When he died in 1984, Michel Foucault was widely regarded as one of the most powerful minds of this century. Hailed by historians and lionized in America, he continues to provoke lively debate. This meticulously documented narrative debunks the many myths and rumors surrounding the brilliant philosopher to consider that all Foucault's books are "fragments of an autobiography".

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, EarlyView.

A memoir and a meditation on individual and class identity, and the forces that keep us locked in political closets. On thinking the matter through, it doesn't seem exaggerated to assert that my coming out of the sexual closet, my desire to assume and assert my homosexuality, coincided within my personal trajectory with my shutting myself up inside what I might call a class closet. —from Returning to Reims After his father dies, Didier Eribon returns to his hometown of (...) Reims and rediscovers the working-class world he had left behind thirty years earlier. For years, Eribon had thought of his father largely in terms of the latter's intolerable homophobia. Yet his father's death provokes new reflection on Eribon's part about how multiple processes of domination intersect in a given life and in a given culture. Eribon sets out to investigate his past, the history of his family, and the trajectory of his own life. His story weaves together a set of remarkable reflections on the class system in France, on the role of the educational system in class identity, on the way both class and sexual identities are formed, and on the recent history of French politics, including the shifting voting patterns of the working classes—reflected by Eribon's own family, which changed its allegiance from the Communist Party to the National Front. Returning to Reims is a remarkable book of sociological inquiry and critical theory, of interest to anyone concerned with the direction of leftist politics in the contemporary world, and to anyone who has ever experienced how sexual identity can clash with other parts of one's identity. A huge success in France since its initial publication in 2009, Returning to Reims received enthusiastic reviews in Le Monde, Libération, L'Express, Les Inrockuptibles, and elsewhere. (shrink)

“Moorean Dogmatist” responses to external world skepticism endorse courses of reasoning that many people find objectionable. This paper seeks to locate this dissatisfaction in considerations about epistemic responsibility. I sketch a theory of immediate warrant and show how it can be combined with plausible “inferential internalist” demands arising from considerations of epistemic responsibility. The resulting view endorses immediate perceptual warrant but forbids the sort of reasoning that “Moorean Dogmatism” would allow. A surprising result is that Dogmatism’s commitment to immediate epistemic (...) warrant isn’t enough to avoid certain standard arguments for skepticism about the external world. (shrink)

Entre Nietzsche et le Saint-Suaire, qu'y a t-il de commun? Une ville : Turin. C'est là que le philosophe a passé les mois qui ont précédé son effondrement dans la démence, en mai 1888, tout près de la chapelle qui conserve le Suaire. Faut-il n'y voir qu'une coïncidence? Né de l'étonnement devant l'ignorance qui entoure ce dernier moment de la vie lucide de Nietzsche, ce livre nous fait découvrir le combat spirituel que le philosophe mène avec le Christ. Il commence (...) par une enquête historique à nouveaux frais et révèle des épisodes méconnus - voire encore inconnus - de la vie de Nietzsche à Turin. La figure de l'homme y apparaît sous un jour bien différent de la légende attachée à son nom. Puis Didier Rance présente le face à face entre celui qui s'était autoproclamé Antichrist et Jésus Christ. Les attaques de Nietzsche à l'endroit du christianisme et de son fondateur sont connues ; on les dit décisives. A travers la voix des papes contemporains qui ont tous médité devant le Suaire, il est possible de pressentir la réponse que le Crucifié apporte à la critique nietzschéenne. Une réponse fondée sur la miséricorde qui éclaire en profondeur le sens du nihilisme dont Nietzsche a voulu être le prophète, et dans lequel se trouve plongé notre monde. (shrink)

From the resurrection of body to eternal recurrence -- The shadow of God -- The guiding thread -- The logic of the body -- The system of identical cases -- From eternal recurrence to the resurrection of body.

Pratiquer la phénoménologie, c'est reconduire les choses et les concepts aux horizons ou aux situations selon lesquels nous y accédons. Qu'advient-il si cet accès n'est plus seulement le fait du regard objectivant de la conscience ou de la préoccupation de l'existant mais également l'œuvre du corps? A la description des phénomènes se substitue alors l'enchaînement des scènes où ils apparaissent et dont ils sont la concrétisation : une dramatique des phénomènes. Qu'il s'agisse, par exemple, des relations entre le temps et (...) la chair chez Husserl, l'être et le vivant selon Heidegger, la différence ontologique et le corps pour Levinas, les études ici réunies s'attachent à cette dramatique des phénomènes qui atteste que les relations éidétiques ne sont pas des liens désincarnés. (shrink)

Por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica e imagens de obras de arte, o artigo discute aspectos da história da Estética e da sociedade atual. Apresenta reflexões marxianas sobre a sociedade capitalista e o processo de embrutecimento dos sentidos humanos para, a seguir, abordar as relações estabelecidas entre a Indústria Cultural e a sociedade de consumo com o intento de debater o processo de estetização da sociedade. Finaliza ao apontar a obra de arte e o efeito catártico proporcionado por ela como modos (...) de estabelecer novas relações com a realidade e com as diferentes manifestações que buscam retratá-la. (shrink)

A Constituição Brasileira de 1988, assim como boa parte das Constituições contemporâneas, abriga uma espécie normativa que a doutrina denomina Princípios Constitucionais. Até recentemente, pouca atenção era conferida às normas principiológicas, seja por parte da doutrina e da jurisprudência. Hoje, são elas alvo de acirrados debates no meio acadêmico, mais precisamente no que concerne ao seu grau de eficária e concretização. Os autores trazem, aqui, subsídios para a discussão, procurando encontrar instrumentos e mecanismos aptos a concretizá-los em sua plenitude.

Estuda de forma multidisciplinar a bioética e o biodireito, em face dos avanços provocados pela biotecnologia na área jurídica e metajurídica.

Grammatical gender processing during language production has classically been studied using the so-called picture-word interference (PWI) task. In this procedure, participants are presented with pictures they must name using target nouns while ignoring superimposed written distractor nouns. Variations in response times are expected depending on the congruency between the gender values of targets and distractors. However, there have been disparate results in terms of the mandatory character of an agreement context to observe competitive gender effects and the interpretation of the (...) direction of these effects in Romance languages, this probably due to uncontrolled variables such as animacy. In the present study, we conducted two PWI experiments with European Portuguese speakers who were asked to produce bare nouns. The percentage of animate targets within the list was manipulated: 0, 25, 50, and 100%. A gender congruency effect was found restricted to the 0% list (all targets were inanimate). Results support the selection of gender in transparent languages in the absence of an agreement context, as predicted by the Gender Acquisition and Processing (GAP) hypothesis (Sá-Leite et al.,2019), and are interpreted through the attentional mechanisms involved in the PWI paradigm, in which the processing of animate targets would be favored to the detriment of distractors due to biological relevance and semantic prioritization. (shrink)

Les questions morales pénètrent nos représentations, nos pratiques, nos politiques. Qu'il s'agisse, dans le monde privé, d'interpréter les conduites des autres et de discipliner les siennes propres, ou bien, dans l'espace public, de sanctionner des déviances et de réguler des populations, nos sociétés mobilisent des normes, des valeurs et des affects, qu'illustrent notamment les tensions entre la raison humanitaire et l'ordre sécuritaire. Redonnant toute sa force critique au concept d'économies morales, les auteurs réunis ici par Didier Fassin et Jean-Sébastien (...) Eideliman en explorent les multiples facettes à travers une série d'enquêtes conduites sur quatre continents. Des lieux d'enfermement des étrangers en France aux prisons de haute sécurité aux Etats-Unis, de la stigmatisation des familles roms en Italie à la marginalisation des enfants de migrants en Chine, de la condamnation du tourisme sexuel en Thaïlande à l'évaluation des transactions amoureuses au Mali, des pratiques de charité en Inde aux politiques contre la pauvreté au Chili, les auteurs s'attachent à comprendre comment on gouverne et on juge, comment on assiste et on exclut. Mais ils montrent aussi que les professionnels et leurs publics n'adoptent pas de manière passive et uniforme ces modèles moraux : ils déploient des subjectivités éthiques pour résister ou " faire avec ", autour du handicap et de la toxicomanie, de l'asile et de la naturalisation, de la violence et de la finance. Cet ouvrage nous propose ainsi de penser la vie sociale et politique de la morale. (shrink)

Contemporary political theory (CPT) has approached questions of plurality and diversity by drawing rather implicitly on anthropological accounts of difference. This was the case with the ‘cultural turn’, which significantly shaped theories of multiculturalism. Similarly, the current ‘ontological turn’ is gaining influence and leaving a marked impact on CPT. I examine the recent turn and assess both the possibilities it offers and the challenges it poses for decentering CPT and opening radical, decolonial avenues for thinking difference otherwise. I take Paul (...) Nadasdy's critique of the ontological turn as an invitation to reflect on the methodological precepts that inform how the field frames the scope and limits of comparison. In pursuit of this, I examine the Zapatistas’ notion of a ‘world of many worlds’, which provides a way of approaching difference that captures the generative aspects of the ontological turn while avoiding the pitfalls of relativism and political inertia. I argue that the Zapatistas’ insights offer ethical guidance towards social and ecological thriving. Ultimately, my goal is to move CPT towards a more capacious form of making sense of what is out there in the world, and thus make room for better ways of inhabiting the Earth. (shrink)

La transcription, la traduction et l’étude du libelle d’un petit procès daté de 1435 extrait d’un registre judiciaire (liber maleficiorum) de Bologne permet de comparer les abus sexuels perpétrés par des hommes à l’encontre des filles et des garçons. Pour exprimer une agression sexuelle sur une petite fille, on emploie les mêmes mots que ceux qui servent à désigner le viol d’une femme. Pour décrire la violence commise sur un garçon, on use du vocabulaire de la sodomie. Ce constat permet (...) de montrer qu’à la fin du Moyen Âge, c’est bien la pénétration qui crée l’acte sexuel et que ce que les textes désignent par “vice sodomite” peut souvent avoir le sens moderne de “pédophilie” vis-à-vis des garçons. (shrink)

The commentary raises political questions about the ways in which data has been constituted as an object vested with certain powers, influence, and rationalities. We place the emergence and transformation of professional practices such as ‘data science’, ‘data journalism’, ‘data brokerage’, ‘data mining’, ‘data storage’, and ‘data analysis’ as part of the reconfiguration of a series of fields of power and knowledge in the public and private accumulation of data. Data politics asks questions about the ways in which data has (...) become such an object of power and explores how to critically intervene in its deployment as an object of knowledge. It is concerned with the conditions of possibility of data that involve things, language, and people that together create new worlds. We define ‘data politics’ as both the articulation of political questions about these worlds and the ways in which they provoke subjects to govern themselves and others by making rights claims. We contend that without understanding these conditions of possibility – of worlds, subjects and rights – it would be difficult to intervene in or shape data politics if by that it is meant the transformation of data subjects into data citizens. (shrink)

The body of this paper is devoted to tracing out some aspects of the development of the idea of conscience in the Church of England in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Surely, it may seem, a subject of limited interest to the readers of this journal! Yet I hope they will find otherwise. I chose to describe this phase of the history of conscience in the West because it illustrates a decisive shift in ideas about conscience which has (...) occurred in many Western cultures besides England's: the belief that the individual ought in many cases to seek the aid of others in forming his moral judgments gives way to the belief that he ought to be self‐reliant in such matters. A knowledge of this shift can advance the philosophical understanding of the idea of conscience and the work to be done in the comparative study of conscience ‘East‘and ‘West.'. (shrink)

This examination of a fundamental but often neglected aspect of the intellectual history of early modern Europe brings together philosophers, historians and political theorists from Great Britain, Canada, the United States, Australia, France and Germany. Despite the diversity of disciplines and national traditions represented, the individual contributions show a remarkable convergence around three themes: changes in the modes of moral education in early modern Europe, the emergence of new relations between conscience and law (particularly the law of the state), and (...) the shared continuities and discontinuities of both Roman Catholic and Protestant moral culture in relation to their medieval past. (shrink)

A catarse é considerada por muitos autores como um “efeito” ligado a um processo que leva à tomada de consciência. Que “efeito” é esse? Por quem foi sistematizado? Quais abordagens foram construídas a partir desse conceito? Qual a sua relação com a educação e com os espaços escolar e expositivo? O artigo em tela pretende refletir, por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica, sobre essas questões ao revisitar o conceito de catarse a partir de autores como Aristóteles, Vigotski, Jauss e, em especial, (...) Lukács. Busca relacionar as ideias desse esteta húngaro ao campo da educação e, principalmente, ao ensino da arte. (shrink)

Dual process theory proposes clusters of features that form two dichotomous groups in cognition. One standing internal issue is defining what the reference of these two dichotomous groups could be in the mind or brain. Does dual process theory speak of two systems, types, minds, modes, kinds or just metaphors? A particular common answer is that differences in clusters of features are evidence of different underlying systems, often called system 1 and system 2. However, the suggestion to abandon the ‘system’ (...) terminology is now common in the literature, but the consequences of doing so need to be addressed. This work reviews and critically discusses previous suggestions. (shrink)

Avant même d'être condamné pour "contestation de crime contre l'humanité" au tournant du siècle, Roger Garaudy était déjà marginalisé dans les champs intellectuel et politique français. Après avoir incarné la résistance au néostalinisme dans le Parti communiste, le philosophe qui fut longtemps l'interlocuteur privilégié de Jean-Paul Sartre au sein du PCF en fut spectaculairement exclu en 1970 pour s'être opposé aux Soviétiques qui venaient d'écraser le Printemps de Prague. Celui que l'historiographie du communisme retient plus volontiers comme le "stalinien modèle", (...) qu'il fut en effet dans l'après-guerre, était pourtant devenu, malgré sa proximité avec Thorez, un critique de plus en plus affirmé du stalinisme après les révélations du XXe Congrès du Parti communiste de l'Union soviétique (PCUS) en 1956 et un acteur majeur de l'aggiornamento du PCF. Son combat pour rénover le communisme français et son goût précoce pour l'écologie et le dialogue des civilisations en firent quelque temps une figure respectée du progressisme français, mais celui qui répétait que le Socialisme était condamné s'il refusait de s'ouvrir à la "transcendance" vit son étoile pâlir après 1970 au point qu'il devint un intellectuel illégitime, celui que l'on condamne sans l'avoir lu. Ce livre explique ce parcours singulier et les raisons de cette "descente aux enfers" de l'ancien philosophe du Bureau politique, avant sa condamnation ultime."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Kant-Studien Jahrgang: 108 Heft: 2 Seiten: 175-194.

A series of recent studies on extant coelacanths has emphasised the slow rate of molecular and morphological evolution in these species. These studies were based on the assumption that a coelacanth is a ‘living fossil’ that has shown little morphological change since the Devonian, and they proposed a causal link between low molecular evolutionary rate and morphological stasis. Here, we have examined the available molecular and morphological data and show that: (i) low intra-specific molecular diversity does not imply low mutation (...) rate, (ii) studies not showing low substitution rates in coelacanth are often neglected, (iii) the morphological stability of coelacanths is not supported by paleontological evidence. We recall that intra-species levels of molecular diversity, inter-species genome divergence rates and morphological divergence rates are under different constraints and they are not necessarily correlated. Finally, we emphasise that concepts such as ‘living fossil’, ‘basal lineage’, or ‘primitive extant species’ do not make sense from a tree-thinking perspective.Editor's suggested further reading in BioEssays Tree thinking for all biology: the problem with reading phylogenies as ladders of progress Abstract. (shrink)

The processing of emotional nonlinguistic information in speech is defined as emotional prosody. This auditory nonlinguistic information is essential in the decoding of social interactions and in our capacity to adapt and react adequately by taking into account contextual information. An integrated model is proposed at the functional and brain levels, encompassing 5 main systems that involve cortical and subcortical neural networks relevant for the processing of emotional prosody in its major dimensions, including perception and sound organization; related action tendencies; (...) and associated values that integrate complex social contexts and ambiguous situations. (shrink)

The biogenesis of RNAs and proteins is a threat to the cell. Indeed, the act of transcription and nascent RNAs challenge DNA stability. Both RNAs and nascent proteins can also initiate the formation of toxic aggregates because of their physicochemical properties. In reviewing the literature, I show that co-transcriptional and co-translational biophysical constraints can trigger DNA instability that in turn increases the likelihood that sequences that alleviate the constraints emerge over evolutionary time. These directed genetic variations rely on the biogenesis (...) of small RNAs that are transcribed directly from challenged DNA regions or processed from the transcripts that directly or indirectly generate constraints or aggregates. These small RNAs can then target the genomic regions from which they initially originate and increase the local mutation rate of the targeted loci. This mechanism is based on molecular pathways involved in anti-parasite genome defence systems, and implies that gene expression-related biophysical constraints represent a driving force of genome evolution. Are randomly generated mutations the only source of genetic variation during evolution? This paper describes the molecular mechanisms by which co-transcriptional and co-translational biophysical constraints trigger genetic variations in targeted-genomic sequences in an RNA-depending manner. This directed-mutational process that drives genome evolution is related to antiparasite genome defence systems. (shrink)

O presente artigo tem por objetivo mostrar, desde a psicanálise freudiana, um caminho possível que a leva ao encontro da filosofia de orientação fenomenológica. Em O eu e o isso, de 1923, Sigmund Freud emprega uma nova noção pouco explorada na literatura psicanalítica: o eu-corpo. O escopo de nossa análise delimita-se à interpretação e à explicitação da noção de eu-corpo tal como esta foi apresentada por Freud, confrontando-a com a fenomenologia em Merleau-Ponty e Michel Henry. Para tanto, propomos uma análise (...) em quatro tempos. Inicialmente, evidenciaremos o entendimento de Freud sobre o modelo de psicologia originada em Brentano que tem como um de seus desdobramentos a fenomenologia. Depois, mostraremos como a concepção do isso, segundo o próprio texto de Freud, foi determinante para que ele formulasse uma revisão da primeira tópica e a incorporasse em uma segunda tópica. Por fim, nas últimas duas partes, examinaremos o tratamento dado por Merleau-Ponty e Michel Henry à questão do corpo. Concluímos que é possível o encontro entre a psicanálise e a fenomenologia via a noção de eu-corpo freudiano; contudo, tal condução implicará reformulações em teses centrais da psicanálise. (shrink)

One variety of love is familiar in everyday life and qualifies in every reasonable sense as a reactive attitude. ‘Reactive love’ is paradigmatically (a) an affectionate attachment to another person, (b) appropriately felt as a non-self-interested response to particular kinds of morally laudable features of character expressed by the loved one in interaction with the lover, and (c) paradigmatically manifested in certain kinds of acts of goodwill and characteristic affective, desiderative and other motivational responses (including other-regarding concern and a desire (...) to be with the beloved). ‘Virtues of intimacy’ as expressed in interaction with the lover are agent-relative reasons for reactive love, and like other reactive attitudes, reactive love generates reasons in its own right. Within a broad conception of the virtues, reactive love sheds light on the reactive attitudes more generally. (shrink)

Nietzsche a été continuellement malade. Or, si la maladie n'est pas l'inspiratrice de l'œuvre de Nietzsche, elle est source continuelle de réflexions et enrichit les perspectives de Nietzsche sur la santé. Les oppositions affirmatif -réactif, grégaire - solitaire, noble-vulgaire se ramènent à cette opposition santé-maladie (c'est le vécu de la maladie qui a appris à Nietzsche à se faire un point de vue sur sa santé et vice-versa). La maladie est même devenue source du renversement des valeurs et d'affirmation de (...) sa grande santé. C'est pourquoi ces expériences de la maladie qui ponctuent toute la vie de Nietzsche ont une telle importance dans la genèse et l'approfondissement de sa pensée. (shrink)

Facing the flood of contradictory interpretations of Nietzsche’s writings, is it still possible to assert anything positive about the political and intellectual stance of the author of « Zarathoustra »? In his massive study, Domenico Losurdo, Professor of Philosophy at the university of Urbino, argues that Nietzsche’s thoughts, even the most provocative, such as his defence of slavery or eugenics, should not be read as simple metaphors or innocent speculations aiming at the moral improvement of man, but constitute a specific, (...) agressively aristocratic, response to what, according to Nietzsche, is the main threat of his time : the rise of revolutionary ideals, and global democratisation of society. (shrink)

Facing the flood of contradictory interpretations of Nietzsche’s writings, is it still possible to assert anything positive about the political and intellectual stance of the author of « Zarathoustra »? In his massive study, Domenico Losurdo, Professor of Philosophy at the university of Urbino, argues that Nietzsche’s thoughts, even the most provocative, such as his defence of slavery or eugenics, should not be read as simple metaphors or innocent speculations aiming at the moral improvement of man, but constitute a specific, (...) agressively aristocratic, response to what, according to Nietzsche, is the main threat of his time : the rise of revolutionary ideals, and global democratisation of society. (shrink)

Manifesto for the recognition of the principle of linguistic and cultural diversity in language research Preamble Over the years, and for several decades now, higher education institutions have been gradually and increasingly urging teacher-researchers to increase their international visibility. It is normal for these teacher-researchers to participate in international debates in their disciplines. This is done during conferences and in the course of article writing, not for advertising purpo...

Didier Zúñiga | : Le présent article examine la façon dont Charles Taylor a entrepris de poser le problème politique de la sécularisation. Plus spécifiquement, nous voudrions montrer que, si son effort pour articuler une théorie de l’aménagement de la diversité morale et religieuse a certes contribué à critiquer les régimes rigides de la laïcité, Taylor accorde une prééminence incontestable à la liberté de conscience. Or, notre analyse entend démontrer que, selon cette vue, il n’y a pas de place (...) pour l’autonomie religieuse. Notre hypothèse est qu’en présentant les conflits moraux et religieux comme des enjeux de justice, Taylor néglige l’important clivage existant entre, d’une part, les questions de reconnaissance reliées à la différence culturelle et, d’autre part, les revendications d’autorité exprimées par des groupes — et pas simplement des membres individuels — au sein de la sphère publique. | : This paper aims to challenge the assumption that Charles Taylor’s conception of political secularism is pluralist. The article argues that, although Taylor’s work provides the basis for an important critique of the most rigid forms of secularism, his theory places a strong focus on individual conscience. Yet Taylor’s almost exclusive concern for individual conscience excludes the pluralist claim to religious institutional autonomy. In addition, this article argues that Taylor presents moral and religious conflicts as questions of justice, which can be resolved with a correct interpretation of freedom of conscience. Against Taylor’s conception of “laïcité,” the article attempts to show that these problems are best grasped as conflicts between the authority of different groups—not just individuals—and that of the state. (shrink)

Political theory and philosophy need to widen their view of the space in which what matters politically takes place, and I suggest that integrating the conditions of sustainability of all affected—that is, all participants in nature's relations—is a necessary first step in this direction. New materialists and posthumanists have challenged how nature and politics have traditionally been construed. While acknowledging the significance of their contributions, I critically examine the ethical and political implications of their ontological project. I focus particularly on (...) how the decentering of human agency that they advocate for raises a set of concerns that need to be addressed in developing an appropriate ecological ethics. I argue that the latter must be attuned to the vulnerability of living beings who participate in relationships that sustain life on earth. This brings me to conclude that qualitative distinctions between the worlds ofbiosandtechneare necessary. This is because we need to think critically about ways of evaluating types of relationships so that we can assess them and establish which are worth nurturing and protecting and which are not. (shrink)

Didier Méhu | : Le sermon 163 d’Augustin d’Hippone aurait été prononcé à l’occasion de la dédicace de la basilica Honoriana de Carthage, le 23 septembre 417. Ancré dans le commentaire du verset 5,16 de l’épître aux Galates, Spiritu ambulate et concupiscentias carnis ne perfeceritis, il propose une comparaison entre le processus du salut humain et l’édification de l’église. Les deux aboutissent à la « dédicace », celle du temple de pierres que l’on célèbre alors et celle des élus (...) réunis auprès de Dieu. Nous cherchons à discerner les implications historiques de la dialectique aedificatio-dedicatio qui traverse le sermon, en regard de l’évolution du discours sur le lieu de culte chrétien et de la mise en place d’une structure sociale polarisée par les églises au tournant des ive et ve siècles. | : Augustine of Hippo’s Homily 163 is supposed to have been delivered on the occasion of the dedication of the basilica Honoriana in Carthage, September 23, 417. Rooted in the commentary of Galatians 5:16, Spiritu ambulate et concupiscentias carnis ne perfeceritis, it proposes a comparison between the process of human salvation and the building of a church. Both achieve in the “dedication”, that of the temple of stones, that is then celebrated, and that of the elected gathered with God. We seek to discern the historical implications of the dialectic aedificatio-dedicatio that appears throughout the sermon, in relation to the evolution of the discourse on the Christian place of worship and the establishment of a social structure polarized by the churches, at the turn of the 4th and the 5th centuries. (shrink)

The Global Workspace Theory (GWT) proposed by Bernard Baars (1988) along with Daniel Dennett’s (1991) Multiple Drafts Model (MDM) of consciousness are renowned cognitive theories of consciousness bearing similarities and differences. Although Dennett displays sympathy for GWT, his own MDM does not seem to be fully compatible with it. This work discusses this compatibility, by asking if GWT suffers from Daniel Dennett’s criticism of what he calls a “Cartesian Theater”. We identified in Dennett 10 requirements for avoiding the Cartesian Theater. (...) We believe that some of these requirements are violated by GWT, but not all, hence there is partial incompatibility with MDM, and it is nonsense to answer if GWT is or is not a Cartesian Theater. However, by asking such question we conclude that the issues around this discussion involve fuzzy claims about degrees of consciousness and we show how the Neuro-Astroglial Interaction Model (NAIM) is fit for solving such conceptual issues. (shrink)