highlighted in this section represent the major levers to be operated in order to provide students with truly transformative learning. Tools and examples of real-life implementation of these principles will be detailed in the second part of this book. (shrink)

Some universities have set up courses relating to the systemic integration of ecological and social issues into their curricula. We are presenting two types of initiatives here: first, those that come directly from universities or higher education institutions, such as the University of Lausanne; secondly, those which emanate from small organizations created to constitute a higher education transition laboratory, linked to a university institution, as is the case of Schumacher College (United Kingdom) linked to the University of Plymouth or the (...) Sustainability Institute (South Africa) attached to Stellenbosch University. (shrink)

This introduction draws on Charles Dickens’ analysis of schooling in England during the industrial revolution to highlight the connection bethween the Anthropocene epoch we currently live in and education. While we outline points for critique, we are far from making a simple judgment. In reaction, we present the Great Transition Handbook with its systemic approach based on six gates, and we call on pedagogy to be more holistic in order to integrate all dimensions of humanity. We also clarify our understanding (...) of the Great Transition, as a process interweaving both social and ecological concerns. (shrink)

Previous studies suggest that ancient threats capture attention because human beings possess an inborn module shaped by evolution and dedicated to their detection. An alternative account proposes that a key feature predicting whether a stimulus will capture attention is its relevance rather than its ontology. Within this framework, the present research deals with the attentional capture by threats commonly encountered in our urban environment. In two experiments, we investigate the attentional capture by modern threats. In Experiment 1, participants responded to (...) a target preceded by a cue, which was a weapon or a non-threatening stimulus. We found a larger cuing effect with weapons as compared with non-threatening cues. In Experiment 2, modern and ancient threats were pitted against one another as cues to determine which ones preferentially capture attention. Crucially, participants were faster to detect a target preceded by a modern as opposed to an ancient threat, providing initial evidence for a superiority of modern threat. Overall, the present findings appear more consistent with a relevance-based explanation rather than an evolutionary-based explanation of threat detection. (shrink)

The way research is, and should be, funded by the public sphere is the subject of renewed interest for sociology, economics, management sciences, and more recently, for the philosophy of science. In this contribution, I propose a qualitative, epistemological criticism of the funding by lottery model, which is advocated by a growing number of scholars as an alternative to peer-review. This lottery scheme draws on the lack of efficiency and of robustness of the peer-review based evaluation to argue that the (...) majority of public resources for basic science should be allocated randomly. I first differentiate between two distinct arguments used to defend this alternative funding scheme based on considerations about the logic of scientific research. To assess their epistemological limits, I then present and develop a conceptual frame, grounded on the notion of “system of practice”, which can be used to understand what precisely it means, for a research project, to be interesting or significant. I use this epistemological analysis to show that the lottery model is not theoretically optimal, since it underestimates the integration of all scientific projects in densely interconnected systems of conceptual, experimental, or technical practices which confer their proper interest to them. I also apply these arguments in order to criticize the classical peer-review process. I finally suggest, as a discussion, that some recently proposed models that bring to the fore a principle of decentralization of the evaluation and selection process may constitute a better alternative, if the practical conditions of their implementation are adequately settled. (shrink)

The building of a global model of carcinogenesis is one of modern biology’s greatest challenges. The traditional somatic mutation theory is now supplemented by a new approach, called the Tissue Organization Field Theory. According to TOFT, the original source of cancer is loss of tissue organization rather than genetic mutations. In this paper, we study the argumentative strategy used by the advocates of TOFT to impose their view. In particular, we criticize their claim of incompatibility used to justify the necessity (...) to definitively reject SMT. First, we note that since it is difficult to build a non-ambiguous experimental demonstration of the superiority of TOFT, its partisans add epistemological and metaphysical arguments to the debate. This argumentative strategy allows them to defend the necessity of a paradigm shift, with TOFT superseding SMT. To do so, they introduce a notion of incompatibility, which they actually use as the Kuhnian notion of incommensurability. To justify this so-called incompatibility between the two theories of cancer, they move the debate to a metaphysical ground by assimilating the controversy to a fundamental opposition between reductionism and organicism. We show here that this argumentative strategy is specious, because it does not demonstrate clearly that TOFT is an organicist theory. Since it shares with SMT its vocabulary, its ontology and its methodology, it appears that a claim of incompatibility based on this metaphysical plan is not fully justified in the present state of the debate. We conclude that it is more cogent to argue that the two theories are compatible, both biologically and metaphysically. We propose to consider that TOFT and SMT describe two distinct and compatible causal pathways to carcinogenesis. This view is coherent with the existence of integrative approaches, and suggests that they have a higher epistemic value than the two theories taken separately. (shrink)