Niels Bohr famously argued that a consistent understanding of quantum mechanics requires a new epistemic framework, which he named complementarity . This position asserts that even in the context of quantum theory, classical concepts must be used to understand and communicate measurement results. The apparent conflict between certain classical descriptions is avoided by recognizing that their application now crucially depends on the measurement context. ;Recently it has been argued that a new form of complementarity can provide a solution to the (...) so-called information loss paradox. Stephen Hawking argues that the evolution of black holes cannot be described by standard unitary quantum evolution, because such evolution always preserves information, while the evaporation of a black hole will imply that any information that fell into it is irrevocably lost---hence a "paradox." Some researchers in quantum gravity have argued that this paradox can be resolved if one interprets certain seemingly incompatible descriptions of events around black holes as instead being complementary. ;In this dissertation I assess the extent to which this black hole complementarity can be undergirded by Bohr's account of the limitations of classical concepts. I begin by offering an interpretation of Bohr's complementarity and the role that it plays in his philosophy of quantum theory. After clarifying the nature of classical concepts, I offer an account of the limitations these concepts face, and argue that Bohr's appeal to disturbance is best understood as referring to these conceptual limits. ;Following preparatory chapters on issues in quantum field theory and black hole mechanics, I offer an analysis of the information loss paradox and various responses to it. I consider the three most prominent accounts of black hole complementarity and argue that they fail to offer sufficient justification for the proposed incompatibility between descriptions. ;The lesson that emerges from this dissertation is that we have as much to learn from the limitations facing our scientific descriptions as we do from the successes they enjoy. Because all of our scientific theories offer at best limited, effective accounts of the world, an important part of our interpretive efforts will be assessing the borders of these domains of description. (shrink)

This paper seeks to circumscribe the concepts, sources, and limits of Nietzsche’s early ethical thought through a reconstruction of his ethical "symptomatology." In the 1870s, Nietzsche stressed that the Greeks understood the true nature of the political phenomenon, and that this could correct fundamental errors that were responsible for the illness of German culture. His definition of the Greek ethos radically challenges modern democratic politics through a reassertion of aristocratic, heroic, and agonistic values. But because Nietzsche did not systematically describe (...) his early ethics, a reconstruction is necessary. His metaphor of the philosopher as a “physician of culture” is a guide for this reconstruction. Using concepts of wellness and illness, Nietzsche identified different symptoms and possible remedies, and hoped to cure German culture through a therapeutic transvaluation of modernity. To reconstruct this symptomatology I turn to The Greek State, Homer’s Contest, and The Birth of Tragedy. First, I define the notions of “agon” and “eris” that are central to his reading of Greek ethics. I then describe four ethical symptoms and their remedies. I conclude with interpretative hypotheses that address issues that were left unanswered by Nietzsche. This symptomatology shows that his reading of Greek ethics functions as a radical—albeit fragmentary—normative critique of his time, and of our democratic age. (shrink)

Éliane Viennot, professeure de littérature française, spécialiste des femmes d’État de la Renaissance, conduit une réflexion sur les femmes et la question du pouvoir en France. Après les deux premières synthèses publiées chez Perrin sur les périodes ve-xvie et xviie-xviiie siècles, cet ouvrage aborde la période révolutionnaire. L’auteure adhère au récit de la « fermeture » bien qu’elle ne passe pas sous silence les moments d’avancée pour la cause des femmes qu’ont parfois permis les événement...

Cet important ouvrage collectif est issu d’un colloque international pluridisciplinaire tenu à Rouen en mai 2005. Dans une chronologie, relativement, resserrée, de la fin du Moyen Age aux lendemains de la Révolution, il explore les différentes voies qu’ont pu emprunter des écrivaines francophones dans l’écriture de l’histoire. Mettre en visibilité des femmes illustres qui démontrent les qualités de leur sexe, écrire des mémoires, ou servir l’histoire à travers la fiction dans des nouvelles ou...

In the last two decades, Ralph Cudworth has been acknowledged as one of the paramount figures in the history of theories of consciousness. This paper discusses the interpretation defended by Udo Thiel and Vili Lähteenmäki. Both contend that, for Cudworth, the reflexivity defining consciousness does not constitute self-consciousness, which, they say, requires self-determination for practical ends. On the contrary, I argue that for Cudworth any degree of consciousness implies a species of self-perception that must be considered a degree of self-consciousness. (...) To do justice to Cudworth’s full position, I claim, we must take into account a kind of consciousness that I call ‘to-oneself ’ consciousness. Furthermore, I argue, the problem of the ethical self-formation of every human soul as one personality should be seen as going beyond the mere consideration of practical rationality. (shrink)

This paper will attempt to establish a framework for the term vedanā. Then it will present the range of the different feeling tones: pleasant, unpleasant and neutral. It will point out that ‘neutral’ feeling tone can be defined in different ways as either non-existing, indeterminate, indifference or the beginning of equanimity. Following this, vedanā will be discussed in the context of the five nāma factors: contact, feeling-tone, perception, intention and attention. This paper will suggest that mindfulness can be of benefit (...) because it possibly gives rise to what is referred to in the early Pāli texts as ‘unwordly pleasant’ feeling tones. The paper concludes by making a connection between the practice of mindfulness of feeling-tones and the cultivation of the ethical precepts as an antidote to unskilful reactive patterns that arise in relation to vedana. (shrink)

Science et sagesse, ou la forme logique de la démonstration Selon la Lettre Dédicatoire du De Cive à William Cavendish, troisième comte de Devonshire, datée par Hobbes du 1er novembre 1641 à Paris, autant y a-t-il de genres de choses où la raison humaine trouve à s’exercer, autant y a-t-il de parties de la philosophie, la philosophie devant recevoir autant de noms différents qu’elle comporte de ramifications conformes à la diversité des matières soumises au raisonnement. Quand le raisonnemen...

Continuing the investigation in his earlier Individuals and individuality, Martine (philosophy, U. of Alabama) demonstrates that indeterminacy in our experience is logically bound to the determinate dimensions of thought and practice.

In this article I compare the linguistic skepticism of Levinas to that of the early Daoist skepticism of the Zhuangzi. I will argue that both Levinas as the Zhuangzi use skepticism as a therapeutic tool to question the rigid use of language and to create an openness in the self in which the self is inspired by something more than itself. For Levinas, language is primarily a response-ability; language ultimately refers to the absolute responsibility to the Other. For the Zhuangzi, (...) words are simply too rigid to attune to the subtle differences and changes in the world. Through carefree wandering, the self becomes more receptive to the unfolding of the way (Dao). Both the Zhuangzi as Levinas see language not only as a system of references that is able to convey the world, but also see language as communication; as a response to the outside world. For Levinas, this response-ability is aimed at the Other and is primarily an ethical demand. For the Zhuangzi, genuine language is more a spontaneous receptivity; a wandering with words in which words are open to different interpretations and perspectives. In the end of this article I will argue that Levinas and the Zhuangzi see language as a communicative praxis that mirrors receptivity and passivity. (shrink)

L’amour conjugal existe au Moyen Âge, la littérature en est un lieu d’expression privilégié. Visible également dans les sources épistolaires ou notariales, il est cependant plus difficile à aborder à travers les archives judiciaires, notamment les procès matrimoniaux ecclésiastiques. L’officialité de Saragosse au xve siècle est par excellence la cour où sont jugés les litiges conjugaux. Les procès consultés offrent un récit récurrent de la relation conflictuelle entre époux et laissent à penser que l’amour n’y a guère sa place. Ce (...) n’est pas totalement vrai. Les affaires d’adultère, les unions clandestines, les demandes de solennisation de mariage ne sont pas toutes déposées ou dénoncées au seul motif de haine et de discorde. Les sentiments sont parfois bien présents, sous-jacents, et attendent seulement d’être lus à travers des actes, des mots précis (amor, affectio, cavalgar, enamorar) ou même des silences. (shrink)

RésuméL’opuscule de Pascal Expériences nouvelles touchant le vide donne le schéma d’une démonstration physique visant à mettre un terme aux controverses entre plénistes et vacuistes. La forme traditionnelle de la dispute avec laquelle Pascal veut rompre se trouve cependant réactivée par Étienne Noël, qui reprend à son compte des objections plénistes que les Expériences nouvelles n’envisagent comme possibles que pour mieux les invalider. Les lettres de Pascal Au très révérend père Noël et À Monsieur Le Pailleur permettent au contraire de (...) délimiter un autre champ disputationnel que celui auquel Noël obéit. Pascal subordonne la dispute à la reconnaissance de principes épistémologiques communs: la discussion antithétique sur le vide doit être contrôlée par des critères méthodologiques acceptés par tous. Contre la figure de la dispute savante, Pascal définit ainsi un modèle radicalement nouveau: la dispute scientifique. (shrink)

L'histoire critique des textes bibliques a été conçue par Richard Simon comme un art de juger, selon des règles strictes, des meilleures leçons à conserver. Cette méthode, qui impose dans la traduction de l'Écriture une règle d'uniformité textuelle, aurait fait défaut selon lui dans la version du Nouveau Testament donnée à Port-Royal « selon la Vulgate, avec les différences du grec ». La critique à la manière de Richard Simon n'est cependant pour Antoine Arnauld, qui préfère l'uniformité du sens à (...) celle du texte, qu'un art sans jugement : c'est de l'extension de l'art de penser à une logique pour le contingent, que dépend à ses yeux une définition véritablement générale de la critique. The critical history of biblical texts was conceived by Richard Simon as an ars judicandi, whose rules had to be applied to the discrimination between true and false lessons. Concerning translation, this method required in his view a principle of textual uniformity, so he thought defective the Port-Royal version of The New Testament . Antoine Arnauld, however, gave preference to the semantic uniformity over the literal one, and stated that a real definition of critique in its logical generality ought to be supplied by the extension of the art of thinking to the case of contingent truths. (shrink)

La sociología de la literatura da explicación de las condiciones de existencia de lo literario en Bélgica y de su rivalidad inevitable con la institución francesa. Es posible señalar, entre estos dos campos literarios, vínculos diacrónicos de connivencia, con particular relieve entre el Simbolismo y el Surrealismo desarrollado en ambos países: comparten el rechazo de las constricciones que tiranizan al individuo y la defensa de la escritura como vía de liberación hacia una vida más plena. A la vez, la sociología (...) de lo literario nos permite advertir las diferencias, cruciales, entre el Surrealismo de André Breton y el de Paul Nougé. (shrink)

The new word “beme” is an adaptation of the linguist’s word “morpheme,” which means the smallest unit of meaning. A “beme” is the smallest unit of being, or existence. Being is usually defined as a state of existing, or as somebody’s essential nature or character. Hence, a beme is the smallest unit of someone’s essential nature or character. For example, the image of one’s mother, a predilection toward honesty and the ways one smiles are all examples of bemes. “Bemes” are (...) similar to “memes,” units of cultural transmission that were first explicated in 1976 by Richard Dawkins[1]. Memes parallel without biochemistry the replication and mutation characteristics of genes. An idea such as “war is bad” is a meme that can be passed from person to person the way genes are passed from parents to children. The meme “war is bad” can also be mutated into “war is always bad” or “war is good” just as genes for growth can be mutated into gigantism or dwarfism. “Memes” span a broader field than the linguistic-bound morphemes , and are studied more for their transmissibility characteristics than for their inherent meaning. By analogy, a beme is a unit of existence, nature or character that can behave like a gene. Hence, a beme can produce behaviors like a gene can produce proteins. Also, a beme can be replicated or combined or mutated either within a being or in an offspring . In certain instances, bemes might be thought of as very specific kinds of memes. But most small units of existence are not units of cultural transmission. In any event, the growing public familiarity with the concept of memes is helpful in gaining understanding of the new concept of bemes. (shrink)

Reconnaissant l'importance des rites dans les sociétés contemporaines, l'article s'efforce de comprendre pourquoi s'est développée une nouvelle séquence rituelle inscrite dans le processus du mariage. L'enterrement de vie de jeune fille, attesté depuis la fin des années 1980, est associé à la transformation de la place de la femme, dans ses rapports avec la famille, la société et la sexualité. Comme autrefois l'enterrement de vie de garçon, celui de la jeune fille marque symboliquement l'abandon du vagabondage sexuel et amoureux. Cette (...) cérémonie est aujourd'hui attachée au renouveau d'un mariage célébré en grande pompe, mais dont le sens a changé complètement depuis les années 1960. Organisé par la « meilleure amie », et célébré entre filles, l'EDVJF marque aussi le passage des liens d'amitié à ceux de la conjugalité. L'ethnographie de la cérémonie invite à développer la réflexion sur la diversité des effectuations qui sont dans ce cas très frappantes, au-delà de leurs caractères communs.Recognizing the importance of ritual in contemporary societies, the article seeks to understand why there has developed a new ritual sequence recorded in the marriage process. The bachelor girl, attested since the late 1980s, is associated with the transformation of the role of women in their relationships with family, society and sexuality. As the old bachelor boy, the girl that symbolically marks the abandonment of sexual promiscuity and love. This ceremony is now attached to the renewal of a marriage celebrated with great pomp, but whose meaning has changed completely since the 1960s. Organized by the "best friend", and celebrated among girls, EDVJF also marks the transition from friendship to those of conjugality. Ethnography ceremony invites us to develop reflection on the diversity of effectuations which in this case are very striking, beyond their common characteristics. (shrink)

One's gender is merely an important subset of choosing one's form. By “form” I mean that which encloses our beingness – flesh for the life we are accustomed to, plastic for the robots of science fiction, mere data for the avatars taking over our computer screens.

Journal of Philosophy of Education, EarlyView.

This article examines Grotius’ lifelong support for Dutch expansion overseas. As noted in other publications of mine, Grotius cooperated closely with the directors of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in the years 1604–1615. Right up to his arrest for high treason in August 1618, he contributed towards Dutch government discussions about the establishment of a West India Company (WIC). Three years of imprisonment at Loevestein Castle and, following his escape, long years of exile could not weaken his dedication to (...) the cause. His relatives in Holland, in particular his brother Willem de Groot and his brother-in-law Nicolaas van Reigersberch, kept him up-to-date on the fortunes of the VOC and WIC. His expertise on maritime affairs was in high demand. For example, Cardinal Richelieu invited him in November 1626 to become actively involved in the establishment of a French East India Company. As itinerant ideologue of empire, Grotius sought to further his own career and those of his nearest family members, without damaging the interests of the United Provinces. Through Willem de Groot and Nicolaas van Reigersberch, he provided informal advice on Dutch imperial policy to the VOC directors and government officials in The Hague. He was rewarded with the appointment of his brother and his second son, Pieter de Groot, as VOC lawyers (ordinaris advocaten) in 1639 and 1644, respectively. They served as his proxies in diplomatic disputes involving the VOC, the States General and the Portuguese ambassador in autumn 1644, when Pieter and Willem de Groot wrote a defense of VOC claims to the cinnamon-producing areas of Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka), liberally citing De Jure Belli ac Pacis. Grotius’ vision of empire hardly changed in the course of 40 years. In his view, the Dutch had gone to the Indies as merchants, not conquerors, and should regulate themselves according to natural law and the law of nations. Thus he contributed to the creation of two political orders, one for Europe and one for the Indies. European diplomatic relations counted for little beyond the Line. VOC and WIC officials could act as judges and executioners in their own cause, without reference to indigenous rulers, other colonial powers, or even the political authorities back home. (shrink)

Entretien réalisé à Lyon, le 10 mai 2012, avec Martine Villelongue, directrice de l’université de la Mode. Historienne de l’Art, Martine Villelongue a soutenu une thèse sur l’œuvre de Lucien Bégule (1848-1935), maître-verrier lyonnais, à l’université de Lyon 2 en 1983, publiée en 2005. Elle a ensuite travaillé pendant une quinzaine d’années au musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs de Lyon : montage d’expositions et création du service des publics de ce musée. Après avoir enseigné comme maît...