Our thought and talk are situated. They do not take place in a vacuum but always in a context, and they always concern an external situation relative to which they are to be evaluated. Since that is so, François Recanati argues, our linguistic and mental representations alike must be assigned two layers of content: the explicit content, or lekton, is relative and perspectival, while the complete content, which is absolute, involves contextual factors in addition to what is explicitly represented. (...) Far from reducing to the context-independent meaning of the sentence-type or, in the psychological realm, to the 'narrow' content of mental representations, the lekton is a level intermediate between context-invariant meaning and full propositional content. Recognition of that intermediate level is the key to a proper understanding of context-dependence in language and thought. Going beyond the usual discussions of indexicality and unarticulated constituents in the philosophy of language, Recanati turns to the philosophy of mind for decisive arguments in favour of his approach. He shows, first, that the lekton is the notion of content we need if we are to properly understand the relations between perception, memory, and the imagination, and second, that the psychological 'mode' is what determines the situation the lekton is relative to. In this framework he provides a detailed account of de se thought and the first person point of view. In the last part of the book, Recanati discusses the special freedom we have, in discourse and thought, to shift the situation of evaluation. He traces that freedom to a special mode - the anaphoric mode - which enables us to go beyond the egocentric stage of pre-human thought. (shrink)

This enlarged edition of Mario Bunge's Dictionary of Philosophy is a superb reference work for both students and professional philosophers.

BackgroundCommunity engagement is increasingly promoted as a marker of good, ethical practice in the context of international collaborative research in low-income countries. There is, however, no widely agreed definition of community engagement or of approaches adopted. Justifications given for its use also vary. Community engagement is, for example, variously seen to be of value in: the development of more effective and appropriate consent processes; improved understanding of the aims and forms of research; higher recruitment rates; the identification of important ethical (...) issues; the building of better relationships between the community and researchers; the obtaining of community permission to approach potential research participants; and, the provision of better health care. Despite these diverse and potentially competing claims made for the importance of community engagement, there is very little published evidence on effective models of engagement or their evaluation.MethodsIn this paper, drawing upon interviews with the members of a Community Advisory Board on the Thai-Myanmar border, we describe and critically reflect upon an approach to community engagement which was developed in the context of international collaborative research in the border region.Results and conclusionsDrawing on our analysis, we identify a number of considerations relevant to the development of an approach to evaluating community engagement in this complex research setting. The paper also identifies a range of important ways in which the Community Advisory Board is in practice understood by its members to have morally significant roles and responsibilities beyond those usually associated with the successful and appropriate conduct of research. (shrink)

L’enseignement serait devenu, selon certains, tout bonnement impossible. Et en effet les changements récents de la société, le développement de l’individualisme démocratique, la crise de l’autorité et de la transmission, le bouleversement sans précédent provoqué par l’extension des technologies numériques… nous montrent que nous sommes en train de basculer complètement dans une autre époque et de changer radicalement de paradigme. Mais l’éducation en général n’a-t-elle pas toujours été impossible ainsi que Freud le constatait en 1925? Et contre une certaine idéologie (...) scientifique qui la confond avec une impuissance momentanée, n’est-ce pas pourtant à cette impossibilité qu’il nous faut, comme jamais, nous confronter? (shrink)

Oui, malgré le travail de déconstruction de la pensée « postcoloniale », on peut encore parler de pensée « orientale ». Comme une gageure et un défi supplémentaire, nous avons pris comme miroir d’un monde une chose, un petit rien, une technique très ancienne, un art de la terre portant le nom de « raku », art né à la croisée de plusieurs traditions du monde oriental. Par bien des aspects, cet art se distingue fondamentalement des caractères que nous attribuons (...) à notre « Occident ». La pensée européenne est pourtant depuis longtemps entrée en rapport avec cet Orient et a tenté de lancer bien des passerelles diverses entre ces deux mondes. (shrink)

In my experience, conflict and other forms of being stuck or ‘stuckness’ are related to actions, behaviour or events. If we consider a narrative paradigm, they happen in the realm of the Bruner’s ‘landscape of action’. Efforts at escaping these problem-saturated experiences mostly resort to replacing these actions, habits, modes of operation or rules with a different set of rules, without first reflecting on the intentionality or ‘why’ behind the actions. Most often this only serves to perpetuate the problem. This (...) article will attempt to show that alternating between various initiatives in the ‘landscape of action’ provides only temporary respite to the problem, if any; that the intentionality behind these actions needs to be revisited and that contemplative practice facilitate such reflection on intentionality. This is therefore an exercise in reflecting on intentionality or even purpose, that is, a teleological question. This process traverses the dimensions of ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘why’, referring to the biology of human decision-making in the process of doing so. This article posits that this reflection may be facilitated by contemplative practices such as mindfulness and reflecting on soul. (shrink)

La philosophie bergsonnienne a rendu le monde de ses contemporains moins opaque, les aidant à lui trouver un sens. Si la France cartésienne coïncide avec les partisans de la démocratie parlementaire ancrée à gauche, celle de Bergson recrute ses plus gros bataillons dans la droite nationale, conservatrice, mais également dans une gauche antiparlementaire, révolutionnaire.

Biological objects are often constructive dynamic systems whose structures evolve as a consequence of their internal dynamics, which in turn is affected by the overall structure. As very few tools are presently adapted to tackle constructive dynamic systems, they constitute fascinating challenges for modeling/simulation. In cell biology, the secretory process in eukaryotic cells corresponds to this type of system, as it appears to autonomously generate new structures as a result of its molecular dynamics. Here I briefly review the only documented (...) case of a membrane-bounded intracellular compartment whose very existence strictly depends on its continued functioning. Indeed, the Golgi apparatus of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae appears at steady-state as a continuously renewed set of transitory membrane-bounded structures that self-mature, rather than as a permanent entity. On the basis of this case and of recent advances in related molecular studies, a detailed model is proposed, that encompasses the birth of a yeast Golgi element and bridges its molecular and morphogenetic aspects. This model is extended to briefly outline three evolutionary inventions, from S. cerevisiae to another yeast, Pichia pastoris, on to plant, and on to animal cells: stacking, stabilizing and aggregating the primary Golgi elements. (shrink)

A TED talk by Susan Savage-Rumbaugh entitled ‘The gentle genius of the bonobos’ tells the story of the learning ability of these gentle primates. Although these animals were never deliberately taught any skills – cognitive, linguistic or technical – they managed to learn a vast amount from the scientists in the program by just observing, experimenting and imitating them. And the key to this learning process was the significance these humans had in the lives of the bonobos. The relationship between (...) the scientists and the bonobos was therefore key to the learning experience and the learning process. This reminded me of the success stories I have witnessed within our therapist training program at the counselling centre where I have been lecturing. We used to train pastoral therapists within the narrative paradigm. Within this paradigm, reality is considered to be socially constructed, thus emphasising the relational nature of identity, agency and knowledge. Aligning the ‘teaching methodology’ with this epistemology invariably requires a participatory approach to training, which in our context led to the adoption of seminars rather than lectures, and a conversational style of learning. This article will now explore what the effect of relationship building as a deliberate prerequisite for learning might be on learner agency. (shrink)

La réflexion liturgique de Dom Lambert Beauduin, développée en 1909 au congrès des Œuvres catholiques de Malines, mais aussi son engagement à mettre en œuvre les moyens favorisant un renouveau liturgique sont, encore aujourd’hui, riches d’enseignement. L’article définit les contours de la pédagogie liturgique de ce bénédictin, prêtre diocésain en contact avec les milieux populaires avant son entrée dans la vie monastique, et en souligne l’actualité.

History is the child of narrative. It is not defined by an object of study, but rather by a type of narration. To say that history studies time means no more than that it arranges all of its objects of study in a temporal framework: to make history is to tell a story.

Cyberneticians define information and the quantity of information in mathematical terms, apprehending them independently from their meaning. When they put aside their conceptualizations and symbolizations, foreign to the semantic content of messages, we see them hesitant about their domain of prospection.

The changes in technology applied by industry, whose rhythm has been ever accelerating in the course of the last decades, have destabilized institutions in western societies: they change the meaning of these institutions, and modify their efficacity, without our collective awareness, and without our jettisoning the ballast of inertia and social anachronism. The techniques of industrialization which incomparably endow the great nations and national empires, and which the infant nations desire with a sure instinct, give rise to profound contradictions in (...) the traditional doctrine and practice of national sovereignty. (shrink)

Dans le texte delphique publié BCH 118 (1994), p. 99-112, le dispositif stoichédon peut être exactement défini (30 lettres à la ligne, à une lettre près, suivant la coupe syllabique). Dans ce cadre bien assuré, les restitutions sont immédiates et les articles deviennent intelligibles : protection de certains territoires ; exemption de taxes portuaires pour le personnel amphictionique en mission ; réception des dépôts à la banque d'Apollon (or et argent monnayés ; métaux bruts).

Although this analysis tackles the immense question of political terrorism, it nevertheless has limited ambitions. It treats only that part of terrorist movements whose primary object is the destruction of modern liberal democracy and its institutions. It analyzes only the Italian Red Brigades and the German Fractional Red Army, not Irish, Basque, Corsican, or Palestinian terrorism. Actually, the destruction of physical objects or the murder of human beings which characterizes this political practice generally takes as its goal and justification those (...) political or national rights which have until now been denied by the authority against which the attack is directly or indirectly aimed. (shrink)

Although it was influential for several hundred years after it first appeared, doubts about the authenticity of the Platonic Alcibiades I have unnecessarily impeded its interpretation ever since. It positions itself firmly within the Platonic and Socratic traditions, and should therefore be approached in the same way as most other Platonic dialogues. It paints a vivid portrait of a Socrates in his late thirties tackling the unrealistic ambitions of the youthful Alcibiades, urging him to come to know himself and to (...) care for himself. François Renaud and Harold Tarrant re-examine the drama and philosophy of Alcibiades I with an eye on those interpreters who cherished it most. Modern scholars regularly play down one or more of the religious, erotic, philosophic or dramatic aspects of the dialogue, so ancient Platonist interpreters are given special consideration. This rich study will interest a wide range of readers in ancient philosophy. (shrink)

This paper is concerned with the modeling of neural systems regarded as information processing entities. I investigate the various dynamic regimes that are accessible in neural networks considered as nonlinear adaptive dynamic systems. The possibilities of obtaining steady, oscillatory or chaotic regimes are illustrated with different neural network models. Some aspects of the dependence of the dynamic regimes upon the synaptic couplings are examined. I emphasize the role that the various regimes may play to support information processing abilities. I present (...) an example where controlled transient evolutions in a neural network, are used to model the regulation of motor activities by the cerebellar cortex. (shrink)

This edited collection of essays brings together the leading experts in the field of cultural and philosophical studies to tackle many of the questions still being asked about Jean Francois Lyotard. Contributors include Barry Smart, John O'Neill and Victor J. Seidler with subjects ranging from Lyotard's writings on justice and politics of difference, on feminism, youth, judaism as well as a chapter devoted to his early writings.

Plato’s works have been the object of countless interpretations and recuperations ever since Greek antiquity. In the context of prenazi Germany, the writer Hans F.K. Günther published a work in defence of eugenic theories (aiming to improve man through authoritarian laws), allegedly based on the work of the Athenian philosopher and entitled Platon als Hüter des Lebens (“Plato as Protector of Life”). The present article tries to set forth what is at stake in that propaganda piece, its historical context, as (...) well as the disquieting implications of such an “appropriation” of classical philosophy to purely political ends. (shrink)

La reflexión jurídica y política de Kant se inscribe al interior del sistema crítico como proyecto de asumir el reto de edificar un puente entre la libertad y la naturaleza. En este sentido, el derecho, concebido por Kant como imperativo categórico, debe cumplir con la tarea de conciliar la exigencia de la reforma del Estado para la realización de la justicia con la conservación de una autoridad estatal irresistible. El problema político es, pues, de resolver el conflicto entre la libertad (...) y el orden. La antinomia política (empirismo vs fanatismo) se resuelve con la definición de una racionalidad práctica basada en la publicidad de las máximas políticas. Sin abolir las dificultades de la filosofía jurídica kantiana, esa solución permite definir un espacio intersubjetiva de racionalidad política liberado tanto del positivismo jurídico y del decisionismo que del historicismo o de la dictadura de una razón fanática. (shrink)

Alors qu'on associe souvent le positivisme comtien à l'industrialisme, l'étude ici menée montre que Comte a été pour le moins réticent vis-à-vis des sciences industrielles : il fuit avec constance le destin d'ingénieur auquel le vouait sa formation à Polytechnique, il développa une distinction entre « sciences théoriques » et « sciences d'application » qui le conduisit à ne jamais vraiment traiter des secondes, et, quand il participa en 1830 à la formation des ouvriers, ce fut pour leur enseigner l'astronomie (...) qui ne pouvait leur être d'aucun intérêt pratique. Mais cette attitude de Comte est finalement cohérente avec sa philosophie. Whereas Comtian positivism is often associated to industrialism, the hereby study aims at showing that Comte was to say the least quite réticent towards industrial sciences. He steadily avoids his own fate as an engineer to which is having been trained at the École polytechnique had compelled him to. He developed a distinction between theoretical sciences and application sciences which led him never truly to deal with the latter and when, in 1830, he contributed to the training of workers, it was with the intention to teach them astronomy which was of no practical interest. But, when ail is said, such an attitude of Comte's is cohérent with his philosophy. (shrink)

Cette méditation en première personne tourne autour de l’antique et grande question : Que faire? et s’appuie sur le texte des Essais de Montaigne. La question du « faire » y est interrogée et relancée par-delà le « produire » et la production qui, aujourd’hui, plus que jamais, risquent de l’emporter et de l’engloutir tandis qu’est brossé un portrait chinois (taoïste!) de celui dont Nietzsche disait si bien : « c’est à lui que je m’attacherais si l’on me donnait pour (...) tâche de faire de cette terre une patrie ». (shrink)

Dans cet article, j’étudie la façon dont Pierre de La Ramée aborde la question de l’analyse mathématique, d’abord dans ses écrits de logicien, puis dans ses traités mathématiques. Dans les Scholae mathematicae (1569), en reprenant un argumentaire qui lui avait servi dans les controverses des années 1550 concernant la « méthode unique», il est conduit à la conclusion que l’analyse n’a aucune valeur démonstrative. Ses recherches sur les significations diverses du mot analysis et sur la nature de l’analyse dans les (...) mathématiques grecques m’apparaissent pourtant comme une condition préalable pour que soit reconnue au xviie siècle la fécondité de la méthode analytique en géométrie. (shrink)