An accessible yet rigorous introduction to the influential French philosopher Gilbert Simondon's philosophy of individuation. Gilbert Simondon, one of the most influential contemporary French philosophers, published only three works: L'individu et sa genèse physico-biologique and L'individuation psychique et collective, both drawn from his doctoral thesis, and Du mode d'existence des objets techniques. It is this last work that brought Simondon into the public eye; as a consequence, he has been considered a “thinker of technics” and cited often in pedagogical reports (...) on teaching technology. Yet Simondon was a philosopher whose ambitions lay in an in-depth renewal of ontology as a process of individuation—that is, how individuals come into being, persist, and transform. In this accessible yet rigorous introduction to Simondon's work, Muriel Combes helps to bridge the gap between Simondon's account of technics and his philosophy of individuation. Some thinkers have found inspiration in Simondon's philosophy of individuation, notably Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. Combes's account, first published in French in 1999, is one of the only studies of Simondon to appear in English. Combes breaks new ground, exploring an ethics and politics adequate to Simondon's hypothesis of preindividual being, considering through the lens of transindividual philosophy what form a nonservile relation to technology might take today. Her book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand Simondon's work. (shrink)

The potential of memory modification techniques (MMTs) has raised concerns and sparked a debate in neuroethics, particularly in the context of identity and authenticity. This paper addresses the question whether and how MMTs influence authenticity. I proceed by drawing two distinctions within the received views on authenticity. From this, I conclude that an analysis of MMTs based on a dual-basis, process view of authenticity is warranted, which implies that the influence of MMTs on authenticity crucially depends on the specifics of (...) how memory modification would eventually work. Therefore, I continue with a systematic analysis of possible properties of MMTs in which I distinguish between the dimensions of memories and the kinds of experiences that can be modified as well as the properties of the process of memory modification. The impact of MMTs on authenticity is analyzed regarding the possible properties of MMTs and based on a narrative approach to authenticity which fulfills the requirements of a dual-basis, process view of authenticity. Lastly, I explore the potential of MMTs to shift the balance between self-discovery and self-creation within authenticity and thereby alter the concept itself as well as the value of authenticity. (shrink)

The profound changes in personality, mood, and other features of the self that neural interventions can induce can be disconcerting to patients, their families, and caregivers. In the neuroethical debate, these concerns are often addressed in the context of possible threats to the narrative self. In this paper, I argue that it is necessary to consider a dimension of impacts on the narrative self which has so far been neglected: neural interventions can lead to a loss of meaning of actions, (...) feelings, beliefs, and other intentional elements of our self-narratives. To uphold the coherence of the self-narrative, the changes induced by neural interventions need to be accounted for through explanations in intentional or biochemical terms. However, only an explanation including intentional states delivers the content to directly ascribe personal meaning, i.e., subjective value to events. Neural interventions can deprive events of meaning because they may favor a predominantly biochemical account. A loss of meaning is not inherently negative but it can be problematic, particularly if events are affected one was not prepared or willing to have stripped of meaning. The paper further examines what it is about neural interventions that impacts meaning by analyzing different methods. To which degree the pull towards a biochemical view occurs depends on the characteristics of the neural intervention. By comparing Deep Brain Stimulation, Prozac, Ritalin, psychedelics, and psychotherapy, the paper identifies some main factors: the rate of change, the transparency of the causal chain, the involvement of the patient, and the presence of an acute phenomenological experience. (shrink)

Novel technological devices, applications, and algorithms can provide us with a vast amount of personal information about ourselves. Given that we have ethical and practical reasons to pursue self-knowledge, should we use technology to increase our self-knowledge? And which ethical issues arise from the pursuit of technologically sourced self-knowledge? In this paper, I explore these questions in relation to bioinformation technologies (health and activity trackers, DTC genetic testing, and DTC neurotechnologies) and algorithmic profiling used for recommender systems, targeted advertising, and (...) technologically supported decision-making. First, I distinguish between impersonal, critical, and relational self-knowledge. Relational self-knowledge is a so far neglected dimension of self-knowledge which is introduced in this paper. Next, I investigate the contribution of these technologies to the three types of self-knowledge and uncover the connected ethical concerns. Technology can provide a lot of impersonal self-knowledge, but we should focus on the quality of the information which tends to be particularly insufficient for marginalized groups. In terms of critical self-knowledge, the nature of technologically sourced personal information typically impedes critical engagement. The value of relational self-knowledge speaks in favour of transparency of information technology, notably for algorithms that are involved in decision-making about individuals. Moreover, bioinformation technologies and digital profiling shape the concepts and norms that define us. We should ensure they not only serve commercial interests but our identity and self-knowledge interests. (shrink)

An historical review of authorship definitions and publication practices that are embedded in directions to authors and in the codes of ethics in the fields of psychology, sociology, and education illuminates reasonable agreement and consistency across the fields with regard to (a) originality of the work submitted, (b) data sharing, (c) human participants’ protection, and (d) conflict of interest disclosure. However, the role of the professional association in addressing violations of research or publication practices varies among these fields. Psychology and (...) sociology provide active oversight with sanction authority. In education, the association assumes a more limited role: to develop and communicate standards to evoke voluntary compliance. With respect to authorship credit, each association’s standards focus on criteria for inclusion as an author, other than on the author’s ability to defend and willingness to take responsibility for the entire work. Discussions across a broad range of research disciplines beyond the social sciences would likely be beneficial. Whether improved standards will reduce either misattribution or perceptions of inappropriate attribution of credit within social science disciplines will likely depend on how well authorship issues are addressed in responsible conduct of research education (RCR), in research practice, and in each association’s ongoing efforts to influence normative practice by specifying and clarifying best practices. (shrink)

Tandis que la mondialisation gomme les différences et que les NTIC mettent à distance un autrui toujours plus virtuel, l'altérité devient une espèce en voie de disparition. Dans le champ éducatif, le développement exponentiel du e-learning et des outils d'apprentissage à distance va également dans le sens d'une désincarnation progressive de l'enseignant qui est en train de disparaître de sa classe. Il nous semble cependant essentiel de questionner ce fondement de l'école républicaine jusqu'alors évident et qui est à présent mis (...) à mal sans autre forme de procès : la présence de l'enseignant en classe. En parcourant ce sentier de l'Etrange qui se transforme en même temps qu'il transforme celui qui l'emprunte, l'auteure n'a d'autre ambition que de comprendre ce que l'altérité peut enseigner à chacun d'entre nous. "L'Altérité enseignante" pose le cadre théorique d'une école du futur où l'altérité serait enseignante et où l'on enseignerait l'altérité. Cet ouvrage s'adresse donc à toute personne sensible au questionnement philosophique, ayant un intérêt pour les choses de l'éducation et s'interrogeant en même temps sur ses rapports à autrui, ses propres failles et les limites de toute connaissance. (shrink)

Prendre la décision de déménager en France ou à l’étranger après un divorce ou une séparation, c’est accepter de prendre le risque de voir la résidence de son enfant fixée au domicile de l’autre parent. Les décisions rendues par les juridictions françaises illustrent en effet une idée sous-jacente de sanction à l’encontre du parent qui extrait l’enfant du lieu de résidence habituelle de la famille. Celui qui, en s’éloignant, fait obstacle à la poursuite de la résidence alternée ou à l’exercice (...) du droit de visite et d’hébergement de l’autre parent prend le risque de perdre le bénéfice des droits qui lui ont été conférés sur la résidence de l’enfant. Par une comparaison des décisions rendues en la matière, l’auteure, avocate spécialiste en droit de la famille et du patrimoine, propose d’établir une matrice de réflexion permettant à un parent divorcé ou séparé d’anticiper les questions inhérentes à un projet de déménagement et d’établir les étapes à suivre pour conserver la résidence de son enfant. (shrink)

This essay recognizes that the interactions that define medical care are problematic and that narrative is invoked to overcome these strains. Being grounded in science, medicine, too, might be influenced by a particular world-view that arose in the natural philosophy of the Scientific Revolution. If narrative responds to this sort of medicine, it may retain traces of this mindset. A feminist approach responds to this viewpoint and may used beneficially to analyze both the story of medicine and the stories within (...) medicine. Tensions discussed from this perspective are those between sickness and health and those between patient and provider; also questioned are suitable form(s) of narrative and whose narratives are valued. Suggestions for broadening narrative to address these issues include letting the body speak for itself, overcoming the power differential in the patient/provider interaction and using standpoints to foster a more equal and just medical system. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Der Islam Jahrgang: 94 Heft: 1 Seiten: 220-233.

Que peut-on attendre d'un « citoyen du monde » dans l'espace européen à venir? Que représente le cosmopolitisme en Europe? Voici quelques-unes des questions posées par cet ouvrage qui présente les réflexions de chercheurs européens et non européens sur le cosmopolitisme. Les regards des spécialistes sur la question sont variés et la réalité est analysée à partir de différentes disciplines. Ainsi, science politique, histoire, droit, langues, littérature et civilisation se conjuguent pour présenter une vision toujours évolutive, parfois idéale, du cosmopolitisme. (...) On considère souvent le cosmopolitisme comme obsolète. N'est-ce pas, au contraire, une des réponses possibles à la crise que traverse l'Union européenne en ce début de XXIe siècle? (shrink)

Dans le cadre de la collecte des corpus oraux et multimodaux en Sciences Humaines et Sociales (SHS), le respect de l’application du nouveau Règlement Général sur la Protection des Données à caractère personnel provoque un profond bouleversement dans l’organisation et les méthodes de travail des chercheurs. C’est aussi le cas de la Loi Jardé, relative aux recherches impliquant la personne humaine, qui a étendu la notion de protection des personnes au-delà du champ de la recherche biomédicale. Ces deux importants changements (...) de cadre législatif obligent aujourd’hui la communauté scientifique à s’interroger à la fois sur la protection de la personne et sur la protection des données à caractère personnel.En définitive, avant d’initier un travail de recherche, un important travail de réflexion et d’actions est à mettre en place pour collecter des données dans le respect de la réglementation de protection des données et du cadre législatif de protection de la personne humaine. Identifier les difficultés pour envisager les solutions les plus adaptées est la mission que s’est fixée le groupe de réflexion constitué autour de la question « éthique » au Laboratoire Parole et Langage (LPL 2020). Nous proposerons dans cet article les réflexions argumentées de notre groupe sur l’impact de ces nouvelles réglementations sur les recherches en linguistique. (shrink)

In the first decade of the twentieth century, the foundation for the science of genetics was set. In 1900, the data of Gregor Mendel were rediscovered. By 1915, a community of scientists accepted that there were entities on chromosomes that controlled the development of observable traits. During the intervening period, Thomas Hunt Morgan was one of the major skeptics regarding the chromosomal location of the genes. His acceptance may have been the turning point for the flowering of American genetics. This (...) paper will discuss the reasons for Morgan's recalcitrance, his conversion to belief, and the nature of the scientific evidence that led to his acceptance. (shrink)

This paper presents a functional genealogy of essentialist authenticity. The essentialist account maintains that authenticity is the result of discovering and realizing one’s ‘true self’. The genealogy shows that essentialist authenticity can serve the function of supporting continuity in one’s individual characteristics. A genealogy of essentialist authenticity is not only methodologically interesting as the first functional genealogy of a contingent concept. It can also deepen the functional understanding of authenticity used in neuroethics, provide a possible explanation for the prevalence of (...) the idea of an essentialist true self and justify the use of the ideal of authenticity. First, essentialist authenticity is defined and explained through the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Second, a general need to have steady characteristics is derived from basic human practices. Third, circumstances that make it more challenging to steady oneself are identified and shown to have become more prevalent in the age of modernity when the ideal of authenticity emerged. Finally, it is shown how essentialist authenticity helps to steady the self. (shrink)

Can associative learning take place without awareness? We explore this issue in a sequence learning paradigm with amnesic and control participants, who were simply asked to react to one of four possible stimuli on each trial. Unknown to them, successive stimuli occurred in a sequence. We manipulated the extent to which stimuli followed the sequence in a deterministic manner (noiseless condition) or only probabilistically so (noisy condition). Through this paradigm, we aimed at addressing two central issues: first, we asked whether (...) sequence learning takes place in either condition with amnesic patients. Second, we asked whether this learning takes place without awareness. To answer this second question, participants were asked to perform a subsequent sequence generation task under inclusion and exclusion conditions, as well as a recognition task. Reaction times results show that amnesic patients learned the sequence only in the deterministic condition. However, they failed to be able to reproduce the sequence in the generation task. In contrast, we found learning for both sequence structures in control participants, but only control participants exposed to a deterministic sequence were successful in performing the generation task, thus suggesting that the acquired knowledge can be used consciously in this condition. Neither amnesic nor control participants showed correct old/new judgments in the recognition task. The results strengthen the claim that implicit learning is at least partly spared in amnesia, and the role of contextual information available for learning is discussed. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. (shrink)

Novel and emerging technologies can provide users with new kinds and unprecedented amounts of information about themselves, such as autobiographical information, neurodata, health information, or characteristics inferred from online behavior. Technology providing extensive personal information (PI technology) can impact who we take ourselves to be, how we constitute ourselves, and indeed who we are. This paper analyzes how the external, quantified perspective on us offered by PI technology affects identity based on a narrative identity theory. Disclosing the intimate relationship between (...) PI technology and identity sheds light on a whole new range of ethical issues that have so far not received sufficient attention. Personal information provided by technology is not just information that belongs to individuals but that changes them. (shrink)

Muriel Briançon | : Afin d’éclairer le sens de la religiosité de la philosophie de Lévinas et d’écarter le soupçon d’une soumission de celle-ci à des dogmes ou à des croyances incompatibles avec un principe de laïcité, notre contribution vise à clarifier le sens de son projet général. L’intention lévinassienne, ambitieuse et visionnaire, consiste en l’explicitation philosophique, métaéthique et phénoménologique, de l’idée cartésienne de l’Infini, transcendance non idolâtrique surgissant de la relation humaine. Cette quête philosophique de l’extrême conscience suppose (...) un athéisme ou du moins une mise en question de l’idolâtrie, du sacré et des dogmes. Cette spiritualité laïque universelle réalisée dans un judaïsme repensé conduit à des questions philosophiques essentielles et à un changement paradigmatique. | : To enlighten the sense of the religiosity of the Lévinas’ philosophy and rule out the suspicion of a submission of this one in dogmae or in incompatible faiths with a principle of secularism, our contribution aims at clarifying the sense of its general project. The Lévinas’ intention, ambitious and visionary, consists of the philosophic explicitation, métaéthique and phenomenological, of the Cartesian idea of Infinity, the not idolatrous transcendence appearing from the human relation. This philosophic quest of the extreme consciousness supposes an atheism or at least a questioning of the idolization, the sacred and the dogmae. This universal laic spirituality realized in a rethought Judaism leads to essential philosophic questions and to paradigmatic change. (shrink)

In light of the central role that medications play in medical progress, the declining rate of new drug development over the past decade is cause for concern . Without important breakthroughs in drug discovery, the future will not be auspicious for the many people suffering from chronic and incurable illnesses. The sluggish pace of pharmaceutical innovation has been particularly characteristic of the largest drug manufacturers, which have generally focused their energies on potential blockbuster medications, those that can generate over $1 (...) billion in annual revenue . Given Pharma’s struggles, the success of the country’s largest drug manufacturer in bringing the .. (shrink)

Résumé Les auteurs distinguent classiquement topologie et ontologie temporelles et entreprennent de montrer que le choix d’une ontologie temporelle, mais aussi d’une ontologie générale, a des conséquences sur les propriétés de la topologie temporelle. Ils choisissent comme point de départ de cette démonstration l’application du principe d’indépendance d’Armstrong à l’ontologie temporelle et plus spécialement à la transitivité. Leur conclusion est que le choix de ce principe pose des problèmes très difficiles pour l’ontologie temporelle, autant que pour la topologie temporelle.

A century after it was written, Breuer and FreudísStudies on Hysteriacontinues to challenge.

Dans cet article, nous établissons d’une part que l’usage du concept de capabilité comme une simple « métrique » du développement humain est une vision réductrice de la proposition intellectuelle de Sen. D’autre part, nous montrons qu’il est vain d’attendre de la part de Sen une théorie de la justice en termes de droits à certaines capabilités. Notre démonstration passe par deux types d’arguments : 1) en reprenant l’hypothèse standard et originelle de la capabilité comme ensemble de vecteurs de fonctionnements (...) accessibles ( e.g., Sen 1987), nous mettons en évidence quatre implications théoriques de l’approche de Sen que la perspective du « welfarisme formel » (Fleurbaey 2003 ; D’Aspremont 2011) ne permet pas de saisir ; 2) nous confortons cette lecture en examinant l’hypothèse – sous-explorée jusque là – de la capabilité comme « pouvoir effectif » d’agir dans le sens de résultats que l’on valorise (Sen 2008, 2010). Dans les deux cas, il s’agit de montrer que la capabilité pour Sen est bien autre chose qu’une « métrique » de l’avantage personnel et de confirmer l’idée que Sen n’est pas un théoricien des capabilités tel que l’attendent la plupart des commentateurs (Baujard et Gilardone 2017). De surcroît, la seconde hypothèse amène à intégrer d’emblée la question de l’obligation morale dans le concept de capabilité. Dès lors, la capabilité non seulement n’est pas une métrique de l’avantage personnel, mais elle n’est même plus une représentation de l’avantage personnel. C’est ici qu’apparaît selon nous la véritable révolution conceptuelle de Sen qui, contrairement à ce que Ricœur (2004) avait cru lire, ne se trouve pas dans le couple droit-capabilité, mais dans le couple responsabilité-capabilité. Finalement, il ressort que Sen partage l’idée des tenants d’une économie de la personne (Ballet et al. 2014) selon laquelle une théorie de la justice en termes de droits à certaines capabilités resterait prisonnière d’une vision purement fonctionnelle de la liberté. Surtout, la mise en lumière de ce couple responsabilité-capabilité ouvre des perspectives nouvelles pour appréhender la liberté et la rationalité des personnes, au cœur notamment des questions de justice et de choix collectif. (shrink)

L’auteure présente une thérapie en couple de personnes sourdes. Les spécificités inhérentes à leur langue dont les modalités sont visuelles, où signifiant et signifié sont si proches, génèrent un sentiment d’appartenance groupale à une culture. Comment s’articule la problématique du couple avec les divers modes de communication à l’œuvre, les identités et identifications au sein de ce néo-groupe? Les aspects transférentiels et contretransférentiels serviront de fil rouge dans le déroulement de cette thérapie particulière. Le recours à la métaphore constitue pour (...) le thérapeute un point d’appui vers l’interfantasmatisation. Il contribue à créer une enveloppe, une pensée métaphorique, celle-ci permettant de surmonter les représentations inhibantes qui faisaient obstacle au travail d’élaboration. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Der Islam Jahrgang: 94 Heft: 2 Seiten: 434-461.

L’historien argentin Andrés Horacio Reggiani est l’auteur d’une étude biographique d’Alexis Carrel (1873-1944) saluée par Robert Paxton, qui met un terme à la longue polémique qui a marqué la première moitié des années 1990 en France. Prenant à bras le corps les enjeux mémoriels qui se nouent autour de la figure controversée du lauréat du prix Nobel de médecine en 1912, le livre s’ouvre, et s’achève, sur une analyse précise de ces événements. Alors que le Front National en brandit la (...) figure e... (shrink)

With the passage by virtually every state legislature of healthcare proxy laws, the medical profession increasingly can expect to rely on the participation of surrogates in making decisions on behalf of incompetent patients. Several concerns about the legitimacy of proxy decision making have been discussed in the ethical and general medical literature: the lack of concordance between the views of patients and their surrogates have been documented on multiple occasions, and cases of abuse by proxies or potential conflict of interest (...) have been reported. Another dilemma that deserves discussion arises when proxies demand withdrawal of treatment that physicians and nurses regard as essential to the wellbeing of the patient. The following case highlights this dilemma. (shrink)

Duties to self are commonly considered as incoherent. If I owed a duty to myself, I could release myself from it at will which would be incoherent with it being a duty. Recent years have seen various attempts at defending duties to self against this argument. A common strategy entails that the self is divided. One part of the self owes a duty to another. I argue that understanding duties to self as being owed to a part of the self (...) leads to problems because a person has interests that go beyond those of the single parts. Instead, I suggest that duties to self are owed by a local self (or rather, a local perspective) to an extended or unified self. (shrink)

America is aging. But even more striking than the rise in the proportion of the population over age 65 is the unprecedented number of individuals who are living into their eighties and nineties. While many people remain robust well into advanced age, the dramatic increase in the number of the oldest old has brought with it an epidemic of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Dementia is a highly prevalent condition — currently 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, a number which (...) may rise to 16 million by 2050 if there is no breakthrough in the prevention or treatment of the disease — but it disproportionately affects those over age 85, striking between one-third and one-half of this cohort. Developing a reasonable approach to the medical care of older people with dementia will be essential in the coming decades. (shrink)