Un essai sur l'avant-garde des années 1990 (un recueil des textes les plus significatifs d'Olivier Zahm – co-fondateur et directeur du magazine Purple, concepteur de plus d'une cinquantaine d'expositions dans le monde –, écrits sur les trente dernières années, qui offre une lecture radicale de l'art, des années 1990 à nos jours).

The theory and practice of contemporary comparative biology and phylogeny reconstruction (systematics) emphasizes algorithmic aspects but neglects a concern for the evidence. The character data used in systematics to formulate hypotheses of relationships in many ways constitute a black box, subject to uncritical assessment and social influence. Concerned that such a state of affairs leaves systematics and the phylogenetic theories it generates severely underdetermined, we investigate the nature of the criteria of homology and their application to character conceptualization in the (...) context of transformationist and generative paradigms. Noting the potential for indeterminacy in character conceptualization, we conclude that character congruence (the coherence of character statements) relative to a hierarchy is a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for phylogeny reconstruction. Specifically, it is insufficient due to the lack of causal grounding of character hypotheses. Conceptualizing characters as homeostatic property cluster natural kinds is in accordance with the empirical practice of systematists. It also accounts for the lack of sharpness in character conceptualization, yet requires character identification and re-identification to be tied to causal processes. (shrink)

The cult of performance leads our society to emphasise the values of success and continuous optimisation in all areas. Slowness, redundancy and randomness are therefore negatively perceived. Olivier Hamant, in this book, attempts to rehabilitate them by his knowledge of biological processes. What can we learn from life sciences? While some biological mechanisms certainly boast formidable efficiency, recent advances instead highlight the fundamental role of errors, incoherence and slowness in the development and the robustness of living organisms. Should life (...) be considered suboptimal? To what extent could suboptimality become a counter-model to the credo of performance and control in the Anthropocene? In the face of pessimistic observations and environmental alerts, the author outlines solutions for a future that is viable and reconciled with nature. (shrink)

Any advanced theory of physics contains modules defined as essential components that are themselves theories with different domains of application. Different kinds of modules can be distinguished according to the way in which they fit in the symbolic and interpretive apparatus of a theory. The number and kind of the modules of a given theory vary as the theory evolves in time. The relative stability of modules and the variability of their insertion in other theories play a vital role in (...) the application, comparison, construction, and communication of theories. Modularity conveys some global unity to physics through the sharing of modules by diverse theories. This alternative to rigid hierarchies and holistic totalities permits a dynamical, plastic, and symbiotic approach to physical theory. (shrink)

Generic stereotypes are generically formulated generalizations that express a stereotype, like “Mexican immigrants are rapists” and “Muslims are terrorists.” Stereotypes like these are offensive and should not be asserted by anyone. Yet when someone does assert a sentence like this in a conversation, it is surprisingly difficult to successfully rebut it. The meaning of generic sentences is such that they can be true in several different ways. As a result, a speaker who is challenged after asserting a generic stereotype can (...) often simply dismiss the objection and maintain that the stereotype is true in a way that is compatible with the challenger’s objection. In this paper, a semantic theory for generics is presented that accounts for this type of defensive shifting in upholding generic stereotypes. This theory is then used to develop two strategies to object more efficiently. The first strategy is to immediately deny that either of the two possible ways in which a generic can be true obtains. The second strategy is to deny the satisfaction of an additional condition that is necessary for a generic sentence to be true. (shrink)

Présentation par Olivier Hanse Penseur proche de la Révolution conservatrice et éminent représentant de la Lebensphilosophie, Klages est un auteur aux multiples facettes dont la pensée radicalement pessimiste et antimoderne a fait l'objet d'une vive réception de la part des milieux alternatifs de la Lebensreform, du philosophe Walter Benjamin, du psychiatre Hans Prinzhorn et plus récemment du fondateur de la Neue Phänomenologie Hermann Schmitz. Célèbre pour la - 1er XXe siècle – Nouvel article.

Evaluative theories of emotions purport to shed light on the nature of emotions by appealing to values. Three kinds of evaluative theories of emotions dominate the recent literature: the judgment theory equates emotions with value judgments; the perceptual theory equates emotions with perceptions of values, and the attitudinal theory equates emotions with evaluative attitudes. This paper defends a fourth kind of evaluative theory of emotions, mostly neglected so far: the reactive theory. Reactive theories claim that emotions are attitudes which arise (...) in reaction to perceptions of value. (shrink)

In this paper, we study the notion of arborescent ordered sets, a generalizationof the notion of tree-property for cardinals. This notion was already studied previously in the case of directed sets. Our main result gives a geometric condition for an order to be ℵ0-arborescent.

Le Japon est le premier producteur de jeux vidéo à l’eau de rose. Appelés « jeux pour jeunes filles » ( otome gēmu ), ils proposent des gammes de « beaux gosses » formatés sur le modèle du prédateur, entraînant l’héroïne dans une histoire d’amour proche du rapt. Les scénarios reposent sur la mise en scène d’une perte de pouvoir, où la joueuse renonce à son libre arbitre. Les personnages les plus agressifs sont « irrésistibles », expliquent les fans qui (...) désirent être « prises au piège ». En étudiant ces jeux et les tensions qu’ils révèlent, j’espère éclairer les dynamiques sociales dont ils reproduisent, et déconstruisent, les logiques. Ils sont indissociables du contexte qui les a vu naître : celui d’une baisse record du nombre de mariages et de naissances, pour lesquelles les autorités désignent comme coupables les « personnes qui vivent seules » ( o-hitori-sama ). Pourquoi préfèrent-elles des partenaires fictifs aux hommes de chair et d’os? J’y vois l’expression d’une ambivalence à l’égard du mariage, désiré mais redouté. (shrink)

Of all the things we do and say, most will never be repeated or reproduced. Once in a while, however, an idea or a practice generates a chain of transmission that covers more distance through space and time than any individual person ever could. What makes such transmission chains possible? For two centuries, the dominant view was that humans owe their cultural prosperity to their powers of imitation. In this view, modern cultures exist because the people who carry them are (...) gifted at remembering, storing and reproducing information. How Traditions Live and Die proposes an alternative to this standard view. What makes traditions live is not a general-purpose imitation capacity. Cultural transmission is partial, selective, often unfaithful. Some traditions live on in spite of this, because they tap into widespread and basic cognitive preferences. These attractive traditions spread, not by being better retained or more accurately transferred, but because they are transmitted over and over. This theory is used to shed light on various puzzles of cultural change and to explain the special relation that links the human species to its cultures. Morin combines recent work in cognitive anthropology with new advances in quantitative cultural history, to map and predict the diffusion of traditions. This book is both an introduction and an accessible alternative to contemporary theories of cultural evolution. (shrink)

Cette monumentale etude d'Olivier Brunet reste assurement la reference majeure concernant la philosophie esthetique de David Hume (1711-1776). Les questions et les problemes relatifs au "beau", au "jugement de gout" ne se presentent pas, dans l'oeuvre du penseur ecossais, de maniere detachee, isolee du reste de sa philosophie. C'est l'un des merites d'Olivier Brunet d'avoir montre que les reflexions de Hume sur l'esthetique sont inseparables de ses concepts essentiels. Ainsi, lorsque l'on recherche les racines conceptuelles de la definition (...) du "jugement de gout" chez Hume, on retrouve les memes jalons qui structurent son ethique. En morale comme en esthetique, les "passions" jouent un role central et sont liees - chacune a leur facon - a l'"utile"; celui-ci participe a la cause du "plaisir esthetique" qui est lui-meme etroitement lie a la fameuse "sympathie", sentiment desinteresse reglant le comportement moral tel que definit par Hume. La boucle est-elle bouclee? Loin de la, car l'esthetique humienne serait encore impossible a saisir, sans y considerer l'usage que le fondateur de l'empirisme moderne fait de ses concepts-phares : la croyance, le scepticisme, l'experience, l'habitude. Olivier Brunet, enfin, ne borne pas son etude a la philosophie esthetique de Hume. De tres belles pages sont consacrees a la relation personnelle que ce dernier entretenait avec l'art, ainsi qu'aux vertus sociales, psychologiques et morales que l'auteur du Traite de la nature humaine deduisait de la contemplation du Beau. (shrink)

Species are generally considered to be the basic units of evolution, and hence to constitute spatio-temporally bounded entities. In addition, it has been argued that species also instantiate a natural kind. Evolution is fundamentally about change. The question then is how species can remain the same through evolutionary change. Proponents of the species qua individuals thesis individuate species through their unique evolutionary origin. Individuals, or spatio-temporally located particulars in general, can be bodies, objects, events, or processes, or a combination of (...) these. It is here argued that species are best understood as open or closed, causally integrated processual systems that also instantiate an historically conditioned homeostatic property cluster natural kind. (shrink)

L'oeuvre et le concept! Tels sont bien les deux objets, par excellence, de la philosophie de l'art. L'oeuvre d'art sur laquelle " philosophe " Olivier Revault d'Allonnes n'est pas l'oeuvre achevee, celebree, sacralisee, sanctifiee, mais au contraire l'oeuvre qui, de tout temps, deroute, irrite, scandalise, dejoue le discours apprete et conciliant de l'esthetique traditionnelle. Le concept est l'autre nom de la critique, parole enfin donnee aux oeuvres, passees et presentes, afin qu'elles puissent dire non aux ordres etablis... Leur interpretation (...) se joue donc a l'infini, mais non pas dans l'indetermination, car ce qu'elles expriment, qu'il s'agisse d'un tableau de Rembrandt, d'un quatuor de Beethoven, ou d'une piece pour piano de Schonberg, est chaque fois identique, a savoir l'irreductible et " irrespectueuse " liberte de la creation artistique. Cette esthetique, a l'ecart des dogmatismes, des systemes et des modes, est ici pretexte aux reflexions et aux temoignages qui composent cet ouvrage. (shrink)

Le Dictionnaire de la pensée politique présente, sous une forme simple et accessible, les principaux courants d'idées, les grands débats philosophiques et les auteurs majeurs de la pensée politique occidentale. Il couvre toutes les périodes de l'histoire depuis l'Antiquité et aborde une très grande diversité de thèmes : la philosophie des Anciens, les doctrines du Moyen Age, l'humanisme de la Renaissance, les grands projets des lumières, mais aussi les réflexions sur le pouvoir, la justice, l'État, la nation, la démocratie, le (...) socialisme, le libéralisme, le totalitarisme ou le communautarisme. Guidé par un souci de rigueur, de concision et de clarté, il présente les idées politiques dans leur rapport avec les évolutions sociales, politiques et culturelles de l'Europe et du monde. Certaines notices sont consacrées à un auteur et à son œuvre. D'autres traitent un concept ou une idée philosophique centrale ayant nourri la réflexion sur le pouvoir et la société. D'autres enfin, privilégiant un angle historique, analysent l'évolution d'une sensibilité doctrinale ou intellectuelle. Le dictionnaire s'adresse aux étudiants des cursus de philosophie, de droit, d'histoire et de science politique. Il sera particulièrement utile aux étudiants de Sciences-Po et aux élèves des classes préparatoires. Il offre à chacun les moyens d'approfondir ses connaissances sur les grands débats qui ont influencé le cours de l'histoire. (shrink)

This article focuses in a comparative manner on the thought of Merleau-Ponty and Lyotard with a view to lending sup port to Busch's claim, that 'existentialism' preceded poststructuralism and postmodernism as far as criticism of certain features of modern philosophy are concerned. Attention is first given to Lyotard's critique of artificial intelligence, especially in so far as it displays a dependence on and development of insights on the part of Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological-existential understanding of human embodiment and the specificity of human (...) perception. The focus then shifts to Merleau-Ponty in order to demonstrate the remarkable extent to which his understanding of human embodiment and related issues such as perception and creativity, paved the way for the work of, among others, Lyotard, and anticipated the critique of artificial intelligence on the part of the latter. S. Afr. J. Philos. Vol.21(1) 2002: 45-62. (shrink)

Au-delà de ces significations spontanées, la notion a pourtant une portée philosophique plus profonde et plus générale, qui se révèle à travers une réflexion radicale sur les deux manières que nous avons de définir l'homme : par sa nature intime et par le rapport à l'autre. Or, dira l'auteur, ces deux inventions modernes sont à la fois des tentatives de négation de la destruction inhérente à l'existence et son exacerbation. C'est cette logique de l'existence qu'il s'agit de faire apparaître ici (...) dans son implacable fatalité, sans le cataplasme d'une pensée de l'espoir et sans promesses de bonheur. (shrink)

The main contention of this article is that current approaches to ontological emergence are not comprehensive, in that they share a common bias that make them blind to some conceptual space available to emergence. In this article, I devise an alternative perspective on ontological emergence called ‘flat emergence’, which is free of such a bias. The motivation is twofold: not only does flat emergence constitute another viable way to fulfill the initial emergentist promise, but it also allows for making sense (...) of some emergence ascriptions that traditional accounts are unable to accommodate. (shrink)

Scientists often communicate using generic generalizations, which are unquantified generalizations such as ‘Americans overestimate social class mobility’ or ‘sound waves carry gravitational mass’. In this paper, I explain the role of such generic generalizations in science, based on a novel theory about their characteristic meaning. According to this theory, a scientific generalization of the form ‘Ks are F’ says that F is one property based on which category K qualifies as a scientific kind. Because what it takes to qualify as (...) a scientific kind varies depending on the discipline, what a generic sentence entails also varies. Based on this semantic theory, I discuss the benefits and drawbacks of using generic language in science. (shrink)

The Universe is One places the ancient synthesis of Stoicism, Platonism, Judaism, and Christianity in active dialogue with modern process science in order to conjoin science, philosophy, and theology into the human quest for meaning. Paul A. Olivier proposes a comprehensive theory of knowledge, which he expands into a theory of life, correlating modern process science and the western-Judeo-Christian heritage into a grand theory of the Universe. He brings together the ideas of influential thinkers from the world of science (...) with those from the world of New Testament studies. Olivier clearly explains concepts from diverse fields to construct a satisfying theory of knowledge and life. He accomplishes this through an examination of the dominance of polarity in all aspects of the universe, such as chaos and order, predictability and unpredictability. Through this complex blend of opposites Olivier develops his theory as an interaction of Word and Spirit that provides the Universe with everything necessary to account for its creation and ongoing evolution. The Universe continually creates and sustains itself out of its own internal necessity coupled paradoxically with the fluidity of its own inherent unpredictability. (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)

Ce travail repose sur l’exposé de cas cliniques de femmes avec enfants en demande d’asile en France. Il tente de mettre en exergue les questions qui s’ouvrent en pareil cas concernant la santé mentale actuelle et future des enfants accompagnant leur mère traumatisée du fait d’événements majeurs (menace de mort, tentative d’assassinat, viol…). Le contexte grave étant à l’origine de la migration, à considérer ici comme unique issue de survie et non comme occurrence de réalisation de désir, fait de violence (...) absolue, pourra-t-il être parlé et donner lieu à une « transmission élaborante », ouvrir à un dégagement, à un dépassement des logiques de survie? (shrink)

?Petrus Johannis Olivi is today considered one of the most important intellectuals of the second half of the 13th century. Although he died at a young age, he left behind an impressive philosophical and theological work which was placed under the censure of the Church various times. The contributions in this volume reveal a broad spectrum of Olivi's different scholarly methods, demonstrating his intellectual activity and presenting some of his most original philosophical theories.".

The paper aims at clarifying the distinctions and relations between pain and suffering. Three negative theses are defended: 1. Pain and suffering are not identical. 2. Pain is not a species of suffering, nor is suffering a species of pain, nor are pain and suffering of a common (proximate) genus. 3. Suffering cannot be defined as the perception of a pain’s badness, nor can pain be defined as a suffered bodily sensation. Three positive theses are endorsed: 4. Pain and suffering (...) are categorically distinct: pain is a localised bodily episode, suffering is a non-localised affective attitude. 5. Suffering can be expressed, pains cannot. As a consequence, we can have compassion for the suffering of others, not for their pains. 6. The relation between pain and suffering is akin to the relation between danger and fear, injustice and indignation, wrongdoing and guilt: suffering is the correct reaction to pain. One upshot is that both the influential view that the experience of pain is incorrigible and the influential view that the ordinary conception of pain is paradoxical are false. (shrink)

What is the contrary of pleasure? “Pain” is one common answer. This paper argues that pleasure instead has two natural contraries: unpleasure and hedonic indifference. This view is defended by drawing attention to two often-neglected concepts: the formal relation of polar opposition and the psychological state of hedonic indifference. The existence of mixed feelings, it is argued, does not threaten the contrariety of pleasure and unpleasure.

This article presents, an analysis of the opinions of assurance providers regarding the quality and the limitations of sustainability reports and their recommendations to improve them using the Global Reporting Initiative as a framework. The qualitative content analysis of 301 assurance statements for sustainability reports from mining and energy companies provides a comprehensive view of the main outcomes of the assurance process, including its limitations, the application of the GRI principles and suggestions for improving sustainability reports. Taking into account the (...) perceptions of practitioners a priori well informed on the quality of sustainability reports—namely assurance providers—this paper complements the current literature on sustainability reporting and its assurance, including critical approaches that question the reliability of sustainability reports, stakeholder engagement and the accountability of reporting practices. This study contributes to the debates surrounding the quality of sustainability reports, the added value of assurance statements and the ethical issues underlying the assurance process. It also contains important practical implications for auditors, standardization organizations and stakeholders. (shrink)

The “species-as-individuals” thesis takes species, or taxa, to be individuals. On grounds of spatiotemporal boundedness, any biological entity at any level of complexity subject to evolutionary processes is an individual. From evolutionary theory flows an ontology that does not countenance universal properties shared by evolving entities. If austere nominalism were applied to evolving entities, however, nature would be reduced to a mere flow of passing events, each one a blob in space–time and hence of passing interest only. Yet if there (...) is genuine biodiversity in nature, if nature is genuinely carved into species, and taxa, then these evolutionary entities will be genuinely differentiated into specific kinds, each species being one of its kind. Given the fact that evolving entities have un-sharp boundaries, an appropriately weak, “non-essentialist” concept of natural kind has to be invoked that does not allow for strong identity conditions. The thesis of this paper is that species are not either individuals, or natural kinds. Instead, species are complex wholes (particulars, individuals) that instantiate a specific natural kind. (shrink)

Depuis 2001, MédiaCabSat est l'outil spécifique de la mesure d'audience des chaînes diffusées par câble et satellite, mis en place par Médiamétrie pour répondre à l'enjeu de la multiplication des chaînes thématiques. L'audimétrie, qui permet l'enregistrement de l'écoute sur l'année entière, avec identification automatique des chaînes, a été adoptée. À l'origine, le panel est constitué de 830 foyers, dont les 480 foyers du panel Médiamat qui reçoivent l'offre élargie. L'échantillon, qui doit être représentatif des différentes offres élargies reçues, a été (...) construit à partir d'une enquête nationale de cadrage . Pour assurer une fiabilité statistique satisfaisante, malgré la faiblesse de l'échantillon et le grand nombre de chaînes suivies , le choix a été fait de fournir des résultats cumulés sur six mois. Les principales caractéristiques de la population disposant d'une offre élargie sont maintenant connues avec précision.In 2001 the “Médiamétrie” organization introduced the “MédiaCabSat” tool specifically to obtain audience ratings for cable and satellite channels as a response to the important demands represented by the growing number of theme-based channels. TV metering was introduced which records viewing habits and figures for the whole year, with an automatic identification of the channels watched. At first, the panel was made up of 830 homes including the 480 homes of the Mediamat panel which receive the larger choice of channels. The sample audience has to be representative of the various channel packages on offer and was defined using a national audience survey study involving over 75 000 respondents. To ensure statistic reliability even though the sample audience was relatively small and a large number of channels were covered by the survey , the choice was made to produce cumulated results over a six-month period. Now the main characteristics of the This has facilitated the obtention of precise information on the characteristics of the audience receiving the larger channel packages. (shrink)

“Irregular auditing” are actions taken by an auditor during an engagement that reduce evidence-gathering effectiveness inappropriately. The paper presents the results of an empirical study of the reasons given by auditors for their own irregular auditing. It is based on a questionnaire survey of 170 audit seniors working in Big Four audit firms in France. The study uses Schlenker’s (1997) triangle model of responsibility as the theoretical framework to analyze the respondents’ explanations of their behavior.