La conception du corps exposee dans le Timee rompt radicalement avec celle contenue dans la premiere philosophie platonicienne. L'interpretation courante ne retient du corps que sa negativite en le presentant comme un obstacle. Or la problematique du Timee instaure un rapport etroit entre mathematique et univers, et propose une etude reelle du corps l'envisageant comme globalite. Quelle est la structure du corps, en tant qu'entite physique? Cette structure repond-elle a une finalite, le corps et l'ame devant former l'homme? Quelle est (...) alors la signification du corps et comment passe-t-il de la neutralite a l'acquisition d'une valeur? Enfin quels sont sa place, son role et son influence dans la vie humaine? (shrink)

Le projet à l’origine de ce dossier thématique est celui d’une étude comparative de l’expérimentation telle qu’elle apparaît dans les sciences de la nature et dans les sciences humaines et sociales. Il illustre et prolonge les réflexions d’un séminaire de recherche sur le même sujet, organisé par Catherine Allamel-Raffin, qui s’est tenu pendant deux ans (2017-2018) à l’université de Strasbourg grâce à un financement de la Misha (Maison Interuniversitaire des Sciences de l’Homme – Alsace). Les...

In November 1996, Catherine Clément and Julia Kristeva began a correspondence exploring the subject of the sacred. In this collection of those letters Catherine Clément approaches the topic from an anthropologist's point of view while Julia Kristeva responds from a psychoanalytic perspective. Their correspondence leads them to a controversial and fundamental question: is there anything sacred that can at the same time be considered strictly feminine? The two voices of the book work in tandem, fleshing out ideas and (...) blending together into a melody of experience. The result is a dialogue that delves into the mysteries of belief -- the relationship between faith and sexuality, the body and the senses -- which, Clément and Kristeva argue, women feel with special intensity. Although their discourse is not necessarily about theology, the authors consider the role of women and femininity in the religions of the world, from Christianity and Judaism to Confucianism and African animism. They are the first to admit that what they have undertaken is "as impossible to accomplish as it is fascinating." Nevertheless, their wide-ranging and exhilarating dialogue succeeds in raising questions that are perhaps more important to ask than to answer. (shrink)

Poststructuralism changes the way we understand the relations between human beings, their culture, and the world. Following a brief account of the historical relationship between structuralism and poststructuralism, this Very Short Introduction traces the key arguments that have led poststructuralists to challenge traditional theories of language and culture. Whilst the author discusses such well-known figures as Barthes, Foucault, Derrida, and Lacan, she also draws pertinent examples from literature, art, film, and popular culture, unfolding the poststructuralist account of what it means (...) to be a human being. (shrink)

This volume brings together contributors from a wide variety of disciplines to take a critical, empirical look at bioethics around the globe, examining how it ...

In the United States, the decision of whether to withdraw or continue to provide artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) for patients in a permanent vegetative state (PVS) is placed largely in the hands of surrogate decision-makers, such as spouses and immediate family members. This practice would seem to be consistent with a strong national emphasis on autonomy and patient-centered healthcare. When there is ambiguity as to the patient's advanced wishes, the presumption has been that decisions should weigh in favor of (...) maintaining life, and therefore, that it is the withdrawal rather than the continuation of ANH that requires particular justification. I will argue that this default position should be reversed. Instead, I will argue that the burden of justification lies with those who would continue artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH), and in the absence of knowledge as to the patient's advanced wishes, it is better to discontinue ANH. In particular, I will argue that among patients in PVS, there is not a compelling interest in being kept alive; that in general, we commit a worse violation of autonomy by continuing ANH when the patient's wishes are unknown; and that more likely than not, the maintenance of ANH as a bridge to a theoretical future time of recovery goes against the best interests of the patient. (shrink)

Analyse le lien entre le discours du philosophe E. Levinas et l'idée de Dieu qui sous-tend sa pensée. Parmi les thèmes abordés : la création, la prophétie, le temps, la sainteté.

Moral emotions shape the effectiveness of culturally diverse teams. However, these emotions, which are integral to determining ethically responsive patient care and team relationships, typically go unrecognised. The contribution of emotions to moral deliberation is subjugated within the technorational environment of healthcare decision‐making. Contemporary healthcare organisations rely on a multicultural workforce charged with the ethical care of vulnerable people. Limited extant literature examines the role of moral emotions in ethical decision‐making among culturally diverse healthcare teams. Moral emotions are evident in (...) ethnocentric moral perspectives that construct some colleagues' practices as ‘other’. This article examines how moral emotions are evoked when cultural dissonance influences nurses' moral perceptions. We use a qualitative investigation of teamwork within culturally diverse healthcare organisations. We use Haidt's () account of moral emotions to examine practice‐based accounts of 36 internationally educated and 17 New Zealand educated nurses practising in New Zealand. The study provides evidence that moral emotions are frequently elicited by communication and care practices considered ‘foreign’. The main implication is that although safe practice in healthcare organisations is reliant on highly functioning teams, collaboration is challenged by interprofessional power relations of contested culturally shaped values. We address practice‐based strategies that enable engagement with moral emotions to enhance effective teamwork. (shrink)

L'étude des timbres de potiers italiques trouvés à Argos par l'École Française d'Archéologie permet quelques remarques. Leur petit nombre et leur caractère généralement tardif révèlent que la situation économique difficile de cette ville à la fin de l'époque hellénistique se prolongea pendant une partie du Ier siècle après J.-C. L'histoire des sigillées occidentales se trouve enrichie par la détermination d'un approvisionnement homogène, au moins du Sud de la Grèce, et l'appréhension d'un groupe de potiers tardifs qui a entretenu des liens, (...) dont la nature exacte nous échappe encore, à peu près exclusifs avec cette région, à une époque où l'on supposait cette production « asphyxiée ». Le processus d'extinction des sigillées italiques est donc à revoir. (shrink)

Cet article propose une analyse de la bifurcation à partir d’un corpus d’une soixantaine de récits de vie recueillis auprès de personnes en réorientation professionnelle. La reconversion professionnelle volontaire appréhendée comme une situation choisie par l’individu montre des cassures dans les trajectoires biographiques marquées par des changements d’univers professionnels, des ruptures familiales, un éclatement de la sphère relationnelle, et une perte de repères du soi. La thèse soumise ici est que le sens de l’événement n’est interprétable qu’à l’intérieur d’une biographie (...) particulière, elle-même inscrite dans un plan de sens à géométrie variable défini par des conditions objectives de contexte où les événements surviennent et déclenchent la réinterprétation du sens, imprimant une direction au devenir de la trajectoire. Le sens semble révisable à l’infini, il est contingent dans la bifurcation du regard porté par les autruis significatifs tour à tour déclencheurs ou soutiens de la reconversion professionnelle volontaire.This article examines the biographical change of direction based on a corpus of about sixty life stories of people undergoing professional reorientation. The professional retraining is regarded as a situation chosen by the individual and shows fissures in the biographical course marked by changes in the professional environments, divorce, a break in the relational sphere and a loss of oneself. The thesis supported in the present article is that the events can be interpreted only in the light of one particular biography, inscribed in the interpretation framework of the variable geometry defined by contextual objective conditions. The events occur and start the reinterpretation of the meaning in an already defined direction. The sense seems always revisable and contingent upon the evaluation of significant others, who support or even trigger off the voluntary professional retraining. (shrink)

Talitha Cooreman-Guittin et Catherine Vialle Cet article pose une question nouvelle : Y a-t-il dans la Bible un biais « validiste » contre les femmes porteuses de handicap? Les auteures répondent par un prudent « oui, mais… ». Toutefois, la réception des textes qui évoquent des situations de handicap commence à changer. Cette étude est une illustration de ce changement en cours.

Background: There is an international trend for frail older adults to move to residential care homes, rather than ageing at home. Residential facilities typically espouse a person-centred philosophy, yet evidence points to restrictive policies and surveillance resulting in increased loneliness and diminished opportunities for intimacy and sexual expression. Residents may experience what has been termed social death, rather than perceive they are related to by others as socially alive. Aim: To consider how the loss of intimacy and sexuality in residents’ (...) lives contributes to iatrogenic loneliness experienced in residential care, and the importance of considering these issues together. Research design: The study utilised a constructionist methodology, investigating the meanings associated with intimacy, loneliness, and ageing. Participants and research context: Qualitative data used in this study are drawn from a larger dataset of a mixed-methods study. Interviews were completed as follows: staff, 21 individual interviews, and two groups with a total of 13 additional people; residents, 26 interviews with 28 people; and family members, 12 interviews with 13 people. Findings: Five key themes were identified in the data analysis: loneliness and relational identity, loneliness and functional relationships, loneliness and disrupted intimacy, loneliness and liminality, and loneliness and the built environment. Ethical considerations: The study was approved by a University Human Ethics Committee. Participation was voluntary. Consent was gained and confidentiality upheld. Discussion: Residents’ expression of intimacy and sexuality can be compromised through paternalism, ageism, restrictive policies, care-rationing and functional care, alienating residents from sustaining and developing significant relationships. Attitudes and cultural beliefs of staff and family members about ageing and intimacy, compounded by architectural design, may intensify loneliness. Conclusions: Nurses have a pivotal role in ensuring policies and practice enhance social citizenship. (shrink)

In the midst of the ongoing debate over the uniqueness of Christ and of Christianity, Stanislas Breton’s work Unicité et monothéisme offers new categories of reflection which may come to bridge the fundamental theological differences between pluralist and inclusivist perspectives. While his notions of méontology and of the Cross as the symbol of self-effacement create a radical openness to the distinctive truth of other religious traditions, this openness is itself firmly grounded within Christian self-understanding. Breton also reminds us that the (...) ultimate Christian basis for salvation lies not so much in assent to particular doctrines, but in the act of total self-givenness to others, in particular to “the least of these my brethren” (Matt. 25). (shrink)

Faced with the present migrant crisis and the dismal record of Europe in protecting vulnerable refugees’ and migrants’ rights, what could be the view of the moral philosopher? The contrast between the principles enshrined in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and the reality of present policies is shocking, but more scrutiny will show that it is the result of a larger trend towards an understanding of freedom mostly in economic terms, at a time when economists such as Amartya Sen (...) have revised their approach to economic growth and prosperity, noting the central role played by a much richer conception of freedom. The paper will scrutinize these inconsistencies and the conception of the person from which they derive and will provide an alternative and more coherent moral vision that could strengthen the legitimacy of the European Charter, at a time of growing dissatisfaction and so‐called democratic deficit. Such a vision could help reconnect the Charter with a conception of the human person as in need not solely of passive legal protection, but also of active promotion of her self‐respect and capabilities, and of her aspiration to a valuable life. (shrink)

The reception of Rawls in France has been an extremely complex story where forces of innovation have been, in the end, overwhelmed by the resistance of `philosophical nationalism'. This is surprising as, in many ways, France was going through tremendous changes and modernization at the time of the translation of A Theory of Justice in 1987. In that context, Rawls's project seemed to have something useful and suggestive to offer: bridging the gap between freedom and equality in a new version (...) of social democracy, combining social justice and market efficiency, respecting the plurality of values within civil society and creating a consensus on democratic legitimacy. But the intellectual obstacles, represented mostly by the French idiosyncratic brand of republicanism, were to prove too strong to allow for a true `liberalization' of French intellectual and political life. Whereas a number of lawyers, economists and political scientists as well as proportion of the French civil service saw all the benefits of a rigorous engagement with Rawls, philosophers and the intelligentsia on the whole, with the exception of Paul Ricoeur, reacted negatively to Rawls. (shrink)

Si les textes juridiques et les usages de la Rome républicaine et impériale établissent un classement entre les vêtements selon le statut (libre/non libre), le sexe et l’âge, certains vêtements apparaissent comme unisexes et, surtout, ce sont la façon de les porter (habitus), les gestes (gestus) et la démarche (incessus) qui leur donnent les connotations masculines ou féminines. Le sens du vêtement est construit par un système d’oppositions (toga pura VS toga praetexta ; toga VS stola, etc.) qui ne fonctionnent (...) qu’en contexte. Ainsi, le vêtement peut caractériser à la fois un statut, un rang (magistrat/non magistrat) et un état (citoyen en deuil, adolescent faisant son apprentissage oratoire, jeune mariée…), plus qu’il n’est l’apanage d’un sexe. En outre, les vêtements et la façon de les porter étant très codifiés, les transgressions ou variations par rapport à ce code sont toujours signifiantes et elles sont l’objet du regard et des commentaires des membres de la société. (shrink)

Résumé Culture transgénique et art global explore la dimension géopolitique de l’art et certains enjeux actuels de l’interdisciplinarité et de la mondialisation dans le projet « Al Grano » de Pat Badani. Partant de cette capsule complexe qu’est le grain maïs, symbole traditionnel de l’identité nationale mexicaine autant que source de macro-profits de l’industrie agroalimentaire, l’artiste élabore une œuvre étrange, comme génétiquement modifiée, qui constitue une représentation du monde actuel. Le texte analyse ce nouvel hybride que constitue « Al Grano (...) », une œuvre traitant du patrimoine matériel et des vertiges de l’immatérialité et du monde virtuel, dont les contours circonscrivent un environnement « neutralisé ». (shrink)

E. Jayne Whitea, Catherine Matsuob and Fiona WestbrookcaUniversity of Canterbury; bFukuoka University; cAuckland University of Technology (AUT)This collective writing piece takes its points of depa...

When we see a child crying, the urge to help him and to comfort him comes to us spontaneously. We understand what he is experiencing, and feel in us something of his sadness, his distress: this is what we call empathy. This sense of the other is the fruit of our evolutionary history and is hardwired in our biology. Empathy has interested a lot of thinkers and in particular the Scottish philosophers of the Age of the Enlightenment such as Adam (...) Smith or Hume. More recently, the philosophers Robert Gordon and Alvin Goldman proposed the theory of simulation according to which when we understand the other, we simulate the other’s point of view and we use this prospective to understand the other and predict his behavior. The French neuropscyhologist Jean Decety adopted this point of view. He specifies that the empathy is the capacity to mentally simulate the subjectivity of the other, to put ourselves in the shoes of another: it lies on biological systems. (shrink)

The relationships between socioeconomic and biogenetic reproduction are always socially constructed but not always acknowledged. These relationships are examined as they apply to an instance of infertility and assisted reproduction presented in a seventeenth-century English play, Thomas Middleton’s 1613 comedy, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside. Middleton’s satirization of the effects of secrecy on the category of reproductive disability is analyzed and its applicability to our own time considered. The discussion is in four parts, focusing on: the attribution of disabled status (...) to one member of the couple, the wife; the use of this attribution to protect the husband’s reputation for sexual and reproductive health; the concealment of the nature of assisted reproduction; and the interests of the child conceived with such assistance. (shrink)

La promulgation de l'édit de Nantes, en 1598, a-t-elle connu aux Pays-Bas un écho comparable à celui provoqué par la Révocation de ce même édit, un siècle plus tard? Une première enquête menée à partir de documents directement liés aux événements de l'époque (correspondances d'hommes politiques, pamphlets, actes de synodes, etc.) ne livre aucun témoignage révélateur d'un intérêt néerlandais pour le règlement français du biconfessionnalisme Les hypothèses avancées dans cet article pour expliquer ce silence se fondent sur les déplacements des (...) enjeux politiques et théologiques de la tolérance entre la France et les Pays-Bas dans la période considérée. (shrink)

This book considers the theory and application of ethics for a multifaith society. Much ethics taught in the UK has been dominated by Christian ethics, their relation to secularism and by the Enlightenment's reaction against theology as a basis for ethical thought. In contrast to these perspectives this book brings secular and theological ethics into dialogue, considering the degree to which secular ethics has common roots with theological perspectives from various traditions. The book assesses the application of ethical and theological (...) principles in today's multifaith society. Aiming to enhance ethical understanding and awareness across divergent worldviews, identifying at what points divergence does occur, the author examines topics such as reason and ethics in theology, natural law, utilitarianism and deontology and differences of approach to interpreting religious scriptures. The focus on ethical methods is illustrated through topical concerns in religion and ethics, for example sexuality, marriage and education and religion in relation to global ethics and human rights. (shrink)