The French philosopher Renaud Barbaras remarked that late in Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s career, “The phenomenology of perception fulfills itself as a philosophy of expression.” In _Tracing Expression in Merleau-Ponty: Aesthetics, Philosophy of Biology, and Ontology, _Véronique M. Fóti_ _addresses the guiding yet neglected theme of expression in Merleau-Ponty’s thought. She traces Merleau-Ponty’s ideas about how individuals express creative or artistic impulses through his three essays on aesthetics, his engagement with animality and the “new biology” in the second of his lecture courses (...) on nature of 1957–58, and in his late ontology, articulated in 1964 in the fragmentary text of _Le visible et l’invisible _. With the exception of a discussion of Merleau-Ponty’s 1945 essay “Cezanne’s Doubt,” Fóti engages with Merleau-Ponty’s late and final thought, with close attention to both his scientific and philosophical interlocutors, especially the continental rationalists. Expression shows itself, in Merleau-Ponty’s thought, to be primordial, and this innate and fundamental nature of expression has implications for his understanding of artistic creation, science, and philosophy. (shrink)

Veronique Foti delves into the full range of Heideggerian texts to elaborate the problematics of historicity, language, and the structure of disclosure or "manifestation" in connection with the Herman poets whom Heidegger invoked along his path of thinking. Foti's reading of these ports is a probing inquiry into the aesthetic, ethical, and political implications of Heidegger's thought. She knows how technicity and poetizing are opposed yet brought together in Heidegger's hermeneutic phenomenology, how they are both politicized and linked with ethical (...) praxis, and how technicity, poetizing, and praxis cannot be dissevered from Heidegger's essential thinking. (shrink)

Clinical ethics has developed significantly in Europe over the past 15 years and remains an evolving process. While sharing our experiences in different European settings, we were surprised to discover marked differences in our practice, especially regarding the position and role of patients. In this paper, we describe these differences, such as patient access to and participation or representation in ethics consults. We propose reasons to explain these differences, hypothesizing that they relate to the historic and sociocultural context of implementation (...) of clinical ethics consultation services (Cecs), as well as the initial aims for which each structure was established. Then, we analyse those differences with common ethical arguments arising in patient involvement. We conclude that there is no unique model of best practice for patient involvement in clinical ethics, as far as Cecs reflect on how to deal with the challenging ethical issues raised by patient role and position. (shrink)

When describing motion along both the horizontal and vertical axes, languages from different families express the elements encoding verticality before those coding for horizontality (e.g., going up right instead of right up). In light of the motor grounding of language, the present study investigated whether the prevalence of verticality in Path expression also governs the trajectory of arm biological movements. Using a 3D virtual-reality setting, we tracked the kinematics of hand pointing movements in five spatial directions, two of which implied (...) the vertical and horizontal vectors equally (i.e., up right +45° and bottom right −45°). Movement onset could be prompted by visual or auditory verbal cues, the latter being canonical in French (“en haut à droite”/up right) or not (“à droite en haut”/right up). In two experiments, analyses of the index finger kinematics revealed a significant effect of gravity, with earlier acceleration, velocity, and deceleration peaks for upward (+45°) than downward (−45°) movements, irrespective of the instructions. Remarkably, confirming the linguistic observations, we found that vertical kinematic parameters occurred earlier than horizontal ones for upward movements, both for visual and congruent verbal cues. Non-canonical verbal instructions significantly affected this temporal dynamic: for upward movements, the horizontal and vertical components temporally aligned, while they reversed for downward movements where the kinematics of the vertical axis was delayed with respect to that of the horizontal one. This temporal dynamic is so deeply anchored that non-canonical verbal instructions allowed for horizontality to precede verticality only for movements that do not fight against gravity. Altogether, our findings provide new insights into the embodiment of language by revealing that linguistic path may reflect the organization of biological movements, giving priority to the vertical axis. (shrink)

Cooking and earthenware pots in Byzantium. This study presents in a synoptic manner the utensiles for culinary use, the pots for preserves, the jars for storage, and other small kitchen equipment utilized at the hearth and in the storeroom in an urban and rural framework during the Macedonian, Comnenian, and Paleologian periods. The joint examination of ceramics discovered at sites in Greece, in Thrace, and in Anatolia, and various written sources in which pots and jars are mentioned, allows, on the (...) one hand, establishing an inventory of the diverse types of utensiles employed in the Byzantine empire, and, one the other, replacing the objects in their functional context. (shrink)

Relate to Heidegger On the Essence of Truth Relate to Merleau-Ponty The Visible and the Invisible.

CONCLUSION. Ce qu'on a appelé les «deux versants» de la pensée de l'inten- tionnalité: d'une part pensée descriptive de l'essence de la conscience, d'autre part pensée de la vie de l'âme, identifiée à la vie de l'être même, ont ainsi été ...

Compromises are arrived at when, in spite of the efforts of those participating to mediate and defend their position in a rationally acceptable manner, each remains with his judgment while, at the same time, a decision must be made without further delay. What this means is that the parties agree to an option about which they are not, in their heart of hearts, entirely convinced. This article examines the notion of moral compromise, concentrating thereby on the case of political praxis. (...) It asks whether, in view of the complexity and multiplicity of morally relevant decisions encountered in a pluralist society, it is at all realistic to expect much else from political institutions than what Rawls dismissively refers to as a modus vivendi and whether a conception of justice that is true or reasonable only given the reasonable pluralism of comprehensive doctrines is still a conception of justice, and not simply a compromise between the contending doctrines. (shrink)

Human adults are thought to possess two dissociable systems to represent numbers: an approximate quantity system akin to a mental number line, and a verbal system capable of representing numbers exactly. Here, we study the interface between these two systems using an estimation task. Observers were asked to estimate the approximate numerosity of dot arrays. We show that, in the absence of calibration, estimates are largely inaccurate: responses increase monotonically with numerosity, but underestimate the actual numerosity. However, insertion of a (...) few inducer trials, in which participants are explicitly (and sometimes misleadingly) told that a given display contains 30 dots, is sufficient to calibrate their estimates on the whole range of stimuli. Based on these empirical results, we develop a model of the mapping between the numerical symbols and the representations of numerosity on the number line. (shrink)

Are there distinctively political values? Certain egalitarians seem to think that equality is one such value. Scheffler 's contribution to the symposium seeks to articulate a division of moral labour between norms of personal morality and the principles of justice that regulate social institutions, and using this suggests that the egalitarian critique of Rawls can be deflected. In this paper, instead, I question the status of equality as an intrinsic value. I argue that an egalitarianism which focuses on the status (...) of equality as valuable in itself embraces a theory of value with the worst elements of utilitarianism while leaving behind any of the intuitive appeal that utilitarianism has. In its place I press that we need a political conception of egalitarianism which stresses the role of equality as a political ideal without presupposing any values with which we engage beyond those found in the norms of personal morality. (shrink)

Is the principal concern of political philosophy the source of political authority? And, if so, can this source be located in individual consent? In this article I draw on Rousseau to answer the second question negatively; and in rejecting that answer, why we might answer the first question in the negative as well. We should be concerned with questions of legitimacy rather than with the source of authority and political obligation. Our principal concern, that is, should be with the question (...) how well political institutions meet the needs of individuals. I pursue these issues in the context of interpreting Rousseau's distinctive contribution to political thought. I start out by asking the question ‘What problem is the General Will designed to solve?’ I argue that Rousseau's challenge to Hobbes represents a crucial step in the move from the source of authority and political obligation to a focus on legitimacy. (shrink)

Humans possess two nonverbal systems capable of representing numbers, both limited in their representational power: the first one represents numbers in an approximate fashion, and the second one conveys information about small numbers only. Conception of exact large numbers has therefore been thought to arise from the manipulation of exact numerical symbols. Here, we focus on two fundamental properties of the exact numbers as prerequisites to the concept of EXACT NUMBERS : the fact that all numbers can be generated by (...) a successor function and the fact that equality between numbers can be defined in an exact fashion. We discuss some recent findings assessing how speakers of Munduruc (an Amazonian language), and young Western children (3-4 years old) understand these fundamental properties of numbers. (shrink)

« L'année internationale de la famille », célébrée en 1994, fut l'occasion de toute une série de manifestations, colloques et publications. La revue Politis a consacré un numéro spécial à la famille en décembre 1994 - janvier 1995, tout comme Sciences Humaines et Chronique féministe. Bon nombre d'articles s'apparentent à des bilans de la politique familiale française à l'heure où le deuxième septennat de François Mitterrand s'achève. La gauche a-t-elle transformé les orientations princ...

En varios escritos de ciencias políticas, filosofía política, historia y antropología política, la cuestión de la visibilidad ha adquirido un lugar central dentro de los debates relativos a la ciudadanía multicultural. En estas páginas, trataré de esclarecer los procesos de construcción cultural que están en juego en el Caribe colombiano de hoy, a través del caso de Santa Marta, tomando prestado el modelo evolutivo de la ciudadanía propuesto por T.H. Marshall. En este modelo, la fase cultural resulta ser la última (...) de una cadena de reivindicaciones hacia un reconocimiento por parte del Estado-nación. Sin embargo, este marco sigue reproduciendo y obscureciendo una primacía fenomenológica inherente a la concepción derivada de la modernidad política, en donde el sentido de la vista – y el término resultante de “visibilidad”– se ha vuelto el único modo de categorización. En este artículo, se pretende demostrar cómo el caso de la producción de una forma de ciudadanía cultural por medio de “lo afro” en la ciudad de Santa Marta, interrumpe actualmente esta cadena fenomenológico-política, y nos faculta para imaginar otras modalidades sensoriales que lleguen a ser parte integrante de una práctica ciudadana “multicultural”. (shrink)

Cet article est consacré à l’étude de la mémoire des animaux dans les commentaires latins au De memoria et reminiscentia d’Aristote de la fin du xiii e siècle. Il s’intéresse plus particulièrement au lien entre mémoire et mouvement chez les animaux supérieurs. Contre une approche mécaniste qui explique les mouvements des animaux comme une réponse à un stimulus extérieur, l’argument central consiste à montrer qu’il est possible de trouver le motif présidant à leurs mouvements dans leur expérience, et qu’ainsi le (...) rapport entre mémoire et mouvement devrait faire l’objet d’une réévaluation. Dans cet article, nous tâchons de défendre une approche intentionnelle du mouvement et de la mémoire animale, s’appuyant sur l’opération de l’estimative, et mettant en lumière la rationalité des comportements animaux. (shrink)

Gallagher hardly refers to the central issue of the phenomenological reduction, and he perpetuates the historical blunder of Chisholm, misinterpreting Husserlian intentionality as linguistic intensionality. This misunderstanding opens the way to a “naturalization” of phenomenology, which misses the very method of the phenomenological reduction as well as the essential dimension of subjective lived experience.

Face à la sidération provoquée par la pandémie, devant l’incertitude des lendemains et un avenir anxiogène, il est nécessaire plus que jamais de mettre en valeur l’importance de nos affects, de nos émotions, et de retrouver du lien. Les ateliers d’écriture à l’hôpital et en Ehpad sont emblématiques de la place cruciale l’artiste, de l’écrivain, dans les lieux où résident les populations vulnérables. Il ne s’agit pas de saupoudrer une activité vaguement socio culturelle, afin de légitimer la place de l’art (...) dans la cité grâce à des intervenants bienveillants… mais d’inventer de véritables situations à l’intérieur desquelles prendra forme une communauté de dialogue. Le quatuor formé par le soignant, le patient, le parent (en pédiatrie), et l’auteure, instaure une dimension sensible qui viendra adoucir, transformer la médecine traditionnelle fondée sur le diagnostic et les traitements. (shrink)

The moral dilemma at the heart of the theory of just war stems from the contradiction between two opposing duties: on the one hand, the duty to provide aid, as far as possible, to those whose lives are endangered; and, on the other hand, the duty not to endanger the lives of the innocent. The theory of just war resolves this dilemma, firstly by privileging one of these two duties over the other; and secondly, by imposing conditions on justification concerning (...) the principle of discrimination against civilian populations and the principle of proportionality. The principle of proportionality thus acts as a moral constraint on justification. Nevertheless, the notion of proportion still remains vague. The present paper examines the sense and function of this notion, and analyses the underpinnings of its ethical foundation. (shrink)

After the ‘empirical turn’ in bioethics, few specific approaches have been developed for doing clinical ethics research in close connection with clinical decision-making on a daily basis. In this paper we describe the ‘committed researcher’ approach to research in clinical ethics that we have developed over the years. After comparing it to two similar research methodological approaches, the ‘embedded researcher’ and ‘deliberative engagement’, we highlight its main features: it is patient-oriented, it is implemented by collegial and multidisciplinary teams, it uses (...) an ethical grid to build the interview guide, and it is geared towards bringing the results to bear on the public debate surrounding the issue at stake. Finally, we position our methodological approach with respect to the ‘is vs. ought’ distinction. We argue that our ‘commitment researcher’ approach to clinical ethics research takes concerned people’s life-building values as the main data, and compares them to the larger normative framework underlying the medical practice at stake. (shrink)

Although pragmatism and feminism share a number of key features, pragmatist philosophy has had little influence on feminist thought. This article explores the reasons for this failed rendezvous. Focusing particularly on Rorty’s neo-pragmatism, it is argued that neo-pragmatism’s lack of an adequate political theory, particularly regarding key issues in current feminist theory such as the conceptualization of the relations between the public and private spheres and the understanding of subjectivity, is a particularly important factor here. Earlier versions of pragmatist thought, (...) however, might make more useful contributions to current feminist debates, particularly on the issues of rationality and ethics of care. (shrink)

L’exploration archéologique du site de l’Arkipiskopi dans la vieille ville de Nicosie, conduite par Fryni Hadjichristofi et son équipe (Département des Antiquités de Chypre) de 2009 à 2011 puis en 2016, a mis au jour les vestiges d’un puits à roue élévatrice appelé à Chypre αλακάτιν/alakatin et plus habituellement connu dans le monde méditerranéen sous le nom de sakieh. S’il en existe des exemplaires plus anciens dans l’île, c’est la première machine hydraulique à traction animale permettant de puiser l’eau dans (...) un puits profond fouillée à Nicosie pour les époques latine, ottomane et anglaise. Cette étude entend d’abord examiner et interpréter les vestiges de ces structures au regard des informations livrées par des documents d’archives et des récits de voyageurs, des dessins de la fin du xvie et du début du xviiie siècle, un plan de 1882 et le cadastre de 1948, afin d’en mieux saisir les contextes de fonctionnement sur une longue durée. Elle présente aussi les godets de terre fixés sur la roue pour le puisage de l’eau et qui, à de rares exceptions, ont complètement échappé aux études céramologiques conduites dans l’île. (shrink)