Materialism can be defined both historically and philosophically as a type of thinking that began in 1745 with La Mettrie, Helvétius, Diderot, and d’Holbach. This type of materialism is characterized by three shared principles. The first principle relates to the establishment of an explicitly anti-religious and atheistic philosophical system. Such a topic is not a theme of Canguilhem’s philosophy. The second principle pertains to the material unity of the world; it is often termed ‘materialistic monism’. Canguilhem, however, does not grant (...) matter the status of a first principle; moreover, he does not treat the distinction between inanimate and animate matter as secondary. A natural history of life is not to be confused with a natural history of matter. The third principle addresses the autonomy of the mode of construction of the real with regard to thinking. This autonomy is such that intellectual faculties are themselves dependent on the properties of sensible matter. This latter point is also not retained by Canguilhem. Not only does the border between animate, living nature and material nature exclude the ability to understand animate, living nature solely in terms of matter, but furthermore, life itself cannot be explained by the organization of matter alone. (shrink)

To Be Subjected, Althusser, Foucault, Butler. We need, if we want to understand the relations between Foucault and Marx to establish the proper link between Foucault and Althusser. This comparison can be made because of the tie of kinship which exists when we have a look on the norms of the discipline on one way and the functions of the ideology on the other way. The article can be regarded as a contribution to the figure of subjection which is an (...) effect of the norms. Judith Butler’s book, « The Psychic Life of Power » can be very useful to such a reading because it gives a new interpretation of the two French philosophers. In particular, the way the subjects are giving their assent to the subjection is really examined by Judith Butler and this argument is not directly contained in Foucault’ and Althusser’s programmes. (shrink)

The note argues that Aen. 6, 893-896 should be read as a direct speech pronounced by Anchises. The proposal is put forward on the basis of a thorough new analysis of the context and of internal evidence from Vergil: a simple change in voice places many alleged inconsistencies in a different perspective and brings decisive new arguments in support of the MS tradition of some crucial passages.

In this paper, we examine Sextus Empiricus' treatise Against the geometers . We first set this treatise in the overall context of the sceptic's polemics against the liberal arts. After a discussion of Sextus' attitude to the quadrivium , we discuss the structure, the sources and the target of the Against the geometers . It appears that Euclid is not Sextus' source, and neither he, nor the professional geometers, seem to be Sextus' main targets. Of course, Sextus never really makes (...) clear his precise target, but his attacks are rather directed against geometry as a means of modelling the physical world, thus ruining the support geometry was intended to bring to the physical part of dogmatic philosophy. (shrink)

The practice and development of modern medicine requires large amounts of data, particularly in the domain of cancer. The future of personalized medicine lies neither with “genomic medicine” nor with “precision medicine”, but with “data medicine”. The establishment of this DM has required far-reaching changes, to establish four essential elements connecting patients and doctors: biobanks, databases, bioinformatic platforms and genomic platforms. The “transformation” of scientific research areas, such as genetics, bioinformatics and biostatistics, into clinical specialties has generated a new vision (...) of care. Molecular tumor boards are one response to these changes and are now providing better access to next-generation sequencing and new cancer treatments to patients with inoperable or metastatic cancers, and those for whom the usual treatment has failed. However, MTB face a crucial ethical challenge: maintaining and improving the trust of patients, clinicians, researchers and industry in academic medical centers supported by private or public funding rather than providing genetic data directly to private companies. We believe that, in this era of DM, appropriate modern digital communication networks will be required to maintain this trust and to improve the organization and effectiveness of the system. There is, therefore, a need to reconsider the form and content of informed consent documents at all academic medical centers and to introduce dynamic and electronic informed consent. (shrink)

An essential reference since the Middle Ages for European intellectuals, the work of Boethius contributed to the universalization of knowledge. This collective volume highlights the cultural heritage of this great classic from antiquity with its exemplary scientific eclecticism.

Le spiritualisme ravaissonien ouvre l'horizon d'une refondation complète de la métaphysique au cœur du XIXe siècle français. À partir de la lecture d'Aristote, Ravaisson élabore une critique de ce que l'on peut nommer les 'métaphysiques de la séparation', dont le point de départ se trouve dans les écrits du stagirite. Il s'agira dès lors de déployer une philosophie qui affirme l'identité de l'être et de la pensée, par-delà toute transcendance et tout dualisme. C'est ainsi que le problème de la métaphysique (...) peut être posé peut-on surmonter la disjonction de l'être et de l'étant, de la nature et de l'esprit, ou encore de l'homme et de Dieu? Faut-il au contraire considérer que la séparation définit le geste inaugural de toute métaphysique? Ravaisson, en refusant cette dernière possibilité, élabore une philosophie qui s'inscrit contre l'idéalisme transcendantal de Kant ou le positivisme de Comte, et plus largement contre toute tendance matérialiste de la pensée. Ainsi, l'unité perdue de la métaphysique doit être recherchée en questionnant l'héritage d'Aristote, afin de déterminer s'il s'agit de penser avec, ou contre celui-ci."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Les concepts dont les sciences font usage ne sont pas neutres, notamment lorsqu'ils s'appliquent au vivant. Ils se construisent suivant des déterminations spécifiques en fonction des époques, des idéologies humaines et possèdent l'originalité de porter un propos sur le vivant émanant du vivant lui-même. Ceci n'est pas sans incidence sur les différents champs d'application des sciences du vivant comme la médecine ou la thérapeutique. La présente étude s'intéresse au geste particulier auquel invite Georges Canguilhem dans son essai Le normal et (...) le pathologique. C'est sur ce geste, hautement philosophique, que s'appuient les prémisses d'une épistémologie des concepts. Toujours en acte, cette dernière ouvre la question des normes et de l'erreur rapportée au vivant. Elle est l'occasion d'une redécouverte de la richesse authentique de l'état pathologique permettant au vivant qui s'étudie de mieux se connaître. (shrink)

The fourth international "Chromatiques whiteheadiennes" conference was devoted to the philosophy of the natural sciences that is characteristic of Whitehead's "London Epoch". COntinuing the efforts of the Liège and Louvain-la-Neuve meetings, the conference focused on An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Natural Knowledge which constitutes Whitehead's pioneering work in the field. ALl its main traits -starting with the Method of Extensiveion- are here questioned anew.

In his posthumous book from 1914, “New foundations of logic, arithmetic andset theory”, Julius König develops his philosophy of mathematics. In a previous contribution, we attracted attention on the positive part of his “pure logic”: his “isology” being assimilated to mutual implication, it constitutes a genuine formalization of positive intuitionistic logic. König’s intention was to rebuild logic in such a way that the excluded third’s principle could no longer be logical. However, his treatment of truth and falsehood is purely classical. (...) We explain here this discrepancy by the choice of the alleged more primitive notions to which the questioned notions of truth and falsehood have been reduced. Finaly, it turns out that the disjunctive and conjunctive forms of the principles of the excluded third and of contradiction have effectively been excluded, but none of their implicative forms. (shrink)

The Covid-19 pandemic represented an unprecedented crisis. In the world of health care, it highlighted the limits of a logic that favours decisions based on management and accounting. It also highlighted the difficulties faced by caregivers in applying the logic of care. Viewing the crisis as an opportunity to open up new possibilities, this ethical analysis brings together the voices of a physician and a philosopher to propose some forward-looking avenues for reflection. The aim of these reflections is to consider (...) how, in the day-to-day life of the caregiver, the ethics of decision-making and the ethics of relationship fit together. Far from being antagonistic, these two ethical perspectives are complementary and enriching for both caregiver and patient. These reflections invite us to consider the act of care as a relationship to oneself, to others and to the collective. (shrink)

This article offers an overview of the risks related to some representations of epigenetics in the process of making social and medical recommendations. After exploring different representations of epigenetics in popular literature and media discourses, I identify some of the premature conclusions that could emerge from such discourses, stressing issues related to parental responsibility—especially as they relate to women—regarding the transmission of epigenetic marks. I then propose some epistemological considerations regarding developmental biology in order to draw a more nuanced picture (...) of epigenetic responsibility. I argue that such considerations are important to clarify our general understanding of epigenetic research as well as its potential translation outside the scientific area. (shrink)

This article is a review of Franz Brenatno’s material ontology. We support the thesis that Brentano defends an original type of monism. This monism can be seen as the conjunction of three theories: reism (the thesis that there are only concrete individual things), priority monism (the thesis that there is only one substance), and supersubstantivalism (the thesis that this substance is space).

In this article, I analyze the nature of neoliberal multiculturalism put in place by South-American governments following the Indian mobilizations of the 1980’s and the abandon of the model of development based on the corporatist and social state. Following the work of neo-Marxist and post-structuralist currents in anthropology, I seek to account for the new political rationality, which strives to produce functional individualities and to governmentalize civil society through the expansion of the logic of the market in territories that lie (...) at the periphery of globalized capitalism. By examining the links between multiculturalism and neoliberalism, I aim to overcome the opposition between culturalist and anti-culturalist idealisms. I also interrogate the politicization of culture and the production, through Indian struggles, of a new anti capitalistic universalism that integrates the critique of universalism as universalization of particular values. (shrink)

On a souvent accusé Hegel de ne pas arriver à dire ce qu’il voulait dire. Notre hypothèse est que l’obscurité du dire hégélien tient en grande partie à une volonté délibérée de ne pas réduire la complexité des choses à un savoir de surface, de façon à obliger le lecteur à assimiler le sens qui se cache derrière les représentations bien connues. Pour étayer notre hypothèse, nous montrons comment le dire et le vouloir se nouent dans l’écriture du système hégélien (...) aussi bien dans sa mouture phénoménologique que dans sa mouture encyclopédique. Par ce biais, il s’agit de clarifier à la fois le problème de l’instanciation du système hégélien et celui de sa finalité, laquelle n’est autre que celle d’une philosophie qui se veut institution du sens. (shrink)

The following article studies the paradoxical influence of Leibniz on Diderot’s materialism. Indeed, by using the principle of identity of indiscernibles, the principle of continuity and the idea that force is inherent to matter. Diderot develops a materialistic explanation of the apparent order of nature that he opposes to the empirical finalism, as well as to metaphysical finalism of “Leibniz, Newton and Clarke”.

In 1983, in an open letter to the journal Nature, Karl Popper and David Miller set forth a particularly strong critical argument which sought to demonstrate the impossibility of inductive probability. Since its publication the argument has faced many criticisms and we argue in this article that they do not reach their objectives. We will first reconstruct the demonstration made by Popper and Miller in their initial article and then try to evaluate the main arguments against it. Although it is (...) possible to conceptualize logically the idea of induction, it is shown that it is not possible on traditional Bayesian grounds. (shrink)

This article deals with English causal subordinate clauses introduced by since or as. Both these markers may convey different meanings according to contextual variations, and can express temporal relations, from which their causal value is derived. The semantic closeness between as and since whenever they express a causal relation makes it necessary to harvest a large number of attested examples in order to compare and contrast them. The recourse to large on-line corpora such as the British National Corpus gives rise (...) to specific practical difficulties, however, especially as far as as is concerned; because of the high frequency of the subordinators in question, one is confronted to thousands of examples, few of which turn out to have a clear causal value in the case of as, hence the recourse to other means in order to make up a large enough corpus of examples.The concept of presupposition is examined, as it has often been argued that causal since subordinates, unlike as subordinates, introduce a presupposed content. But when confronted to a large number of examples, this criterion falls short of accounting for the subtle differences between the two conjunctions. A more theoretical approach is required; thanks to the tools provided by A. Culioli’s Theory of Enunciative and Predicative Operations, it becomes possible to formalise the hypothesis that a since causal relationship is presented as unproblematic and is addressee-oriented, whereas an as causal relationship is felt as unproblematic, and is speaker-oriented.This difference can be felt in the fact that it seems to be easier to find examples of causal as clauses in the press, while the causal use of since is more widespread in general, and does not seem to be specific to a genre in particular. In order to put this impression to the test, I have resorted to the multi-lingual parallel corpus Intercorp. (shrink)

Biological evolution provides a creative fount of complex and subtle adaptations, often surprising the scientists who discover them. However, because evolution is an algorithmic process that transcends the substrate in which it occurs, evolution’s creativity is not limited to nature. Indeed, many researchers in the field of digital evolution have observed their evolving algorithms and organisms subverting their intentions, exposing unrecognized bugs in their code, producing unexpected adaptations, or exhibiting outcomes uncannily convergent with ones in nature. Such stories routinely reveal (...) creativity by evolution in these digital worlds, but they rarely fit into the standard scientific narrative. Instead they are often treated as mere obstacles to be overcome, rather than results that warrant study in their own right. The stories themselves are traded among researchers through oral tradition, but that mode of information transmission is inefficient and prone to error and outright loss. Moreover, the fact that these stories tend to be shared only among practitioners means that many natural scientists do not realize how interesting and lifelike digital organisms are and how natural their evolution can be. To our knowledge, no collection of such anecdotes has been published before. This paper is the crowd-sourced product of researchers in the fields of artificial life and evolutionary computation who have provided first-hand accounts of such cases. It thus serves as a written, fact-checked collection of scientifically important and even entertaining stories. In doing so we also present here substantial evidence that the existence and importance of evolutionary surprises extends beyond the natural world, and may indeed be a universal property of all complex evolving systems. (shrink)

Cette étude constitue la première publication complète de tous les éléments associés à l’autel des Césars au cœur de l’agora de Thasos : les vestiges architecturaux, la dédicace à Lucius César et la tête sculptée mises au jour lors de la fouille du monument. L’identification de l’édifice à un autel est désormais assurée et l’appartenance du bloc inscrit à ce dernier confirmée. La présence d’une seconde dédicace, vraisemblablement à Caius César, est rendue très probable par la structure du monument, dont (...) une restitution est proposée pour la première fois. L’association à la construction de l’autel des deux soubassements de bases qui le flanquent à l’Est est démontrée, ce qui conforte l’identification de la tête à l’un des deux princes de la jeunesse, dans lequel il faut reconnaître Caius plutôt que Lucius. Ces nouveaux éléments permettent de dater précisément le monument entre 4 et 6 apr. J.‑C. et de lui donner sa juste place dans l’histoire des relations entre Thasos et la famille impériale. (shrink)

Lotze’s influence on the development of the XIXth and XXth century philosophy and psychology remains largely neglected still today. In this paper, I examine some Lotzean elements in Husserl’s early conception of intentionality, and more specifically in his rejection of the Brentanian concept of intentionality. I argue that Husserl and Lotze, pace Brentano, share a qualitative conception of experiences, what they both call the Zumutesein of experiences. Furthermore, I discuss other issues upon which Husserl and Lotze share common intuitions: the (...) perception of space, the theory of local signs, the realisations of thinking (Leistungen des Denkens) and phenomenology. (shrink)

Johannes Daubert est la figure centrale du Cercle de Munich ainsi que le premier véritable lecteur et critique de Husserl. Ses manuscrits contiennent, en plus d'une critique de la phénoménologie husserlienne, une conception originale de la phénoménologie laissant notamment une place importante aux analyses perceptives. Le présent article s'intéresse d'abord aux thèmes du donné et de l'évidence en tant qu'ils sont des motifs centraux à la fois chez Husserl et Daubert, pour ensuite relever, à partir d'une étude des manuscrits pertinents, (...) la particularité des analyses daubertiennes concernant ces thèmes, ainsi que les contraintes ou limites que la phénoménologie doit s'imposer pour notamment se distinguer du rationalisme.Johannes Daubert is the central figure of the Munich Circle as well as the first real critical reader of Husserl. His manuscripts contain, in addition to a critique of the husserlian phenomenology, an original conception of phenomenology leaving a significant place to the perceptive analyses. This article is initially concerned with the topics of the given and of the evidence as they are central themes in Husserl's and Daubert's works, for then raising, starting from a study of the relevant manuscripts, the peculiarity of the daubertian analyses concerning these topics, as well as the constraints or limits that the phenomenology must impose itself to be distinguished from the Rationalism. (shrink)

En 2021, le livre de Van Rensselaer Potter intitulé Bioethics: Bridge to the Future a célébré son cinquantième anniversaire de parution. Or, la conception de la bioéthique proposée par l’auteur diffère de celle d’André Hellegers, qui a fait école. Pourtant, conçu comme guide, Potter y présente des éléments importants pour penser la place de la bioéthique dans le contexte sociétal et le développement actuelle des connaissances. Dans le texte qui suit, nous abordons certains éléments du contexte dans lequel ce livre (...) a pris forme. Nous nous arrêterons brièvement pour décrire la perspective dominante de la bioéthique. Puis, nous ferons ressortir certains éléments importants de la conception qu’a l’auteur de ce que devrait être la bioéthique. Nous terminerons en examinant les répercussions de cette pensée dans deux dossiers : celui de l’université et celui du développement durable dans sa perspective onusienne. Cette démarche nous conduira vers un élément que nous considérons important de la pensée de l’auteur, celui de l’ouverture. Ouverture qui est offerte à la bioéthique par l’inclusion de perspectives ayant cours quant aux compréhensions variées du vivant, ouverture à la considération des savoirs ancestraux et des savoirs communs, ouverture aussi à tout autre contexte, qu’ils impliquent des situations minoritaires, des personnes défavorisées ou autres. Cette ouverture donne un sens particulier à une valeur primordiale de la bioéthique, celle du respect de la dignité humaine. (shrink)

Numerous works have addressed the articulations between multiculturalism and neoliberalism in the Latin-American post-dictatorship context of the 1990s. Fewer are, by contrast, the studies that have focused on the ideological origins of what I would call differentialist Capitalism. My intention here is to fully comprehend how the “cultural” sphere was discovered, before being progressively colonized by the “economic” one. In order to do so, we will have to go back to the end of the 1970s, a period during which emancipatory (...) ideas such as “cultural control” and “ethno-development” were taken over and resignified by the tenants of the neoliberal orthodoxy. An orthodoxy based on an anthropological credo that both reifies cultures and naturalizes the social order and managed to achieve massive hegemony within multilateral development agencies and the south-American elites. (shrink)

Ego et communauté. Au contraire de la position défendue par la plupart des interprètes de Husserl qui, au nom de l'intersubjectivité, lui reprochent de suivre une "voie cartésienne" et d'accorder un privilège à l'ego cogito, il s'agit de montrer que cette critique n'est pas fondée : le primat méthodologique de l'ego est au contraire une condition nécessaire pour constituer la communauté intersubjective, et éviter de subordonner l'individualité vivante à une "transcendance" anonyme. L'enjeu est de comprendre la crise des temps modernes (...) comme celle d'un monde aliéné qui s'est fondé sur l'oubli de la vie, mais aussi sur le déni du pouvoir constituant de l'ego et la répression de toute subjectivité."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

L’article exploite l’occasion rare d’étudier ensemble une statue et la construction où elle était présentée et mise en valeur. Les fragments de la statue comme de son baldaquin ont été trouvés ensemble lors de la fouille de 1931. Le baldaquin consiste en un petit édicule corinthien à deux colonnes, ouvert en façade et sur les côtés, accolé au mur Sud de la curie. La légèreté de sa construction comparée à la massivité de la statue exécutée d’un seul bloc, implique qu’il (...) a été construit autour de la statue, après sa mise en place et son achèvement. La statue assise de Fortuna se présentait de face, tournée vers l’espace qui tenait lieu de basilique civile au forum. L’emplacement où elle se trouve lui donne ainsi tout son sens. L’ensemble a été mis en place au moment des grands travaux de la deuxième phase architecturale du forum, dans le troisième quart du iie s. p.C., et détruit par le séisme qui a gravement affecté les bâtiments du forum vers le début du vie s. (shrink)

Many theories about the teaching of logic and critical thinking take for granted that theoretical learning, the learning of formal rules for example, and its practical application are sufficient to master the tools taught and to take the habit of using them. However, this way of teaching is not efficient, a conclusion supported by much work in cognitive science. Approaching cognition evolutionarily with dual-process theories allows for an explanation of these insufficiencies and offers clues on how we could teach critical (...) thinking and logic more efficiently. In this article, we want to present this approach and explore these leads in order to make some pedagogical recommendations and lay the foundations of a framework. We will put forward an example of the application of this research program with philosophy for children. (shrink)

Dans l’essai Objets intentionnels de 1894, Husserl développe en réaction à Twardowski une théorie originale de l’assomption comme solution au problème des représentations sans objet. Après avoir examiné le détail de cette théorie et en avoir soulevé les difficultés, je montre dans cet article que la solution proposée par cette théorie doit être abordée de manière indépendante de celle qui sera développée plus tard dans les Recherches logiques et j’expose dans quelle mesure elle est ancrée dans la psychologie descriptive brentanienne (...) tout en mettant à profit certains outils de la logique de Bolzano. Enfin, j’indique que Husserl continuera à développer cette théorie après les Recherches logiques, confirmant ainsi qu’elle occupe une place de choix dans la théorie phénoménologique du jugement.In his essay Intentional Objects of 1894, Husserl develops in response to Twardowski an original theory of assumptions as a solution to the problem of objectless presentations. First, I analyze in this paper the main points of his theory and point out some of the difficulties it raises. I then suggest that the solution presented in this theory must be addressed independently of the one developed by Husserl later in the Logical Investigations and try to show in which extent his theory of assumptions is rooted in the brentanian descriptive psychology, although it makes good use of some logical tools from Bolzano’s Wissenschaftslehre. Since Husserl continues to work on this theory even after the Logical Investigations, it confirms the important place one should give to the theory of assumptions it the phenomenological theory of judgment. (shrink)

Théologique, métaphysique, idéaliste, la philosophie de Leibniz ne devrait pas intéresser les auteurs matérialistes du XVIIIe siècle. Pourtant, La Mettrie, Diderot, d'Holbach et Helvétius usent des matériaux du leibnizianisme pour construire une pensée radicale, qui nie l'immatérialité de l'âme, affirme l'inexistence de Dieu et critique férocement les institutions ecclésiastiques. La monade et sa force, le principe de raison suffisante et le principe des indiscernables deviennent des outils puissamment subversifs, qui permettent une explication intégrale de la nature en termes matériels. Ce (...) livre retrace une réception oubliée de la philosophie de Leibniz et interroge ce que le devenir d'une pensée nous dit de ses potentialités théoriques."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Avec l’apparition d’Internet, les règles de fonctionnement dans tous les domaines de la société ont été fondamentalement modifiées. Les échanges sont devenus plus rapides, plus visibles et visuels, et pour la première fois dans l’histoire de l’humanité ils se situent à l’échelle planétaire. Penser que la sphère associative ait pu passer à côté de cette profonde mutation sociétale serait une erreur. Tout comme les autres secteurs de la société, les ONG, les associations, les institutions, les administrations du secteur public, les (...) instances présidentielles et ministérielles des États ont dû, elles aussi, entrer dans cette compétitivité effrénée et modifier leurs modes de fonctionnement vers plus de visibilité des contenus, plus d’explicatifs, plus de diversités des médias employés, plus de services en ligne et d’interactivité, afin de toucher le plus de monde possible, ou de faciliter la vie de chacun en rendant certaines démarches plus rapides. Cependant, mondialisation ne saurait rimer avec efficacité sans passer par l’étape incontournable qu’est la traduction.The arrival of the Internet has profoundly changed the rules in every area of society. Exchanges are faster, more visible and more visual, and for the first time in the history of humanity, they are happening on the scale of the entire planet. It would be a mistake to believe that non-governmental groups have been left untouched by this profound societal change. Like all other sectors of society, NGOs, associations, institutions, public sector administration and State presidential or ministerial bodies have had to join the same headlong race for competitiveness, changing the way they function to make their content ever more visible and more explanatory, broaden their media range and expand their on-line services and interactiveness, to reach as many people as possible or make life easier by offering faster responses. However, globalisation can never equal efficiency if translating is left out of the equation. (shrink)

La Rhétorique propose une théorie de la réception et du public, logée à l'intérieur d'une théorie de la production du discours. Cette perspective débouche sur une critique de la « manipulation » et suggère un champ d'intervention possible pour les Sic face à la prégnance de ce vocable et de cet imaginaire de la manipulation pour défendre, à l'inverse, une analyse circonstanciée des formes rhétoriques et argumentatives à l'oeuvre dans les discours médiatiques.Rhetorics can be seen as a theory of reception (...) and of the audience, within a theory of the way discourse is produced. This view leads to a critique of the "manipulation" paradigm and suggests that information and communication sciences may defend the need for a circumstantial analysis of the rhetoric and argumentative forms which are operating through mediatic discourses against the ideas and vocabulary of manipulation. (shrink)

Guillaume St-Laurent | : Dans ses récentes méditations philosophiques, Claude Romano soutient non seulement que la phénoménologie ne devrait plus être cartésienne, mais qu’elle ne peut plus l’être, car un doute universel serait lui-même foncièrement absurde du point de vue phénoménologique. L’objectif du présent essai est de contester qu’une telle réfutation phénoménologique du cartésianisme soit possible. En ce sens, nous soutiendrons que les arguments anti-sceptiques de Romano s’avèrent insuffisants parce que le doute hyperbolique est une possibilité de pensée qui, (...) bien que spéculative, demeure à la fois intelligible et plus radicale que toute description d’essence ou « réduction eidétique ». | : In his recent philosophical contributions, French phenomenologist Claude Romano maintained not only that phenomenology should not be Cartesian, but that it cannot be Cartesian because the very idea of a universal doubt would be utterly absurd from a phenomenological perspective. Our objective is to show that such a phenomenological refutation of Cartesianism is impossible. After reviewing the two main anti-skeptical arguments propounded by Romano, we will support a simple critical thesis : the hyperbolical doubt is an irreducible possibility of thought which, although “speculative,” remains nevertheless actual and more radical than any phenomenological description. (shrink)

From Experience to the “Event”The Stakes of the Thought of an “Originary Symbolism”This article proposes to understand the progressive conceptualization of experience as “originary symbolism.” After having examined the notions of form but also – and above all – those of categorical attitude and expression, we show that Merleau-Ponty turns toward a concept of experience that is from the start expressive. Here, the symbolic function, in Cassirer’s sense, is slowly replaced by a “symbolism” in which the diacritical, institution, and the (...) unconscious play a fundamental role. Making use of Merleau-Ponty’s unpublished notes, particularly those in the Sensible World and the World of Expression, allows us to observe the convergence of diacritical thought, institution, and the unconscious toward one unified conception of originary symbolism. Hence, we propose an approach that departs from the traditional categories of consciousness and of evidence, and founds a theory of experience as “event”.Dall’esperienza all’ «evento»La posta in gioco del «simbolismo originario»L’articolo si propone di comprendere la progressiva concettualizzazione merleaupontyana dell’esistenza come «simbolismo originario». Dopo aver esaminato le nozioni di forma, ma anche e soprattutto di atteggiamento categoriale e di espressione, mostreremo che Maurice Merleau-Ponty si indirizza a una concezione dell’esperienza che ne fa qualcosa di immediatamente espressivo; concezione in cui la funzione simbolica, nel senso di Cassirer, viene poco a poco sostituita da un «simbolismo» in cui il diacritico, l’istituzione e l’inconscio giocano un ruolo fondamentale. Il ricorso alle Note inedite di Merleau-Ponty, e in particolare a Le monde sensible et le monde de l’expression, consente appunto di osservare la convergenza dei tre concetti di diacritico, di istituzione e di inconscio, in direzione di una medesima concezione del simbolismo originario. Proponiamo quindi un approccio che si discosta dalle tradizionali categorie della coscienza e dell’evidenza, per fondare una teoria dell’esperienza come «evento». (shrink)

Que peut-on espérer des fictions? Rien, déclare l'intellectuel traqueur d'illusions. Tout, affirme l'artiste désireux de valoriser les potentialités de son matériau. Mais est-on sûr de parler d'une même chose? À observer nos usages du terme, les fictions prolifèrent confusément à l'époque contemporaine, nichées dans nos oeuvres, nos discours, nos croyances, nos imaginations. Si bien que poser sérieusement la question des mérites et démérites des fictions passe par une clarification rigoureuse de ce qu'elles sont. Les philosophes se sont depuis longtemps attelés (...) à débattre des caractéristiques ontologiques, sémantiques, épistémologiques, ou psychologiques des fictions et à résoudre les paradoxes et difficultés qui s'y rattachent. Perspectives philosophiques sur les fictions rassemble neuf textes contribuant à cette enquête. Le recueil met l'accent sur une approche épistémologique positive des fictions, le 'fictionalisme', sur ses origines chez Hans Vaihinger, ses développements et les critiques qu'on peut lui adresser."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

"Contrairement à une idée reçue, Hegel n'est pas un penseur perdu dans des abstractions logiques. La folie, la mort et l'éducation sont au centre de la pensée du philosophe allemand et forment un ensemble cohérent, concourant à caractériser l'homme comme une nature en conflit entre une particularité figée et un universel auquel il lui faudrait s'élever. Les réflexions anthropologiques essaiment dans l'ensemble de sa pensée et contribuent à forger une réflexion stimulante qui, partant de l'homme comme être du possible, s'attache (...) à dégager les modalités de sa réalisation grâce à la technique et à la formation. En adoptant une perspective dynamique, la pensée de Hegel rencontre certains enjeux contemporains touchant à ce que l'homme pourrait être, en particulier les thèses du transhumanisme. Loin de trancher dogmatiquement en faveur ou en défaveur d'une anthropotechnique, elle nous offre certains réquisits normatifs et nous donne les éléments d'une éducation au possible reposant sur une culture de la décision. L'auteur dessine ainsi une voie hégélienne de réponse au posthumanisme."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

The Political Imaginary.Reflections on Merleau-Ponty’s reading of MachiavelliThis essay attempts to set in relief an aspect of Merleau-Ponty’s political thought that has still received little study: his conception of the political imaginary. This fertile aspect of his political thought appears explicitly in his reading of Machiavelli as it is developed in “Note on Machiavelli”, which appeared for the first time in 1949. In this note, Merleau-Ponty treats the specific problem of power. In trying to characterize this, Merleau-Ponty comes to discover (...) the inevitably imaginary dimension of the political space.To begin, this essay retraces the aim and scope of Machiavelli’s thought, while bringing to the fore those aspects in his political reflections that are properly imaginary. Next, the essay compares these reflections to those Merleau-Ponty had on the political imaginary in the same period as his courses on childpsychology at the Sorbonne (held between 1949 and 1952). Following the descriptions of the phenomenon of the imaginary, this time from the phenomenological point of view, the third and final section of this essay will articulate the analyses of the “Note on Machiavelli” together with the theoreticaljustification of the political imaginary and will show how these analyses are inscribed in the heart of Merleau-Ponty’s path. We will then discover how thephenomenon of the imaginary is intimately linked to the constitution of the self and the other, the body and the intersubjective world, and how this problematicobliges us to pose the question of the symbolic.Across this path, the essay will aim to show how Merleau-Ponty’s reading of Machiavelli allows us to think in a new way about diverse ideas and traditionsand to articulate afresh the meaning and scope of the properly political dimension of human praxis.L’immaginario politico.Riflessioni sulla lettura merleau-pontyana di MachiavelliQuesto saggio intende mettere in rilievo un aspetto ancora poco studiato del pensiero politico di Merleau-Ponty, la sua concezione dell’immaginario politico. Tale fecondo aspetto della riflessione merleau-pontiana sul politico appare esplicitamente nella lettura di Machiavelli svolta nella «Nota su Machiavelli» (1949). In questo testo Merleau-Ponty affronta il problema specifico del potere, ed è nel tentativo di caratterizzare il potere stesso che Merleau-Ponty scopre la dimensione inevitabilmente immaginaria dello spazio politico.In un primo momento, il saggio ricostruisce l’intenzione e la portata del pensiero di Machiavelli mettendo in luce gli aspetti legati all’immaginario presenti nella sua riflessione politica. In un secondo momento, il saggio mette a confronto tali riflessioni con quelle svolte da Merleau-Ponty sul medesimo tema dell’immaginario nei corsi dedicati alla psicologia dell’età evolutiva, tenuti alla Sorbona tra il 1949 e il 1952. In un terzo momento, ripercorrendo le descrizioni del fenomeno immaginario, questa volta dal punto di vista fenomenologico, il saggio articola le analisi svolte nella «Nota su Machiavelli» con la giustificazione teorica di questa stessa nozione di immaginario del politico ; ricolloca tali analisi all’interno del complessivo percorso merleaupontyano; mostra come il fenomeno dell’immaginario sia intimamente legato alla costituzione stessa dell’io e dell’altro, del corpo e del mondo intersoggettivo; come tale problematica renda infine necessario porre il problema del simbolico.L’insieme del percorso svolto nel presente saggio mostra quindi come la lettura merleau-pontyana di Machiavelli consenta di pensare in modo inedito nozioni e tradizioni differenti, nonché di articolare in maniera rinnovata il senso e la portata della dimensione propriamente politica della praxis umana. (shrink)

À partir de l'observation du nord de la région Midi-Pyrénées, cet article défend l'hypothèse que les logiques économiques, les réseaux sociaux et les jeux d'acteurs locaux sont à l'origine de la construction d'une identité territoriale. Fruit d'une histoire collective celle-ci n'empêche pas l'expression d'enjeux et de stratégies aux intérêts divergents mais entraîne deux changements majeurs. Elle permet de penser de façon positive le futur de ce territoire et conduit à l'envisager à partir des relations qu'il entretient avec d'autres espaces parfois (...) fort éloignés.From the observation of the northern region of Midi-Pyrénées, this article defends the hypothesis that economic logic, social networks and local games are at the origin of the construction of a regional identity. Result of a collective history it does not prevent the expression of issues and strategies with different interests but has two major changes. It helps to think positively the future of this country and led to the consideration from its relations with other areas sometimes far apart. (shrink)

Guillaume Lejeune | : La philosophie de Bradley se présente moins comme une tentative d’importation de la pensée allemande en Angleterre que comme une volonté de régler par le recours à divers écoles les problèmes dans lesquels la tradition empiriste se dépêtre : un atomisme de la connaissance et une conception externaliste des relations qui rendraient impossible une vision unitaire de l’expérience. La critique que développe Bradley de l’association d’idées dans la mesure où elle fait ressortir les présuppositions de (...) la tradition empiriste et en rejette le bien-fondé peut se lire comme une tentative de déconstruction de celle-ci. | : Bradley’s philosophy is not a mere attempt to import German thought in Great-Britain, but a willingness to regulate the problems in which the empiricist tradition is entangled — an atomism of knowledge and an externalist conception of relation that make impossible a unitary view of experience — by borrowing ideas from various schools. According to Bradley, associationism clearly brings out the two problematic aspects of the whole empiricism. That is why his rejection has a strategic character. It can be read as an attempt to “deconstruct” the empiricist tradition. (shrink)

E. M. Wood, one of the main figures of political Marxism, is interviewed by Frédérick-Guillaume Dufour and Jonathan Martineau and discusses the different directions of her work. The main questions she is asked concern : her relationship to Marx ; her specific approach to history and how it differs from other Marx-inspired types of analysis ; the situation of contemporary capitalism ; the dead ends of intellectual debates in recent years and the challenges of the current political situation.