Transposing the thorny issue of the union of body and mind onto the political plane, this article investigates what produces the cohesion of the body politic through an inquiry into the genesis and survival of the institution of the State in light of the concept of esprit de corps. While Bourdieu draws on the work of Kantorowicz to consider the genesis of the modern State through the gradual secularisation of the idea of the sovereign’s embodiment of the collective body in (...) the form of unfailing adherence to the incorporated collective body, manifested in the indefectible bond that unites the members of the senior branch of the civil service, beyond time and death. Deleuze and Guattari, in their heterogenesis of the State, draw on Ibn Khaldûn, who sees the esprit de corps as the driving force behind the history of states, both in terms of their growth and decline. The cross-reading of these two works highlights to light the ambivalence of the esprit de corps, the leaven of union and cohesion of the body politic necessary to the birth and survival of the State, which can undermine it by its very nature. Either this bond that unites individuals is weakened within civil society as contractual relations supplant affective ties or, by encouraging the autonomy of specific groups within the state apparatus and society itself, it haunts the state machine like a ghost, ultimately threatening its unity and the preservation of the general interest of which it is the guarantor. (shrink)

This study investigates how diverse European legal systems and financial structures influence corporate social and environmental responsibility. The argument is developed by means of a framework that integrates legal systems and financial structures. Hypotheses relating to environmental responsibility have been tested using Innovest data gathered between 2002 and 2007 from 645 companies in 16 countries; and hypotheses relating to social responsibility have been tested using Innovest data gathered between 2004 and 2007 from 600 companies. The findings demonstrate that legal systems (...) influence corporate responsibility (CR) in both social and environmental spheres. They also support the claim that corporations are more likely to act in environmentally responsible ways when there are strong and well-enforced state regulations in place to ensure such behavior. Company size is shown to have a greater impact on CR than either excess cash or performance. Large companies tend to be more visible than small ones do, and society expects them to behave in a more socially and environmentally responsible manner regardless of their financial performance or available cash. Finally, these findings support the hypothesis that capital structure significantly influences CR: companies with a high number of publicly held shares and a low percentage of debt are more likely than others to commit themselves to social and environmental activities. (shrink)

The nuclear community frequently refers to the concept of “future generations” when discussing the management of high-level radioactive waste. However, this notion is generally not defined. In this context, we have to assume a wide definition of the concept of future generations, conceived as people who will live after the contemporary people are dead. This definition embraces thus each generation following ours, without any restriction in time. The aim of this paper is to show that, in the debate about nuclear (...) waste, this broad notion should be further specified and to clarify the related implications for nuclear waste management policies. Therefore, we provide an ethical analysis of different management strategies for high-level waste in the light of two principles, protection of future generations—based on safety and security—and respect for their choice. This analysis shows that high-level waste management options have different ethical impacts across future generations, depending on whether the memory of the waste and its location is lost, or not. We suggest taking this distinction into account by introducing the notions of “close future generations” and “remote future generations”, which has important implications on nuclear waste management policies insofar as it stresses that a retrievable disposal has fewer benefits than usually assumed. (shrink)

Comment passer de la réflexion esthétique sur les atmosphères à une pratique architecturale des atmosphères? En suivant les Leçons d’esthétique du philosophe allemand Gernot Böhme, nous analysons la façon dont leur esprit est mis en œuvre par l’architecte suisse Peter Zumthor. Comment le sentiment fondamental de la présence est-il principiel dans le projet du plus grand musée d’art de Los Angeles? Composée de propositions concrètes, l’enjeu de l’esthétique envisagée ici tient moins de la détermination de l’œuvre d’art que du sentiment (...) de liberté qu’éprouvent des sujets dans le site qui leur est offert. (shrink)

Companies face a dilemma between what society as a whole demands and the necessity of being economically efficient and creating value for all stakeholders. Why some companies take it upon themselves to be socially responsible while others not? I argue that companies act in a socially responsible way when social necessity is combined with a global low reputation. This paper provides a theoretical insight into reflection on the roles of companies within a society.

Cette contribution se propose d’étudier la manière dont Durkheim s’est réapproprié la philosophie de Rousseau. Le fondateur, après Auguste Comte, de la sociologie en France adopte une attitude ambivalente à l’égard de l’auteur du second Discours et du Contrat social : d’un côté, l’hommage rendu à celui qui a pensé la genèse empirique des rapports sociaux ; de l’autre, la critique de l’artificialisme du penseur du contrat. C’est entre ces deux limites qu’il faudra situer la réappropriation durkheimienne de Rousseau, qui (...) est une reconstruction et une réactualisation : la question de la genèse du sujet collectif est au cœur de leur dialogue posthume. Cette contribution reviendra donc sur l’interprétation durkheimienne du second Discours, ainsi que sur sa lecture du manuscrit de Genève. Il s’agira de montrer par quelle subtile distorsion du texte Durkheim parvient à imposer son exégèse de Rousseau et à en faire l’ancêtre de l’idée de « règne social », et de cerner comment la lecture durkheimienne du Contrat social procède à une réinterprétation originale de la théorie de la « volonté générale » dans des termes sociologiques. (shrink)

Cette contribution tentera de cerner les enjeux de l’interprétation contrastée de la philosophie des Lumières proposée par Charles Taylor. Pourquoi le déisme et le matérialisme sont-ils perçus par Taylor comme des fourvoiements de la modernité? Pourquoi considère-t-il que les Lumières ont méconnu la manière dont la subjectivité pouvait fonder ses aspirations morales et politiques? Nous verrons que la philosophie des Lumières « radicales », selon Taylor, produit une morale et une politique incohérentes : elle postule que l’harmonie sociale procède de (...) l’intérêt bien compris grâce à une ingénierie législative et éducative ; mais elle n’explique pas pourquoi l’idéal d’une société harmonieuse mérite d’être poursuivi. L’auteur des Sources du moi entérine de la sorte l’idée répandue d’une incohérence des philosophes matérialistes : leur psychologie hédoniste et égoïste est incompatible avec leur éthique, qui vise le plus grand bonheur du plus grand nombre. Les Lumières sont donc rendues responsables d’une vision contradictoire de la morale et d’une vision appauvrie de la subjectivité. (shrink)

Dans un article de 1984 intitulé « Le libéralisme et l’art de la séparation », Michael Walzer critique le fantasme libéral d’autodétermination. Afin d’illustrer sa thèse, il convoque la dernière tragédie de Shakespeare, Coriolan : « The liberal hero, author of himself and of social roles, is a mythic invention. It is Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, that aristocratic warrior and anti-citizen, who claims (and fails) to live “as if he were the author of himself and knew no other kin” ». Cet article (...) entend discuter cette interprétation. Au-delà d’une tragédie sur le rêve d’autonomie brisé, Coriolan donne à voir un personnage aux prises avec l’aliénation liée à l’éthique aristocratique. Relire Shakespeare dans le sillage de certaines exégèses marxistes et féministes invite donc à interroger la pertinence du « communautarisme libéral ». (shrink)

Conceptual engineering takes a distinctively normative and reconstructive approach to our conceptual repertoire. This approach is congenial to the ideas defended by philosophers belonging to the multifaceted tradition of American and Cambridge Pragmatism. This special issue is devoted to the investigation and development of these connections. Our introduction maps some of the historical and theoretical entanglements between the two fields and gives a short overview of the contributions to the special issue.

In this article, I draw an important distinction between two kinds of inquiry. “Framed inquiries” take for granted and use a conceptual framework in order to ask and answer questions, while “framing inquiries” require the creation, revision, or expansion of the conceptual framework itself in order to address the problem at hand. This distinction has been largely ignored in epistemology, and collapsed by two radically opposed philosophical camps: representationalism and antirepresentationalism. While the former takes all inquiries to be in the (...) business of discovering mind-independent facts, the latter takes all inquiries to be primarily governed by pragmatic considerations. Against the objections raised by both camps, I defend a pragmatist and substantive distinction between framed and framing inquiry, inspired by Rudolf Carnap’s distinction between internal and external questions and reformulated in terms of John Dewey’s theory of inquiry. (shrink)

We adapted the Bubbles procedure [Vis. Res. 41 (2001) 2261] to examine the effective use of information during the first 282 ms of face identification. Ten participants each viewed a total of 5100 faces sub-sampled in space–time. We obtained a clear pattern of effective use of information: the eye on the left side of the image became diagnostic between 47 and 94 ms after the onset of the stimulus; after 94 ms, both eyes were used effectively. This preference for the (...) eyes increased with practice, and was not solely due to the informativeness of the eyes for the task at hand. The bias for the eye on the left side of the image is explained in terms of hemispheric specialization. Although there were individual differences, most participants exhibited this pattern of effective use of information. An intriguing finding is that most participants displayed a clear sinusoidal modulation of effective use of attention through time with a frequency of about 10.6 Hz. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This article makes the case for the continued relevance of former U.S. president Barack Obama's conception of social hope. To present this conception, I compare it with the views of hope developed by two prominent political philosophers: Immanuel Kant and Richard Rorty. Kant, Rorty, and Obama all espouse the idea that progress must be founded on hope since hope motivates action. Yet the three differ on the grounds of hope. Kant believes that social progress depends on our shared humanity. (...) Similarly, Obama regards progress as founded on a set of values shared by all Americans. Given our divisions today, however, Obama's premise appears implausible. Rorty's philosophy of hope provides a way out of this worry: progress need not depend on an essential feature shared by all but can be achieved by “stitching together” coalitions between groups that share interests. Still, this does not imply that we should abandon Obama's conception of hope altogether. The idea of audacious hope implies that we should have the courage to resist the temptation to let divisions quell our efforts toward political progress. Obama's conception of hope, with the Rortian corrective I defend, holds much promise in our current political climate. (shrink)

This article explores the ongoing obsession with the thigh gap ideal in certain pockets of Western societies. A thigh gap is the space some women have between their inner thighs when they stand with their feet together. The thigh gap ideal is flaunted on “thinspo” websites, which compile diet and exercise tips and display pictures of fashion models and “real women” in their efforts to inspire women to become thinner. I aim to identify what is wrong with the thigh gap (...) obsession and to suggest a way to overcome it. I begin by describing the genesis of the obsession. I then argue that the relation women in the grip of this preoccupation have to their bodies is an instance of what I call bodily alienation. Next, I consider responses to the thigh gap phenomenon. I claim that a viable response, besides broadening standards of beauty, lies in pursuing bodily activities for their own sake. I call the view I articulate “sensualism.” I conclude by discussing the merits of an individual response of the type I advocate, in light of the structural character of women’s oppression through standards of beauty. (shrink)

This essay aims to show that implicit biases should not be conceived of as “inside the head” of individuals, but rather as embodied and social. My argument unfolds in three stages. First, I make the case for conceiving of implicit biases as perceptual habits. Second, I argue that we should think of perceptual habits and, by extension, implicit biases, as located in the body. Third, I claim that individual habits are shaped by the social world in which we find ourselves (...) and that the social world is itself shaped by our habitual ways of interacting with and perceiving others. This suggests that implicit biases are part of the fabric of the social world. Thus, I conclude that implicit biases should be understood as embodied and social. (shrink)

The ability to reflect on and monitor memory processes is one of the most investigated metamemory functions, and one of the important ways consciousnesses interacts with memory. The feeling-of-knowing is one task used to evaluate individual’s capacity to monitor their memory. We examined this reflective function of metacognition in older adults. We explored the contribution of metacognition to episodic memory impairment, in relation to the idea that older adults show a reduction in memory awareness characteristic of episodic memory. A first (...) experiment showed that age affects the accuracy of FOK when predictions are made on an episodic memory task but not on a semantic memory task, suggesting a particular role for episodic memory awareness in metacognitive evaluations. A second experiment showed that the age-difference in episodic FOK accuracy was removed if one took into account subjective reports of memory awareness, or recollection. We argue that the FOK deficit specific to episodic memory is based on a lack of memory awareness manifest as a recollection deficit. (shrink)

Let texted de Nietzsche se caractérise par l'usage de métaphors ed d'images multiples. Nietzshce affirme que nous n'avons accès à rien de plus qu'a des images. Il repense à la fois, de façcon polémique et contre tout dualisme, le statut de l'image, et la «connaissance» dont nous sommes susceptibles. L'image n'est alors que l'autre nom de l'«interprétation», nom qui permet de préciser en quel sens celle-ci doit être entendue. En conséquence, la tâche d'une philosophie neuve ne doid consister qu'a produier (...) de meilleures images, qui permettent de faire advenir un plus haut degré de culture - l'image apparaissant alors comme l'un des pivots essentiels du double versant, généalogique et créateur, de la pensée de Nietzsche.Nietzsche's text is characterized by the constant use of metaphors and images of various sorts; and he contends that we can know nothing more than images. He rethinks both the very concept of "image" in a controversial way and so the "knowledge" we are capable of. "Image" then is nothing but the other demonmination of "interpretation", a denomination which must be read as an enlightenment on how "interpretation" should be understood. Consequently, the task of a new philosophy should consist only in discovering better images, in order to create new values and a higher degree of culture - so that the image can indeed finally be understood as an essential axis of the two sides of Nietzsche's thought.Nietzches Text zeichnet sich durch den Gebrauch von vielfaltigen Bildern und Metaphoren aus, und er behauptet, dass wir nur zu Bildern Zugang haben. Er überdenkt - in oft polemischer und eindimensionaler Weise - den Stellenwert des Bildes und damit auch die "Erkenntnis", zu der wir imstande sind. Das Bild ist somit ein anderer Begriff für "Interpretation"; mit ihm interpertiert Nietzsche, wie "Interpretation" zu verstchen ist. Die Aufgabe einer neuen Philosophie kann so nur darin bestehen, bessere Bilder zu schaffen. Um ein höhere Kulturstufe zu erreichen, erscheint das Bild damit als ein esssentieller Dreh- und Angel-unkt von Nietzches zwischen Genealogie und Genialität angesiedeltem Denken. (shrink)

Dans les années 1980 et 1990, le concept de communauté était au cœur des débats entre les communautariens et les libéraux anglo-saxons. En France, il a joué (et joue encore) un rôle important dans les débats sur la république et le « communautarisme ». Le contexte dans lequel il est remis en scène aujourd’hui est celui de la résurgence du nationalisme et des revendications identitaires. La crise de l’idéal cosmopolitique et de l’idée du multicul...

La présente étude part d’une discussion de la thèse exposée par Catherine Colliot-Thélène dans son ouvrage La démocratie sans « demos » selon laquelle la démocratie moderne est « sans demos », composée uniquement de sujets de droits individuels. Appliquée à la construction européenne, cette thèse s’avère féconde, mais aussi problématique. Si elle conduit à sortir des mythes du contrat social et du pouvoir constituant et de poursuivre la démocratisation par la seule garantie du droit subjectif, elle le fait néanmoins (...) en maintenant l’un des axiomes principaux du contractualisme qu’elle réfute, à savoir l’idée que face à l’État seul l’individu est source de droit, non les corps intermédiaires, les communautés et les collectifs. Une autre tradition constitutionnelle fait pourtant plus efficacement l’économie du concept de pouvoir constituant, l’anglaise et l’allemande. Celle-ci développe l’idée d’une « constitution matérielle » ou « réelle », issue des rapports de la pluralité des puissances sociales et non de la volonté du législateur. On postule que cette tradition permet de mieux décrire l’intégration européenne et qu’elle livre des pistes précieuses pour démocratiser l’Europe. (shrink)

Si le développement du web a rendu accessibles des masses de données numériques, facilitant la collecte de textes et le développement de corpus, il a également donné naissance à de nouveaux genres qui défient les représentations, les méthodes et les grilles d’analyses développées jusqu’à présent. Ainsi a-t-on vu apparaître des corpus assez éloignés des premiers corpus écrits traditionnels, regroupés sous la bannière de la CMR (Communication Médiée par les Réseaux / Computer-Mediated Communica...

"What are you?" This question, whether explicitly raised by another or implied in his gaze, is one with which many persons perceived to be racially ambiguous struggle. This article centers on encounters with this question. Its aim is twofold: first, to describe the phenomenology of a particular type of racializing encounter, one in which one of the parties is perceived to be racially ambiguous; second, to investigate how these often alienating encounters can be better negotiated. In the course of this (...) investigation, this article examines the addressee's point of view and consider possible responses to the other's question. In addition, it discusses the addresser's perspective, both to probe the curiosity underlying the "What are you?" question and to explore alternatives to it. By describing the phenomenology of these encounters, this article hopes to show that racial ambiguity, as distinct from mixed-race, is a category of lived experience that calls for deeper philosophical scrutiny. (shrink)

This paper analyses the nature of the relationship between risk and responsibility. Since neither the concept of risk nor the concept of responsibility has an unequivocal definition, it is obvious that there is no single interpretation of their relationship. After introducing the different meanings of responsibility used in this paper, we analyse four conceptions of risk. This allows us to make their link with responsibility explicit and to determine if a shift in the connection between risk and responsibility can be (...) outlined. (1) In the engineer’s paradigm, the quantitative conception of risk does not include any concept of responsibility. Their relationship is indirect, the locus of responsibility being risk management. (2) In Mary Douglas’ cultural theory, risks are constructed through the responsibilities they engage. (3) Rayner and (4) Wolff go further by integrating forms of responsibility in the definition of risk itself. Analysis of these four frameworks shows that the concepts of risk and responsibility are increasingly intertwined. This tendency is reinforced by increasing public awareness and a call for the integration of a moral dimension in risk management. Therefore, we suggest that a form of virtue-responsibility should also be integrated in the concept of risk. (shrink)

Le Bureau international des poids et mesures fait partie en 1940 des quelques organisations intergouvernementales dont le siège est en zone occupée. Pendant toute la durée de la guerre, il est soumis à la pression du _Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich_ (MbF), le commandement militaire allemand, et entretient des relations continues avec le gouvernement de Vichy et de nombreuses institutions françaises. Cette contribution a pour ambition d’apporter une vue d’ensemble sur l’histoire de cette organisation sous l’Occupation en analysant son fonctionnement et ses (...) points d’appui dans ce contexte particulier. Elle examinera la trajectoire de son directeur, Albert Pérard (1880-1960), et de son réseau, les stratégies déployées pour s’adapter aux contraintes de la période et plus généralement pour maintenir une coopération scientifique à l’échelle internationale dans un monde fracturé par la guerre et une Europe sous domination nazie. Quelles conséquences de la « parenthèse Vichy » peuvent-elle... (shrink)

This article aims to draw a portrait of the influence of cybernetics on soft science. To this end, structuralism, post-structuralism and postmodern philosophy will be successively analyzed in a perspective based on importing concepts stemming from the cybernetic paradigm (information, feedback, entropy, complexity, etc.). By focusing more specifically on the American postwar context, we intend to remind the audience that many soft science specialists were involved in the elaboration of this ‘new science’. We will then retrace the influence of the (...) cybernetic paradigm on structuralism. Starting with the historic meeting between Roman Jakobson and Claude Lévi-Strauss, we will illustrate that structural phonology is directly inspired by discoveries stemming from the informational model. In the same perspective, the conceptual borrowings of psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan from cybernetics will be identified and analyzed. Then, we will address the matter of the relationship between postmodern theories and the cybernetic paradigm. The philosophical movement towards deconstruction, as well as Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophy, will be analyzed based on how they relate to this paradigm. We will also insist on the fact that the philosophy of Jean- François Lyotard’s La Condition postmoderne is fully in line with the epistemological revolution launched by cybernetics. (shrink)

This research applies the notion of sustainability (Barney, 1991; Braa, Monteiro, & Sahay, 2004) to the mechanisms used by socially responsible investment(SRI) firms with respect to their stakeholders (investors and target firms). A contrast is developed between US and UK SRI firms. It is noted that screens, while maintaining a strong investor base, are less sustainable from the perspective of the firms targeted by SRI funds, whereas advocacy has stronger elements of sustainability with respect to the relations with corporations.

This paper addresses the complexity of critical thinking, a multifaceted concept that includes cognitive skills, knowledge, and dispositions. We argue that existing literature has largely overlooked the vital role of dispositions, which are essential for understanding why individuals engage in critical thinking. Therefore, at the heart of our research is the challenge of motivation: how can we best encourage individuals to engage in critical thinking? To answer this question, we begin by conceptualizing critical thinking as a five-steps temporal process, thereby (...) refining and clarifying its definition. Then, drawing on Self-Determination Theory, we argue that intrinsic regulation not only boosts engagement but also cultivates a long-term commitment to critical thinking. This insight establishes a direct link between intrinsic motivation and intellectual virtues, prompting us to propose a pedagogy focused on developing these virtues. Furthermore, we explore the challenges of initiating, sustaining, and completing the critical thinking process. We suggest that a virtue-centered pedagogy offers a holistic solution, promoting enduring intellectual engagement and completion of the critical thinking process. This approach promises to deepen intellectual inquiry and foster more robust analytical skills in educational contexts. (shrink)

The effects of aging on the cognitive and affective dimensions of theory of mind , and on the latter’s links with other cognitive processes, such as information processing speed, executive functions and episodic memory, are still unclear. We therefore investigated these effects in young , middle-aged and older adults , using separate subjective and objective assessment tasks. Furthermore, a novel composite task probed participants’ abilities to infer both cognitive and affective mental states in an interpersonal context. Although age affected the (...) objective ToM tests, results revealed a direct aging effect on the second-order ToM, but an indirect one on the first-order cognitive ToM, mediated mainly by age-related declines in executive functions. This study supports the notion of an age-related distinction between subjective and objective assessments of ToM, and confirms that ToM is a complex mental ability with several characteristics reliant to some extent on executive processes. (shrink)

According to Max Deutsch, conceptual engineers face a dilemma: either they target semantic meanings, in which case they are engaged in an infeasible activity (the “implementation challenge”), or they target speaker meanings, in which case they are engaged in a trivial enterprise (the “trivialization challenge”). Focusing on the first horn of the dilemma, I argue that the “transubstantiation version” of the implementation challenge only holds for representationalist approaches to conceptual engineering, according to which concepts are individuated by their representational relation (...) to phenomena or sets of objects in the world. From a non-representationalist (e.g. pragmatist) perspective, the dilemma is therefore dissolved. Nevertheless, Deutsch’s article still deserves a response from the pragmatist, since it raises a more general challenge to conceptual engineering that I dub the “practical implementation challenge”. I offer a pragmatist solution to that challenge, drawing on John Dewey’s theory of inquiry and Robert Brandom’s inferentialism. This solution includes recommendations distributed across all stages of the engineering process, in privileging projects that are (1) problem-driven, (2) bottom-up; ensuring that the proposal is (3) clearly justified, (4) maintains continuity with the existing inferential role; and finally, in (5) enforcing the novel concept in practices of deontic scorekeeping, (6) backed up by institutional or intellectual authority. (shrink)

The ethical matrix is a participatory tool designed to structure ethical reflection about the design, the introduction, the development or the use of technologies. Its collective implementation, in the context of participatory decision-making, has shown its potential usefulness. On the contrary, its implementation by a single researcher has not been thoroughly analyzed. The aim of this paper is precisely to assess the strength of ethical matrixes implemented by a single researcher as a tool for conceptual normative analysis related to technological (...) choices. Therefore, the ethical matrix framework is applied to the management of high-level radioactive waste, more specifically to retrievable and non-retrievable geological disposal. The results of this analysis show that the usefulness of ethical matrixes is twofold and that they provide a valuable input for further decision-making. Indeed, by using ethical matrixes, implicit ethically relevant issues were revealed—namely issues of equity associated with health impacts and differences between close and remote future generations regarding ethical impacts. Moreover, the ethical matrix framework was helpful in synthesizing and comparing systematically the ethical impacts of the technologies under scrutiny, and hence in highlighting the potential ethical conflicts. (shrink)

1. Introduction Ce numéro spécial dédié aux corpus d’ancien et moyen français, à leur constitution et à leur exploitation, vient après bien d’autres numéros de revues présentantl’usage des corpus en linguistique depuis une dizaine d’années. Mais celui-ci est spécifiquement consacré aux corpus concernant les périodes les plus anciennes de la langue, c’est-à-dire aux formes et pratiques linguistiques qui sont les plus différentes de ce que connaît et pratique le locuteur moderne, et pour lesque...

Montesquieu n’est pas considéré comme l’un des fondateurs de l’anthropologie entendue comme science de l’homme, mais comme le précurseur de la sociologie. Cette contribution entend discuter ce jugement : la science nouvelle de L’Esprit des lois repose sur une anthropologie de la force, et de l’unité de la sensibilité.

My essay discusses the politics of anger from a phenomenological perspective. Philosophers such as Martha Nussbaum have examined the importance of emotions for achieving social justice. In Anger and Forgiveness, Nussbaum criticizes most forms of anger for including the desire to retaliate, but identifies a species of anger, “Transition-Anger,” which can motivate us to respond to wrongdoing. In a similar vein, I claim that anger can help the oppressed respond to their oppression. To defend this claim, I consider cases in (...) which anger motivates a response to racial prejudice. These cases depict situations in which a black man is confronted with the gaze of a white person. By contrasting the phenomenology of skillful and unskillful activity, I explain why the white gaze can provoke a sense of disorientation and physical incapacitation—what I call “bodily alienation”—in the black man. I argue that anger can wrest a black person from this alienation. This is because anger encourages action and provides blacks with insight into their oppression. My argument implies that anger is instrumentally valuable for resisting racism. As such, it can play a positive role in redressing its harms. Yet the cases of anger I describe are tainted with desires for retaliation, and do not map onto the ideal form of Transition-Anger Nussbaum prizes. Still, anger should not be dismissed altogether: if it can transform the experiences of the oppressed for the better, then there is a place for this emotion in combating injustices. (shrink)

Improving working conditions at the bottom of global value chains has become a central issue in our global economy. In this battle, trade unionism has been presented as a way for workers to make their voices heard. Therefore, it is strongly promoted by most social standards. However, establishing a well-functioning trade union is not as obvious as it may seem. Using a comparative case study approach, we examine impediments to farm-level unionism in the cut flower industry in Ethiopia. For this (...) purpose, we propose an integrated framework combining two lenses, namely a vertical one and a horizontal one. We identify 10 impediments that point to three major dimensions contributing to unionisation. These three dimensions include awareness of and interest from workers, legitimacy of trade unions, and capacity of trade unions to act. Furthermore, our results suggest that private social standards may, in certain cases, be counterproductive for the efficient functioning of trade unions. Although we argue that there is no ‘quick fix’ solution to weak workplace unionism at the bottom of global value chains, we stress the importance of considering the dynamics of, and interactions between, the impediments when designing potential support measures that mitigate negative impacts. (shrink)

“Body positivity” refers to the movement to accept our bodies, regardless of size, shape, skin tone, gender, and physical abilities. The movement is often implicitly understood as the effort to celebrate diversity in bodily aesthetics and to expand our narrow beauty standards beyond their present-day confines. Like other feminists, I question whether the push to broaden beauty norms should occupy as central a role as it does now in the movement’s mainstream incarnations, and I believe that, beyond challenging confining beauty (...) standards, body positivity should teach us that all bodies are worthy—for example, of care and respect. My aim in this paper is to offer a general account of body positivity. I argue that body positivity should be understood as the transition from limiting body shame to proper body pride. I adopt a pluralistic approach to body positivity, incorporating the idea that we should not only expand aesthetic standards, but also celebrate such aspects of embodiment as our capacity for bodily pleasure or our bodily abilities. What is common to these different ways of developing empowering relations to our bodies is the move to resist all forms of body shame that limit our flourishing and to cultivate proper pride in one’s body. I conclude by considering several avenues toward embodying such pride and, thus, embracing body positivity: expanding beauty ideals; promoting equal access to physical activities and celebrating the accomplishments of all athletes, regardless of body size or level of ability; and consciousness-raising. (shrink)

Ce travail montre que la critique nitezschée des méthodes jusqu'lei pratiquées par les philosophes n'équivaut en rien à un refus de toute méthode. Disqualifiant l'idéal de rationalité ou de systématicité, Nietzsche repense les exigences méthodiques à partir de l'analyse de l'«esprit scientifique». Cette réflexion révèle la rigueur propre de sa démarche, et permet de comprendre le rôle qu'y jouent l'expérimentation, le sens historique, l'économie des principes et plus encore la recommendation de «prendre le corps pour fil conducteur» de l'enquête philosophique.Diese (...) Arbeit zeigt, dass Nietzsches Kritik der Methoden, die bisher von den Philosophen verfolgt wurden, keineswegs eine Zurückweisung jeder Methode bedeutet. Indem er die Ideen von Rationalität und Systematizität kritisiert, formuliert Nietzsche methodische Erfordernisse neu im Ausgang von der Analyse des "wissenschaflichen Geistes". Die Strenge dieser Reflexion ermöglicht, die Rolle des Experiments, des historischen Sinns, der Prinzipien-Sparsamkeit und vor allem der Aufforderung einzuschätzen, im Rahmen der philosophischen Arbeit "den Leib als leitfaden" zu nehmen.This paper shows that Nietzsche's criticism of traditional philosophical methods does not imply he dismisses all methodical demand. His rejection of rationality or systematicity is to be understood as a consequence of the new methodological demands which emerge from his analysis of the "scientific spirit". This reflection reveals the specific rigour of Nietzsche's approach, and makes it possible to understand the role played in this respect by experiment, historical sense, the economy of principles, and above all by Nietzsche's request to take "the body as a guiding thread" of all philosophical research. (shrink)

Nous dédions ce numéro sur les corpus complexes à notre collègue Thierry Chanier, qui a joué un rôle majeur dans le consortium Corpus Écrits (2011-2015) en mettant notamment en œuvre le projet CoMeRe qui fut l’une des plus grandes réussites du consortium, et qui a cessé ses activités académiques depuis mars 2017. Revenons d’abord en deux mots sur le parcours de Thierry Chanier, qui fut l’un des premiers en France à développer les liens entre Intelligence Artificielle (IA) et Traitement Automa...

Do physicists believe that general relativity is true, and that electrons and phonons exist, and if so, in what sense? To what extent does the spectrum of positions among physicists correspond to philosophical positions like scientific realism, instrumentalism, or perspectivism? Does agreement with these positions correlate with demographic factors, and are realist physicists more likely to support research projects purely aimed at increasing knowledge? We conducted a questionnaire study to scrutinize the philosophical stances of physicists. We received responses from 384 (...) physicists and 151 philosophers. Our main findings are (1) On average, physicists tend toward scientific realism, and slightly more so than philosophers of science. (2) Physicists can be clustered into five groups. Three show variants of scientific realism, one is instrumentalist, and one seems undecided or incoherent. (3) Agreement with realism weakly correlates with approval of building a bigger particle collider. (4) Agreement with realism weakly correlates with the seniority of physicists. (5) We did not find correlations with other factors, such as whether physicists focus on theoretical or experimental research and whether they engage with applied or basic research. (shrink)

This thesis develops Dewey’s theory of inquiry and provides a novel perspective on what realists consider to be Dewey’s most controversial claims: his rejection of the view that inquiry aims at providing an accurate representation of reality, his claim that the object of knowledge is constructed, and his definition of truth in terms of warranted assertibility or fulfilment of the requirements of a problem. My strategy is to draw a gradual and relative distinction between what I call “framed” and “framing” (...) inquiry. While the distinction is not explicitly present in Dewey’s works, it rests on Dewey’s functional distinction between existential and universal propositions. In a framed inquiry, the problem is covered by an existing conceptual framework, which is used to resolve the problem, without being revised. In a framing inquiry, the problem is underdetermined by existing conceptual frameworks, which are created, revised, or expanded. My general argument is that Dewey’s main contribution and controversial claims should be understood in the context of framing inquiry. In Chapter 1, I set the stage for the thesis. I paint the portrait of Dewey as the archetypal anti-realist; I present pragmatism as moving above this debate; and I present the specifically Deweyan brand of pragmatism. In Chapter 2, I introduce the distinction between framed and framing inquiry. In Chapter 3, I argue that realist notions of knowledge as representation, existence as independent facts, truth as correspondence can be cast in terms of framed inquiry, while most realists mistakenly interpret these notions as “unframed.” In the next three chapters, I defend and develop Dewey’s views for framing inquiry. In Chapter 4, I argue that framing inquiry should be construed as articulating rather than representing reality. In Chapter 5, I maintain that Dewey’s view avoids idealism. In Chapter 6, I defend the pragmatist theory of truth as a standard for framing inquiry, by contrast with representational standards. (shrink)