Yves R. Simon (1903-1961) was one of this century’s greatest students of the virtue of practical wisdom. Simon’s interest in this virtue ranged from ultimate theoretical and foundational concerns, such as the relationship between practical knowledge and science, to the most concrete and immediate questions regarding the role of practical wisdom in personal and social decision-making. These concerns occupied Simon from his earliest published writing to the final notes and correspondence he was working on at the moment of his (...) untimely death. Throughout his life, practical wisdom and its related philosophical ramifications emerge time and again at critical junctures, throwing into bold relief some of the deeper dimensions of questions as diverse as the nature of democracy, the concept of law, and the theory of work. Practical knowledge constitutes a unifying motif of Simon’s entire encyclopedic effort. This volume reconstructs what would have been Simon’s final sustained writing on practical knowledge. It includes reworking of some previously published material, especially the landmark 1961 essay, "Introduction to the Study of Practical Wisdom," possibly the best treatment of the concept of "command" in recent philosophical writing. But it also reproduces, in a form closely corresponding to Simon’s intention, material drawn from notes and schemata, concerning issues such as the relationship between moral science and wisdom, the nature of practical judgment, and the relationship between practical knowledge and Christian moral philosophy. Also included are previously unpublished letters to Jacques Maritain on the controversy surrounding the theoretical-practical and practico-practical syllogisms, as well as Maritain’s responses. The volume concludes with applications of Simon’s general theory to a critique of the concept of a social science and to the notion of Christian humanism. This volume will appeal to moral philosophers interested in a range of normative issues, as well as social scientists and readers concerned with the philosophical foundations of modern culture. Virtue moralist, in particular, will find in Simon one of the profoundest commentators on this tradition in normative ethics. (shrink)

Presents essays describing the author's impressions of art and architectural works.

INTRODUCTION Beyond Dissociations Reassembling the mind-brain after all? Yves Rossetti Antti Revonsuo "Comme des banes de poissons de meme espece, ...

En interrogeant les rapports en philosophie et politique à l'âge classique, de la fin du XVIe siècle à la fin du XVIIIe, ce livre entend mettre en évidence la teneur philosophique des concepts politiques qui émergent à cette époque ou y font l'objet d'une définition renouvelée. Cete démarche consiste à réactiver une interrogation sur les présuppositions et les implications métaphysiques de ces concepts. Une question ne peut dès lors manquer de surgir : en quoi la politique a-t-elle besoin de la (...) métaphysique? C'est en vue de répondre à cette question qu'Y.C. Zarka examine le cadre métaphysique explicite ou implicite dans lequel s'inscrit la réflexion politique. Il aborde ensuite certains des concepts majeurs de la pensée politique de l'âge classique dans un parcours qui mène du renouvellement de l'idée de république à la philosophie de la liberté, en passant par la fondation philosophique de la notion de tolérance. Ce livre relève d'une historiographie philosophique où l'érudition n'est plus une simple conversation du patrimoine culturel, mais se trouve animée d'un ressort nouveau qui associe au souci de l'exactitude historique celui de la spéculation philosophique. (shrink)

The success of the stakeholder theory in management literature as well as in current business practices is largely due to the inherent simplicity of the stakeholder model-and to the clarity of Freeman's powerful synthesised visual conceptualisation. However, over the years, critics have attacked the vagueness and ambiguity of stakeholder theory. In this article, rather than building on the discussion from a theoretical point of view, a radically different and innovative approach is chosen: the graphical framework is used as the central (...) perspective. The major shortcomings of the popular stakeholder framework are systematically confronted with the graphical scheme to illustrate their visual impact. The graphical illustrations of the imperfections help explain the sometimes-oversimplified generalisation inherent to every graphical model. They also make some interrelationships easier to understand. The analysis demonstrates that, with the tacit but implicit acceptance of simplification of the discussed explanatory elements, Freeman's framework remains a rather good approximation of reality. Only a few minor changes to the stakeholder model are consequently proposed. (shrink)

Niccolò Machiavelli is the most prominent and notorious theorist of violence in the history of European political thought - prominent, because he is the first to candidly discuss the role of violence in politics; and notorious, because he treats violence as virtue rather than as vice. In this original interpretation, Yves Winter reconstructs Machiavelli's theory of violence and shows how it challenges moral and metaphysical ideas. Winter attributes two central theses to Machiavelli: first, violence is not a generic technology (...) of government but a strategy that tends to correlate with inequality and class conflict; and second, violence is best understood not in terms of conventional notions of law enforcement, coercion, or the proverbial 'last resort', but as performance. Most political violence is effective not because it physically compels another agent who is thus coerced; rather, it produces political effects by appealing to an audience. As such, this book shows how in Machiavelli's world, violence is designed to be perceived, experienced, remembered, and narrated. (shrink)

Yves Lemoine et Jean-Pierre Mignard s'interrogent sur les origines du Droit dans nos sociétés, sur les grandes traditions dont il est issu et sur ses évolutions intellectuelles en Occident. Si leur cheminement passe par l'étude de grandes figures telles que Francisco de Vitoria, Erasme, Thomas More, Portalis, l'abbé Grégoire, William Wilberforce, ou encore René Cassin, leur questionnement sur Athènes et Rome initie une réflexion sur l'humanisme juridique. L'idée que le Droit se réfère à un état supérieur d'Etre et que (...) le droit naturel fonde notre vie en société. Le Défi d'Antigone prévient du danger de former de jeunes juristes à être des marchands de droit et non des jurisconsultes : n'oubliez pas d'où vous venez... N'oubliez pas non plus où vous allez... (shrink)

Recent academic articles point to an increased vagueness and overlap in concepts related to business ethics and corporate responsibility. Further, the perception of these notions can differ in the smallbusiness world from the original academic definitions. This article focuses on the cognition of small-business owner-managers. Given the impact of small-business owner-managers on their ventures, corporate responsibility and ethical issues can take a different route in SMEs. The small-business owner-manager is able to shape the corporate culture and to enact values other (...) than profit. Adopting a cognitive perspective, we have identified how the small-business owner-manager makes sense of notions linked to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business ethics. The concept of sensemaking has recently been applied to CSR (Basu and Pallazzo, 2008; Cramer et al., 2006). Applying a cognitive perspective to small-business owners may help in explaining specific phenomena found within smallbusiness ownership. For this research, the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT) is used, a method that has not previously been widely applied in the business and society field. Our findings to an extent invalidate the confusion in terminology found in the academic literature. Smallbusiness owner-managers, pragmatically and rather clearly, differentiate among the various concepts related to corporate responsibility and business ethics but, at the same time, they recognise the interrelationships and interdependencies of these concepts. These findings contribute to a better understanding of how small-business owners think and integrate corporate responsibility and ethical issues into their decisionmaking. (shrink)

In our global economy knowledge-based industry is takingmore importance. Recent years have seen the success of anincreasing number of start-up companies, most technology-basedenterprises financed by private persons or companies, or through venture capital funds and public offering. In manyyears, those companies are faced at certain critical momentswith matters involving intellectual property rights, insiderinformation and raising money. These facts all have an ethicaldimension. There is an increasing need for ethical behaviourfrom all parties involved. A code of conduct of all partiesshould be (...) applied. This paper describes the growth processof a company and the valuation of an innovation project. Itwill overview a number of ethical issues, at different stagesin the innovation business, and in the lifetime of a start-upcompany, such as the problems of intellectual property, theconfidentiality of information, the negotiation processbetween the entrepreneur and the financier, the marketingof raising funds and of an IPO, and finally the informationand insider trading. The paper concludes with aplea for increased ethical ethical behaviour and the needfor rules of best practice for all parties: the inventor,the entrepreneur, the financial investor, and other stakeholders. (shrink)

This article reflects on the skills required in trades services to people dedicated to coordinate services in complex clinical situations because of their multidimensionality and chronicity. All human activity requires for its proper effectuation, the coordination of interdependencies between actors. Coordination of interdependencies is done in ordinary mode, in everyday activities, but also in dedicated mode, that is to say, through a practice that has a primary mandate to manage them in a conscious, voluntary and accountable for intervention situations whose (...) complexity is high. This passage from the ordinary form in the form of dedicated coordination undertakes a transformation of skills and professional knowledge mobilized in the professional gesture. Further skills and knowledge relating to the disciplinary control of clinical objects, the case manager or professional figure who best embodies this form of coordination, should mobilize expertise and procedural knowledge (assessment, planning, communication, negotiation, activation networks, etc..) required to control the interfaces between technical systems and professional and organizational actors, posing as the interdependence of actants primary purpose in work. For this he must do it in a time of temporality combining organizational project in clinical time. e présent article réfléchit aux compétences requises dans les métiers de services aux personnes dédiés à coordonner les services dans les situations cliniques complexes en raison de leur multi-dimensionnalité et leur chronicité. Toute activité humaine exige, pour sa bonne effectuation, la coordination des interdépendances entre les acteurs concernés. La coordination des interdépendances se réalise en mode ordinaire, dans les activités de tous les jours, mais aussi en mode dédié, c’est-à-dire à travers une pratique qui a pour mandat principal de les gérer de manière consciente, volontaire et imputable pour les situations d’intervention dont la complexité est grande. Ce passage de la forme ordinaire à la forme dédiée de coordination engage une transformation des compétences et savoirs professionnels mobilisés dans le geste professionnel. En outre des compétences et savoirs relatifs à la maîtrise des objets cliniques disciplinaires, le gestionnaire de cas, soit la figure professionnelle qui incarne le mieux cette modalité de coordination, doit mobiliser des compétences et savoirs procéduraux (évaluation, planification, communication, négociation, activation de réseaux, etc.) requis à la maîtrise des interfaces entre systèmes techniques et acteurs professionnels et organisationnels, en posant l’interdépendance des actants comme objet premier de son action professionnelle. Pour cela, il doit effectuer cette dernière dans une temporalité conjuguant le temps du projet organisationnel au temps clinique. (shrink)

This article discusses plant-closing decisions by multinational enterprises applying a stakeholder theory approach. In particular, we focus on the emergence of “intra-stakeholder alliances,” that is, alliances among the various stakeholder groups of a specific corporation. We analyze the emergence of stakeholder alliances in reaction to MNEs' decisions to terminate production locally and discuss their influence on the outcomes of such decisions. Our research is inspired by two exceptional case studies of two multinational breweries that announced their decisions to close niche (...) breweries in small towns in Italy and Belgium. In both cases, the initial decision was ultimately reversed through the actions of intra-stakeholder alliances. We combine insights from stakeholder theory and the social movement literature to analyze the action and influence of intra-stakeholder alliances in seven cases of plant-closing decisions. We conclude by formulating four general propositions that can provide guidance to MNE management in plant-closing decisions. Our findings extend managerial stakeholder theory, show how this approach can improve strategic management analysis, emphasize the importance of the relationships among stakeholders in the value-creation process, and shed light on the collective action and influence of intra-stakeholder alliances. (shrink)

First published in 1962, this classic study examines the relationship between authority and justice, life, truth, and order. Simon, himself a passionate proponent of liberty, defends authority as an essential concomitant of liberty.

CITéS. — Yves Lacoste, vous avez commencé votre carrière de géographe en vous intéressant au Tiers Monde et en publiant à ce sujet – vous n’avez d’ailleurs jamais cessé de publier sur des aspects variés des pays en voie de développement –, vous avez ensuite contribué à donner ses lettres de noblesse à la géopolitique – c’est toute l’aventure..

Stakeholder literature has acknowledged the need to complement the extant theory on stakeholder management by more dynamic perspectives. This article makes use of the recent terminology of stakewatcher and stakeseeker to illustrate the dynamic aspect of stakeholder theory transposed in the graphical representation of Freeman’s stakeholder model. Presenting a few selected case studies, it applies the scheme on the concept of value responsibility chain; it exemplifies the role of stakeseekers in various forms of activism, from shareholders, NGOs and government, in (...) the stakeholder mobilisation process. This article clarifies how stakewatchers and stakeseekers can profoundly affect stakeholder salience, especially in crises. The transposition and integration of the dynamic aspect of stakeholder theory into the graphical representation strengthen the forceful pedagogical value of the Freeman’s stakeholder graphical model. (shrink)

In 2007, a private corporation specializing in deep-sea salvage retrieved a treasure-laden shipwreck in international waters southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. The wreck was that of a Spanish warship that sunk during the Napoleonic wars. Following the discovery, a legal dispute arose in U.S. federal courts, between the corporate salvors, the Kingdom of Spain, and other litigants. At issue in the legal proceedings was the status of the shipwreck and whether it was protected by sovereign immunity. At the heart of (...) this case are differing political imaginations concerning the authority of states and the role of corporations in the contemporary global order. Through a close reading of court documents and the narratives in which the courts’ rulings are embedded, we demonstrate that the case is symptomatic of the tension in neoliberal sovereignty between two overlapping and at times competing political rationalities: the neoliberal logic of capital and commerce and the logic of sovereign prerogative. (shrink)

By creating new ventures and new job opportunities venture capital is essential to a dynamic economy. But it should also be fair and ethical at every stage. Professor Fassin explores the various ethical issues which arise between venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and investors. He teaches at the University of Mons and has written widely on management. From 1988‐1991 he was Secretary General of the European Venture Capital Association. He is partner of the Veerick School of Management of the University of Ghent.

L'humanisme n'est pas le propre des esprits passéistes. Faute de savoir prédire quels humains nous serons suite au déferlement technologique et scientifique en cours, l'humanisme vise à réinscrire l'homme dans son histoire. Longue quête en faveur de la nécessaire rénovation de la pensée humaniste pour s'adapter au nouveau monde en train de se structurer sous nos yeux, tout en s'opposant à la « chosification » en cours de l'humain. En réponse à ce travail d'analyse et de compréhension d'un quotidien en (...) rapide évolution, le Professeur Escande recommande dans sa préface : « à ceux qui se sentiraient une âme d'humanistes en voie de recomposition que de travailler ce qu'Yves Bannel leur a concocté de profond et précis pour remettre leurs réflexions dans le sillon du monde neuf ». Après "Les Nouvelles voies de l'Ethique"(2013) qui décode le monde contemporain à travers le prisme de l'éthique, puis "La crise Identitaire (2014) qui suit les méandres du ressenti identitaire et "La construction du sens" (2015), recherche personnelle et responsable du sens des choses, ce nouvel essai pose une question de pleine actualité : « L'Humanisme reste-t-il un concept d'actualité? » question à laquelle il essaye de répondre avec lucidité et sans excessive illusion. (shrink)

Christoph Jäger has argued that Dretske’s information-based account of knowledge is committed to both knowledge and information closure under known entailment. However, in a reply to Jäger, Dretske defended his view on the basis of a discrepancy between the relation of information and the relation of logical implication. This paper shares Jäger’s criticism that Dretske’s externalist notion of information implies closure, but provides an analysis based on different grounds. By means of a distinction between two perspectives, the mathematical perspective and (...) the epistemological perspective, I present, in the former, a notion of logical implication that is compatible with the notion of information in the mathematical theory of information, and I show how, in the latter, Dretske’s logical reading of the closure principle is incompatible with his information-theoretic epistemological framework. (shrink)

Les systèmes éducatifs sont en pleine mutation. Ceci rend d’autant plus urgent de réfléchir sur les fondements, les enjeux et les stratégies de l’acte éducatif. Pour faciliter cette réflexion, ce livre propose une grille analytique qui permet de comprendre les enjeux de différentes propositions de changement et ainsi d’avoir des points de repère pour prendre des décisions judicieuses. Cet ouvrage comprend de nombreux tableaux explicatifs qui permettent d’accéder rapidement au coeur des principales philosophies contemporaines de l’éducation. Quand nous parlons de (...) l’acte éducatif, nous faisons référence à quatre grandes intentions, orientations différentes ou composantes prioritaires : connaître, apprendre, agir, devenir. Habituellement, les enseignants et les chercheurs mettent l’accent sur une de ces intentions quand vient le temps de définir une pédagogie ou un projet de changement pédagogique. Ce livre s’adresse aux parents qui veulent savoir de quoi il en retourne dans le monde contemporain de l’éducation. Il s’adresse également aux futurs enseignants afin de les aider à effectuer les meilleurs choix de stratégies éducatives. Il sera aussi très utile pour les professeurs qui veulent éclaircir les fondements des options éducatives et pédagogiques de leurs cours et de leurs programmes. (shrink)

Cet article tente de démontrer que l’un des plus grands défis qui se posent aux conseillers en éthique organisationnelle est l’élaboration d’un projet d’éthique des affaires qui soit assez convaincant pour persuader les entrepreneurs et les gestionnaires de l’intérêt de l’intégrer à la culture de leur entreprise. Un authentique projet d’éthique des affaires devrait être en mesure de faire comprendre aux entrepreneurs que le questionnement sur le sens des valeurs qui guident leurs organisations ne peut plus être différé : la (...) conjoncture contemporaine y est favorable et le contexte politique actuel l’exige. Il ne s’agit cependant plus de concevoir l’éthique comme une simple technique de gestion de l’image corporative, mais d’en intégrer les valeurs à la culture « managériale », à la « culture vécue » des organisations. (shrink)

Cette etude a pour but d'etablir que l'epistemologie developpee par Kant dans la Critique de la raison pure est holiste. Pour ce faire, nous construirons, dans la Partie I, un cadre conceptuel permettant de definir ce qui peut caracteriser un systeme holiste. La Partie II sera consacree a l'examen de la Critique de la raison pure selon ce cadre conceptuel. Enfin, apres avoir montre que les developpements epistemologiques majeurs de la premiere Critique satisfont les conditions du cadre holiste, nous mettrons (...) en relief, dans la Partie III, les fondements et les implications de la forme de holisme particuliere a l'epistemologie kantienne. Au terme de cette etude, la Theorie des elements de la Critique de la raison pure manifestera une unite fondamentale faisant de l'Esthetique, de l'Analytique et de la Dialectique trois moments d'un mouvement regressif de plus en plus totalisant et dont le point d'achevement se trouve dans l'analyse de l'ideal transcendantal. (shrink)

Les années 1970, pendant lesquelles se construit la discipline des Sciences de l'information et de la communication , sont d'intenses années de développement de la sémiologie et de la sémiotique, suivant des voies diverses, engageant des redéfinitions profondes. Les sémiologues se sont employés alors à expliciter les questions que posent notre relation aux signes et notre prétention à les analyser. De cette histoire, qui a marqué la réflexion de chercheurs ensuite impliqués dans les SIC et qui avait déjà explicité bien (...) des difficultés avec lesquelles celles-ci sont aux prises, l'historiographie de la discipline porte peu de traces, car elle privilégie une sémiologie plus ancienne, simplifiée et présentée comme un moment dépassé de la recherche. L'article évoque quelques-unes des évolutions que connaissait l'aventure sémiologique pendant que les SIC s'institutionnalisaient.The 1970s, during which builds the discipline of Information Science and Communication are intense years of development of semiology and semiotics, following different routes, involving profound redefinitions. Semiologists were then used to clarify the issues raised by our relationship with our signs and pretend to analyze. Of this story, which marked the reflection researchers then involved in CIS and had already explained many difficulties with which they are struggling, the historiography of the discipline bears few traces because it favors a more semiology old, simplified and presented as a time beyond research. The article discusses some of the developments that knew semiological adventure while SIC institutionalized. (shrink)