L’article porte sur le rapport entre communisme et féminisme dans l’entre-deux-guerres en prenant comme point de départ un débat transnational entre chercheuses d’horizons divers, débat paru dans une revue sur l’histoire des femmes et du genre dans les pays d’Europe de l’Est fondée récemment. Trois approches différentes permettent d’éclairer la position ambiguë du féminisme dans les organisations communistes et l’Internationale communiste. Dans un premier temps, ce sont les opportunités et les limites de l’égalité formelle offerte aux femmes communistes qui sont (...) abordées, puis les positions théoriques les plus innovantes et leur réception. Enfin trois cas de femmes cadres serviront d’exemples pour illustrer les négociations nécessaires, dans la pratique, pour concilier les attentes contradictoires propagées par le régime stalinien et les organisations communistes. (shrink)

En 1983, un groupe de femmes japonaises francophiles, très intéressées par le féminisme français et les changements rapides de la vie des femmes en France depuis les années 1970, créent la Société Franco-japonaise des Études sur les Femmes. Le but est de promouvoir une meilleure compréhension entre les deux cultures et de développer des liens avec les Françaises sur un grand nombre de questions féminines. Le projet se révéla vite être un succès. Parmi les études entreprises par la Société, l’analyse (...) comparée de l’histoire des Françaises et des Japonaises, domaine très peu exploré alors, a suscité un vif intérêt chez les participantes. Cet article revient sur vingt années de réflexion, de recherche, et d’échange par un groupe d’historiennes non-professionnelles sur les relations entre histoire et expériences de vie personnelles. Il nous montre comment l’étude de l’histoire des femmes dans un contexte international peut être fructueuse et bénéfique, et combien une libre discussion collective, sans tabous, sur ce sujet peut éveiller ou approfondir la conscience féministe. (shrink)

En Argentine, pays où le féminisme connaît depuis la moitié des années 2010 un essor historique, et où le football constitue un socle essentiel de l’identité nationale, le football féminin devient professionnel en mars 2019. Les revendications d’ordre sportif, portées par la joueuse Macarena Sánchez, se voient inscrites dans un discours féministe – une convergence inédite dans ce pays latino-américains – et les inégalités de genre dans le monde du football peuvent alors être appréhendées de façon structurelle. Le féminisme s’empare, (...) sur un plan pratique et théorique, d’une sphère traditionnellement réservée aux hommes : sous quel prisme peut-il l’interroger? Comment peut-il contribuer à la déconstruire? Qu’est-ce que, finalement, la pratique sportive de haut niveau peut donner à penser, à son tour, au féminisme? (shrink)

En 1983, un groupe de femmes japonaises francophiles, très intéressées par le féminisme français et les changements rapides de la vie des femmes en France depuis les années 1970, créent la Société Franco-japonaise des Études sur les Femmes. Le but est de promouvoir une meilleure compréhension entre les deux cultures et de développer des liens avec les Françaises sur un grand nombre de questions féminines. Le projet se révéla vite être un succès. Parmi les études entreprises par la Société, l’analyse (...) comparée de l’histoire des Françaises et des Japonaises, domaine très peu exploré alors, a suscité un vif intérêt chez les participantes. Cet article revient sur vingt années de réflexion, de recherche, et d’échange par un groupe d’historiennes non-professionnelles sur les relations entre histoire et expériences de vie personnelles. Il nous montre comment l’étude de l’histoire des femmes dans un contexte international peut être fructueuse et bénéfique, et combien une libre discussion collective, sans tabous, sur ce sujet peut éveiller ou approfondir la conscience féministe. (shrink)

L’objectif de ce travail est de faire une analyse des moments de tension exacerbée dans les rapports entre les genres à Rio de Janeiro, depuis la deuxième moitié du XIXe siècle, jusqu’à la fin des années trente. Je cherche à y analyser quelques-unes des formes d’opposition masculine aux revendications féminines. Les hommes combattaient ces prétentions de plusieurs manières, depuis les justifications subtiles, faisant appel à la fragilité féminine, jusqu’au ton caustique, ironique, railleur, présent dans plusieurs discours qui essayaient de (...) ridiculiser les femmes luttant pour la conquête de leurs droits. Celles-ci, pourtant, faisant appel à des formes subreptices ou agissant directement à travers des mouvements organisés, ont peu à peu construit leur autonomie. Je mets en relief l’importance du carnaval comme étant l’instrument qui a procuré aux femmes l’occasion d’assumer leur corps et leur sexualité dans la vie de tous les jours. (shrink)

L’objectif de ce travail est de faire une analyse des moments de tension exacerbée dans les rapports entre les genres à Rio de Janeiro, depuis la deuxième moitié du XIXe siècle, jusqu’à la fin des années trente. Je cherche à y analyser quelques-unes des formes d’opposition masculine aux revendications féminines. Les hommes combattaient ces prétentions de plusieurs manières, depuis les justifications subtiles, faisant appel à la fragilité féminine, jusqu’au ton caustique, ironique, railleur, présent dans plusieurs discours qui essayaient de (...) ridiculiser les femmes luttant pour la conquête de leurs droits. Celles-ci, pourtant, faisant appel à des formes subreptices ou agissant directement à travers des mouvements organisés, ont peu à peu construit leur autonomie. Je mets en relief l’importance du carnaval comme étant l’instrument qui a procuré aux femmes l’occasion d’assumer leur corps et leur sexualité dans la vie de tous les jours. (shrink)

Cet article s’attache à deux films représentatifs de l’« esthétique des décombres », Les Assassins sont parmi nous et Entre hier et aujourd’hui, pour analyser, du point de vue du genre, la présentation des objets légués par le nazisme. Les objets à l’écran sont compris comme des « événements tangibles » qui témoignent du bouleversement de l’ordre des choses dans l’Allemagne d’après-guerre, y compris celui de l’héritage de la confiscation et de l’« aryanisation » de l’espace allemand. Dans ces films, (...) un parallèle est établi entre le sentiment de culpabilité éprouvé par les hommes par rapport aux objets arrachés à une femme, victime, et le problème de dépossession (ainsi que son corollaire, le meurtre collectif) qui vient se mêler aux défis des relations de genre dans l’après-guerre. L’activité même de nettoyage et de remise en ordre est représentée comme une forme féminine de travail ; ces interventions physiques de la part des femmes sont aussi chargées de résoudre le problème posé par l’embarrassante présence des restes matériels du Troisième Reich. (shrink)

L’article se propose de retracer brièvement l’itinéraire et le fondement théorique (du marxisme au poststructuralisme) des termes « condition féminine », « rapports sociaux de sexe » et « genre » dans différentes disciplines (sociologie, histoire et science politique) en précisant la chronologie différenciée de leur usage en France et dans le monde anglophone.

BackgroundRespect for autonomy is a key concept in contemporary bioethics and end-of-life ethics in particular. Despite this status, an individualistic interpretation of autonomy is being challenged from the perspective of different theoretical traditions. Many authors claim that the principle of respect for autonomy needs to be reconceptualised starting from a relational viewpoint. Along these lines, the notion of relational autonomy is attracting increasing attention in medical ethics. Yet, others argue that relational autonomy needs further clarification in order to be adequately (...) operationalised for medical practice. To this end, we examined the meaning, foundations, and uses of relational autonomy in the specific literature of end-of-life care ethics.MethodsUsing PRESS and PRISMA procedures, we conducted a systematic review of argument-based ethics publications in 8 major databases of biomedical, philosophy, and theology literature that focused on relational autonomy in end-of-life care. Full articles were screened. All included articles were critically appraised, and a synthesis was produced.ResultsFifty publications met our inclusion criteria. Twenty-eight articles were published in the last 5 years; publications were originating from 18 different countries. Results are organized according to: (a) an individualistic interpretation of autonomy; (b) critiques of this individualistic interpretation of autonomy; (c) relational autonomy as theoretically conceptualised; (d) relational autonomy as applied to clinical practice and moral judgment in end-of-life situations.ConclusionsThree main conclusions were reached. First, literature on relational autonomy tends to be more a ‘reaction against’ an individualistic interpretation of autonomy rather than be a positive concept itself. Dichotomic thinking can be overcome by a deeper development of the philosophical foundations of autonomy. Second, relational autonomy is a rich and complex concept, formulated in complementary ways from different philosophical sources. New dialogue among traditionally divergent standpoints will clarify the meaning. Third, our analysis stresses the need for dialogical developments in decision making in end-of-life situations. Integration of these three elements will likely lead to a clearer conceptualisation of relational autonomy in end-of-life care ethics. This should in turn lead to better decision-making in real-life situations. (shrink)

BackgroundRespect for autonomy is a paramount principle in end-of-life ethics. Nevertheless, empirical studies show that decision-making, exclusively focused on the individual exercise of autonomy fails to align well with patients’ preferences at the end of life. The need for a more contextualized approach that meets real-life complexities experienced in end-of-life practices has been repeatedly advocated. In this regard, the notion of ‘relational autonomy’ may be a suitable alternative approach. Relational autonomy has even been advanced as a foundational notion of palliative (...) care, shared decision-making, and advance-care planning. However, relational autonomy in end-of-life care is far from being clearly conceptualized or practically operationalized.Main bodyHere, we develop a relational account of autonomy in end-of-life care, one based on a dialogue between lived reality and conceptual thinking. We first show that the complexities of autonomy as experienced by patients and caregivers in end-of-life practices are inadequately acknowledged. Second, we critically reflect on how engaging a notion of relational autonomy can be an adequate answer to addressing these complexities. Our proposal brings into dialogue different ethical perspectives and incorporates multidimensional, socially embedded, scalar, and temporal aspects of relational theories of autonomy. We start our reflection with a case in end-of-life care, which we use as an illustration throughout our analysis.ConclusionThis article develops a relational account of autonomy, which responds to major shortcomings uncovered in the mainstream interpretation of this principle and which can be applied to end-of-life care practices. (shrink)

Mon évasion (2008) de Benoîte Groult est une autobiographie de femme qui s’inscrit non seulement dans l’histoire du féminisme, mais représente ici une féminité complexe et nuancée constituant l’axe du développement de la personnalité et aussi une certaine manière de se raconter. La femme y est généralement représentée à travers ses relations humaines, en tant que membre d’un « couple ». Cette nouvelle manière (féminine ?) de se raconter a aussi des conséquences sur l’écriture : outre l’alternance constante (...) entre le récit et le discours du narrateur, la discontinuité structurelle (insertion des interviews, réécriture d’une bande dessinée), et les problèmes de dénomination du personnage, le texte de Groult présente des emplois variés des temps verbaux et des pronoms personnels : en fait, on y trouve des passages écrits au passé composé, au présent, au passé simple combinés aux pronoms personnels à la première, à la troisième ou à la deuxième personne. Il s’ensuit que l’espace autobiographique de Mon évasion revêt une complexité inédite : récit, interviews, bande dessinée et une photo sur la couverture contribuent tous, en tant que supports variés, à une pluralité des temporalités qui amènent de nouvelles formes des représentations de la féminité. (shrink)

Dans une société où le vêtement doit rendre visibles toutes les hiérarchies sociales, le port par les femmes de tout ou partie du costume masculin, a longtemps été considéré comme une atteinte grave aux commandements divins, avant d’être condamné par la loi civile et la morale dominante. Pour celles qui osèrent s’habiller en hommes, le transvestisme fut d’abord un moyen de survie : déguisement des persécutées et des amoureuses, habillement commode des pauvresses et des patriotes. Il leur permit aussi de (...) rendre visibles des revendications de liberté physique, d’égalité économique et de dépassement du cadre binaire des relations de sexe. Images de subversion politique et/ou d’affirmation d’une identité sexuelle non conforme. (shrink)

Dans une société où le vêtement doit rendre visibles toutes les hiérarchies sociales, le port par les femmes de tout ou partie du costume masculin, a longtemps été considéré comme une atteinte grave aux commandements divins, avant d’être condamné par la loi civile et la morale dominante. Pour celles qui osèrent s’habiller en hommes, le transvestisme fut d’abord un moyen de survie : déguisement des persécutées et des amoureuses, habillement commode des pauvresses et des patriotes. Il leur permit aussi de (...) rendre visibles des revendications de liberté physique, d’égalité économique et de dépassement du cadre binaire des relations de sexe. Images de subversion politique et/ou d’affirmation d’une identité sexuelle non conforme. (shrink)

This article examines the relationship between women entrepreneurs’ job autonomy and work–life balance, with a particular focus on how this relationship might be augmented by environments that discriminate against women, whether socio-economically, institutionally, or culturally. Multisource data pertaining to 5334 women entrepreneurs from 37 countries indicate that their sense of job autonomy increases the likelihood that they feel satisfied with their ability to balance the needs of their work with those of their personal life. This process is particularly prominent when (...) they operate in countries characterized by discriminatory socio-economic and institutional conditions, though a mitigating instead of invigorating effect arises in culturally discriminatory settings. For business ethics scholars and practitioners, these findings indicate how the extent to which women entrepreneurs, seeking to combine professional and private responsibilities, derive benefits from initiatives aimed at enhancing their job-related freedom critically depends on whether they operate in adverse external environments. (shrink)

Les rapports sociaux de race, de genre, de sexe sont inextricablement mêlés : telle est une idée centrale du féminisme décolonial tel qu’il se déploie depuis Abya Yala, du nom que le peuple kuna donnait au continent américain. L’article situe l’importance de renommer les femmes et féministes d’origine autochtone, une manière de défaire les discours coloniaux (parfois tenus par des universitaires féministes) sur les pratiques de genre avant la colonialité/modernité. Ochy Curiel illustre cette idée à partir de l’expérience du GLEFAS (...) (Groupe latino-américain de formation et d’action féministe) : le décolonial n’y est pas seulement une critique du savoir académique, il est profondément ancré dans des pratiques autogestionnaires de luttes anticapitalistes, dans le lesbianisme politique, dans la rue, dans les associations, dans les organisations communautaires. (shrink)

In this article Doret J. de Ruyter and Anders Schinkel argue that parents' ideals can enhance children's autonomy, but that they may also have a detrimental effect on the development of children's autonomy. After describing the concept of ideals and elucidating a systems theoretical conception of autonomy, de Ruyter and Schinkel explore the ways in which the ideals of parents may play a role in the development of their children's autonomy. They show that abstract and complex ideals of parents (be (...) it ideals for their children, ideals with regard to their parenthood, or their personal ideals) are most likely to enhance their children's autonomy. They also explain that an authoritative parenting style is most conducive to autonomy, although whether or not it does benefit children's autonomy also depends on the types of ideals pursued by parents. (shrink)

Ce bilan historiographique repose sur une vaste enquête menée à travers les différents champs historiographiques susceptibles d’informer l’évolution des pratiques et représentations de la nudité. L’objectif est d’éclairer les rapports dialectiques que le corps dénudé entretient avec les normes et les relations de genre en France au cours du second xixe siècle. Au cœur de la fabrique des archétypes du féminin et du masculin, les représentations différenciées du dénudement constituent un maillon essentiel dans la perpétuation de la domination masculine (...) tout au long de la période. Cependant, au tournant du siècle, le dénudement représente paradoxalement un instrument de libération individuelle pour une série de pionnières, artistes et sportives qui, en s’emparant de nouvelles représentations du corps, ont pu subvertir les normes de genre propres à la culture bourgeoise et conquérir ainsi une marge d’autonomie et de liberté sans précédent. (shrink)

:I argue that none of the main accounts of autonomy in the literature can explain the fact that people who undergo a certain subtle but powerful kind of indoctrination are not autonomous or self-governing in reflectively acquiring and endorsing the views, values, goals, and practical commitments that they are successfully indoctrinated to adopt. I suggest that, assuming there are historical conditions on autonomous reasoning and reflective endorsement, there is a condition that specifically concerns emotions: the person’s emotional state and dispositions, (...) and her web of emotional dependencies. I explain what we know so far about the kind of indoctrination on which I focus, and I motivate the claim that people who are successfully indoctrinated in this way are not self-governed in reflectively acquiring and endorsing even the first views and values that they adopt as a result of indoctrination. I argue that this heteronomy is not explained by any of the accounts that postulate historical conditions on autonomy: neither by classical accounts such as Rousseau’s and Piaget’s, nor by so-called historical accounts in the contemporary literature, nor by relational accounts. I argue that an accurate account of autonomy must include an emotional condition on autonomous reasoning and reflective endorsement that goes beyond the emotional conditions postulated or implied by historical accounts, and I offer a tentative sketch of this condition. (shrink)

Economist-philosopher Amartya Sen's writings on social and political issues have attracted wide audiences. Section 2 introduces his contributions on: how people reason as agents within society; social determinants of people's (lack of) access to goods and of the effective freedoms and agency they enjoy or lack; and associated advocacy of self-specification of identity and high expectations for ‘voice’ and reasoning democracy. Section 3 considers his relation to social theory, his tools for theorizing action in society, and his limited degree of (...) attention to work by sociologists and to capitalism and power structures. Section 4 characterizes a style marked by conceptual refinement, emphases on complexity and individuality, including personal individuality, and reformist optimism. Section 5 shows the features from Sections 3 and 4 at work in his conception of personhood that advocates freedom to make a reasoned composition of personal identity. Similarly, Section 6 addresses his conception of public reasoning and neglect of the sociology of democracy. It contrasts the ideal of a reasoning polity with features in many countries. Sen's programmes for critical autonomy in personhood and for reasoned politics play, nevertheless, a normic role, while his analytical formats help investigation of obstacles to more widespread agency, voice, and democratic participation. (shrink)

Understanding ownership rights is necessary for socially appropriate behavior. We provide evidence that preschoolers' and adults' judgments of ownership rights are related to their judgments of bodily rights. Four-year-olds and adults evaluated the acceptability of harmless actions targeting owned property and body parts. At both ages, evaluations did not vary for owned property or body parts. Instead, evaluations were influenced by two other manipulations—whether the target belonged to the agent or another person, and whether that other person approved of the (...) action. Moreover, these manipulations influenced judgments for owned objects and body parts in the same way: When the other person approved of the action, participants' judgments were positive regardless of who the target belonged to. In contrast, when that person disapproved, judgments depended on who the target belonged to. These findings show that young children grasp the importance of approval or consent for ownership rights and bodily rights, and likewise suggest that people's notions of ownership rights are related to their appreciation of bodily rights. (shrink)

À partir d’une enquête ethnographique menée dans les années 2000 dans des synagogues non orthodoxes en France, cet article interroge l’accès des femmes à un vêtement rituel longtemps réservé à la pratique religieuse des hommes. L’histoire française du port du talit (châle de prière) par les femmes donne à voir l’exemple d’une circulation internationale d’argumentaires religieux autour de l’accès des femmes au rituel, où les logiques de distinction entre courants religieux jouent un rôle au moins aussi important que les débats (...) féministes français. Les observations montrent que dans le contexte juif français, où les synagogues non orthodoxes sont minoritaires, les femmes sont plus que les hommes contraintes à une forme d’hyper-réflexivité sur le corps qu’elles engagent dans la prière publique. Cela se traduit par des discours et des pratiques variables et ambivalents sur le talit des femmes – si certaines cessent de le percevoir comme genré, d’autres l’associent à un travestissement, et d’autres préfèrent le « féminiser » par la couleur. (shrink)

In the mid-1940s, Argentina was partially isolated and ruled by a military regime. The political confrontation between the military and the scientific community as well as international pressures played a major role in the failure of the first attempts to cope with nuclear development. Only after the relationship between the military and local scientists was readjusted and control of atomic energy was placed in the hands of the Navy, and Argentina's international relations restored, did nuclear development begin to take (...) off. This paper examines the traumatic process of creating the political and institutional conditions for the reception of nuclear technology in a peripheral context. The key to shaping future policies was the decision made by Argentina's Atomic Energy Commission in April 1957 to construct its first research nuclear reactor instead of buying it as other countries such as Spain and Brazil were doing at the time. (shrink)

BackgroundIn the Netherlands, patients have the legal right to make a request for euthanasia to their physician. However, it is not clear what it means in a moral sense for a physician to receive a request for euthanasia. The aim of this study is to explore the moral values of physicians regarding requests for euthanasia. MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with nine primary healthcare physicians involved in decision-making about euthanasia. The data were inductively analyzed which lead to the emergence of themes, (...) one of which was about values regarding end-of-life decisions.ResultsFour clusters of values related to euthanasia requests are described: values related to 1) the patient; 2) the family; 3) the physician; and 4) life and death. The data show that the participants value patient autonomy as a necessary but not sufficient condition for meeting a euthanasia request. A good relationship with the patient and the family are important. For the physician, the values physician autonomy, responsibility, understanding the patient and relief of suffering play a role. Life as an intrinsic good and a peaceful death are also important values.ConclusionThis study shows that next to patient autonomy and the relationship with the patient and the family, it is important for the participants to act in accordance with their professional values and to do justice to values related to life and death. The awareness of going against the intrinsic value of life is crucial, even if performing euthanasia may result in a feeling of relief or gratitude afterwards. (shrink)

Prenatal screening for foetal abnormalities such as Down's syndrome differs from other forms of population screening in that the usual aim of achieving health gains through treatment or prevention does not seem to apply. This type of screening leads to no other options but the choice between continuing or terminating the pregnancy and can only be morally justified if its aim is to provide meaningful options for reproductive choice to pregnant women and their partners. However, this aim should not be (...) understood as maximizing reproductive choice per se. Only if understood as allowing prospective parents to avoid suffering related to living with (a child with) serious disorders and handicaps can prenatal screening be a publicly or collectively funded programme. The alternative of moving prenatal testing outside the healthcare system into the private sector is problematic, as it makes these tests accessible only to those who can afford to pay for it. New developments in prenatal screening will have to be assessed in terms of whether and to what extent they either contribute to or undermine the stated aim of providing meaningful options for reproductive choice. In the light of this criterion, this article discusses the introduction of the new non‐invasive prenatal test (NIPT), the tendency to widen the scope of follow‐up testing, as well as the possible future scenarios of genome‐wide screening and ‘prenatal personalised medicine’. The article ends with recommendations for further debate, research and analysis. (shrink)

Problems arise when applying the current procedural conceptualization of decision-making capacity to paediatric healthcare: Its emphasis on content-neutrality and rational cognition as well as its implicit assumption that capacity is an ability that resides within a person jeopardizes children’s position in decision-making. The purpose of the paper is to challenge this dominant account of capacity and provide an alternative for how capacity should be understood in paediatric care. First, the influence of developmental psychologist Jean Piaget upon the notion of capacity (...) is discussed, followed by an examination of Vygostky’s contextualist view on children’s development, which emphasizes social interactions and learning for decision-making capacity. In drawing parallels between autonomy and capacity, substantive approaches to relational autonomy are presented that underline the importance of the content of a decision. The authors then provide a relational reconceptualization of capacity that leads the focus away from the individual to include important social others such as parents and physicians. Within this new approach, the outcome of adults’ decision-making processes is accepted as a guiding factor for a good decision for the child. If the child makes a choice that is not approved by adults, the new conceptualization emphasizes mutual exchange and engagement by both parties. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Seeing Red: Indigenous Land, American Expansion, and the Political Economy of Plunder in North America by Michael John WitgenGeronimo Barrera de la TorreSeeing Red: Indigenous Land, American Expansion, and the Political Economy of Plunder in North America BY MICHAEL JOHN WITGEN Williamsburg, Va., and Chapel Hill, N.C.: Omohundro Institute for the Study of Early American History and Culture and the University of North Carolina Press, 2022The colonial projects (...) of nation-states in the Americas have defined the relationship between states and Indigenous peoples by means of [End Page 138] dispossession, as Anishinaabeg thinker Leanne Betasamosake Simpson asserts.1 Seeing Red delves into the processes through which dispossession of Indigenous land became the ideology and systematic practice behind US expansion as Indigenous communities struggled to reshape their place in the new context. The book carefully details the settler- colonial ideology and logic of elimination that permeated US territorial expansion over the Northwest Territories at the end of the eighteen and the first decades of the nineteenth centuries. Seeing Red thoroughly examines the complex context of dispossession by the US colonial power, centering on Anishinaabeg communities, the “mix- race” population, and the different Indigenous people inhabiting this region. However, the book focuses on what the author names “unthinkable history,” following Michel- Rolph Trouillot’s argument that this region, and the whole continent, was conceived as an unsettled territory instead of belonging to many Indigenous peoples. Thus, the text explores Indigenous and mixed- raced communities’ political imaginaries and imagined futures to retain autonomy and territory.Author Michael John Witgen is a citizen of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe and a professor in the Department of History and the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race at Columbia University. His research centers on the complex relations between Indigenous people and settler colonizers in the Great Lakes and the Northwest Territories. Seeing Red expands his previous analysis of race, ethnicity, and citizenship intersections, bringing to the fore Indigenous people’s history to rethink the statemaking process in the United States.This book’s pages show that theft lies at the foundation of wealth transfer from Indigenous territories to the United States government and white citizens. The white settler ideology, based on a “doctrine of discovery,” established a stark division between the civilized and uncivilized to rationalize, among other things, the theft of Indigenous people. This is a central argument of the book that signals how the civili zation project underpinning the territorial expansion of the United States was based on the transformation of commons into private property. Indigenous land became critical in the “political economy of plunder” advanced by the state and the meaning of “native” as a racial categorization of exclusion. Chapter 1 explores this economy of plunder by detailing the advancement of the settler frontier through different [End Page 139] mechanisms, such as the treaty policy— subsequently violated by the state— and territory surveying to make land legible for the state and cheap for settlers. It is worth mentioning that the book contains historical and thematic maps that visually represent the ideology of wilderness behind the colonization project and evidence of the territorial extent of dispossession suffered by Indigenous communities. However, this crusade to dispossess Indigenous peoples from their territory also rested on the national mythology that strengthened the trope of Indigenous vanishing. The author shows how during the years of the study, the Indigenous population was not vanishing but immersed in an intricate social world and transregional trade networks. Chapter 2 explores such context, following the story of an Ojibwe man to evidence the context in which settlers and federal officials relied on Indigenous customs to profit from the fur trade while using ties with communities to further land cessions.Mix- race families played a crucial role in expanding the settler frontier through treaty negotiations but remained marginalized as they identified themselves as both Natives and US citizens. Chapter 3 examines the significance of mixed- raced families, particularly women, in establishing and expanding missions’ schools that relied on their domestic and linguistic labor. Moreover, it shows the intricate landscape of the civilization mission that depended on the complex networks that had created... (shrink)

Urban development is seen in this paper as the process of achieving more social justice in the city through changes both in social relations and in spatiality. Autonomy, in the sense used by Cornelius Castoriadis, is here regarded as the main parameter for the evaluation of processes and strategies for positive social change. Nevertheless, the Castoriadian philosophical notion of autonomy must first be made operational before it can be reasonably applied in empirical research or policy evaluations. The aim of (...) the paper is to contribute to this operationalisation, specifically considering the role of urban planning and management in the realisation of urban development. (shrink)

Urban development is seen in this paper as the process of achieving more social justice in the city through changes both in social relations and in spatiality. Autonomy, in the sense used by Cornelius Castoriadis, is here regarded as the main parameter for the evaluation of processes and strategies for positive social change. Nevertheless, the Castoriadian philosophical notion of autonomy must first be made operational before it can be reasonably applied in empirical research or policy evaluations. The aim of (...) the paper is to contribute to this operationalisation, specifically considering the role of urban planning and management in the realisation of urban development. (shrink)

Nous nous sommes proposés d’étudier, dans ce travail, les conceptions et les expériences vécues dans des relations amoureuses d’adolescents appartenant aux couches dites « populaires » de la ville de Rio de Janeiro.Au moyen d’entretiens semi-structurés, nous avons interrogé dix adolescents, cinq du sexe féminin et cinq du sexe masculin, âgés de 13 à 17 ans, sur le rôle que ces relations tiennent dans leur vie. Nous pouvons en conclure que nos sujets ne semblent rien désirer de bien (...) différent de ce à quoi aspiraient les générations antérieures, car leurs paramètres et leurs aspirations sont demeurés pour la plupart les mêmes, si ce n’est qu’ils utilisent des moyens nouveaux et encore tout récents. (shrink)

Disasters and public health emergencies raise a variety of ethical dilemmas, often including those that require balancing the best interests of individuals against those of groups or communities. The on-going COVID-19 pandemic provides examples of these ethical conflicts, as do other recent outbreaks. Decisions and actions in this context must address different ethical issues, ranging from those directly related to autonomy, consent, privacy and confidentiality to those related to interventions and technologies, such as efficacy, effectiveness, safety and fair access. This (...) paper aims to identify ethical conflicts with complex resolutions involving aspects related to values, rights and needs of individuals and the collective, and to suggest how such challenges could lead to more positive experiences and outcomes when confronted in future emergencies. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between contextual work-related factors on the one hand, in terms of job demands (i.e., risk factors) and job resources (i.e., protective factors), and work-family conflict in teachers on the other. Building on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, we hypothesized that job demands, namely qualitative and quantitative workload, are positively associated with work-family conflict in teachers. Moreover, in line with the buffer hypothesis of the JD-R, we expected job resources, in terms (...) of support from supervisor, job autonomy, and participation in decision making, to affect this association, which is expected to be stronger when job resources are low. The study was conducted in an Italian secondary school. Overall, 122 teachers completed a self-report questionnaire aimed at determining work-family conflict, as well as job demands and resources. The hypothesized relationships were tested using moderated multiple regression. The results of this study largely support our predictions. First, both aspects of workload were positively associated with work-family conflict. Secondly, job resources, including support from supervisor and participation in decision making, buffered this association, which was stronger when resources were low. On the contrary, job autonomy did not buffer the association between workload and work-family conflict. Overall, the results of this study are consistent with the Job Demands-Resources model and contribute to to the understanding of work–family conflict among teachers. More specifically, our study suggests that teachers with high levels of job resources, namely support from supervisor and participation in decision making, can effectively cope with job demands, in terms of both qualitative and quantitative workload, thus preventing negative consequences such as conflict between work and family domains. Interventions aimed at preventing work-family conflict among teachers should encourage organizations to optimize the balance between job demands and resources, as well as the identification and training of the workers at risk of work-family conflict. (shrink)

In this paper I discuss Tugendhat's moral philosophy by focusing on his conception of moral justification and the role sentiments play in it. In order to understand, and to criticize, the relationship between reasons and sentiments in Tugendhat's moral philosophy, the correlation between judgment and affection is scrutinized. Furthermore, I argue that as far as the innermost structure of morality is concerned individuals have far less autonomy to accept or reject any moral system than Tugendhat is prepared to admit. /// (...) En este artículo discuto la filosofía moral de Tugendhat mediante la investigatión de su concepción de justificación moral y del papel que los sentimientos desempeñan en ella. Para comprender y criticar la relatión entre razones y sentimientos en la filosofía moral de Tugendhat, analizo la correlación entre juicio y afecto. Sostengo, además, que, en lo que atañe a la estructura más básica de la moralidad, los individuos tienen mucho menos autonomía para aceptar o rechazar un sistema moral de lo que Tugendhat está dispuesto a admitir. (shrink)

This article discusses the relation between empirical and normative approaches in bioethics. The issue of dwarf tossing, while admittedly unusual, is chosen as a point of departure because it challenges the reader to look with fresh eyes upon several central bioethical themes, including human dignity, autonomy, and the protection of vulnerable people. After an overview of current approaches to the integration of empirical and normative ethics, we consider five ways that the empirical and normative can be brought together to speak (...) to the problem of dwarf tossing: prescriptive applied ethics, theoretical ethics, critical applied ethics, particularist ethics and integrated empirical ethics. We defend a position of critical applied ethics that allows for a two-way relation between empirical and normative theories. Against efforts fully to integrate the normative and the empirical into one synthesis, we propose that the two should stand in tension and relation to one another. The approach we endorse acknowledges that a social practice can and should be judged both by the gathering of empirical data and by normative ethics. Critical applied ethics uses a five stage process that includes: (a) determination of the problem, (b) description of the problem, (c) empirical study of effects and alternatives, (d) normative weighing and (e) evaluation of the effects of a decision. In each stage, we explore the perspective from both the empirical (sociological) and the normative ethical point of view. We conclude by applying our five-stage critical applied ethics to the example of dwarf tossing. (shrink)

By giving the proper emphasis to both radical skepticism and naturalism as two independent standpoints in Hume, I wish to propose a more satisfactory account of some of the more puzzling Humean claims on causation. I place these claims alternatively in either the philosophical standpoint of the radical skeptic or in the standpoint of everyday and scientific beliefs. I characterize Hume’s radical skeptical standpoint in relation to Hume’s perceptual model of the traditional theory of ideas, and I argue that Hume‘s (...) radical skeptical argument concerning our causal inferences is inextricably linked to his skeptical argument concerning our idea of a necessary connection between cause and effect. I discuss Hume’s naturalistic account of the origin of our idea of necessity and offer a new reading of Hume’s two “definitions” of cause. I argue along the way against central aspects of two opposing styles of interpretation---Norman Kemp Smith’s and Annette Baier’s, on the one hand, and Robert Fogelin’s, on the other---that in my view do not appreciate the mutual autonomy of radical skepticism and naturalism in Hume. (shrink)

Until recently, the notions of function and multiple realization were supposed to save the autonomy of psychological explanations. Furthermore, the concept of supervenience presumably allows both dependence of mind on brain and non-reducibility of mind to brain, reconciling materialism with an independent explanatory role for mental and functional concepts and explanations. Eliminativism is often seen as the main or only alternative to such autonomy. It gladly accepts abandoning or thoroughly reconstructing the psychological level, and considers reduction if successful as equivalent (...) with elimination. In comparison with the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of biology has developed more subtle and complex ideas about functions, laws, and reductive explanation than the stark dichotomy of autonomy or elimination. It has been argued that biology is a patchwork of local laws, each with different explanatory interests and more or less limited scope. This points to a pluralistic, domain-specific and multi-level view of explanations in biology. Explanatory pluralism has been proposed as an alternative to eliminativism on the one hand and methodological dualism on the other hand. It holds that theories at different levels of description, like psychology and neuroscience, can co-evolve, and mutually influence each other, without the higher-level theory being replaced by, or reduced to, the lower-level one. Such ideas seem to tally with the pluralistic character of biological explanation. In biological psychology, explanatory pluralism would lead us to expect many local and non-reductive interactions between biological, neurophysiological, psychological and evolutionary explanations of mind and behavior. This idea is illustrated by an example from behavioral genetics, where genetics, physiology and psychology constitute distinct but interrelated levels of explanation. Accounting for such a complex patchwork of related explanations seems to require a more sophisticated and precise way of looking at levels than the existing ideas on (reductive and non-reductive) explanation in the philosophy of mind. (shrink)

Prenatal screening pathways, as nowadays offered in most Western countries consist of similar tests. First, a risk‐assessment test for major aneuploides is offered to pregnant women. In case of an increased risk, invasive diagnostic tests, entailing a miscarriage risk, are offered. For decades, only conventional karyotyping was used for final diagnosis. Moreover, several foetal ultrasound scans are offered to detect major congenital anomalies, but the same scans also provide relevant information for optimal support of the pregnancy and the delivery.Recent developments (...) in prenatal screening include the application of microarrays that allow for identifying a much broader range of abnomalities than karyotyping, and non‐invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) that enables reducing the number of invasive tests for aneuploidies considerably. In the future, broad NIPT may become possible and affordable.This article will briefly address the ethical issues raised by these technological developments. First, a safe NIPT may lead to routinisation and as such challenge the central issue of informed consent and the aim of prenatal screening: to offer opportunity for autonomous reproductive choice. Widening the scope of prenatal screening also raises the question to what extent ‘reproductive autonomy’ is meant to expand. Finally, if the same test is used for two different aims, namely detection of foetal anomalies and pregnancy‐related problems, non‐directive counselling can no longer be taken as a standard. Our broad outline of the ethical issues is meant as an introduction into the more detailed ethical discussions about prenatal screening in the other articles of this special issue. (shrink)

By giving the proper emphasis to both radical skepticism and naturalism as two independent standpoints in Hume, I wish to propose a more satisfactory account of some of the more puzzling Humean claims on causation. I place these claims alternatively in either the philosophical standpoint of the radical skeptic or in the standpoint of everyday and scientific beliefs. I characterize Hume’s radical skeptical standpoint in relation to Hume’s perceptual model of the traditional theory of ideas, and I argue that Hume‘s (...) radical skeptical argument concerning our causal inferences is inextricably linked to his skeptical argument concerning our idea of a necessary connection between cause and effect. I discuss Hume’s naturalistic account of the origin of our idea of necessity and offer a new reading of Hume’s two “definitions” of cause. I argue along the way against central aspects of two opposing styles of interpretation---Norman Kemp Smith’s and Annette Baier’s, on the one hand, and Robert Fogelin’s, on the other---that in my view do not appreciate the mutual autonomy of radical skepticism and naturalism in Hume. (shrink)

Resumo: Por intermédio da análise dos gêneros carta e conto escritos por Machado de Assis, procuramos oferecer uma resposta à questão do horizonte ético e moral que opera nos textos do autor. Trabalhamos numa perspectiva interdisciplinar, pois dialogamos com filósofos, historiadores e críticos literários procurando, num primeiro momento, demonstrar que a noção de cuidado de si se mostra na correspondência machadiana a partir da perspectiva de cura de si, isto é, um tipo de sabedoria dos antigos gregos e romanos que (...) o autor lança mão para realizar e organizar o pensamento literário, seu e de seus pares, na direção das publicações e conquistas no âmbito da literatura. Num segundo momento, demonstramos que o cuidado de si terá outro sentido nos textos de ficção, pois se volta para um cuidado da alma no sentido do desenvolvimento do pensamento crítico do sujeito em relação ao eu e ao outro, ao indivíduo e ao mundo social. Palavras-chave: Machado de Assis; Cuidado de Si; Cartas; Literatura. The care of the self as an ethical perspective in Machado de Assis Abstract : Through the analysis of the genres letter and short story written by Machado de Assis, we try to offer an answer to the question of the ethical and moral horizon that operates in the author's texts. We work in an interdisciplinary perspective, as we dialogue with philosophers, historians and literary critics, trying, in a first moment, to demonstrate that the notion of self-care is shown in Machado's correspondence from the perspective of self-cure, that is, a kind of wisdom from the ancient Greeks and Romans that the author uses to accomplish and organize the literary thought, his own and his peers', in the direction of publications and achievements in the field of literature. In a second moment, we demonstrate that the care of the self will have another meaning in fiction texts, since it turns to a care of the soul in the sense of the development of the subject's critical thought in relation to the self and to the other, to the individual and to the social world. Keywords: Machado De Assis; Self-Care; Letters; Literature. Le souci de soi comme perspective éthique chez Machado de Assis Résumé : A travers l'analyse des genres lettre et nouvelle écrits par Machado de Assis, nous essayons d'offrir une réponse à la question de l'horizon éthique et moral qui opère dans les textes de l'auteur. Nous travaillons dans une perspective interdisciplinaire, car nous dialoguons avec des philosophes, des historiens et des critiques littéraires en essayant, dans un premier temps, de démontrer que la notion d'auto-soin apparaît dans la correspondance de Machado dans la perspective de l'auto-cure, c'est-à-dire une sorte de sagesse des anciens Grecs et Romains que l'auteur utilise pour accomplir et organiser la pensée littéraire, la sienne et celle de ses pairs, vers des publications et des conquêtes dans le domaine de la littérature. Dans un deuxième temps, nous démontrons que le souci de soi aura un autre sens dans les textes de fiction, car il se transforme en soin de l'âme au sens du développement de la pensée critique du sujet par rapport au moi et à l'autre, à l'individu et au monde social. Mots-Clés: Machado De Assis; Soins Personnels; Letres; Littérature. Data de registro: 22/11/2022 Data de aceite: 24/04/2023. (shrink)

In the debate surrounding the introduction of non-invasive prenatal testing in prenatal screening programmes, the concept of routinisation is often used to refer to concerns and potential negative consequences of the test. A literature analysis shows that routinisation has many different meanings, which can be distinguished in three major versions of the concept. Each of these versions comprises several inter-related fears and concerns regarding prenatal screening and particularly regarding NIPT in three areas: informed choice, freedom to choose and consequences for (...) people with a disability. Three of the strongest arguments raised under the flag of routinisation are assessed for their validity: the threat that NIPT poses to informed choice, the potential increase in uptake of first-trimester prenatal screening and its consequences for social pressure to participate in screening or terminate affected pregnancies, and the negative consequences for disabled people. These routinisation arguments lack empirical or normative ground. However, the results of this analysis do not imply that no attention should be paid to possible problems surrounding the introduction of NIPT. At least two problems remain and should be addressed: there should be an ongoing debate about the requirements of informed choice, particularly related to an expanded scope of prenatal screening. Also, reproductive autonomy can only be achieved when expecting parents’ options are variegated, real and valuable, so that they can continue to choose whether or not to screen or to terminate a pregnancy. (shrink)

This article reviews the Dutch societal debate on euthanasia/assisted suicide in dementia cases, specifically Alzheimer's disease. It discusses the ethical and practical dilemmas created by euthanasia requests in advance directives and the related inconsistencies in the Dutch legal regulations regarding euthanasia/assisted suicide. After an initial focus on euthanasia in advanced dementia, the actual debate concentrates on making euthanasia/assisted suicide possible in the very early stages of dementia. A review of the few known cases of assisted suicide of people with so-called (...) early dementia raises the question why requests for euthanasia/assisted suicide from patients in the early stage of Alzheimer's disease are virtually non-existent. In response to this question two explanations are offered. It is concluded that, in addition to a moral discussion on the limits of anticipatory choices, there is an urgent need to develop research into the patient's perspective with regard to medical treatment and care-giving in dementia, including end-of-life care. (shrink)

This article focuses on some aspects of the prophetic veneration through a very specific sub-genre of ḥadīth literature, the so-called ḥadīth musalsal or chained prophetic transmission. Musalsal is the name given to the ḥadīth that in each of the links in the chain of transmission repeat identical expressions or sayings. Often, these expressions refer to a certain ritual or gesture that goes together with the delivery of the saying to the prophet. This article therefore deals with a ritualized transmission in (...) which the fundamental point is how that ḥadīth is transmitted and who transmits it. The chronological framework I have chosen is that of the Naṣrid Kingdom of Granada, even though this study must be a continuation of other works on prophetic veneration during the Almoravid and Almohad periods, the time of the introduction and consolidation of this genre in the Iberian Peninsula and the North Africa. I have collected the authors and transmitters of musalsalāt in al-Andalus from the end of the 7th/ 13th century until the conquest of Granada, and I have shown that their interest in these ḥadīth-s is related to a general interest in the literature of prophetic veneration and the jihād literature. Finally, I have shown that this ritualization process becomes an identity question among the pious Andalusian ulama, which contributes to increasing their pre stige and integrating them into a privileged group of experts. (shrink)

Economists of the Austrian School are supporters of the gold standard because it hinders and restricts arbitrary policies and rulers: it disciplines the behavior of all the agents involved in the democratic process and encourages people to act orderly and morally. It is, in fact, an obstacle to the lies and demagoguery because it spreads and facilitates transparency and truth in social relations. The creation of the euro in 1999 and its final implementation in 2002 assumed the disappearance of (...) monetary nationalism and flexible exchange rates in most of continental Europe. We will discuss the errors committed by the European Central Bank. It is now seen how the different states of the European Monetary Union have given and completely lost their monetary autonomy, that is to say the ability to manipulate their local currency to serve political needs. In this sense, the euro has therefore acted, at least for the countries of the euro area, very similar to that which was, in its time, the gold standard manner. This is why the euro should be considered a real equivalent, albeit imperfect, of the gold standard. (shrink)

With the collapse of the bipolar system of global rivalry that dominated world politics after the Second World War, and in an age that is seeing the return of "ethnic cleansing" and "identity politics," the question of violence, in all of its multiple ramifications, imposes itself with renewed urgency. Rather than concentrating on the socioeconomic or political backgrounds of these historical changes, the contributors to this volume rethink the _concept_ of violence, both in itself and in relation to the formation (...) and transformation of identities, whether individual or collective, political or cultural, religious or secular. In particular, they subject the notion of self-determination to stringent scrutiny: is it to be understood as a value that excludes violence, in principle if not always in practice? Or is its relation to violence more complex and, perhaps, more sinister? Reconsideration of the concepts, the practice, and even the critique of violence requires an exploration of the implications and limitations of the more familiar interpretations of the terms that have dominated in the history of Western thought. To this end, the nineteen contributors address the concept of violence from a variety of perspectives in relation to different forms of cultural representation, and not in Western culture alone; in literature and the arts, as well as in society and politics; in philosophical discourse, psychoanalytic theory, and so-called juridical ideology, as well as in colonial and post-colonial practices and power relations. The contributors are Giorgio Agamben, Ali Behdad, Cathy Caruth, Jacques Derrida, Michael Dillon, Peter Fenves, Stathis Gourgouris, Werner Hamacher, Beatrice Hanssen, Anselm Haverkamp, Marian Hobson, Peggy Kamuf, M. B. Pranger, Susan M. Shell, Peter van der Veer, Hent de Vries, Cornelia Vismann, and Samuel Weber. (shrink)

Is an individual agent constitutive of or constituted by its social interactions? This question is typically not asked in the cognitive sciences, so strong is the consensus that only individual agents have constitutive efficacy. In this article we challenge this methodological solipsism and argue that interindividual relations and social context do not simply arise from the behavior of individual agents, but themselves enable and shape the individual agents on which they depend. For this, we define the notion of autonomy (...) as both a characteristic of individual agents and of social interaction processes. We then propose a number of ways in which interactional autonomy can influence individuals. Then we discuss recent work in modeling on the one hand and psychological investigations on the other that support and illustrate this claim. Finally, we discuss some implications for research on social and individual agency. (shrink)

Reality TV is immensely popular, and various shows in this media genre involve a storyline of infertility and infertility treatment. Feminists argue that normative and constructed realities about infertility and infertility treatment, like those in reality TV, are central to the emancipation of women. Such realities are able to steer viewers' perceptions of the world. This article examines the emancipatory significance of representations of women on 'infertility reality TV shows'. While the women in these shows all have 'abnormal' qualities, we (...) consider their portrayal as figurations of monstrosity. In the literature, monstrosity is understood as a way to challenge nonemancipatory norms by offering an alternative identity. Through a content analysis of seven reality TV shows, we identified four types of in/fertile monsters: the cyborg, the freak, the abject, and the childless. We show that these monsters are predominantly non-emancipatory as they all involve mechanisms of altering, excluding, or condemning infertility in relation to what is considered normal and acceptable womanhood. Therefore, at the end of this article, we make a plea for more diverse and emancipatory representations of infertile women in popular culture. (shrink)

Neuroscientific research in relation to antisocial behavior has strongly grown in the last decades. This has resulted in a better understanding of biological factors associated with antisocial behavior. Furthermore several neuroscientific instruments and interventions have been developed that have a relatively low threshold for use in the criminal justice system to contribute to prevention or reduction of antisocial and criminal behavior. When considering implementation in the criminal justice system, ethical aspects of the use of neuroscientific instruments and interventions need to (...) be taken into account. With respect to ethics in relation to neurocriminology much of the literature focuses on identifying and debating risks and value conflicts. This is important and necessary, but the positive contribution of neuroscientific applications may therefore get less attention in the ethical literature. Yet, ethicists can help criminal justice researchers and practitioners to identify ways in which neuroscience could add positively to important values in offender rehabilitation. It is argued that this role of ethicists in interdisciplinary teams deserves more emphasis. As an illustration, this contribution focuses on how neuroscientific knowledge, instruments and interventions may contribute to autonomy of offenders. (shrink)

Neuroscientific research in relation to antisocial behavior has strongly grown in the last decades. This has resulted in a better understanding of biological factors associated with antisocial behavior. Furthermore several neuroscientific instruments and interventions have been developed that have a relatively low threshold for use in the criminal justice system to contribute to prevention or reduction of antisocial and criminal behavior. When considering implementation in the criminal justice system, ethical aspects of the use of neuroscientific instruments and interventions need to (...) be taken into account. With respect to ethics in relation to neurocriminology much of the literature focuses on identifying and debating risks and value conflicts. This is important and necessary, but the positive contribution of neuroscientific applications may therefore get less attention in the ethical literature. Yet, ethicists can help criminal justice researchers and practitioners to identify ways in which neuroscience could add positively to important values in offender rehabilitation. It is argued that this role of ethicists in interdisciplinary teams deserves more emphasis. As an illustration, this contribution focuses on how neuroscientific knowledge, instruments and interventions may contribute to autonomy of offenders. (shrink)

Bayard's book appeared in 2007. Word of mouth about it probably reached me at the time, but it did not catch my attention until the day (in 2012, if I am not mistaken) that a young professor, on the verge of burnout, told me how reading it had functioned for him as a kind of therapy. Though a voracious reader, he found himself confronted by ever more recommendations for reading, some from reviewers whose suggestions were felt as obligations and sounded (...) almost like insults. The line between a reading recommendation and an insult is very thin (the interlocutor may feel infantilized). The young professor was particularly irritated by recurrent advice to read Derrida. Must I read De la grammatologie, he asked, because it is vaguely related to the topic I am working on? Why must I quote him? And if I have not read him, must I pretend that I have?In the academic quotation economy, we very often find ourselves lying to the public, pretending we have read authors whom we have not. For a decade, the title of Bayard's book worked for me as a motto I could repeat internally whenever faced with a reading recommendation, especially when it was broad and general (I have often been advised to read Marx or Lacan, for instance, with no further indication of passages that might interest me). Inversely, when I make a recommendation, I add a little comment on Bayard's book, though until recently I have specified that I have not read it myself. I have hoped my comment would reduce the risk of my recommendations being interpreted as obligations or insults.As is the case with many books, Bayard's became important to me well before I decided to read it (in 2022). An interlocutor, reacting to my recommendation of the book without having read it, told me that the book (he had read it) was more than an antidote for academic name-dropping. It was foremost, he added, an investigation into various modes of nonreading. Apart from pure ignorance (when one does not even know that it exists), one can be familiar with a book just by learning bibliographical details and information about its genre and tradition. One can know a book by hearsay (one can speak extensively about it on the basis of remarks that one has heard). One can consult the table of contents furtively or read some pages randomly.Each mode of nonreading enables us to talk differently about a book, and in each we fill the parts of which we are ignorant with peripheral knowledge and imagination. Therefore, nonreading—active nonreading at least—can be more demanding, Bayard argues, than reading itself. Still, what happens when we talk about books that we have not read happens also when we speak about books that we have read, since we never speak of a book as such without adding what we imagine the book to be. Based on this similarity of reading and nonreading, Bayard comes to a paradoxical conclusion typical of French thinkers: each reading, he contends, from the most inattentive to the most intense, is also a form of nonreading. He misses, however, that by the same argument the inverse proposition could also be defended: what he calls nonreading is already a form of reading.During the decade between beginning to think about Bayard's book and actually reading it, I constructed what he calls a “screen book” (livre-écran)—a work of my imagination. But the book I invented was enriched by my eventually reading it. I discovered that it delivered not simply a criticism of our quoting practices but also a celebration of some forms of active nonreading. In Bayard's enthusiasm, however, I believe that he goes too far when he concludes, with Oscar Wilde among others, that it is better not to read the books we review. Often, as was my case with How to Talk about Books You Haven't Read, they turn out to be more original than our fancy is capable of imagining. Hence I have set forth in this review a reason not mentioned by Bayard in favor of discussing books one has not read: doing so may function as a self-reminder. By dint of speaking about a book, one sometimes ends up reading it. (shrink)

In recent years, informed consent has been suggested as a way to deal with risks posed by engineered nanomaterials. We argue that while we can learn from experiences with informed consent in treatment and research contexts, we should be aware that informed consent traditionally pertains to certain features of the relationships between doctors and patients and researchers and research participants, rather than those between producers and consumers and employers and employees, which are more prominent in the case of engineered nanomaterials. (...) To better understand these differences, we identify three major relational factors that influence whether valid informed consent is obtainable, namely dependency, personal proximity, and existence of shared interests. We show that each type of relationship offers different opportunities for reflection and therefore poses distinct challenges for obtaining valid informed consent. Our analysis offers a systematic understanding of the possibilities for attaining informed consent in the context of nanomaterial risks and makes clear that measures or regulations to improve the obtainment of informed consent should be attuned to the specific interpersonal relations to which it is supposed to apply. (shrink)

Résumé Cet article retrace les changements multiples et rapides apparus au cours des quinze dernières années dans la théorisation des rapports entre sexe et genre. Il porte, en deuxième lieu, sur la réception, l’application et par-dessus tout la modification de ces théories par certains spécialistes de la production culturelle dans l’Europe médiévale, où la différence s’exprime sous des formes variées qui n’existent pas nécessairement dans les sociétés modernes. La déconstruction du système binaire masculin/féminin (qu’il soit considéré comme une différence sexuelle (...) ou de genre) fit son apparition parmi les penseuses féministes dans les années quatre-vingt dix et aboutit à la « queerisation » des discours universitaires en déstabilisant les étiquettes qui avaient été naturalisées, notamment l’identité genrée systématiquement attribuée à l’individu dans la société médiévale ou moderne. Nous montrerons que les théories queer et post-coloniale, loin d’être aux antipodes de la théorie féministe, en émanent et existent parallèlement à elle. Les partisans de chacune de ces théories s’intéressent aux forces sociétales, y compris notre propre discours, qui maintiennent la différence et créent des communautés d’oppression. Cependant, il est également nécessaire de soulever une question, à savoir quand se produira la prochaine rupture radicale et comment elle engendrera de nouvelles théories. (shrink)