Gleïzès, philosophe proche des Méditateurs et des dormeuses, avait écrit une épopée pionnière du mouvement végétarien se déroulant sur la Montagne noire dans le Sud-Ouest de la France. Ce livre en main, Louise Hervé et Clovis Maillet ont été à la rencontre des maraîchers et des végétarien·nes de la région en 2023, au lendemain d’une grande manifestation contre la construction de l’autoroute Toulouse-Castres. Leur cri de ralliement était : « Moins de bitume, plus de légumes ».

Résumé Dans sa discussion critique du matérialisme – qui traite le droit et l’État comme « des réalités simplement fictives », par opposition à la « société dans l’économie » – Cohen écrit dans le dernier chapitre de son Introduction avec supplément critique à l’ Histoire du matérialisme de F.A. Lange que le droit et l’État ne doivent en effet être valorisés que comme « un système d’équilibre en pensée », à savoir comme « fiction de l’équilibre ». Même s’il (...) ne doit pas s’agir là d’un équilibre « stable », seulement d’un équilibre « labile », la « nécessité de la fiction»s’avère être néanmoins la seule possibilité offerte à la raison de demeurer dans le champ de tensions de l’histoire, si elle ne veut pas (comme l’écrit Cohen dans l’ Éthique de la volonté pure ) « laisser les tâches éthiques […] éclairer l’obscurité qui régnait jusque-là dans l’histoire, telles des fulgurations de forces en quelque sorte post-historiques ». (shrink)

En se replongeant dans les archives d’un mouvement artistique oublié, qui se réunissait au Louvre pour méditer sur les révolutions à apporter à l’art (celui des Méditateurs et des Dormeuses) nous faisons retour sur plusieurs cas de performances mises en scène dans ce musée. Les artistes questionnent le conservatisme des institutions, proposent de les perturber et de faire de ces perturbations des œuvres d’art.

Pour les Dormeuses et les Méditateurs, l’anachronisme est placé au centre de leur discours artistique et de leur pratique vitale. En s’habillant en Grecs et en vivant en communauté à la périphérie de la ville, ils tentent d’incarner leur vision idéalisée de l’Antiquité. Par leur absence de fidélité historique, ils ouvraient également un espace d’expérimentation sociale. Ce texte soulève donc la possibilité d’utiliser l’anachronisme comme outil pour débloquer l’imagination politique et imaginer de nouveaux horizons collectifs.

The idea that deep brain stimulation (DBS) induces changes to personality, identity, agency, authenticity, autonomy and self (PIAAAS) is so deeply entrenched within neuroethics discourses that it has become an unchallenged narrative. In this article, we critically assess evidence about putative effects of DBS on PIAAAS. We conducted a literature review of more than 1535 articles to investigate the prevalence of scientific evidence regarding these potential DBS-induced changes. While we observed an increase in the number of publications in theoretical neuroethics (...) that mention putative DBS-induced changes to patients’ postoperative PIAAAS, we found a critical lack of primary empirical studies corroborating these claims. Our findings strongly suggest that the theoretical neuroethics debate on putative effects of DBS relies on very limited empirical evidence and is, instead, reliant on unsubstantiated speculative assumptions probablyin lieuof robust evidence. As such, this may reflect the likelihood of a speculative neuroethics bubble that may need to be deflated. Nevertheless, despite the low number of first-hand primary studies and large number of marginal and single case reports, potential postoperative DBS changes experienced by patients remain a critical ethical concern. We recommend further empirical research in order to enhance theoretical neuroethics work in the area. In particular, we call for the development of better instruments capable of capturing potential postoperative variations of PIAAAS. (shrink)

The phenomenological effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) on the self of the patient remains poorly understood and under described in the literature, despite growing evidence that a significant number of patients experience postoperative neuropsychiatric changes. To address this lack of phenomenological evidence, we conducted in-depth, semistructured interviews with 17 patients with Parkinson's disease who had undergone DBS. Exploring the subjective character specific to patients' experience of being implanted gives empirical and conceptual understanding of the potential phenomenon of DBS-induced self-estrangement. (...) Our study concluded that (1) the more patients preoperatively felt alienated by their illness, the more they experienced postoperative self-estrangement, and (2) the notion of self-estrangement seems to exist in association with certain common qualitative characters, namely, loss of control, which reflects a deteriorative estrangement, and distorted perception of capacities, which reveals a restorative estrangement. These findings indicate that subjective self-reports help us to understand some aspects of the potential phenomenon of DBS-induced self-estrangement. (shrink)

Following Wallace’s suggestion, Darwin framed his theory using Spencer’s expression “survival of the fittest”. Since then, fitness occupies a significant place in the conventional understanding of Darwinism, even though the explicit meaning of the term ‘fitness’ is rarely stated. In this paper I examine some of the different roles that fitness has played in the development of the theory. Whereas the meaning of fitness was originally understood in ecological terms, it took a statistical turn in terms of reproductive success throughout (...) the 20th Century. This has lead to the ever-increasing importance of sexually reproducing organisms and the populations they compose in evolutionary explanations. I will argue that, moving forward, evolutionary theory should look back at its ecological roots in order to be more inclusive in the type of systems it examines. Many biological systems can only be satisfactorily accounted for by offering a non-reproductive account of fitness. This argument will be made by examining biological systems with very small or transient population structures. I argue this has significant consequences for how we define Darwinism, increasing the significance of survival over that of reproduction. (shrink)

We argue that a fashionable interpretation of the theory of natural selection as a claim exclusively about populations is mistaken. The interpretation rests on adopting an analysis of fitness as a probabilistic propensity which cannot be substantiated, draws parallels with thermodynamics which are without foundations, and fails to do justice to the fundamental distinction between drift and selection. This distinction requires a notion of fitness as a pairwise comparison between individuals taken two at a time, and so vitiates the interpretation (...) of the theory as one about populations exclusively. (shrink)

Ecological fitness has been suggested to provide a unifying definition of fitness. However, a metric for this notion of fitness was in most cases unavailable except by proxy with differential reproductive success. In this article, I show how differential persistence of lineages can be used as a way to assess ecological fitness. This view is inspired by a better understanding of the evolution of some clonal plants, colonial organisms, and ecosystems. Differential persistence shows the limitation of an ensemblist noncausal understanding (...) of evolution. Causal explanations are necessary to understand the evolution by natural selection of these biological systems. †To contact the author write to: Department of Philosophy, University of Montreal, P.O. Box 6128, Station Centre‐Ville, Montreal, Quebec, H3C 3J7 Canada; e‐mail: f.bouchard@umontreal.ca. (shrink)

La conquête de l'espace est terminée? Non, une nouvelle planète est apparue : la Terre. Une Terre post-naturelle qu'on pourrait refaire et piloter grâce aux prouesses d'une ingénierie absolue. Cet imaginaire accompagne la naissance d'un géopouvoir prenant la planète entière comme objet de gouvernement. Ce nouveau Grand récit est secondé par une pensée constructiviste aujourd'hui hégémonique. Celle-ci a remis en cause la coupure nature-culture ; mais sur les ruines de cette critique a été construite une nature 2-0, hybride, homogène au (...) réquisit d'un géocapitalisme prospère. Déniant toute altérité à la nature, cette pensée anaturaliste est incapable de s'opposer au projet géoconstructiviste de terraformation de la planète. Au mythe fusionnel de toute-puissance technologique, mais sans revenir à la coupure nature-culture, l'auteur oppose une écologie de la séparation qui insiste sur la capacité inconstructible de la nature. Ni objet constructible, ni effroyable Gaïa, la Terre est un devenir insubstituable, qui, traversant les milliards d'années, se retirant dans le passé le plus lointain et le futur le plus inaccessible, échappe à toute saisie. (shrink)

This is an important new book about human motivation, about the reasons people have for their actions. What is distinctively new about it is its focus on how people see or understand their situations, options, and prospects. By taking account of people's understandings, Professor Schick is able to expand the current theory of decision and action. The author provides a perspective on the topic by outlining its history. He defends his new theory against criticism, considers its formal structure, and shows (...) at length how it resolves many currently debated problems: the problems of conflict and weakness of will, Allais' problem, Kahneman and Tversky's problems, Newcomb's problem, and others. The book will be of special interest to philosophers, psychologists, and economists. (shrink)

Does Michel Henry’s Phenomenology of life include an ethical and political dimension? It appears that the writings about Marx already include such aspects, especially in reference to the problem of social determinism. More generally, however, our attention must be focused on what Henry calls the transcendental genesis of politics which accounts for the lack of autonomy of the political field, just like in the case of economics. Politics may then be analyzed against that background, for instance in the writings on (...) totalitarianism and democracy. The frame given by transcendental genesis is also tied to the fundamental opposition between barbarism and culture which pervades the axiological implications of Henry’s work. Because culture is always referring to a “culture of life,” it allows connecting life and its immanent reality with ethical/political questions. (shrink)

In this book Frederic Schick develops his challenge to standard decision theory. He argues that talk of the beliefs and desires of an agent is not sufficient to explain choices. To account for a given choice we need to take into consideration how the agent understands the problem, how he sees in a selective way the options open to him. The author applies his new logic to a host of common human predicaments. Why do people in choice experiments act so (...) often against expectations? Why do people cooperate in situations where textbook logic predicts that they won't? What exactly is weakness of will? What are people reporting when they say their lives have no meaning for them? This book questions the foundations of technical and philosophical decision theory and will appeal to all those who work in that field, be they philosophers, economists and psychologists. (shrink)

This book contributes to the environmental humanities field by offering an analysis of the Anthropocene fantasy: the idea that the Anthropocene is an opportunity to remake our terrestrial environment thanks to the power of technology. The author argues that the earth always escapes the human desire to remake and master it.

Propose une hypothèse originale sur les sources de la pensée de Bergson et sa portée profonde, sur le mouvement de son oeuvre et la méthode qui s'impose pour la lire, sur la place de sa philosophie dans l'histoire.

The works of Joseph Glanvill, who was a fellow of the Royal Society, are complex : indeed, the most radical scepticism can be found to go hand in hand with the deepest trust in the advancement of knowledge. This apparent paradox bespeaks a new conception of science : a science that is definitely free from any claim to an intuitive comprehension of the nature of things. Scepticism thus becomes the condition of scientific progress as well as the very method of (...) science itself. In so far forth, Glanvill has an important place, however unconspicuous, in the modern history of critical philosophy. In his answer to Descartes’s argument of theDeus deceptor(a deceptive god), Glanvill makes a distinction between “infallible certainty” and “indubitable certainty”, which indeed marks the moment when science, aware of its own rules, acknowledges its relativity. (shrink)

Les Essais réunis ici sont des interventions de Lambert à l’Académie des sciences de Berlin. Le Discours de réception envisage la question des secours mutuels que peuvent s’apporter les classes de l’Académie (et, à travers elles, les domaines du savoir qu’elles représentent). Les Observations sur quelques dimensions du monde intellectuel abordent, à travers la question du sublime, la manière dont quelques aspects du « monde physique » sont transférés aux dénominations dans le « monde intellectuel », c’est-à-dire celui de la (...) connaissance et de la volonté, en elle-même et dans ses représentations poétiques. Les deux Essais de taxéométrie ont pour objet de présenter une théorie de la mesure de l’ordre tel qu’il apparaît ; le deuxième essai étant tout particulièrement associé à la question du plaisir esthétique. Ces essais, publiés en français, sont brièvement présentés et annotés. (shrink)

This book, first published in 1997, is an introductory overview of decision theory. It is completely non-technical, without a single formula in the book. Written in a crisp and clear style it succinctly covers the full range of philosophical issues of rationality and decision theory, including game theory, social choice theory, prisoner's dilemma and much else. The book aims to expand the scope and enrich the foundations of decision theory. By addressing such issues as ambivalence, inner conflict, and the constraints (...) imposed upon us by our attachments to others, Frederic Schick reveals that our thinking is often more subtle than standard theories of rationality allow. Only a theory that respects that subtlety can illumine what is otherwise puzzling. The book contains many examples drawn from history and literature dealing with subjects such as love, war, friendship, and crime. (shrink)

Two different kinds of collections have been used to anticipate influenza pandemics: viral strains and bird specimens. These collections have been organized in museums and data banks to fill the gaps when specimens were decaying or when viral strains were missing. This article asks how collecting practices changed when such collections integrated specimens from China, considered a reservoir of influenza viruses and bird species, following a recurrent critical trope that Chinese specimens were missing. The article shows that techniques for hunting (...) viruses and birds were used to accumulate information so as to mitigate the global threat of species extinction. It suggests that in sentinel territories, museums transform samples and specimens into signs and images of future catastrophic events. (shrink)

The intersection of AI and neurotechnology has resulted in an increasing number of medical and non-medical applications and has sparked debate over the need for new human rights, or “neurorights,”...

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been regarded as an efficient and safe treatment for Parkinson’s disease (PD) since being approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1997. It is estimated that more than 150 000 patients have been implanted, with a forecasted rapid increase in uptake with population ageing. Recent longitudinal follow-up studies have reported a significant increase in postoperative survival rates of patients with PD implanted with DBS as compared with those not implanted with DBS. Although DBS (...) tends to increase life expectancy for most patients with PD, this medical benefit does not come without attendant negative consequences. For example, emerging forms of iatrogenic harms are sometimes induced—harms which were not initially expected when clinicians proposed neurosurgery and patients or their guardians consented to the treatment. We report and discuss the clinical case of a patient who was implanted with DBS more than 20 years ago (at the time of writing) and is now experiencing unexpected stages of PD. This case illustrates how extending the life span without improving quality of life may introduce a burden of harms for patients and families. As well, this case shows why we should prepare for the expanding numbers of PD-implanted patients experiencing a gain of longevity but with severe stages of disease leading to diminution in quality of life. This newly observed effect of DBS treatment requires us to explore ethical questions related to iatrogenic harms, informed consent, end of life and caregivers’ burden. (shrink)

"L'autorité d'Aristote n'a pas grand poids pour moi" déclare Spinoza à Hugo Boxel. Mais cette défiance à l'égard d'une autorité déclinante n'empêche pas qu'Aristote se trouve être, après Descartes, le deuxième auteur le plus cité par Spinoza. La mise au jour de l'édition des Oeuvres complètes d'Aristote utilisée par Spinoza ayant, pour la première fois, permis de conclure à l'existence d'une lecture de première main, Frédéric Manzini montre avec cet outil la nécessité de réévaluer les rapports entre les deux (...) philosophes dans toute leur complexité par la confrontation systématique des deux systèmes. Depuis l'éthique jusqu'à la métaphysique en passant par la théorie de la connaissance, Aristote est un interlocuteur avec lequel Spinoza ne cesse de polémiquer. L'Ethique se présente ainsi comme la nouvelle Ethique à Nicomaque, que Spinoza espère rendre enfin universelle, première et vraie en la démontrant à partir de principes certains. (shrink)

Background: Informed consent for genetic tests is a well-established practice. It should be based on good quality information and in keeping with the patient’s values. Existing informed consent assessment tools assess knowledge and values. Nevertheless, there is no consensus on what specific elements need to be discussed or considered in the consent process for genetic tests.Methods: We performed a systematic review to identify all factors involved in the decision-making and consent process about genetic testing, from the perspective of patients. Through (...) public databases, we identified studies reporting factors that influence the decision to accept or decline genetic testing. Studies were included if they reported the perspective of patients or at-risk individuals. All articles were thematically coded.Results: 1989 articles were reviewed: 70 met inclusion criteria and 12 additional articles were identified through the references of included studies. Coding of the 82 articles led to the identification of 45 factors involved in decision-making and consent, which were initially divided into three domains: in favor of, against or with an undetermined influence on genetic testing. Each factor was also divided into three subdomains relating to the informed choice concept: knowledge, values or other. The factors in the “other” subdomain were all related to the context of testing (e.g. timing, cost, influence of family members, etc), and were present in all three domains.Conclusions: We describe the network of factors contributing to decision-making and consent process and identify the context of genetic testing as a third component to influence this process. Future studies should consider the evaluation of contextual factors as an important and relevant component of the consent and decision-making process about genetic tests. Based on these results, we plan to develop and test a more comprehensive tool to assess informed consent for genetic testing. (shrink)

En s’appuyant sur les analyses goodmaniennes sur le style et l’expression, Frédéric Bisson montre, à l’encontre de Goodman et de Kripke, que le nom propre n’est pas seulement un signe dénotatif, mais peut fonctionner esthétiquement comme un prédicat stylistique. Le style n’est pas l’expression d’un foyer énergétique autonome que serait le sujet, mais une propriété objective de l’œuvre ou de la performance artistique. Lorsqu’il devient un prédicat stylistique, le nom n’est plus propre à une personne : la personne qui (...) porte ce nom n’en est qu’un cas paradigmatique. (shrink)

Résumé Apparus dans le contexte idéologique de la Yougoslavie finissante, le groupe slovène de musique industrielle Laibach et son organisation faîtière, le Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK), ont contribué à renouveler la grammaire de la contestation, à travers le principe de « rétrogardisme » et la technique de suridentification aux codes esthétiques du pouvoir. L’article revient sur la trajectoire du groupe, dont il démonte les stratégies en insistant sur la dimension systématiquement ironique de son mode d’énonciation, notamment de son art de (...) la reprise. (shrink)