The following article is the result of a collaboration between a painter and a woman philosopher. They worked previously on an experimental documentary film about objects and art objects, which was realized at Palais de Tokyo. The painter had illustrated in black and white fictions of philosophy, written during a festival on lost films organized by UNdocumenta in South Korea, and then he made photographs of oil paintings of the English translation. This article about painting and philosophical ethics is their (...) first common text. It aims to show that there is no interdiscipline or passage known between the philosophical work and the painting. The philosopher can not imitate the recognition of the painter nor the painter to repair the philosophical non-encounter. The question then is: What can ethics in this non-symmetrical space? Rather than being a product of philosophy, it is what organizes this space between recognition and non-encounter. It is an ethics for philosophy, rather than the other way around. Ethics force to greet the other philosophers without the grudge of the loss necessary to the invention and allows the painter to know the distances that make him feel the recognition. This ethical space is unknown and can not be covered by the artist's philosophy of access or pre-nomination by indexes. Ethics is this unknown, i.e. it is a sense-without-sign, it is without rules-said but process of indexation and acceptance of the loss. (shrink)

This article analyzes the links between state and society in the Arab world, before and after the 2011 uprisings. It sheds light on the impacts that these revolts have had both at the individual and collective levels, generating a renewed sense of citizenship. Two concepts, presentism and intersectionality, are used to stress and explain new constellations that were present in all initial revolts of 2011 and which generated new horizontal links among usually segmented portions of the population and vertical linkages (...) between citizens and the state. The article concludes with an inscription of these revolutionary practices in a longer perspective: By pointing to references made in 2011 to literary and political innovations of the Nahda period (Arab Renaissance in the early 20th century), the article suggests a re-reading of contemporary Arab history that breaks with the view of distinct cultural areas, reconnecting the “West” with the Middle East. (shrink)

There has never been a greater need for reliable, truthful news to help citizens navigate and assess the veracity of what they are reading and viewing, especially on social media. Widespread concerns around ‘fake’ news demonstrate an enduring requirement for curated and trustworthy children’s news that addresses children as young citizens with certain rights. Drawing on recent UK events, we discuss the case for children’s news provision by public service broadcasting from a communication rights perspective by analyzing the BBC’s 2019 (...) plans to reduce the broadcast presence and originated hours of its flagship news service, Newsround, in favor of online distribution. (shrink)

The Prometheus myth has long now provided inspiration for those who envision solutions to environmental issues. Prometheus is the figure par excellence of human forethought and progress in the anthropocene. In this article, we introduce the concept of ambient Prometheanism to describe the way of thinking that foregrounds foresight and anticipation and advances technological solutions developed by capital and energy-intensive projects. We question this stance, arguing that ambient Prometheanism, with its emphasis on technofix, leads to the economisation and depoliticisation of (...) planetary environmental issues. Following Bernard Stiegler, we recover from the myth the figure of Epimetheus, Prometheus’ brother, as well as his associated faculty, epimetheia to theorise what we call an ‘Epimethean politics’. Thinking the anthropocene from the perspective of ambient Prometheanism and Epimetheanism means to consider the role of technology in climate politics, and in particular to make the case for the importance of afterthought in face of unintended consequences and accumulated errors. To substantiate our argument, we outline the challenge posed by emerging solutions focussed on technological intensification and socio-economic acceleration. An Epimethean politics of the climate requires to use reflexivity as a capacity to anticipate, but also to mobilise epimetheia to account for accidents and past mistakes. Such a politics builds from an alternative conception of technology, one that radically differs from ambient Prometheanism. Finally we read as actualisations of Epimethean politics contemporary eco-political struggles and their imperatives for multispecies living and convivial livelihoods. (shrink)

This paper studies how in his Theory of Moral Sentiments Adam Smith answered to Mandeville on the role of pride and vanity in the economic and social dynamics of commercial societies. We show why vanity supersedes pride in his analysis and how he offers a more positive view of these two passions. We study in particular the economic and social consequences of pride and vanity and describe the psychological foundations of excessive self-esteem that these passions entail.

This article addresses the treatment of individuals who experience conflict between their religious convictions and their same-sex attraction. Recently, attention has been drawn to the ethical issues involved in the practice of sexual reorientation therapy (SRT) with such conflicted individuals. This article reviews the ethical arguments for and against SRT through the lens of the general ethical principles of the American Psychological Association's (2002) ethics code. Practitioners are then challenged to think about how they might respond virtuously (Meara, Schmidt, & (...) Day, 1996) when presented with such a client. Thought questions are presented to assist therapists to develop in virtue while working with religious clients who are conflicted about same-sex desire. (shrink)

Jean-Claude SCHMITT, Les rythmes au Moyen Âge, Paris, Gallimard, 2016, 718 p. Le livre de Jean-Claude Schmitt sur les rythmes au Moyen Âge est une somme, qu'il importe de lire et de discuter. Fruit d'un travail de longue haleine, il résume à certains égards une vie entière de recherche, placée sous le signe d'une lecture anthropologique du monde médiéval, à la croisée de la réflexion sur le texte et sur l'image, laquelle abonde ici, faisant de ce volume un manuel d'interprétation (...) de l'iconographie - Recensions. (shrink)

Penser l'expression de la croyance religieuse, la saisir en tant qu'acte de parole, expression qui soit conjointement langage et action, tel est l'objectif de cet ouvrage collectif. À travers des contributions issues d'horizons divers mais complémentaires, mobilisant en particulier les ressources de l'anthropologie sociale, de la philosophie du langage et de la phénoménologie radicale, l'ouvrage présente l'acte de dire la croyance religieuse selon ses dimensions constitutives, telles que son adresse, son énonciation ou sa réception. Décrire l'acte de dire la croyance, (...) c'est en effet replacer cet acte face à une réalité qu'il désigne et le réinsérer dans les pratiques d'un locuteur qui l'énonce et d'un interlocuteur qui le reçoit, que ce soit un individu ou une communauté. (shrink)

Hox proteins are well‐known as developmental transcription factors controlling cell and tissue identity, but recent findings suggest that they are also part of the cell replication machinery. Hox‐mediated control of transcription and replication may ensure coordinated control of cell growth and differentiation, two processes that need to be tightly and precisely coordinated to allow proper organ formation and patterning. In this review we summarize the available data linking Hox proteins to the replication machinery and discuss the developmental and pathological implications (...) of this new facet of Hox protein function. (shrink)

We study genericity and randomness with respect to ITTMs, continuing the work initiated by Carl and Schlicht. To do so, we develop a framework to study randomness in the constructible hierarchy. We then answer several of Carl and Schlicht’s question. We also ask a new question one the equality of two classes of randoms. Although the natural intuition would dictate that the two classes are distinct, we show that things are not as simple as they seem. In particular we show (...) that the categorical analogues of these two classes coincide, in contradiction with the natural intuition. Even though we are not able to answer the question for randomness in this article, we delineate and sharpen its contour and outline. (shrink)

El concepto de justicia aparece en la obra Spinoza de manera enigmática, bajo la forma de una aparente definición clásica o escolástica en una filosofía que no lo es: “justicia es el ánimo constante de dar a cada uno lo suyo”. A juzgar por esta definición que parece importada, el problema de la justicia podría leerse como uno de poco interés para Spinoza. En Contra las mujeres Justicia en Spinoza, Cecilia Abdo Ferez considera y argumenta que la justicia representa en (...) la obra de Spinoza un problema de primer orden, que permite apreciar su radicalidad. (shrink)

In this book, Benoît Dubreuil explores the creation and destruction of hierarchies in human evolution. Combining the methods of archaeology, anthropology, cognitive neuroscience and primatology, he offers a natural history of hierarchies from the point of view of both cultural and biological evolution. This volume explains why dominance hierarchies typical of primate societies disappeared in the human lineage and why the emergence of large-scale societies during the Neolithic period implied increased social differentiation, the creation of status hierarchies, and, eventually, (...) political centralisation. (shrink)

One of the first frameworks developed for understanding the relation of science and technology to the economy has been the linear model of innovation. The model postulated that innovation starts with basic research, is followed by applied research and development, and ends with production and diffusion. The precise source of the model remains nebulous, having never been documented. Several authors who have used, improved, or criticized the model in the past fifty years rarely acknowledged or cited any original source. The (...) model usually was taken for granted. According to others, however, it comes directly from V. Bush’s Science: The Endless Frontier. This article traces the history of the linear model, suggesting that it developed in three steps corresponding to three scientific communities looking at science analytically. The article argues that statistics is a main reason the model is still alive despite criticisms, alternatives, and having been proclaimed dead. (shrink)

Following a common assumption, when one inquires into a question, one has an inquisitive attitude towards it. More precisely, I shall assume that there is an inquisitive attitude towards Q that all of those who inquire into Q have in common and in virtue of which they can be said to be in an inquisitive state of mind towards Q. This paper is about the nature of this attitude. I elucidate it by examining whether it boils down to doubt, curiosity, (...) epistemic desire, or wondering. I shall do this by examining whether having these attitudes is necessary and sufficient for being in an inquisitive state of mind. The test will prove negative for the first three, but the case of wondering is more complex. (shrink)

The progressive dominance of historical-critical methods in the reading of ancient Chinese classics has led scholars to privilege micro levels of textual analysis. Consequently, the question as to whether laws of composition could be identified in this corpus has often been ignored, or considered irrelevant. Working on Chinese number symbolism as well as on rules governing “ring composition” in other cultural contexts, this article aims at fashioning anew the question of the possibility of an ancient Chinese “structural rhetoric” and at (...) envisioning the patterns that might have governed it. It specifically applies the approach it propounds to Huainanzi 淮南子, showing how numerology frames its structure and argument, the text being built after the image of the “roundness” of the Way and of the Ruler. It then endeavors to apply these results to the unearthing of “inter-structural” patterns that would help us to locate Huainanzi, Lüshi Chunqiu 呂氏春秋, the versions at hand of Zhuangzi 莊子, Lunyu 論語, or yet Laozi 老子 into a textual universe that shares correlated rhetorical features. (shrink)

In the fall of 2022, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities published a set of new “Guidelines on Deinstitutionalization.” This proposal constituted a further element in a long series of controversies around deinstitutionalization policies. It was also part of an international dynamic to institute a new “model of disability,” which is presented as human rights-based. These two processes – the controversy on deinstitutionalization and the institution of a new model of disability – are intertwined and refer (...) to the same semantic field of de/institution/alization. To understand how they relate to each other, we need to distinguish between two registers of meaning, one political, the other analytical. At the intersection of these two registers, this article aims to situate the Committee’s position in the history of UN disability law. We show that the development of that law goes through a process of institution of the “human rights model,” which is inseparable from the process of deinstitutionalization of a previous approach which is symbolized by the figure of the specialized establishment. This socio-legal analysis is based on research in the archives of the United Nations and legal sources, as well as on some twenty interviews. (shrink)

In this highly original and thought-provoking work the late Miller Mair puts forward his ideas for a new psychology. First published in 1989, he deals with issues of fundamental importance to the future of a psychology guided by genuine enquiry and concern rather than mere professional self-interest. Crossing and re-crossing boundaries between psychology, psychotherapy and philosophy, and between ‘science’ and ‘art’, he demonstrates the linkages between the personal and the impersonal, subject and object, inside and outside, with a daring not (...) previously risked by anyone working in the area. Dr Mair stresses the importance of a poetic approach in psychology and psychotherapy, and the need to explore and understand the nature of psychology through an imaginative freedom of language. He emphasizes that a poetic awareness and attentiveness is fundamental to any pursuit of understanding of ourselves or others. This is a very personal book, concerned with _personal knowledge_, but it is meant for anyone who seeks to understand themselves and others, and what is involved in coming to such understanding. Focusing on ordinary human experience, and moving towards literary and artistic modes of expression, the author invites you to enter in, follow what _you_ think and feel, as he proposes a radical revision of much that is accepted in psychology and in psychotherapy. (shrink)

It is widely agreed that humans have specific abilities for cooperation and culture that evolved since their split with their last common ancestor with chimpanzees. Many uncertainties remain, however, about the exact moment in the human lineage when these abilities evolved. This article argues that cooperation and culture did not evolve in one step in the human lineage and that the capacity to stick to long-term and risky cooperative arrangements evolved before properly modern culture. I present evidence that Homo heidelbergensis (...) became increasingly able to secure contributions form others in two demanding Paleolithic public good games (PPGGs): cooperative feeding and cooperative breeding. I argue that the temptation to defect is high in these PPGGs and that the evolution of human cooperation in Homo heidelberngensis is best explained by the emergence of modern-like abilities for inhibitory control and goal maintenance. These executive functions are localized in the prefrontal cortex and allow humans to stick to social norms in the face of competing motivations. This scenario is consistent with data on brain evolution that indicate that the largest growth of the prefrontal cortex in human evolution occurred in Homo heidelbergensis and was followed by relative stasis in this part of the brain. One implication of this argument is that subsequent behavioral innovations, including the evolution of symbolism, art, and properly cumulative culture in modern Homo sapiens , are unlikely to be related to a reorganization of the prefrontal cortex, despite frequent claims to the contrary in the literature on the evolution of human culture and cognition. (shrink)

I outline and criticise the received interpretation of the controversy between Clifford and James over the ethics of belief. I defend Clifford’s view by arguing that his maxim ‘that it is wrong, always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence’ should be understood as stating that any belief that results from the corruption of one’s judgement by one’s desires is wrong. I indicate what follows about religious beliefs in particular.

Grâce à une célèbre expérience de pensée impliquant un choix à effectuer entre deux paquets de cartes, Peirce estime avoir avancé un argument concluant en faveur de la thèse de l’enracinement social de la logique. Puisque cet argument repose sur une conception fréquentiste des probabilités, il va s’agir d’interroger cette conception et de se demander s’il est possible de défendre l’idée qu’il est rationnel pour un individu de fonder ses actions sur des estimations de probabilités sans avoir à endosser la (...) thèse peircienne de l’enracinement social de la logique. Après avoir souligné la réalité du problème soulevé par Peirce grâce à cette expérience de pensée et montré que le fréquentisme ne peut le résoudre, on se demandera si une conception propensionniste des probabilités pourrait y parvenir. (shrink)

Resumen: Este artículo propone una reflexión acerca de una colección de ukiyo-e del Archivo Central Andrés Bello de la Universidad de Chile. La anchura del problema es extendida en dos constelaciones exploratorias: por una parte, indagar lo controvertible, aparentemente, de interrogar el objeto japonés desde las lógicas disciplinares occidentales, es decir, por medio de la dicotomía Occidente-Oriente. De otra parte, caracterizar cómo esta tensión inicial fue desatendida o invertida, como un paradigma de lo social en el ukiyo-e y, con ello, (...) el principio de asociatividad de las imágenes en el espacio del museo.: This article proposes a reflection about a collection of ukiyo-e from the Archivo Central Andrés Bello of the Universidad Chile. The breadth of the problem is extended on two exploratory constellations: on the one hand, to inquire the controversy, apparently, to interrogate the Japanese object from Western disciplinary logics, that means, through the West-East dichotomy. On the other hand, to characterize how this initial tension was neglected or inverted, as a social paradigm on ukiyo-e, and with it, the principle of associativity of the images in the space of the museum. (shrink)