Sixteen years after Kim’s seminal paper offering a welcomed analysis of the emergence concept, I propose in this paper a needed extension of Kim’s work that does more justice to the actual diversity of emergentism. Rather than defining emergence as a monolithic third way between reductive physicalism and substance pluralism, and this through a conjunction of supervenience and irreducibility, I develop a comprehensive taxonomy of the possible varieties of emergence in which each taxon—theoretical, explanatory and causal emergence—is properly identified and (...) defined. This taxonomy has two advantages. First, it is unificatory in the sense that the taxa it contains derive from a common unity principle, which consequently constitutes the very hallmark of emergentism. Second, it can be shown that the emergence taxa it contains are able to meet the challenges that are commonly considered as being the hot topics on the emergentists’ agenda, namely the positivity, the consistency and the triviality/liberality challenges. (shrink)

Starting with the observation that there exist contradictory claims in the literature about the relationship between vitalism and emergentism—be it one of inclusion or, on the contrary, exclusion–, this paper aims at disentangling the vitalism–emergentism knot. To this purpose, after having described a particular form of emergentism, namely Lloyd Morgan’s emergent evolutionism, I develop a conceptual analysis on the basis of a distinction between varieties of monism and pluralism. This analysis allows me to identify and characterize several forms of vitalism (...) and emergentism, and a subsequent comparison between these forms constitutes the occasion for a clarification of the relationship between both doctrines. (shrink)

In the current article and contrary to a widespread assumption, I argue that Humeanism and ontological emergence can peacefully coexist. Such a coexistence can be established by reviving elements of John Stuart Mill’s philosophy of science, in which an idiosyncratic account of diachronic emergence is associated with extensions of the Humean mosaic and the correlative coming into being of new best system laws, which have the peculiarity of being temporally indexed. Incidentally, this reconciliation of Humeanism and emergence allows for conceiving (...) the autonomy of the special sciences in an interesting way, consistently with the reductionist ideal of a unified science. (shrink)

Dans cet article, je montre que quatre normes de rationalité associées aux intentions peuvent être déduites de normes similaires s’appliquant aux acceptations en contextes délibératifs, un type d’état mental apparenté mais irréductible aux croyances par lequel un agent tient certains faits pour acquis lorsqu’il délibère. Je montre que cette approche, que je nomme le pragmatisme hybride, évite certaines limitations de l’approche la plus prisée dans la littérature, le cognitivisme, et qu’en comparaison avec les approches purement pragmatistes, principales rivales du cognitivisme, (...) le pragmatisme hybride rend mieux justice à nos intuitions relatives aux normes associées aux intentions. Je montre enfin que le pragmatisme hybride permet d’expliquer comment les intentions influencent le raisonnement pratique, et de ce fait, comblent un vide important dans les théories contemporaines.In this paper, I show that four normative requirements on rational intentions follow from similar requirements on acceptations in deliberative contexts, a type of mental state close but irreducible to beliefs by which agents take some facts for granted in deliberation. I show that this approach, which I call hybrid pragmatism, avoid shortcomings of cognitivism, one of the most prominent one in the literature. I show furthermore that in comparison with purely pragmatist approaches, the main rivals of cognitivism, an hybrid form of pragmatism makes better justice to our intuitions regarding the sources of the normative requirements on rational intentions, and that it allows for understanding how intentions influence practical reasoning. (shrink)

One primary goal for metaphysical theories of natural kinds is to account for their epistemic fruitfulness. According to cluster theories of natural kinds, this epistemic fruitfulness is grounded in the regular and stable co- occurrence of a broad set of properties. In this paper, I defend the view that such a cluster theory is insufficient to adequately account for the epistemic fruitfulness of kinds. I argue that cluster theories can indeed account for the projectibility of natural kinds, but not for (...) several other epistemic operations that natural kinds support. Natural kinds also play a role in scientific explanations and categorizations. A theory of natural kinds can only account for these additional kind-based epistemic practices if it also analyzes their causal structure. (shrink)

This study examines to what extent different types of CEOs in family firms influence external and internal stakeholder-related CSP as compared to CEOs in nonfamily firms. Linking family CEO and nonfamily CEO with CSR outcomes, we provide evidence that family CEOs are positively associated with both external and internal CSR, whereas nonfamily CEOs within family firms tend to be negatively associated with both external and internal CSR. We show that the incumbent CEO’s age moderates the above relationships, indicating the existence (...) of shifting family priorities and suggesting a tendency toward CSR conformity as the salience of succession concerns increases. (shrink)

In this paper, I put forward a benchmark account of emergence in terms of non-explainability and explicate the relationship that exists between its synchronic and diachronic declinations. I develop an argument whose conclusion is that emergence is essentially a “two-faceted” notion, i.e. it always encapsulates both synchronic and diachronic dimensions. I then compare this account with alternative recent accounts of emergence that define the concept through the notion of unpredictability or topological non-equivalence.

Comment interpréter le regain d'intérêt pour les réflexions sur la transcendance, la quête de sens, la morale et l'éthique dans nos sociétés contemporaines? C'est ce sur quoi Lawrence Olivier et Yves Boisvert se sont penchés dans cet ouvrage ; le premier accuse les théoriciens de la postmodernité d'être de grands fabulateurs qui font la promotion de la reconfiguration des systèmes moraux, tandis que le second reproche aux nihilistes d'être de grands nostalgiques de la Vérité qui ont sombré dans un (...) fatalisme total et un individualisme radical face à l'échec du projet de la modernité. Leur désaccord portant principalement sur l'interprétation à donner à ce retour des grands questionnements sur les valeurs et le sens de la vie, l'hypothèse de base est que les individus ont besoin de croire à une certaine forme de transcendance et qu'ils ressentent un profond besoin de donner un sens à leur vie. Invités à se prononcer sur cette question, anthropologues, philosophes, politicologues, sociologues et théologiens livrent ici leurs propres analyses de cette problématique par un riche panorama des réflexions sur la sexualité, la mort, la mode, l'art, les jeunes de la rue, les activités extrêmes, la religion et la pop psycho. Sans épuiser la problématique de la transcendance contemporaine, cet ouvrage stimulera la curiosité de tous les lecteurs intéressés aux nouvelles valeurs culturelles ou aux nouveaux comportements sociétaux. (shrink)

Joan Copjec has shown that modernity is privy to a notion of immortality all its own – one that differs fundamentally from any counterpart entertained in Greek antiquity or the Christian Middle Ages. She points to Blumenberg and Lefort as thinkers who have construed this concept in its modern guise in different ways, and ultimately opts for Lefort's paradoxical understanding of immortality as the ‘transcending of time, within time' before elaborating on a corresponding notion in Lacan's work. It can be (...) shown that Nietzsche, too, provides a distinctly modern conception of ‘immortality', articulated in relation to his notions of affirmation, singularity and eternal recurrence. In brief, this amounts to his claim that, to affirm even one single part or event in one's life entails affirming it in its entirety, and, in so doing – given the interconnectedness of events – affirming all that has ever existed. Moreover, once anything has existed, it is in a certain sense, for Nietzsche, necessary despite its temporal singularity. Therefore, to be able to rise to the task of affirming certain actions or experiences in one's own life, bestows on it not merely this kind of necessary singularity, but what he thought of as ‘eternal recurrence' – the (ethical) affirmation of the desire to embrace one's own, and together with it, all of existence ‘eternally', over and over. This, it is argued, may be understood as Nietzsche's distinctive contribution to a specifically modern notion of immortality: the ability of an individual to live in such a way that his or her singular ‘place' in society is ensured, necessarily there, even after his or her death. South African Journal of Philosophy Vol. 26 (1) 2007: pp. 70-84. (shrink)

When Henri Poincaré reviewed the then competing theories of electrodynamics in the 1890s, he required their compatibility with two principles of mechanical origin—the reaction principle and the relativity principle. Historians of relativity theory have usually focused on the relativity principle and neglected or misinterpreted Poincaré’s concern with the reaction principle. In particular, most of them have interpreted his crucial article of 1900 on “Lorentz’s theory and the principle of reaction” as an attempt to save this principle by assuming an electromagnetic (...) momentum in addition to the momentum of matter. The purpose of this article is to dismiss this interpretation and show that Poincaré had the opposite intention as he spelled out the paradoxical consequences of Lorentz’s violation of the reaction principle. In doing so, he formally introduced a quantity that could later be interpreted as a genuine electromagnetic momentum, developed a fundamentally new understanding of Lorentz’s transformations in relation with the relativity principle and identified the paradoxes that Einstein would later solve by assuming the inertia of energy. (shrink)

En 1741, la Royal Military Academy de Woolwich est créée par le Board of Ordnance afin d’instruire les futurs artilleurs et ingénieurs militaires. Cette instruction s’appuie dès le départ sur les mathématiques. Dans cet article, nous présentons et étudions les différents programmes sur la longue période (entre 1741 et les années 1860). Les évolutions, les changements mais aussi les constances sont évalués et nous donnons les raisons de ceux-ci. L’âge de recrutement, le poids du Board of Ordnance ou encore les (...) diverses guerres ont aussi une influence importante sur la place des mathématiques dans les programmes. Par ailleurs, le peu de turn-over des professeurs entraîne aussi une inertie de l’enseignement des mathématiques. In 1741, the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich was created by the Board of Ordnance in order to instruct artillery officers and military engineers. From the beginning, the teaching was mainly based on mathematics. In this paper, we study different curricula and point out the long-term (between 1741 and the 1860s) evolution as well as continuity in mathematical learning and we give reasons for them. The age of recruitment, the authority of the Board of Ordnance and several wars had an influence on the role of mathematics in the syllabus. Furthermore, the low turnover of professors led to inertia in the teaching of mathematics. (shrink)

David Doat ,Olivier Sartenaer | : Peut-on raisonnablement penser qu’un même phénomène naturel, comme l’esprit par exemple, puisse en même temps être continu et discontinu avec les processus physico-chimiques qui conditionnent son advenue au monde ? Autrement dit, est-il possible de construire une philosophie de la nature qui rejette simultanément la dichotomie métaphysique et la pure identité, c’est-à-dire qui se situe sans contradiction sur la ligne de séparation entre le dualisme et le matérialisme ? En y répondant par l’affirmative, (...) John Dewey et Lloyd Morgan, deux pionniers respectifs du pragmatisme et de l’émergentisme au siècle dernier, ouvrirent la voie d’un nouveau naturalisme antiréductionniste. L’objectif de cet article est, d’une part, de montrer comment ces deux auteurs cherchèrent à relever ce défi en mobilisant le concept d’émergence ; d’autre part de préciser la nature des divergences d’interprétation et d’usage du concept chez Morgan et Dewey. | : Can we reasonably conceive of a given natural phenomenon, say, the mind, that can at the same time be continuous and discontinuous with the physico-chemical processes that give rise to it ? In other words, is it possible to vindicate a philosophy of nature that simultaneously rejects the metaphysical dichotomy and the pure identity, or that consistently stands on the line that separates dualism and materialism ? By answering these questions positively, John Dewey and Lloyd Morgan, respectively pioneers of 20th century pragmatism and emergentism, have opened a path towards a new antireductionist naturalism. The purpose of this paper is, on the one hand, to show how both authors have met this challenge through the use of the concept of emergence and, on the other hand, to explicate the different ways in which both authors have construed and used the concept of emergence. (shrink)

Cet article a pour objet d’élucider la disposition philosophique que Lyotard paraît placer au principe de son travail et qu’il appelle signijicativement probité. Cette disposition consiste tout d’abord à offrir à tout ce qui se présente une sensibilité à la singularité du cas, aux différends et aux différences. Mais elle réside également dans un mouvement inverse, dans l’effort d’invention des règles de l’enchaînement entre chacune des occurrences qui auront été respecté en leur spécificite. Dans un premier temps, il s’agira d’analyser (...) la structure de la probité comme possibilité à l’événement et devoir d’enchaînement; puis, en un second moment, nous nous attacherons à I’organisation générale des différentes figures de la probité, en essayant de déterminer la fonction spécifique de la phrase prescriptive. Enfin, nous essayerons de comprendre comment Lyotard oriente la philosophie, par l’intimité qu’il instaure entre la passivité éthique et la réceptivité de la probité, vers une intrication de la prescription et deI’honneur du philosopher, une intrication qui n’est pas sans conséquences politiques.This article attempts to clarify the philosophical disposition which Lyotard seems to establish as the starting point of his work, and which he significantly calls probity. This disposition consists, on the one hand, in showing to all that presents itself a certain sensitivity to the singularity of the case, to disagreements and differences; but it resides also in an opposite movement, to wit, in the task of inventing rules of linkage between all occurrences which will have been respected in their specificity. First, we will analyze the structure of probity as a possibility towards the event and as a duty to link the occurrences. Then, we will consider the overall organization of the different forms of probity, while seeking to determine the specific function of the prescriptive assertion. Finally, we will attempt to understand how Lyotard positions philosophy, in his establishing an intimacy between ethical passivity and the receptivity of probity, towards an intricacy of the prescription and the honor of philosophizing, an intricacy that is not without political consequences. (shrink)

The role of foundation with respect to transitive closure in the Zermelo system Z has been investigated by Boffa; our aim is to explore the role of antifoundation. We start by showing the consistency of "Z antifoundation transitive closure" relative to Z (by a technique well known for ZF). Further, we introduce a "weak replacement principle" (deductible from antifoundation and transitive closure) and study the relations among these three statements in Z via interpretations. Finally, we give some adaptations for ZF (...) without infinity. (shrink)

The Cherlin–Zil'ber Conjecture states that all simple groups of finite Morley rank are algebraic. We prove that any minimal counterexample to this conjecture has a unique conjugacy class of Carter subgroups, which are analogous to Cartan subgroups in algebraic groups.

Comme suite à de précédentes recherches sur des inscriptions Cretoises (BCH 1979 et 1983) on donne d'abord ici (VI) une nouvelle étude de l'inscription de Knossos dite des Epilykoi, publiée en 1948 par N. Platon (vocabulaire et anthroponymie). Ensuite examen des noms crétois de la série Taskos (VII) ; du nom Pratalidas à Lykastos (VIII) et du nom de Matala, canéphore d'Arsinoé à Alexandrie (IX).

We sometimes experience pleasures and displeasures simultaneously: whenever we eat sfogliatelle while having a headache, whenever we feel pain fading away, whenever we feel guilty pleasure while enjoying listening to Barbara Streisand, whenever we are savouring a particularly hot curry, whenever we enjoy physical endurance in sport, whenever we are touched upon receiving a hideous gift, whenever we are proud of withstanding acute pain, etc. These are examples of what we call " mixed feelings ". Mixed feelings are cases in (...) which one and the same person experiences pleasure and displeasure at the same time. Mixed feelings raise two questions: (1) If pleasure and displeasure are contraries, how can mixed feelings be possible? (2) Does the excess of pleasure (or displeasure) that we feel when experiencing mixed feelings itself constitute a new feeling, that results from the co-occurrence of the first two? I will argue (1) that mixed feelings are possible and that their existence does not threaten the contrariety of pleasure and displeasure, and (2) that there are no resultant feelings: having a lot of pleasure and a little displeasure does not result in having additional mild pleasure. Finally, I will suggest (3) that although both false, scepticism towards the existence of mixed feelings, as well as the idea according to which resultant feelings exist, are inspired from a single and correct idea: that pleasure and displeasure do fuse in some cases. (shrink)

Les detracteurs du materialisme le donnent pour poussiereux, triste, deplace, ennuyeux. C'est aussi la reputation de la philosophie. Que dire de leur histoire! L'auteur, qui, en trente annees de philosophie, n'a pas trouve matiere a s'ennuyer, propose au lecteur quelques elements pour en juger: du materialisme de l'Antiquite a celui du dix-septieme siecle, de celui des Lumieres aux materialismes historiques, il l'invite a decouvrir des lieux inapercus ou de nouvelles perspectives dans l'histoire de la philosophie. Ceux qui veulent rester philosophes (...) pourront savoir gre aux materialistes de ce que la philosophie leur doit. En compagnie d'Epicure et de Hobbes, de Marc-Aurele et de Cyrano, de Gassendi et de Marx, et d'autres plus clandestins, il y a encore matiere a s'instruire, a se divertir, a s'etonner. (shrink)

This paper aims to investigate the intersections between Hegel’s aesthetics lec- tures and translation theory and praxis, with reference to the French-Italian translation project Hegel Art Net. Against the background of the historical recon- struction that sees Hegel repeatedly confronted with the fruition and production of translations, we intend to examine the hermeneutic, philological and political challenges that a translator of the aesthetics Nachschriften encounters today, following the “philological turn” of the 1990s and the publication of new sources documenting Hegel’s (...) Berlin lectures on the philosophy of art. (shrink)

Sa célébrité à l'étranger, considérable, masque mal l'obstination française à l'ignorer, à la dénigrer ou à la récuser sans la lire vraiment. Il est vrai que des controverses, des polémiques, des malentendus ont brouillé sa réception. Surprenant, rétif à toute assignation disciplinaire, difficile donc à classer, à l'interstice entre philosophie et sociologie, Baudrillard déroute autant qu'il séduit. Sa liberté de pensée ébranle nos savoirs et nos croyances. L'objet de ce livre est donc moins de constituer une somme d'hommages posthumes que (...) de questionner une oeuvre qui, au-delà des célébrations ponctuelles, connaît un accueil à la fois fasciné et circonspect. Entretiens, études, lettres, essais l'affrontent et s'y confrontent, tantôt avec gratitude et reconnaissance, tantôt avec réticence ou résistance, parfois avec hostilité. Les textes rassemblés émanent d'universitaires, d'intellectuels, d'écrivains qui interrogent sans complaisance une oeuvre essentielle qui n'a eu de cesse d'interpeller le présent. La diversité des auteurs sollicités (Sophie Calle, Michel Deguy, Philippe Dagen, Bernard Edelman, Nathalie Heinich, Michel Maffesoli, Philippe Petit, Anna Sauvagnargues, Bernard Stiegler, Jean-Baptiste Thoret...) était essentielle. Les analyses et les propos tenus par les uns et les autres dialoguent librement avec cette pensée exigeante, féconde, souvent déroutante. Toujours en mouvement, Baudrillard voulait "promouvoir un commerce clandestin des idées, de toutes les idées irrecevables, des idées imprenables". Ce livre répond à cette exigence radicale. (shrink)

In plants, virus‐derived double‐stranded RNA is processed into small interfering (si)RNAs by RNAse III‐type enzymes. siRNAs are believed to guide an RNA‐induced silencing complex (RISC) to promote sequence‐specific degradation (or ‘slicing’) of homologous viral transcripts. This process, called RNA silencing, likely involves Argonaute (AGO) proteins that are known components of plant and animal RISCs. Plant viruses commonly counteract the silencing immune response by producing suppressor proteins, but the molecular basis of their action has remained largely unclear. A recent study by (...) Zhang and colleagues1 now shows that the 2b suppressor of Cucumber mosaic virus directly interacts with Arabidopsis AGO1 and inhibits its slicing activity, suggesting that AGO1 might be a component of the elusive plant antiviral RISC. BioEssays 29:319–323, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

_Les philosophes face au vice, de Socrate à Augustin_ explore la manière dont les philosophes de l’Antiquité ont tracé une cartographie des vices, analysé leurs causes et leurs effets, et se sont interrogés sur leurs usages. _Les philosophes face au vice, de Socrate à Augustin_ explores how ancient philosophers described the vices, delineated their various kinds, accounted for their causes and effects, and reflected on how to use them.

In African Philosophy and Enactivist Cognition: The Space of Thought (2023), Bruce B. Janz introduces what he calls an enactivist African philosophy. The book makes a significant contribution to African philosophy as no other work has yet made the connection between African philosophy and enactivism. This article’s aim is to give a critical response to the book. It starts with some background by connecting Enactivist Cognition with Janz’s earlier Philosophy in an African Place (2009). This is followed by a brief (...) discussion of his introduction to enactivist African philosophy and its connection to texts in African philosophy. The article closes with a discussion of some issues that Enactivist Cognition raises. (shrink)

Le but de cet article est double. Il s’agit d'abord d'introduire des données inédites concernant un jeu de langage du serbo-croate : le šatrovački qui, à l'image du verlan connu en France, inverse les syllabes. Je présenterai aussi le chemin qui a été parcouru lors de la confection du corpus. Dans un deuxième temps, un aspect particulier du corpus, l'épenthèse de schwa, fera l'objet d'une exploitation théorique.Le premier objectif sera l’occasion de développer quelques points intéressants parmi lesquels la question non (...) anodine du choix des informateurs, connexe à la marginalité des données considérées, et la question de l’influence du cadre théorique sur la collecte de données. Ce faisant, on verra en quoi réside l’intérêt d’un tel corpus. En outre, une description ainsi qu’une proposition d'explication des processus morpho-phonologiques en jeu seront fournies. On verra notamment que le comportement des bases monosyllabiques CVC est un argument fort en faveur de l’hypothèse des noyaux vides finaux, hypothèse fondée indépendamment. (shrink)