We point out a simple but hitherto ignored link between the theoryof updates, the theory of counterfactuals, and classical modal logic: update is a classicalexistential modality, counterfactual is a classical universalmodality, and the accessibility relations corresponding to these modalities are inverses. The Ramsey Rule (often thought esoteric) is simply an axiomatisation of this inverse relationship. We use this fact to translate between rules for updates andrules for counterfactuals. Thus, Katsuno and Mendelzons postulatesU1--U8 are translated into counterfactual rules C1--C8(Table VII), and (...) many of the familiar counterfactual rulesare translated into rules for updates (Table VIII). Ourconclusions are summarised in Table V. (shrink)

The popularity of the stakeholder model has been achieved thanks to its powerful visual scheme and its very simplicity. Stakeholder management has become an important tool to transfer ethics to management practice and strategy. Nevertheless, legitimate criticism continues to insist on clarification and emphasises on the perfectible nature of the model. Here, rather than building on the discussion from a philosophical or theoretical point of view, a different and innovative approach has been chosen: the analysis will return to the origin (...) of stakeholder theory and will keep the graphical framework firmly in perspective. It will confront the stakeholder model’s graphical representation to the discussion on stakeholder definition, stakeholder identification and categorisation, to re-centre the debate to the strategic origin of the stakeholder model. The ambiguity and the vagueness of the stakeholder concept are discussed from managerial and legal approaches. The impacts of two major shortcomings of the popular stakeholder framework are examined: the boundaries and the level of the firm’s environment, and the ambivalent position of pressure groups and regulators. Working pragmatically, with a focus on the managerial and organisational perspective, an attempt is made to clarify the categorisations and classifications by introducing new terminology with a distinction between stakeholders, stakewatchers and stakekeepers. The analysis will finally lead to a proposed upgraded and refined version of the stakeholder model, with incremental ameliorations close to Freeman’s original model and a return of focus to its essence, the managerial implications in a strategic approach. (shrink)

Despite the recent increase in interest in corporate social responsibility and the propagation of corporate governance in both business and academic literature, from observations of actual practice, the author has seen at all company levels, in everyday operations, instances of non-ethical behaviour vis-à-vis the whole gamut of stakeholders. This state of affairs is linked with: pressure from stakeholders, short-term tactics, hegemony of financial considerations, ‘juridisation’ of business, the tyranny of communications and the media and the difficulties in translating strategy into (...) practical implementation. The paper scrutinises the motivation and the psychology of entrepreneurs and business people, and their behaviour is compared to other professional groups and confronted with the decline in ethics in society as described by some important observers. The conclusion drawn is that the recent positive evolutions do not provide sufficient ethical guidelines for the day-to-day activities of middle managers and entrepreneurs in the present competitive environment. Managers will always be confronted by difficult choices with ethical dilemmas. There will always be a tension between theory and pragmatism, but progress can be made with the effective implementation of the ethical discourse in companies. To achieve this, ethical management should not be confined to the large strategic issues but also applied to the small practical matters of everyday business life. Ethics in business and entrepreneurship requires more than corporate governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR). (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.

This research advances our understanding of the manifestation of tensions and ethical issues in entrepreneurial finance. In doing so, we offer an overview of ethics in entrepreneurship and finance, delineating the curious paucity of research at their intersection. Using twelve vignettes, we put forward the asymmetries between entrepreneurs and investors and discuss a set of ethical problems that arise among key actors centring on the dynamics of venture partner entry and exit, applying the multiple-lens ethical perspective to analyse these issues. (...) This analysis culminates in the introduction of a general classification scheme for ethical problems across venture partners. Our analysis highlights the moral dimension inherent in the entry and exit of venture partners and the importance of considering moral judgement, as well as intention in future analysis of any decision-making. Our study also points to the moral responsibility in finance, especially to the mutual moral responsibilities of investors and entrepreneurs. By integrating ethics into finance, this research also demonstrates that in the case of venture partner exit, an ethical approach and decent governance go beyond compliance to the law. We conclude with implications for practitioners, specifically with some proposals for a solution to the problem of blocked and forced exit. Together, we make several contributions to the literature by integrating ethics, finance and entrepreneurship, and we call for future research to stimulate a growing body of research within this presently overlooked area. (shrink)

Rarely is the problem of the diversity of languages taken into account whenever population groups are formed into States. When the problem does come up, it is later, in a primarily political context which tries to find political solutions, such as we may presently see them in Canada or in Belgium for instance. These solutions are few and they deal with situations that may contain a host of nuances.Certain countries have chosen a vehicular language while keeping their local languages: the (...) common language in the USSR is the language of one of its republics. In Senegal it is French, which is of a totally foreign origin but has the advantage of avoiding the rivalry existing among the native languages, and it also has a place within the international community. Other countries have accepted as official languages the different languages spoken within its borders. Thus Switzerland is officially tri-lingual (French, German, Italian), giving legal status to what somewhere else may simply be an accepted fact. Many Alsatians speak three languages (Alsatian, French, German). As far as it concerns countries with a strong linguistic heterogeneity, whether it be their history or their size making for a centralizing policy, they have adopted, with the resulting neglect of all others, the language or the idiom of the region which was politically or culturally the dominant one at the time of their unification. Pekinese has been extended to all of China, Florentine to Italy, Hindi to India. Some original combinations can be found: in Israel Jewish immigrants who came from more than seventy different countries, have again taken up the nation's old cultural and religious language, which had been out of use for two thousand years, and have placed it on equal footing with Arabic spoken by the local population, while English is being used for international relations. (shrink)

La mondialisation économique qui définit nos sociétés contemporaines comme globales a entraîné une rencontre de la traduction avec les technologies, de façon à les adapter aux diverses situations locales. Dénommée tout d'abord « localisation » dans certains milieux professionnels, cette rencontre s'est vite complexifiée en incluant d'abord l'industrie de l'informatique puis divers marchés , affectant manifestement des secteurs entiers de la communication et de notre organisation sociale. Cet article traite plusieurs des faits marquants de cette rencontre de l'Internet et des (...) nouvelles technologies de l'information et de la communication avec la traduction, qui est devenue une composante majeure de l'internationalisation des produits et des services.Economic globalization that defines our contemporary societies as global resulted in a meeting with the translation technologies, so as to adapt them to different local situations. First called "localization" in some professional circles, this meeting was quickly complicated by including first the computer industry and various markets , Clearly affecting sectors whole communication and social organization. This article discusses several of the highlights of this meeting of the Internet and new information technologies and communications with the translation, which became a major component of the internationalization of products and services. (shrink)

Modern science has qualified human beings as homo sapiens. Is there a serious scientific theory backing this nomenclature? And can we proclaim ourselves as wise? The classical rational animals characterization has apparently the same syntactic form but it is not working exactly in the same way. Moreover the semantics behind is more appropriate, encompassing a pivotal ambiguity. In the second part of the paper, we further delve into this ambiguity, relating rationality with three fundamental features of these creatures: ability to (...) laugh, sexuality and transformation. (shrink)

Hilary Putnam (1926-2016) figure parmi les philosophes américains les plus influents de la seconde moitié du 20e siècle. Il a œuvré dans des domaines aussi variés que la philosophie des sciences, la philosophie du langage, la philosophie de l’esprit, l’épistémologie, la philosophie de la perception, la philosophie des mathématiques et l’éthique. Il est à l’origine de quelques positions très discutées aujourd’hui chez les philosophes (comme le réalisme scientifique, l’externalisme sémantique et le fonctionnalisme en philosophie de l’esprit), ainsi que des principaux (...) arguments en leur faveur. Outre une biographie (section 1) et un résumé de son itinéraire philosophique (section 2), cette entrée propose un aperçu de quelques-unes des contributions les plus significatives de Putnam autour des thèmes suivants : le réalisme scientifique (section 3. a), l’externalisme sémantique (section 3.b), le fonctionnalisme (section 3.c), la réfutation de l’hypothèse sceptique des cerveaux dans une cuve (section 3.d), la critique du réalisme métaphysique et le réalisme interne (section 3.e), le réalisme naturel du commun des mortels (section 3.f), l’argument d’indispensabilité en philosophie des mathématiques (section 3.g) et enfin la critique de la dichotomie fait/valeur (section 3.h). Elle se conclut sur un retour sur l’itinéraire philosophique de Putnam concernant la question du réalisme (section 4). (shrink)

John Corcoran was a very well-known logician who worked on several areas of logic. He produced decisive works giving a better understanding of two major figures in the history of logic, Aristotle and Boole. Corcoran had a close association with Alfred Tarski, a prominent 20th-century logician. This collaboration manifested in Corcoran's substantial introduction to Tarski's seminal book, Logic, Semantics, Metamathematics (1956). Additionally, Corcoran's posthumous editorial involvement in 'What are logical notions?' (1986) breathed new life into this seminal paper authored by (...) Tarski. His scholarly pursuits extended to the intricate explication of fundamental concepts in modern logic, including variables, propositions, truth, consequences, and categoricity. Corcoran's academic curiosity extended further to the intersection of ethics and logic, reflecting his contemplation of their interrelation. Beyond these theoretical contributions, Corcoran was deeply engaged in the pedagogical dimensions of logic instruction. (shrink)

This review aims to identify (1) sources of knowledge and (2) important themes of the ethical debate related to surgical alteration of facial features in East Asians. This article integrates narrative and systematic review methods. In March 2014, we searched databases including PubMed, Philosopher’s Index, Web of Science, Sociological Abstracts, and Communication Abstracts using key terms “cosmetic surgery,” “ethnic*,” “ethics,” “Asia*,” and “Western*.” The study included all types of papers written in English that discuss the debate on rhinoplasty and blepharoplasty (...) in East Asians. No limit was put on date of publication. Combining both narrative and systematic review methods, a total of 31 articles were critically appraised on their contribution to ethical reflection founded on the debates regarding the surgical alteration of Asian features. Sources of knowledge were drawn from four main disciplines, including the humanities, medicine or surgery, communications, and economics. Focusing on cosmetic surgery perceived as a westernising practice, the key debate themes included authenticity of identity, interpersonal relationships and socio-economic utility in the context of Asian culture. The study shows how cosmetic surgery of ethnic features plays an important role in understanding female identity in the Asian context. Based on the debate themes authenticity of identity, interpersonal relationships, and socio-economic utility, this article argues that identity should be understood as less individualistic and more as relational and transformational in the Asian context. In addition, this article also proposes to consider cosmetic surgery of Asian features as an interplay of cultural imperialism and cultural nationalism, which can both be a source of social pressure to modify one’s appearance. (shrink)

Cet article vise à montrer l’extrême proximité entre ces deux mathématiciens-philosophes que furent Gian-Carlo Rota et Gilles Châtelet disparus la même année. Au moins quatre points communs les relient : une philosophie romantique radicale ; une rigueur intellectuelle exemplaire ; une vision affine de la recherche mathématique ; une révolte intérieure exécrant tout sensus communis.This text shows the great proximity between two mathematicianphilosophers, Gilles Châtelet and Gian-Carlo Rota who both died in the same year 1999. There are at least four (...) common points amongst themselves: a radical romantic philosophy; an exemplary intellectual rigor; a great affinity in their vision of mathematical research; an inmost rebellion against all common sense. Quest’articolo tende a mostrare l’estrema prossimità tra due matematici-filosofi che furono Gian-Carlo Rota e Gilles Châtelet che ci hanno lasciato lo stesso anno. Ci sono almeno quattro punti comuni che le legano: una radicale filosofia romantica; un rigore intellettuale esemplare; una visione affine della ricerca matematica; una rivolta intima che esecra ogni senso comune.This article is in French. (shrink)

Toute la philosophie de Leibniz tend essentiellement à réconcilier la raison avec la foi. Ces deux aspects de l'intelligibilité ne doivent point être dissociés sous prétexte d'objectivité ou de révélation. Ni la nature n'est dépourvue de la grâce, ni celle-ci n'est étrangère à la phénoménalité. L'univers présente deux plans distincts mais complémentaires, inexplicables l'un sans l'autre : celui des causes finales et celui des causes efficientes ; vouloir négliger les unes au profit des autres, c'est ne pas accepter les conséquences (...) logiques de la définition de Dieu. La philosophie de Leibniz, c'est surtout la doctrine de la substance et de l'harmonie préétablie, car cet univers qui fait l'objet d'une investigation scientifique, représente une hiérarchie de substances plus ou moins complexes qui justifient, à la fois, le purement phénoménal, ou saisi comme tel, et l'exclusivement ontologique et moral."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

My paper concerns a rather extraordinary generation which arose in France in the 1930s, reacting against Action française which had long infected French Catholic political and social thought. Action française was a line of thought — and a political movement — inspired by Charles Maurras, himself an agnostic, basing his political thinking on a form of naturalism and positivism which clearly divorced politics from religion and ethics. Pope Pius XI forbade the participation of Catholics in that movement in 1926, which (...) was quite a blow and provoked quite an uproar since the majority of Catholic intellectuals were from Action française.The great Thomists of the time in particular and the bishops were reluctant in following the Pope's condemnation. Already the following year however, Jacques Maritain, who had sided with Action française for a long time, rallied to Rome. He contributed to a famous book Rome has spoken . Many followed him. He subsequently changed his basic views, fought for an integration of politics with morality as well as for a certain integration of politics and the Christian message, under the name Humanisme intégral, the title of one of his books. Jacques Maritain was born in 1882, died in 1975. The decisive years of his work are clearly the '30s and early '40s. (shrink)

An argument can be taken as an operation of justification or as the product of this operation. But what about a counter-argument? This article is based on the hypothesis that there exists an operation of argumentative negation, which is both the argumentative and the negative equivalent of the operation of justification. Justification and argumentative negation necessarily act on assertions, for they are active at the level of the epistemic modalities of statements. As an operation, a counter-argument can thus be described, (...) as the application of an argumentative negation; as a product, it can be described as an argument the conclusion of which shows traces of negative modality. Two uses of argumentative negation are distinguished here: counter-argumentation and calling into question. The former can lead only to assertive conclusive statements, but the latter can also lead to directives or commissives. This leads the authors to introduce the notion of pseudo-argument, besides those of argument and counter-argument. It is shown in particular that when a pseudo-argument is rejected, argumentative negation has the effect of making evident an underlying argument. With respect to the latterit functions as a counter-argumentation, whereas with respect to the illocutionary act accomplished by the conclusive statement, it functions as a calling into question of a condition of satisfaction for this act. This article also defines certain characteristics of argument, proposes criteria for identifying argumentative negation in polemical conversations, and distinguishes four modes of counter-argumentation. (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)

This article addresses the recent call in business ethics literature for a better understanding of corporations as political actors or entities. It first gives an overview of recent attempts to examine classical issues in business ethics through a political lens. It examines different ways in which theorists with an interest in the normative analysis of business practices and institutions could find it desirable and fruitful to use a political lens. This article presents a distinction among four views of the relations (...) between corporations and politics: corporations as distributive agents, corporations as political communities, corporate practices and policies as citizenship issues, and corporations as active participants in the political process. This article finishes with an examination of three challenges that need to be overcome by the theory of the firm as a political actor. (shrink)

En 1777, alors que la France et la Grande-Bretagne sont en guerre aux Amériques, un Français est reçu franc-maçon outre-Manche. À cette occasion, l’orateur de la loge prononce un discours qui traduit bien l’état d’esprit des fondateurs de la République universelle des francs-maçons : Toi, notre frère, natif et sujet d’un autre royaume, puissant et éclairé, en entrant dans notre Ordre, tu viens de contracter des liens sacrés et amicaux avec des milliers de maçons dans cette nation et bien d’a...

Réexamen de l'inscription IG XII 8, 262 grâce à la découverte d'un nouveau fragment. Le texte, d'origine attique, a été rédigé au moment de la restauration démocratique intervenue à Thasos à la suite de la reconquête de l'île par Thrasybule en 407. Analyse du formulaire utilisé (intitulé, affichage, serments, double datation) et commentaire des mesures prises par Athènes à l'occasion de cette restauration (en particulier sanctions contre les oligarques, retour des exilés, appel aux contributions volontaires, nomination d'un archonte). Attribution à (...) la même année 407 des conventions de réconciliation entre Thasos et sa colonie Néapolis. Réflexions sur la politique menée par Athènes dans le règlement des affaires thasiennes. (shrink)

(4) Jean apprécie ce livre-là. (‘Jean appreciates ce book-there’) (5) Jean apprécie ce livre-ci. (‘Jean appreciates ce book-here’) in a way that recalls in part non-standard English: (6) John is reading that there book. (7) John is reading this here book. with (6) akin to (4) and with (7) akin to (5). The difference in word order, whereby English has there/here prenominal in (6)/(7) and French has - là/-ci postnominal in (4)/(5), was analyzed by Bernstein (1997) in terms of a (...) movement operation that in French moves the noun to the left of -là/-ci, starting from an English-like order, in a way that recalls the difference between French and English adjective position, as in Cinque (2005; to appear). English allows that and this to occur without any visible noun present, as in. (shrink)

Ή V. Grâce πρότεινε νά ταυτιστεί ό Ζήνων πού εμφανίζεται στά σφραγίσματα αμφορέων τοΰ ναυαγίου τοΰ Serçe Limam (γύρω στό 280-275 π.Χ.), μέ τόν επίτροπο της δωρεάς τοΰ 'Απολλώνιου, τόν Ζήνωνα τών 'Αρχείων της Φιλαδέλφειας. Αυτή ή πρόταση παρουσιάζει πολλές δυσκολίες : τυπολογικές, γιατί άμφορεΤς καί σφραγίσματα μοιάζουν πολύ μέ τήν κνιδιακή ομάδα τοΰ Σωφάνη (ή προέλευση Ιχει επιβεβαιωθεί άπό τήν ανακάλυψη τοΰ εργαστηρίου Muhaltepe στή χερσόνησο Datça), γεωλογικές, καί τέλος χρονολογικές γιατί τήν εποχή του ναυαγίου, δ Ζήνων ό Καύνιος (...) ήταν τό πολύ 10 ετών. Μία κνιδιακή προέλευση αύτης της ομάδας Α τοΰ Ζήνωνα φαίνεται σάν τή λύση πού αρμόζει καλύτερα. Σέ δύο παραρτήματα συγκεντρώνονται μία περιγραφή τοΰ εργαστηρίου τοΰ Σωφάνη στό Muhaltepe καί Ινα «corpus» τών σφραγισμάτων αύτης της ομάδας. (shrink)

(2012). Foreword. Journal of Applied Non-Classical Logics: Vol. 22, SPECIAL ISSUE 1: Uses of Non-Classical Logic: Foundational Issues; SPECIAL ISSUE 2: Formal Models of Norm Change, pp. 1-1. doi: 10.1080/11663081.2012.682433.

Le XVIIIe siècle est l'âge d'or du matérialisme français. Qu'il prolonge la doctrine de la nécessité des événements de Hobbes, qu'il retourne la théorie des animaux machines contre Descartes pour penser l'homme machine, qu'il renouvelle l'idée d'une science de l'homme à partir d'une critique de l'intériorité subjective ou invente de nouveaux modèles, on retrouve souvent dans les œuvres les plus importantes la tentative de fournir une explication homogène de la nature, de la société et de l'esprit. Mais cet âge d'or (...) du matérialisme français, tout central qu'il fut dans la pensée des Lumières, n'y fut pourtant pas dominant. C'est pourquoi, outre son aspect proprement théorique, son style est polémique et critique: contre les fictions de la métaphysique, contre l'hypocrisie morale, contre la superstition religieuse. Affrontant directement les pouvoirs ecclésiastique, politique, universitaire, certains textes matérialistes ont vécu, comme on le sait, une vie clandestine et connu une histoire souterraine. Il est question ici de trois matérialistes français majeurs: La Mettrie, Helvétius et d'Holbach. Si ces trois auteurs sont privilégiés, c'est pour remettre au premier plan des œuvres qui ont été parfois éclipsées par l'ombre immense portée par une autre figure importante: Diderot. Mais Diderot n'est bien entendu pas absent du volume. Il se pourrait même que ce soit dans une confrontation avec lui que se dessinent les voies du matérialisme. (shrink)

RÉSUMÉ Dans de récents travaux, Charles Taylor distingue deux types de libéralisme, qu'il associe respectivement au Canada et au Québec. Le premier se caractérise par l'adhésion à la règle de neutralité de I'État, tandis que le second impose moins de limites à l'intervention de l'État. Parce qu'il serait moins « homogénéisant », Taylor se prononce en faveur du second type. Plusieurs éléments de l'analyse de Taylor me semblent faux ou erronés. Premièrement, la distinction entre les deux types de libéralisme n'est (...) pas toujours claire. Deuxièmement, le type de libéralisme que Taylor favorise n'est pas du tout acceptable. Troisièmement, je ne crois pas que le Canada et le Québec adhèrent à des types différents de libéralisme. ABSTRACT In his recent works, Charles Taylor distinguishes between two forms of liberalism, which are respectively associated with Canada and Québec. The first one is characterized by its support for the neutrality of the State, while the second imposes almost no restriction to the intervention of the State. Because it is less "homogenizing", Taylor favors the second form. Many parts of Taylor's analysis seems to me to be false or erroneous. First, the distinction between the two liberalisms is not at all clear. Second, the liberalism that Taylor favors is not acceptable. Third, it is not true that Québec and Canada adhere to different forms ofliberalism. (shrink)

In 1891 Thέodore Flournoy became the first Professor of Psychology to be appointed at the University of Geneva, and his teaching regularly included references to religion. His successor, Georges Berguer, who taught psychology of religion, began as privat-docent in 1910 and received a full professorship in Religious Psychology and the History of Religion in 1928. French-speaking Switzerland is one of the rare places in the world where psychology of religion has been taught continuously since the very beginning of the 20th (...) century. The aim of this article is to shed light on this tradition and especially on Georges Berguer and Edmond Rochedieu who succeeded Flournoy. This historical enterprise concludes with some reflections on the role of the psychology of religion at the intersection of psychology and the study of religions. (shrink)

The academic debates around the rise of so-called populist movements rarely refer to the origins of the tensions structuring representative democracies today. The “democratic deficit” or the “democratic crisis” are expressions that imply the unstructured nature of this moment. We argue here that it points out a structural shift, resulting from the progressive disarticulation between the representative principle and the democratic principle. As both principles defined representative democracy since the 19th century, their disarticulation raises interrogations and produces reactions within the (...) political field: the return of the nation, the possible Constituent Assemblies, as well as the defence of a representative regime deprived of its democratic features are the many political possibilities born out of this disarticulation. The present article develops this thesis and aims at contributing to the theoretical discussions around the current situation of representative democracies, as well as around the so-called populist moment. (shrink)