En 1967 paraissait le livre d’Edgar Morin Commune en France. La métamorphose de Plodémet, contribution à la grande enquête interdisciplinaire menée sous l’égide de la DGRST. Cet ouvrage, salué par la critique comme une contribution originale à l’étude des transformations de la France d’alors, suscita pas mal de remous, à Plozévet, à la DGRST, et dans le micro-milieu des chercheurs. Cet article revient sur cette histoire, démêlant les raisons de cette polémique ayant plutôt pris la forme d’une cabale que d’une (...) controverse scientifique.In 1967 appeared the book of Edgar Morin Commune in France. The metamorphosis of Plodemet, contribution to the interdisciplinary major survey conducted under the auspices of the DGRST. This book hailed by critics as an original contribution to the study of transformations of France at the time, aroused quite a stir in Plozévet to DGRST, and the micro-environment researchers. This article reviews the history, unraveling the reasons for this controversy has rather taken the form of a cabal that a scientific controversy. (shrink)

Collingwood’s account of re-enactment is often misunderstood as providing methodological guidance to historians. Williams’s chapter is perceptive in seeing through this erroneous interpretation. Williams is however very critical of Collingwood’s account of the relationship between philosophy and history. He reads Collingwood’s account of absolute presuppositions as embracing a form of ‘radical historicism’ and argues that, like many other philosophers who reject foundationalism, Collingwood tends to use the word ‘we’ in an evasive way, both in an inclusive sense “as implying universalistic (...) preconditions on interpretation and intelligibility” and in a contrastive sense “under which ‘we’ here and now are distinct from others elsewhere and elsewhen, who lived in others and different intelligible human formations”. William’s chapter appropriately introduces this volume since the question concerning the nature of absolute presuppositions, and in what sense they can be said to be constitutive of the forms of inquiry which they make possible, is a central concern of this collection and is discussed by several contributors. (shrink)

The term « subsidiarity » started to appear in managerial literature in the last few years, to advocate innovative managerial practices. The resurgence of this concept that originated from a political context can create problems. The goal of this paper is to expose the main difficulty of translating this concept from the political field to a corporate situation. Indeed, subsidiarity gives its inherent power back to the lower echelons of a political community. But the economic approach of organization theory assumes, (...) mainly by the means of agency theory, a top-down conception of the firm. Thus, it is not the lower echelons which delegates power to the higher echelons. Consequently, the subsidiarity principle seems not to be applicable to a corporate setting, unless we reverse the assumptions of economic approach of organization theory. Then, the principle of subsidiarity could be used as an illusion to con employees into believing they have legitimate power, in order to manipulate their freedom, and domesticate it for managerial ends. (shrink)

The scholastic philosopher is interested in definition for a different reason than the lexicographer and linguist. The philosopher is trying to learn things. Fe defines, after investigating reality, in an attempt to describe reality clearly and to sum up some aspect of his understanding of reality. Hence, we find our scholastic philosophers adopting as a main feature of their method this insistence on defining, on precise and detailed explanation of their definitions, and on proving that their definitions da correctly express (...) what a nature or activity is. A dictionary of the language of scholastic philosophy fitted to the needs of beginners and of undergraduate students of the subject is not available in English. (shrink)

In 1854 the biologist Thomas Henry Huxley pointed to a significant change in the way that reviewers were treating books that endorsed deeply flawed scientific theories. In the past, “when a book had been shown to be a mass of pretentious nonsense,” it “quietly sunk into its proper limbo. But these days appear, unhappily, to have gone by.” Due to the “utter ignorance of the public mind as to the methods of science and the criterion of truth,” scientists were now (...) forced to review such books in order to expose their deficiencies (Huxley 1903, 1). Huxley’s observation indicates how the development of a mass reading audience in mid-nineteenth century Britain transformed the very nature of scientific controversy. Scientists were compelled to debate the validity of theories in new public sites, not just in exclusive scientific societies or in specialized scientific journals with limited circulation. It was during the nineteenth century that public controversy—not limited to science alone—became possible for the first time. In this short piece I will discuss how the “communications revolution” produced a public space for the debate over evolutionary theory in mid-nineteenth century Britain. I will focus on periodicals as one of those public spaces in which the debate took place.1 As Huxley found, attempting to resolve a scientific controversy in the general periodical press could be a risky venture. Although a non-specialized journal could provide the public space necessary for reaching the reading audience, maintaining scientific authority in such a site was somewhat problematic. (shrink)

d. 1. Het ontstaan van de mens -- d. 2. De geschiedenis van de mens -- d. 3. De eeuwigheid van de mens.

"Anthropologie philosophique est une mémoire de l'historicité de l'individu. Le je vis précédant le je pense y expose la "gradation des valeurs bourgeoises et la marche de la pensée moderne". Une philosophie de la vie puise dans sa propre histoire pour montrer que ce qui importe est chaque fois "la question que l'homme se pose à lui-même, et non la façon d'y répondre", et cette histoire lui est nécessaire pour inventer des "formes nouvelles d'existence". L'érudition n'y cherche pas des doctrines, (...) mais une aventure. C'est pourquoi ce qui est dit ici de Platon, de Montaigne, reste toujours nouveau : non une philosophie, mais "l'exercice de la philosophie".Henri Meschonnic. (shrink)

L’usage courant tend à assimiler morale, éthique et déontologie. Cette dernière tend même à supplanter dans le domaine professionnel la morale, toujours trop banalement située, et l’éthique, condamnée à d’interminables débats sur les fondements des valeurs. L’urgence du monde moderne impose au professionnel de décider de ce qu’il doit faire ou ne pas faire, rapidement et de manière la plus univoque possible. Désormais, la déontologie, science des devoirs et des interdits dans le domaine du travail, semble proposer des réponses efficaces, (...) rapides et circonstanciées dans le champ du « devoir être ». La question est de savoir si la déontologie peut se couper des mœurs, c’est-à-dire de la morale au sens social traditionnel, et si elle peut, sans risque pour sa propre cohérence, se passer d’une réflexion proprement éthique. (shrink)

The results of the French elections force the H progressive,, forces to confront certain key questions. It will not suffice to say that the rise of populism and victory of the conservatives are the effects of the ravages of globalisation and the incapacity of the traditional left to face there. We must ask ourselves what the current historical period shares with, and what distinguishes it from earlier periods; we must ask questions about the evolution of founts of oppression, and equally (...) about the struggle for liberation, and the modes of organisation and political expression of the social rnovements. This questioning eau only take place in the light of the current experiences of the new popular movement developing across the globe. (shrink)

Cette étude porte sur le geste, son expansion, sa structure. L'unité du geste est assurée par ce qui le relance, ce qui ressoude les moments de négation ou de rectification par lesquels il ne cesse de repasser, faisant ainsi l'expérience de son propre temps.

Singapore's Human Organ Transplant Act presumes that competent adults consent to donate their kidneys in the event of a fatal accident, unless they have refused in writing. No family consent is required. What can other countries wishing to implement a presumed‐consent model of organ donation learn from Singapore's experience?

This biography, the first of Richard Spencer Childs, begins in the Progressive Era when Childs initiated and pursued two fertile ideas: the short ballot doctrine and the council-manager plan. Childs understood that the simplification of the task of the voter was a question pressing for solution and that the council-manager plan would transform municipal government. This comprehensive work discusses other aspects of Childs' broad reform agenda. His proposals included: county government reform; reform in state government administration; unicameral state legislatures; reapportionment (...) of state legislatures; selection of judges by appointment; replacement of elective county coroners with appointed professional medical examiners; democratization of state political parties; and reform of the Presidential nominating system. Based on Childs' papers and personal interviews with Childs, this biography advances scholarship on the Progressive Era and contributes to the historiographical debate on the nature of reform. (shrink)

The authors constructed an algorithm that relates leaf contour to the ratio between the two parts of the leaf using the function θ’=nθm, wherem is the allometric exponent. Using this model, it is possible to simulate the contour of symmetrical or asymmetrical leaves. The authors hypothesize that the portion of the leaf contour that agrees with the simulation is linked to a constraint imposed by the initial asymmetry of the leaf primordium. The final shape of the leaf results more from (...) a summation of cumulative processes through time than from a single process. In the analysis of foliar allometry, it is important to take into consideration the different phases of leaf development, since the nature of the allometric constants may change from one phase to the next, even though their numerical value may remain the same. (shrink)

This essay begins with the contention that phenomenology has taken a “hermeneutic turn,” “the things themselves” are always already interpreted. Philosophers often elaborate their own positions through a “reading” of the works of other philosophers. This is the case for Claude Lefort. Through his interpretive reading of the works of Machiavelli one sees the origin of Lefort’s idea of the autonomy and the anonymity of the political and thus his notion of political modernity. In tracing the evolution of Lefort’s relationship (...) to Marx, we witness the process by which he disengages himself from his early “enchantment” with the works of Marx and the idea of the proletariat as a class bearing universal interest. Ultimately he criticizes Marx for his attempt to derive the political from the dimension of the social. This issues in his theory of totalitarianism as the attempt of a regime to close in on itself, thus denying any gesture to the dimension of the other. (shrink)

Artykuł, opublikowany po raz pierwszy w 1979 r., jest jednym z najczęściej cytowanych tekstów filozoficznych z drugiej połowy XX wieku. Tekst Bernarda Williamsa zainicjował kilka ważnych debat, toczących się do dziś w etyce i filozofii działania. Zaproponowana przez niego interpretacja pojęcia racji działania jest, z jednej strony, niezwykle wpływowa, ale z drugiej bardzo niejednoznaczna i często krytykowana. Williams broni stanowiska, które z czasem zaczęto określać jako internalizm racji: pewne względy są racjami działania dla danego podmiotu tylko wtedy, gdy mają ścisły (...) związek z "subiektywnym układem motywacyjnym" tego podmiotu, czyli z jakimiś aspektami jego psychiki, charakteru, celów, pragnień, planów, relacji z innymi itd. Stwierdzenie, że ktoś ma rację, by coś zrobić (a jeśli uznajemy, że jest to racja przeważająca - to, że powinien to coś zrobić), znaczy więc wedle tego stanowiska tyle, że ten ktoś jest w stanie być motywowany, by to coś zrobić. W przeciwieństwie do tego stanowisko określane obecnie ako eksternalizm racji głosi, że pewne względy mogą być racjami działania dla danego podmiotu także wtedy, gdy odwołują się do niezależnych od jego układu motywacyjnego własności świata. Williams wychodzi od modelu działania nawiązującego do koncepcji Hume'owskiej, następnie przedstawia jego bardziej rozbudowaną wersję, omawia rolę namysłu, naturę potrzeb, a także przedstawia argument za internalizmem racji, określany jako argument z wyjaśniania działania. Głosi on, że nawet gdyby istniały zewnętrzne racje działania, niezwiązane z subiektywnym układem motywacyjnym danego podmiotu, to odwołanie się do nich nie byłoby w stanie wyjaśnić, dlaczego dany podmiot postąpił tak, a nie inaczej, gdyż "nic nie jest w stanie wyjaśnić (zamierzonych) działań podmiotu za wyjątkiem czegoś, co motywuje go działania". (shrink)