Les travaux de Patrice Bret occupent une place centrale en histoire des sciences et en histoire des techniques. Ce livre entend les mettre à l'honneur, qu'il s'agisse de l'histoire des savoirs académiques, du régime techno-politique du XVIIIe siècle, des interactions entre savants et praticiens à l'heure de la chimie lavoisienne, des circulations culturelles et des traductions ou encore de la place des femmes de sciences. Les contributions réunies dans ce volume illustrent, par leur diversité, l'influence de Patrice Bret (...) dans la communauté historienne. Nous proposons ainsi de mettre en perspective son oeuvre en la replaçant dans un contexte intellectuel, scientifique et épistémologique. Un constat s'impose : loin de distinguer entre les approches conceptuelles, érudites et méthodologiques, Patrice Bret joue un rôle de premier plan dans un milieu scientifique qui a choisi de conjuguer le renouvellement des questionnements avec la production d'instruments de recherche et les interrogations de repérage, de dénomination, d'identification, seules à même de contrer les récits téléologiques qui ont longtemps prévalu dans ce domaine. Si l'histoire des sciences et l'histoire des techniques sont de nos jours à l'avant-poste du renouvellement de la science historique, c'est aussi grâce au rôle de passeur de Patrice Bret. (shrink)

This is the first volume on category theory for a broad philosophical readership. It is designed to show the interest and significance of category theory for a range of philosophical interests: mathematics, proof theory, computation, cognition, scientific modelling, physics, ontology, the structure of the world.

Patrice Bergeron « Nous avons besoin de reconnaître la ville à partir d’un regard contemplatif, c’est-à-dire un regard de foi qui découvre ce Dieu qui habite dans ses maisons, dans ses rues, sur ses places » (François, Exhortation apostolique Evangelii Gaudium, 24 novembre 2013, no 71). Il y a une bonne part d’audace dans cette interpellation, car la « présence de Dieu » en ville ne saute pas nécessairement aux yeux, plus encore lorsqu’on y cherche le Dieu Sauveur. Néanmoins, (...) que voit-on de Dieu dans ces villes aux mille visages, quand on ose le chercher? Qu’est-ce qui caractérise une telle démarche de discernement spirituel? Autrement dit, que voit-on et comment voit-on? Telles sont les questions que cet article explore théologiquement à partir d’une série de témoignages écrits par des chrétiennes et des chrétiens formés aux « Exercices spirituels ignatiens » qui, au coeur de leur ville de résidence sur différents continents, ont été invités à contempler en marchant. L’analyse de ces témoignages permet non seulement d’éclairer le croire chrétien en acte et le travail du regard interprétant au coeur de l’espace urbain, elle montre aussi comment un tel regard parvient à discerner des traces de la grâce au coeur de l’ambivalence urbaine. (shrink)

Recent semantic approaches to scientific structuralism, aiming to make precise the concept of shared structure between models, formally frame a model as a type of set-structure. This framework is then used to provide a semantic account of (a) the structure of a scientific theory, (b) the applicability of a mathematical theory to a physical theory, and (c) the structural realist’s appeal to the structural continuity between successive physical theories. In this paper, I challenge the idea that, to be so used, (...) the concept of a model and so the concept of shared structure between models must be formally framed within a single unified framework, set-theoretic or other. I first investigate the Bourbaki-inspired assumption that structures are types of set-structured systems and next consider the extent to which this problematic assumption underpins both Suppes’ and recent semantic views of the structure of a scientific theory. I then use this investigation to show that, when it comes to using the concept of shared structure, there is no need to agree with French that “without a formal framework for explicating this concept of ‘structure-similarity’ it remains vague, just as Giere’s concept of similarity between models does ...” (French, 2000, Synthese, 125, pp. 103–120, p. 114). Neither concept is vague; either can be made precise by appealing to the concept of a morphism, but it is the context (and not any set-theoretic type) that determines the appropriate kind of morphism. I make use of French’s (1999, From physics to philosophy (pp. 187–207). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) own example from the development of quantum theory to show that, for both Weyl and Wigner’s programmes, it was the context of considering the ‘relevant symmetries’ that determined that the appropriate kind of morphism was the one that preserved the shared Lie-group structure of both the theoretical and phenomenological models. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to put into context the historical, foundational and philosophical significance of category theory. We use our historical investigation to inform the various category-theoretic foundational debates and to point to some common elements found among those who advocate adopting a foundational stance. We then use these elements to argue for the philosophical position that category theory provides a framework for an algebraic in re interpretation of mathematical structuralism. In each context, what we aim to show (...) is that, whatever the significance of category theory, it need not rely upon any set-theoretic underpinning. (shrink)

Des documents nouveaux permettent de progresser dans la connaissance des sections tardives des listes de magistrats thasiens, jusqu’ici mal connues. À la basse époque hellénistique, on observe, chez les théores, un phénomène intéressant de duplication : plusieurs collèges figurent à la fois dans la Grande Liste des théores et dans des inscriptions indépendantes, à caractère commémoratif. Trois nouvelles inscriptions de ce type sont ici publiées. Elles permettent de formuler une hypothèse sur la structure de la colonne 14 de la Grande (...) Liste, qui correspond au dernier tiers du iie s. av. J.‑C. Un phénomène analogue de duplication s’observe dans la Grande Liste des archontes au ier s. apr. J.‑C. : à cette époque, les archontes portent, pour la plupart, le titre de « philokaisar kai philopatris », qui doit avoir un lien avec le culte impérial. (shrink)

In this paper I argue that category theory ought to be seen as providing the language for mathematical discourse. Against foundational approaches, I argue that there is no need to reduce either the content or structure of mathematical concepts and theories to the constituents of either the universe of sets or the category of categories. I assign category theory the role of organizing what we say about the content and structure of both mathematical concepts and theories. Insofar, then, as the (...) structuralist sees mathematics as talking about structures and their morphology, I contend that category theory furnishes a framework for mathematical structuralism. (shrink)

I argue that recollection, in Plato's Meno , should not be taken as a method, and, if it is taken as a myth, it should not be taken as a mere myth. Neither should it be taken as a truth, a priori or metaphorical. In contrast to such views, I argue that recollection ought to be taken as an hypothesis for learning. Thus, the only methods demonstrated in the Meno are the elenchus and the hypothetical, or mathematical, method. What Plato's (...) Meno demonstrates, then, is that we cannot be philosophers if we fail to make use of the mathematician's hypothetical method. (shrink)

The concept of guardianship, its associated principles, distinctions, and articulation of the legal needs of the elderly are introduced via a review of well-canvassed criticisms of Canadian guardianship legislation. Claims that the reformed legislation of Alberta, Quebec, and British Columbia represent models of adequate adult guardianship compared with traditional (archaic lunacy) law are examined. This paper argues that these renovated models exhibit a dubious normative advance over traditional legislation. Specifically, the normative presuppositions of the reformed legislation, such as, restriction to (...) an autonomy-paternalism framework, and the norms of the liberal individual and state, obscure important issues in at least two key areas which challenge the models' assumptions; namely, assessment and legal competence and assessment and need. The development of guardianship laws and of social arrangements that are more responsive to the life experiences of the elderly requires critical re-articulation of the nature of individuals and their communities. (shrink)

Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like transfiguration. You don’t have to bring a thing to it except a little willingness to see. Only, who could have the courage to see it?—Marilynne RobinsonMarilynne Robinson, Gilead (London: Virago Press, 2004), p. 280.Preamble: Going the Bloody Hard WayThe writings of Pamela Sue Anderson and Gillian Howie have been, and continue to be, important in helping to shape the development of my own philosophical vision. Yet my commitment to (a fairly (...) traditional) theism marks a point of departure between my work and theirs. Given their quite reasonable disinclination to persist with traditional theism, especially its concept of divine transcendence,Not only does an uncritical approach to the theistic conception of divine transcendence serve to sacralise hierarchical relationship between men and women, such that the latter is subordinate to the former, it also, as Anderson reminds us, sustains epistemic and practical norms that quietly yet pot. (shrink)

Le langage, comme moyen d’expression de la croyance religieuse, entretient un malentendu : il apparaît comme un discours sur des vérités d’une supériorité telle que le croyant peut s’autoriser à faire des jugements d’ordre éthique ou esthétique envers – ou à l’encontre – d’autres personnes. Pourtant, loin d’être un discours logique sur des faits de connaissance, le discours sur la croyance religieuse est un jeu de langage qui manifeste une adhésion à une forme de vie.

The promise of this book is simple: if you buy this book on Friday, you will be better at your job on Monday. Do you ever find yourself: Prioritizing the demands of work over your personal needs? Struggling to build positive and collaborative energy with your team? Watching others gain opportunities while you remain stagnant and overlooked? Every future goal, complicated task, and healthy habit can be broken down into simple, measurable, and tiny skills that can be easily practiced and (...) mastered by removing obstacles, overcoming assumptions, and maximizing your potential at work and in life. In MicroSkills, Harvard-trained physicians Dr. Landry and Dr. Lewiss assert that your success does not require absolute self-sacrifice. You'll learn microskills of prioritizing your health, support systems, and personal boundaries. They encourage a collaborative mindset as opposed to an individualistic one. You'll learn microskills of sponsorship, upstanding, and collaboration. They argue the 'good enough is good enough' mentality can stall your career. You'll learn the microskills of building expertise, organizing tasks, and screening new opportunities. (shrink)

I argue that if we distinguish between ontological realism and semantic realism, then we no longer have to choose between platonism and formalism. If we take category theory as the language of mathematics, then a linguistic analysis of the content and structure of what we say in and about mathematical theories allows us to justify the inclusion of mathematical concepts and theories as legitimate objects of philosophical study. Insofar as this analysis relies on a distinction between ontological and semantic realism, (...) it relies also on an implicit distinction between mathematics as a descriptive science and mathematics as a descriptive discourse. It is this latter distinction which gives rise to the tension between the mathematician qua philosopher. In conclusion, I argue that the tensions between formalism and platonism, indeed between mathematician and philosopher, arise because of an assumption that there is an analogy between mathematical talk and talk in the physical sciences. (shrink)

On savait que c’était l’entité la plus complexe de l’univers connu. Mais le feu d’artifice de découvertes récentes dépasse l’entendement et fait exploser tous les schémas. Votre cerveau est (beaucoup) plus fabuleux que vous le croyez. Il est : totalement élastique, même âgé, handicapé, voire amputé de plusieurs lobes, le système nerveux central peut se reconstituer et repartir à l’assaut des connaissances et de l’action sur le monde ; totalement social, un cerveau n’existe jamais seul, mais toujours en résonance avec (...) d’autres. Mieux : nous sommes neuronalement constitués pour entrer en empathie avec autrui et aller à son secours. Ce livre aborde ces questions passionnantes avec cinq spécialistes. (shrink)

Studies in Thasian epigraphy, III A third fragment of the Stele of the Agathoi and the role of the polemarchs in Thasos. The fragment J. Pouillou x, Recherches sur Thasos I, 140, belongs to the top of the Stele of the Agathoi (Fournier, Hamon, BCH 131 [ 2007], p. 309-381). It contains part of the decree’s opening : the proposal was made by the polemarchs by way of an ephodos (the same procedure occurs in several other Thasian decrees). Brief discussion (...) of this inadequately known magistracy and its important role in the institutional set-up of the city. (shrink)

I use my reading of Plato to develop what I call as-ifism, the view that, in mathematics, we treat our hypotheses as if they were first principles and we do this with the purpose of solving mathematical problems. I then extend this view to modern mathematics showing that when we shift our focus from the method of philosophy to the method of mathematics, we see that an as-if methodological interpretation of mathematical structuralism can be used to provide an account of (...) the practice and the applicability of mathematics while avoiding the conflation of metaphysical considerations with mathematical ones. (shrink)

Structural realism has rapidly gained in popularity in recent years, but it has splintered into many distinct denominations, often underpinned by diverse motivations. There is, no monolithic position known as ‘structural realism,’ but there is a general convergence on the idea that a central role is to be played by relational aspects over object-based aspects of ontology. What becomes of causality in a world without fundamental objects? In this book, the foremost authorities on structural realism attempt to answer this and (...) related questions: ‘what is structure?’ and ‘what is an object?’ Also featured are the most recent advances in structural realism, including the intersection of mathematical structuralism and structural realism, and the latest treatments of laws and modality in the context of structural realism. The book will be of interest to philosophers of science, philosophers of physics, metaphysicians, and those interested in foundational aspects of science. (shrink)

On an internalist account of logical inference, we are warranted in drawing conclusions from accepted premises on the basis of our knowledge of logical laws. Lewis Carroll's regress challenges internalism by purporting to show that this kind of warrant cannot ground the move from premises to conclusion. Carroll's regress vindicates a repudiation of internalism and leads to the espousal of a standpoint that regards our inferential practice as not being grounded on our knowledge of logical laws. Such a standpoint can (...) take two forms. One can adopt either a broadly externalist model of inference or a sceptical stance. I will attempt, in what follows, to defend a version of internalism which is not affected by the regress. The main strategy will be to show that externalism and scepticism are not satisfying standpoints to adopt with regard to our inferential practice, and then to suggest an internalist alternative. (shrink)

An adequate analysis of experiences and situations specific to women, especially mothering, requires consideration of women's difference. A focus on women's difference, however, jeopardizes feminism's claims of women's equal individualist subjectivity, and risks recuperating the inequality and oppression of women, especially the view that all women should be mothers, want to be mothers, and are most happy being mothers. This book considers how thinkers including Simone de Beauvoir, Julia Kristeva, Nancy Choderow and Adrienne Rich struggle to negotiate this dilemma of (...) difference in analyzing mothering, encompassing the paradoxes concerning embodiment, gender and representation they encounter. Patrice Di Quinzio shows that mothering has been and will continue to be an intractable problem for feminist theory itself, and suggests the political usefulness of an explicitly paradoxical politics of mothering. (shrink)

Malgré sa proximité avec le courant cypherpunk, le secteur des cryptomonnaies n’a pas toujours été fidèle à ses valeurs anarchistes, la finance capitaliste investissant toujours davantage dans les cryptomonnaies pour s’approprier ces nouveaux produits financiers. Cette ambiguïté se retrouve dans les DAO, cette nouvelle forme de gouvernance créée par la technologie blockchain. Cette gouvernance décentralisée est en effet tout à la fois l’expérimentation d’une démocratie radicale, bien qu’asociale, et un retour à une ploutocratie qui peut cacher la violence de ses (...) décisions par l’automatisme des mécanismes informatiques. (shrink)

Parent pauvre de la formation polytechnicienne à l’époque de Poincaré, la chimie resta en dehors des centres d’intérêt du savant malgré l’importance sociale qu’elle acquit à la fin du xixe siècle. Le mathématicien, physicien et philosophie y fut confronté assez fortuitement en 1907 comme président de la Commission scientifique d’étude des poudres de guerre créée après l’explosion du cuirassé Iéna car Marcellin Berthelot, qui avait été pressenti comme éminent spécialiste des poudres et explosifs mourut dans l’intervalle. Dans un contexte international (...) tendu entre la France et l’Allemagne depuis l’annexion de l’Alsace-Moselle en 1871 et alors que la crise marocaine relança l’esprit de revanche, cet accident catastrophique porta un rude coup à la confiance du pays dans ses moyens de défense. Le gouvernement jugea alors que seul Poincaré avait l’autorité scientifique nécessaire pour rassurer l’opinion publique sur la sécurité des poudres sans fumée issues de l’industrie chimique inventées par son camarade de promotion Paul Vieille et maintenir l’ennemi à distance. Les archives de la Commission et la correspondance administrative de Poincaré témoignent de son investissement. Sa correspondance personnelle avec Henry Le Chatelier, autre ingénieur X-Mines spécialiste des poudres et explosifs, permet de mieux cerner son appréhension des problèmes complexes posés par les nouvelles poudres et de dévoiler sa stratégie pour contourner les blocages institutionnels dus à la rivalité entre le service producteur des Poudres et salpêtres et les services consommateurs de l’Artillerie et la Marine et aux attaques contre le monopole des poudres de la part des industriels et de leurs partisans au Parlement. (shrink)

W ostatnich latach wraz z rozwojem nauk komputerowych, pojawiło się wiele programów mających wspomagać nauczanie logiki. Większość z tych programowań służy do sprawdzania rachunków, a nic do dowodzenia twierdzeń, ponieważ zgodnie ze znanym twierdzeniem Godła, nie istnieje procedura rozstrzygalności twierdzeń rachunku pierwszego rzędu. Kilka metatwierdzeń, w których jednym jest twierdzenie Godła, tłumaczy dlaczego dysponujemy dobrymi systemami dedukcji naturalnej, mimo że tak trudno jest (a faktycznie nie można) znaleźć „inteligentną" procedurę dowodzenia formuł. W artykule przedstawiono drogę uzyskania częściowego systemu dowodzenia twierdzeń (...) za pomocą procedury unifikacji, dla której załączono program komputerowy w języku pascal. (shrink)

Patrice Bergeron,Fabrice Blée,Marc Dumas,Raymond Lemieux,Jean Richard,Gérard Siegwalt.

This contribution presents the idea that the functioning of modern democracy implies a reciprocal education of the governed and those who govern, of public opinion and the political class, within the framework of the rule of law. Such reciprocal interaction is a prerequisite for the development of a collective intelligence (phronesis) that make the achievement of sound political decisions possible. However, the democratic process develops in such a way that it also generates counter-educational effects. This is due to the fact (...) that the same process includes a contest for power that arouses antisocial feelings and achieves a kind of counter-education. One of the reasons for this ambivalence lies in the way in which political parties operate: they are both laboratories for the development and implementation of collective projects and instruments for the conquest and exercise of power. A similar ambivalence characterizes the role of states at the level of international relations concerning the handling of global problems. What is at stake is the possibility of dealing in a sensible way with problems that, at both the national and international levels, can only be solved through concerted and cooperative action. (shrink)

La vie et l'art? Quel lien d'authenticité peut-on dresser de l'un à l'autre? Où cesse la représentation et où commence l'incarnation? Quand le vécu prend-il chair? C'est à ces questions que répond le philosophe Patrice Guillamaud dans un traité d'esthétique fondamentale où le cinéma apparaît non pas comme la synthèse des arts, mais l'art en son essence. Ce postulat repose sur un double paradoxe. A la fois affect et relativisation, la vie intérieure est aspiration à l'absolu et renoncement à (...) l'absolu, sortie de soi qui reste paradoxalement en dedans de soi. Ainsi, cette vie, cette extase interne procède par renonciation. Or, l'art qui incarne par excellence la vie renonciatrice, c'est le cinéma. Dans la mesure où il se veut art de l'espace, mais englobé et dynamisé par le temps, le cinéma est la réalité charnelle de cette extase interne, en tant qu'absolu de la renonciation. Passant de Renoir à Dreyer, de Mizoguchi à Godard, Patrice Guillaumaud montre pourquoi et comment se tient là, universelle, la vérité des grandes oeuvres cinématographiques. Une relecture spéculative du VIIe art qui passe également en revue les grandes interrogations métaphysiques. (shrink)

This book describes the experience of families who participate in an Early Head Start program for families with infants and toddlers who live in poverty. The author examines the lives of the families as they go about their daily routines, attend the Head Start center, and receive home visits.

“Paris, Capital of the Nineteenth Century” juxtaposes elliptical descriptions that reveal the interiorization of commodities in the economy of high capitalism. “Allegory in the nineteenth century vacated the outer world, to colonize the inner world.”32 Each of the exposé’s six sections consists of two parts: “Fourier, or the Arcades,” “Daguerre, or the Panoramas,” “Grandville, or the World Exhibitions,” “Louis-Philippe, or the Interior,” “Baudelaire, or the Streets of Paris,” “Haussmann, or the Baricades.”33The commercial arcade and not the factory is the logical (...) starting point for Benjamin. Paris, like London, the other capital of nineteenth-century capitalism, is an administrative and financial but not an industrial center. Paris is the locus classicus of bourgeois culture, which finds its most conspicuous expression in the arcade. The arcade cuts through and commercializes the residential block. It harnesses the technology of cast-iron “Pompeian” pillars, to offer in its enticing bay windows the latest, most sophisticated form of bourgeois merchandising. Fourier houses his “land of Cockaigne” in a “reactionary modification” of the arcade.34Parallel to the technical innovation of the arcades is that of the lifelike painted panoramas, which serve Jacques-Louis David’s pupils when they “draw from nature.” Politically superior, the city still dreams of the country. “The panoramas, which declare a revolution in the relation of art to technology, are at the same time an expression of a new feeling about life.”35 They drive a wedge between “plastic foreground” and “informational base.” The worker in the literary panorama is “a trimming for an idyll.” Technical innovations in photography reduce the representational significance of painting. Now photography “is given the task of making discoveries”: it explores the sewers and catacombs. It markets events. With impressionism and cubism, painting in turn transcends bourgeois conceptions of realism. 32. “Die Allegorie hat im neunzehnten Jahrhundert die Umwelt geräumt, um sich in der Innenwelt anzusiedeln” .33. Adorno objects to the use of people’s names in these titles and suggests that objects like dust or plush would bemore illuminating. Benjamin retains the names to evoke bourgeois interiorization. Louis-Philippe, however, is anomalous, since he is emblem rather than allegorist; the true allegorist of the “Louis-Philippe, or the Interior” section is the collector. Otherwise, the organization is strictly symmetrical: Benjamin discusses Charles Fourier, Louis Daguerre, and Grandville at the end of the sections in which they appear, the others at the beginning.34. Trans. Jephcott, p. 148. “Das Schlaraffenland,” “ihre reaktionäre Umbildung” . Anne Higonnet, formerly a student at the Ecole du Louvre, is a graduate student of art history at Yale University. Margaret Higonnet, professor of English and comparative literature at the University of Connecticut, has written on Romantic and modern literary theory. Patrice Higonnet is Goelet Professor of French History at Harvard University. He has written on the French Revolution and, with Margaret Higonnet, is coauthor of a forthcoming book on suicide in eighteenth-century France. (shrink)