Jean-Luc Nancy is one of the leading contemporary thinkers in France today. Through an inventive reappropriation of the major figures in the continental tradition, Nancy has developed an original ontology that impacts the way we think about religion, politics, community, embodiment, and art. Drawing from a wide range of his writing, Marie-Eve Morin provides the first comprehensive and systematic account of Nancy’s thinking, all the way up to his most recent work on the deconstruction of Christianity. Without (...) losing sight of the heterogeneity of Nancy’s work, Morin presents a concise articulation of the organizing concepts, which structure Nancy’s body of work. The guiding thread is that of an essential rift at the heart of any “self” by which this self is exposed and relates to itself and other selves. Nancy’s ontology undercuts dichotomies between individual and community, interior and exterior, matter and spirit, thing and thought, not in the name of mere deconstruction, but in seeking to open a thinking of the “limit” or the “edge” as the locus of sense. While Nancy’s work has often been presented in relation to Heidegger or Derrida, Morin demonstrates the originality of Nancy’s work and argues that, despite the variety of its preoccupations and topics, it possesses its own rigorous internal logic. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of philosophy and related fields who seek a systematic and critical understanding of one of the most original contemporary thinkers. (shrink)

- Brings a new dimension to thinking about philosophical materialism and realism in the wake of phenomenology and deconstruction - Challenges speculative realism’s critique of contemporary Continental philosophy as correlationism - Uses Merleau-Ponty and Nancy to develop an ontology that respects the materiality and exteriority of what exists without reinstating the mind–world divide - Shows how Merleau-Ponty and Nancy overcome the Cartesian presupposition at work in current realist appeal to step out of our own thoughts to reach the ‘great outdoors’ (...) - Provides an alternative to the phenomenological reduction of being to sense - Defends anthropomorphism as a way of overcoming the Cartesian–Sartrian ontology of the object -/- Marie-Eve Morin proposes a reinterpretation of the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty and Nancy from the perspective of realist and object-oriented tendencies in contemporary philosophy. The realist critique of subject-centred anthropocentric thinking indicates the danger, inherent in the phenomenological approach, of reducing being to sense. Morin demonstrates how Merleau-Ponty and Nancy avoid this pitfall through the development of ontologies that respect the materiality and exteriority of what exists without reaffirming the Cartesian divide between mind and world. (shrink)

En France, les personnes issues des minorités, principalement d'origine extra-européenne , sont susceptibles de connaître la discrimination, la stigmatisation mais aussi l'exclusion. La télévision, en tant que « lieu de reconnaissance », constitue un enjeu important pour ces populations. Cependant, le petit écran semble marginaliser depuis toujours ces minorités visibles non seulement en leur laissant une place limitée à l'antenne mais aussi en leur renvoyant des images majoritairement caricaturales et dévalorisantes d'elles-mêmes. Une enquête qualitative auprès de 43 individus d'origine (...) africaine et antillaise montre que les minorités sont capables de mettre en place des réactions défensives ou stratégies identitaires afin de réduire le décalage certain entre leur identité sociale - souvent dépréciatrice - et leur identité personnelle , prenant les médias comme ressources pour l'action.In France, persons belonging to minorities, mainly non-European origin , are likely to experience discrimination, stigmatization but also exclusion. Television as a "place of recognition," is an important issue for these people. However, the small screen seems to marginalize always visible minorities by giving them not only a limited role in the antenna but also by returning images mostly caricatures and demeaning to themselves. A qualitative survey of 43 individuals of African and Caribbean origin shows that minorities are able to implement defensive reactions or identity strategies to reduce the gap between some social identity - often dépréciatrice - and their personal identity , taking the media as resources for action. (shrink)

BackgroundIn the context of translational research, researchers have increasingly been using biological samples and data in fundamental research phases. To explore informed consent practices, we conducted a retrospective study on informed consent documents that were used for CARPEM’s translational research programs. This review focused on detailing their form, their informational content, and the adequacy of these documents with the international ethical principles and participants’ rights.MethodsInformed consent forms (ICFs) were collected from CARPEM investigators. A content analysis focused on information related to (...) biological samples and data treatment (context of sampling and collect, aims, reuse, consent renewal), including the type of consent. An automatic assessment of the readability of the ICFs were performed with the IT program “Flesch Score”.Results29 ICFs from 25 of 49 studies were analyzed after selection criteria were applied. Three types of consent were identified: 11 broad consents, six specific consents, and two opt-out consents. The Flesch Scores showed that most of the documents were too complex to be fully understood by most of the potential research participants. Most of the biological samples were collected during the healthcare routine, but the information content about secondary use of biological samples varied between ICFs. All documents mentioned personal data treatment but information about their reuse was not standardized in the ICFs.ConclusionsOur review of current IC procedures of CARPEM showed that practices could be improved considering new translational research methods. “Old fashion written ICFs” should be adapted to the translational research approach, to better respect individual rights and international research ethics principles. In this context, theoretically, a digital tool allowing dynamic information and consent of participants, through an electronic interactive platform may be a good way to promote more active participation in research. Nevertheless, its feasibility in the complex environment of biological samples and data research remains to prove. The way of a combination of a broad consent followed by dynamic information may be alternatively tested. (shrink)

For centuries, philosophy has been considered as an intellectual activity requiring complex cognitive skills and predispositions related to complex (or critical) thinking. The Philosophy for Children (P4C) approach aims at the development of critical thinking in pupils through philosophical dialogue. Some contest the introduction of P4C in the classroom, suggesting that the discussions it fosters are not philosophical in essence. In this text, we argue that P4C is philosophy.

In early 1997, participants on the p4c-list, an email discussion list, reacted to an anecdote about Wittgenstein’s lectures at Cambridge by engaging in a three month long exchange on the nature of a Community of Inquiry. This article is a lightly edited transcript of that discussion and, as such, not only addresses many aspects of the substantive issue, but also provides an exemplar of at least one type of Community of Inquiry.

Si l’histoire des sages-femmes est relativement bien connue pour les XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, grâce aux ouvrages de Mireille Laget et Jacques Gélis, en revanche, pour le XIXe siècle, elle reste en grande partie à écrire. La situation parisienne a fait l’objet du livre de Scarlett Beauvalet-Boutouyrie sur la Maternité de Port-Royal et aussi de la thèse de IIIe cycle sur les sages-femmes parisiennes de Danielle Tucat, malheureusement non publiée. Pour la France profonde, on dispose d’un article...

Ethics in Thucydides uses the historian's account of the resolution at Corcyra as the basis for determining a moral or ethical perspective in Thucydides'History. Various scenes, speeches, and narrative descriptions are analyzed in relation to ethical vocabulary, their conformity to an ethical perspective, and the way in which they promote an ethical outcome. Ethics in Thucydides is ground-breaking because up to this point, scholars have not persuasively argued that ethics played a role in History. Williams' work is an extensive analysis (...) which also considers Thucydides in relation to his predecessors and contemporaries. (shrink)

This edited text recaptures many of Joe L. Kincheloe's national and international influences. An advocate and a scholar in the social, historical, and philosophical foundations of education, he dedicated his professional life to his vision of critical pedagogy. The authors in this volume found mentorship, as well as kinship, in Joe and express the many ways in which he and his work made profound differences in their work and lives. Joe's research always pushed the limits of what critically reflective and (...) informed teaching entailed, never diluting the import of comprehending the complexity of sociopolitical, cultural, economic, and educational discourses and practices. Dedicated to a praxis of social and political activism rooted in students' development as citizens and workers, the labor of teachers as action researchers, cultural workers, and social mediators is always at the heart of all he achieved. We who were so influenced directly and indirectly by him knew his genius and relished the generosity with which he shared his ideas, advice, encouragement, and art. The world is better because of Joe L. Kincheloe scholarship-inextricably related to "critical" critical thinking and enactment of education that tenaciously interrupts complacency, mediocrity, always responding thoughtfully to particular educational contexts. (shrink)

A l’origine projet de film centré sur le témoignage d’anciennes résistantes, ce texte propose une approche complémentaire de la Résistance, souvent perçue comme une affaire militaire suivie d’un chemin de croix. Alors que le privé participe à cette reconstruction du politique, il faut prendre en compte aussi les pratiques de bonheur qui animaient résistants et résistantes, et notamment souligner que les femmes y furent productrices d’espaces de liberté.

Extensive progress has been made recently in understanding the mechanism by which cells move and extend protrusions using site‐directed polymerization of actin in response to signalling. Insights into the molecular mechanism of production of force and movement by actin polymerization have been provided by a crosstalk between several disciplines, including biochemistry, biomimetic approaches and computational studies. This review focuses on the biochemical properties of the proteins involved in actin‐based motility and shows how these properties are used to generate models of (...) force production, how the predictions of different theoretical models are tested using a biochemically controlled reconstituted motility assay and how the changes in motility resulting from changes to the concentrations of components of the assay can help understand diverse aspects of the motile behavior of living cells. BioEssays 25:336–345, 2003. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Illiteracy is a concrete and real problem, which involves nearly one thousand million people in the world. And, according to UNESCO statistics, this number, far from decreasing, keeps increasing in undeveloped countries as well as in the industrialized ones.

Professeures dans une école de gestion, nous menons, depuis des années, un dialogue réflexif sur nos pratiques de recherche et de publication. La gestion est un domaine de plus en plus populaire et où la concurrence entre écoles s’exacerbe. Les gestionnaires et les chercheurs des écoles de gestion ressentent un besoin stratégique d’excellence et de bonne réputation, ce qui passe, bien sûr, par la publication. Comment les contraintes actuelles de publication pèsent-elles sur nous, les chercheurs? Quels savoirs produisons-nous dorénavant et (...) pour qui? Nous tenterons de répondre à partir d’un examen de nos propres pratiques. Notamment, nous verrons que des barrières empêchent l’accès à ces savoirs. Comment sortir de ces problèmes? Toujours à partir de notre compréhension personnelle de l’intériorisation et de l’institutionnalisation des contraintes de publication, nous émettrons une opinion plutôt pessimiste sur les chances de l’accès libre de libérer la circulation des savoirs en sciences de gestion. (shrink)

In Quebec, a Committee on Teacher's Formation and Improvement suggested to the Ministry of Education, in 1979, that university research be carried out in collaboration with teachers and contribute to the improvement of the quality of teacher formation. The Committee proposed that university and school work together, think together and discuss together problems related to children and education.

Matthew Lipman is an American philosopher who conceived, in the 1970s, a method to help children think in an autonomous, critical and reasonable way. This method is a global approach which aims to develop the personal as well as the intellectual, the moral and the social aspects of the person; it is an educative project in the broad sense of the term. This holistic project takes the form of a program of philosophy for students from five to fifteen years old. (...) The philosophical content is adapted to the children's interests and needs and is presented in the form of novels which relate semantic, logic, esthetic and ethic experiences of daily life. (shrink)

How is it that ordinary people decide to take part in genocides? Philosophers and psychologists have attempted to provide explanations of how genocidal organizations bear on the moral judgement of genocide participants. Here, I resituate those findings within the field of human resource management. I highlight how basic principles of management and HR management can lead ordinary individuals to judge their participation in a genocide as acceptable. Although initially only designed to increase motivation and productivity, these techniques also affect individuals’ (...) awareness of ethical issues. Consequently, participants shift their judgements in favour of the genocidal organization, forgetting the victims. Management studies have seldom addressed the topic of genocide, despite clues in the literature that genocides are organizational in nature. By combining the three fields of management, business ethics and genocide studies within an approach based on transdisciplinary analysis, I hope to show that genocides constitute a legitimate subject for management studies. (shrink)

According to a number of international organizations such as UNESCO, the development of critical thinking is fundamental in youth education. In general, critical thinking is recognized as thinking that doubts and evaluates principles and facts. We define it as essentially dialogical, in other words constructive and responsible. And we maintain that its development is essential to help youngsters make enlightened decisions and adequately face up to the challenges of everyday living. Our recent analyses of exchanges among pupils who benefited from (...) philosophical praxis showed that dialogical critical thinking comprises four thinking modes and six epistemological perspectives that range from the simplest increasing in complexity to the most complex . Relativism merits special focus in that a majority of the pupils’ interventions that we analyzed are situated within this perspective, and in that relativism is charged with both positive and negative meanings. In its positive meaning, it is associated with reflection, plurality and open-mindedness, but in its negative sense, relativism refers to arbitrary decisions, to indifference and the status quo. This is why we maintain that relativism must be transcended. In this respect, we suggest two series of open-ended questions that are designed to provoke a disequilibrium in pupils’ certainties and, by so doing, stimulate their reflection towards inter-subjectivity. These questions are associated with the diversification of thinking modes and the increasing complexity of these modes. (shrink)

At birth, human beings are immature, helpless and dependent on others. Unlike other animals who can survive by themselves after a few hours of life, human babies need adults to help them to learn how to live. Yet, humankind survived and adapted perfectly. This is not solely because it has the ability to think and to communicate; it is also because it has the disposition to cooperate with peers in order to reach common aims and to act for the common (...) good. In fact, the essence of human societies - from the smallest cell to the largest one, is found in cooperative groups. (shrink)

Dans sa clinique, l’auteur, psychothérapeute, a souvent eu l’impression que les récits de rêves étayaient le travail. Dans une thérapie de couple, le récit de rêve constitue déjà un début d’élaboration, et le groupe thérapeutique accompagne et transforme ce travail pour l’articuler à la problématique du couple.

Ce dialogue met aux prises Socrate avec Critias, sophiste et tyran a la fois, et se situe au debut de la guerre du Peloponnese, une guerre fratricide et desastreuse ou la puissance d'Athenes chancelle et ou l'unite du monde grec est a jamais perdue. C'est sur fond de folie et de demesure qu'ils s'entretiennent de moderation. Rester tranquille et s'occuper de ses affaires, est-ce inertie ou reflexion prudente? Quand tout le comportement de Socrate est a l'inverse de cette moderation-la et (...) quand il est impossible de bien faire si on ignore le bien qu'on fait, alors il faut dechiffrer l'enigme de la prescription delphique: connais toi toi-meme. Le Charmide est sans doute le dialogue ou la rivalite entre le philosophe et le sophiste est a son comble sur des questions que l'horizon de la guerre rend exceptionnellement aigues. Dans un monde en perdition, ou est le salut? Dans un monde pres d'eclater, ou est l'unite? Dans un monde plein de conflits, qui a la puissance? (shrink)

Cet article est une tentative pour mesurer les conséquences démographiques, pour l�Empire, de la perte des provinces orientales du fait de la conquête musulmane. Les sources, surtout les sources grecques, sont rares et donnent seulement quelques informations ponctuelles sur les transferts forcés de population, sur quelques individus quittant le califat et rejoignant l�Empire à dessein et enfin sur la destinée de quelques renégats. Comme d�habitude à cette époque, en raison du quasi monopole des sources ecclésiastiques, les renseignements sont plus nombreux (...) sur le clergé et le flot ininterrompu d�exilés depuis l�Anastasis à Jérusalem jusqu�à Constantinople et Sainte-Sophie. (shrink)

Cet article se base sur des résultats d’enquête récents montrant que, chez des adolescents marocains âgés de dix à dix-huit ans, les manifestations de pensée critique dialogique se si-tuent majoritairement dans une « perspective épistémologique » appelée « relativisme » par un modèle développemental élaboré dans les quinze dernières années avec la méthode de la théorie ancrée. Pour comprendre ces résultats de recherche, qui contrastent avec ceux obte-nus auprès d’adolescents québécois et français appartenant aux mêmes groupes d’âge, nous décrivons, dans (...) un premier temps, le modèle développemental dans lequel ils prennent sens. Nous illustrons ensuite les manifestations de « perspective épistémologique relativiste » chez les adolescents marocains à l’aide d’extraits de verbatim. Les élèves ont tendance à se décen-trer de leur vécu personnel, à se représenter le point de vue d’autrui en général et à co-construire des points de vue convergents avec les pairs. Dans un deuxième temps, prenant appui sur une approche de la représentation sociale en tant que « scène », et sur la littérature touchant aux rôles des aînés dans les sociétés africaines, nous éclairons ces résultats de re-cherche par l’analyse d’une représentation sociale fréquemment mobilisée par les jeunes Ma-rocains interviewés : celle de la hiérarchie des âges et du devoir d’écoute envers les plus âgés. L’analyse de cette « scène » met en lumière des attitudes sociales inculquées aux adolescents en contexte culturel marocain, susceptibles de favoriser le développement d’une « perspective épistémologique relativiste » en matière de pensée critique dialogique. (shrink)

Voici un livre à deux voix, où s’entrelacent en un dialogue (rendu sensible par des typographies contrastées) les réflexions d’une grande historienne de la maternité et celles d’un gynécologue obstétricien d’aujourd’hui. Il s’agit de comprendre les profondes transformations de la procréation et de la naissance dans nos sociétés en revenant sur l’histoire longue des croyances et des pratiques autour de la grossesse et de l’accouchement. Même s’il n’est pas question de proposer un retour à l’an...

Since the Fall of 1993, at the Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherche sur l'Apprentissage et le D/span>veloppement en /span>ducation of the Universit/span> du Qu/span>bec /span> Montr/span>al, two mathematicians and one philosopher have collaborated to design and develop a research project involving philosophy, mathematics and sciences. Previous observations in the classroom had led the researchers to realize that, within the school curriculum, children like some subject matters and dislike others. Most of them usually succeed in arts, physical education and language arts, but (...) many have difficulties in succeeding in mathematics. Why? On the one hand, as Matthew Lipman advocates, the school curricula are not sufficiently "meaningful" for children. On the other hand, some studies in the field of mathematics suggest that there are myths and prejudices about mathematics in primary schools and that the school system is partly responsible for this. Indeed, the school system does not invite children to express emotions in class about mathematics nor does it favor creativity. It does not allow dialogue among peers about mathematical concepts and problems, nor the construction of mathematical knowledge by the students themselves. (shrink)

Eduquer, c'est stimuler les jeunes au dépassement de soi et à l'exploitation de leurs compétences sur les plans intellectuel, social et de la communication. La Philosophie pour enfants - et son adaptation à l'apprentissage des mathématiques - est une approche pertinente et significative pour stimuler chez les élèves des compétences transversales reliées à la pensée critique, à la coopération avec autrui et à la communication. Cet ouvrage étudie, pas à pas, à l'aide de nombreux exemples tirés des discussions entre élèves (...) de 10-11 ans, un processus d'apprentissage de la pensée critique. Ce faisant, il met en lumière un processus d'enseignement socio-constructiviste. Il présente à l'enseignante et à l'enseignant une banque de questions pour que les échanges entre les élèves dépassent l'anecdote et deviennent dialogue ; il explique la transformation d'une classe en " communauté de recherche ", base essentielle au développement d'une pensée critique ; finalement, il propose une grille pour évaluer ce processus d'apprentissage chez les élèves. (shrink)