Il y a un sens premier du récit (celui de l’histoire racontée), voire un sens second (la thèse exemplifiée par ladite histoire) ; mais l’important est souvent ailleurs : dans la forme sensible du texte, qui conduit le lecteur à un plaisir sensuel, affectif, ou même intellectuel. Les très grandes œuvres parviennent sans doute – et c’est l’une des raisons de leur gloire et de leur survie – à jouer non seulement sur le plaisir sensible de la forme et sur (...) sa dimension affective, mais aussi sur la stimulation de l’intellect : les formes prennent alors un poids existentiel, concurrençant le contenu même de ce qui est dit. (shrink)

Insight is Bernard Lonergan's masterwork. It aim is nothing less than insight into insight itself, a comprehensive view of knowledge and understanding, and to state what one needs to understand and how one proceeds to understand it. In Lonergan's own words: 'Thoroughly understand what it is to understand, and not only will you understand the broad lines of all there is to be understood but also you will possess a fixed base, and invariant pattern, opening upon all further developments (...) of understanding.' The editors of the Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan have established the definitive text for Insight after examining all the variant forms in Lonergan's manuscripts and papers. The volume includes introductory material and annotation to enable the reader to appreciate more fully this challenging work. (shrink)

An adequate interpretation of concept of the propensity to communicate will thus lead us to interpret in this concept a possible formalization of the notion of the specious present, introduced into the field of psychology by William James at the end of the 19th Century. In this chapter, the authors introduce some aspects of the concept of time that their model operates under. While situating the actors in relation to each other in the network space, their propensity to communicate also (...) indexes the future opportunities that are open to them by their past trajectories. The authors conclude with a discussion of a supposed “ancestrality's paradox”, according to which such a primacy would pay no heed to ignoring events located in a temporality prior to the appearance of any life on earth, and well before that of Homo habilis. (shrink)

Child abuse is surely the most agonizing psychological issue of our time. We decry the tendency to polarize around the either-or dichotomy of "recovered versus false memories," when both are likely to occur. Memory researchers seem to generalize from the mild, one-shot stressors of the laboratory to the severe repeated traumas reported by abused populations, an inferential leap that is scientifically dubious. Naturalistic studies show some post-traumatic memory impairment ; dissociativity, such as emotional numbing, detachment, and the like; but also (...) increased suggestibility . About 20% of the normal population is highly suggestible, and in these individuals it is trivially easy to show suggested amnesia, detachment, perceptual blocking, etc., as well as to suggest dramatically false memories. It is therefore vital to assess suggestibility and dissociativity in traumatized populations. Adult survivors of abuse may show both more false "memories" and more "false forgetting" than the normal population. (shrink)

Distributive justice, like every other value, is not suspended in mid-air: its implementation depends on certain conditions, the well-known ‹circumstances of justice›. In this paper, I attempt to spell them out, first for justice proper , then for international justice. Those circumstances relate to the conceptual parts of justice and are four in number: scarcity, needs and merit, social cooperation, and authority of distribution. As far as international justice is concerned, there is a problem with the last circumstance: as yet (...) no international authority of distribution exists. This does not, however, mean that international justice is impossible or undesirable; only that we have the task to create such an authority. (shrink)

On a reproché au modèle perceptuel de la connaissance morale d'être inadéquat en ce qu'il serait incapable d'expliquer le signe distinctif et fondamental de l'éthique, à savoir son caractère normatif. Je tente de montrer que la critique n'est pas pertinente, car le normatif n'a en réalité qu'une place dérivée en morale : l'éthique est d'abord une question de valeurs, entités dont il est tout à fait plausible de dire que nous les percevons. Pour justifier la place dérivée du normatif, je (...) m'appuie sur les études de Max Scheler et sur l'examen de certains traits de la psychologie morale, qui tendent à montrer que le normatif n'est qu'un cas particulier de l'axiologique, mettant en évidence les caractères de force des valeurs, de risques de transgression et de contrainte.The perceptual model of moral knowledge has been the target of criticisms: it could be unable to explain the basic character of ethics, namely its normative character. I try to show that this criticism is misguided: in fact normativity is not central but lateral to ethics. What matters in ethics first and foremost are values, and it is quite appropriate to say we perceive values. To justify the lateral character of normativity, I rely on some analysis of Max Scheler and turn to some traits of moral psychology. It suggests that the normativity is a province of the axiological, characterized by strength of values, risks of transgression and constraint. (shrink)

Time is analyzed as being those processes by which a system notes the processes which comprise its own existence. The directionality of time is given by the concepts, past, present, and future. To understand the meaning of these concepts, a set of experiments was carried out with four male subjects in which areas of time were expanded or ablated by means of post-hypnotic suggestions. These operations were carried out singly or in combination. The data suggest that the present is primarily (...) associated with stimulus input, the past with the criteria for defining that input as well as the development of response inhibitions and the future with the directionality of that input. Marked personality changes which range from the occurence of catatonic-like states to obsessive types of reaction and manic-like reactions are associated with different combinations of time alterations. Some of the changes are in accord with the serialist position on time of J. W. Dunne. The concept of death is very important both with regard to one’s view of time and how one lives. While it is important to live in the present, the present has no meaning without at least a past or a future. Implications of these findings for psychopathology in general and schizophrenia in particular are considered. (shrink)

The emphasis placed by H. Atlan, like G. Bateson, on the reception of messages during communication between subsystems leads to a conception of learning, and more generally of human memory, surprisingly close to that proposed by I. Rosenfield on the basis of the work of G. M. Edelman. The authors stressed the close and reciprocal link between the theory of functional localization and the conception of memory, which they have just seen, radically refuted by Rosenfield. The theory of functional localization (...) therefore considers as established the existence of a whole series of rigid relationships between specific locations in the brain and certain major functions performed by the body. Thus briefly summarized, the theory of neural Darwinism provides positive evidence in favor of the Rosenfield's theory of human memory. All these characteristics make the functioning of human memory an outstanding example of the natural complexity of a self‐organized system in the sense of Atlan. (shrink)

Cette étude envisage les notions de sujet, d’individu et de personne dans une perspective d’anthropologie historique. La période considérée va de la disparition de l’Empire romain d’Occident à la mutation féodale, et son analyse est centrée sur la convergence de la culture savante – c’est-à-dire chrétienne – avec ce que nous pouvons savoir de la culture populaire à propos des trois notions précitées. Inaugurée par saint Augustin dans ses Confessions, l’émergence de la notion de personne coïncide avec l’oblitération du sujet (...) dans le De Trinitate de l’évêque d’Hippone. Cette conception rejoint celle du corps grotesque qui traverse la culture populaire de cette époque. Quant à l’individu, il n’apparaît durant toute la période considérée que sous la forme de l’individu particulier dans le cadre d’une individualité de types, et non sous celle de l’individu singulier propre à notre modernité. (shrink)

The network is moving towards a global informational equilibrium that is irrevocable – if inter‐individual communication persists as the only driving force behind the network's evolution. On the basis of an example, this chapter compares the respective changes in the values of the main characteristic variables at the level of the network as a whole, and that of each cluster considered separately. Any local informational equilibrium achieved by a cluster is therefore fundamentally unstable, as it is constantly threatened by such (...) a phenomenon. It follows that the cumulative formation of local clusters of actors corresponding to a progressive regionalization of the effective space of the network is then erased as at least one category shared by all actors allows each of them to escape from the cluster in which they would otherwise remain enclosed. Maintaining separations between regions dividing the network space before the homogenization process ends means that it does not only have advantages. (shrink)

Communications and categorizations mark the temporality of the possible sequences of network states, and each event thus produced modifies the space of the network by provoking in individual actors various types of learning that present an extensive and intensive dimension. This chapter examines in detail these types of learning and the mobilizations of the network space involved. Like inter‐individual communication, categorization potentially impacts both dimensions of learning. The chapter first discusses learning from inter‐individual communication, and shows that it is synonymous (...) with bringing innovation in a weak sense to the network. It then discusses learning related to categorization, which we will see is likely to introduce novelty in a strong sense within the network. The increasing efficiency of the individual learning process would thus be tempered by the global cognitive network's degree of redundancy. (shrink)

« Nous sommes embarqués », certainement ; le tout est de savoir comment. On peut bien invoquer une condition commune, qui est celle des habitants d’une planète exposée aux risques de transformations soudaines. Mais cela ne nous autorise pas à dire que cette condition est celle de l’inséparation. Ce qu’il y a d’inséparé entre les êtres est toujours localisé. Il correspond à ce que Gilbert Simondon appelle le « transindividuel ». L’inséparé, qui existe localement entre quelques êtres, est l’enjeu d’un (...) travail dialectique – un travail d’inséparation. Un travail qui se reconnaît à ceci qu’il permet d’abriter l’expérience d’un temps commun. L’existence même du temps commun est l’enjeu essentiel de la politique aujourd’hui, et la condition d’une action à la mesure de la situation. Car ce qu’impose avant tout l’ennemi aujourd’hui, c’est bien une certaine forme du temps, qu’il s’agit de briser. (shrink)

A link between biological and human sciences may be established, under the condition that we should admit the existence of reciprocal influences between them. The model for the regulation of agonistic antagonistic couples (MRAAC) is built from the study of biological systems and gives rise to specific types of control. This model can be helpful in decision processes in some human sciences such as management, economical and political strategies. The reason for such an opportunity lies in the fact that MRAAC (...) is a general and phenomenological model able to incorporate the whole of the agonistic antagonistic systems. This type of regulation might be related to the concept of the viability of a system (yet also valid for human science systems) and to a functional and structural pattern which is the basis for agonistic antagonistic networks. (shrink)

In Home Building & Loan Assn. v. Blaisdell, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Minnesota Mortgage Moratorium Act. Under the terms of the Act---one of the many pieces of moratory legislation enacted due to the Great Depression---mortgagors who found themselves unable to make their payments could turn to the state courts for an alteration of their payment schedule. It is clear that if there ever was a state of affairs in which one could justify the imposition of debtor (...) relief, the circumstances in Minnesota during the early 1930s would have filled the bill. By most accounts, the Act was justifiable from a policy perspective. ;Nevertheless, the outcome did not please everyone. The question before the Court was whether the proceedings authorized by the Act violated the contracts clause of the Constitution. Article 1, §10 provides that "No State...pass any...law impairing the Obligation of Contracts." The Act did impair the obligation of mortgage contracts. Furthermore, the Act was exactly the kind of debtor relief legislation that the contracts clause meant to forbid. The basic premise underlying the majority opinion was that a constitutional provision should be interpreted both in the context of the entire Constitution and in the context of the social situation confronting the Court. According to the dissent, the framing of the Constitution fixed the meaning of a provision for all cases arising across time. The two approaches represent two extremes in constitutional interpretation. However, the basic agreement is over how the Constitution should evolve. The basic disagreement concerns the problem of constitutional change. ;In a recent work, Robert Lipkin radically rethinks modern constitutional jurisprudence, challenging the received view of constitutional change. His theory of "constitutional revolutions" implies that conventionalism, coherentism, pragmatism, and naturalism all fall short as the best theory of constitutional change. In addition to offering a critique of Lipkin's theory, the present work conducts an independent investigation the theories Lipkin rejects. Such an investigation will not only help ascertain the legitimacy of Lipkin's theory of constitutional revolutions in particular, but of radical constitutional change in general. (shrink)

Fragmento sintético de una investigación general, el presente articulo tematiza, en tres actos cortos, la singular analogía notada por Wittgenstein entre investigación filosófica e investigación estética . A partir del pensamiento de Wittgenstein, considerado como pensamiento musical, el artículo abre una perspectiva de estilo categorial, en su "isología"con el pensamiento musical, y define la posibilidad de una hermenéutica descriptiva de los estilos liberada de los modelos estructurales.

Dans les débats portant aujourd’hui sur les relations entre l’homme et l’animal, singulièrement à propos des luttes féroces entre « spécistes » et « antispécistes », Descartes est souvent convoqué pour justifier telle ou telle thèse extrémiste. Le plus souvent sa pensée est ramenée à une citation tronquée ou à une analyse coupée de son contexte. Il apparaît alors comme le repoussoir de la prétendue bienveillance moderne envers l’animalité. Les bêtes n’ayant pas d’âme « comme nous », il serait possible (...) de les traiter cruellement. Comme si elles ne disposaient pas d’une intelligence et d’une sensibilité proche des nôtres! On oublie d’abord que la théorie de l’« animal machine » vaut autant pour les hommes que pour les bêtes. C’est surtout un principe méthodologique qui permet à Descartes d’éviter les errances de la médecine humoriste. Il s’agit pour Descartes de penser les corps spatialement à l’aide de la seule mécanique. Afin d’éviter ce qui relève souvent de l’outrance caricaturale, peut-être serait-il bon d’en revenir aux textes mêmes. La pensée cartésienne y apparaît plus nuancée qu’on le dit parfois. (shrink)

A partir de 1795 et jusqu'a la fin de sa vie, Kant redige des notes avec le projet de constituer un ouvrage devant achever sa theorie critique. Or ces notes, rassemblees dans l'Opus postumum, presentent des divergences voire des contradictions avec le corpus critique lui-meme : ainsi une frange d'historiens du kantisme voit-elle dans ce dernier texte de Kant le lieu d'une transformation de sa pensee. Le criticisme ne serait plus, des lors, qu'une propedeutique a l'elaboration d'une philosophie annonciatrice des (...) pensees romantique et post-kantienne. Il y a pourtant au coeur du criticisme une continuite que l'Opus postumum ne doit pas remettre en cause. Si l'on veut saisir cette coherence, il s'agit de lire Kant en adoptant son propre point de vue sur son oeuvre, en s'attachant aux problemes et principes qu'il se choisit et en determinant un fil conducteur a cette lecture (ici le probleme de l'objectivite). C'est seulement a cette condition que l'on sera a meme de comprendre la pensee kantienne, d'interpreter correctement l'Opus postumum et de se rendre maitre d'en achever le projet comme il l'exige, sans plus se tromper a son sujet. (shrink)