The focus of this paper is employee ownership, specifically the role of employee ownership in value creation. Based on a sample of 163 French companies, we have measured the impact of employee share ownership on value creation for both shareholders and stakeholders. Only companies with a sustained employee ownership policy over a 5-year period (from 2001 to 2005), as defined by the French Federation of Employee and Former Employee Shareholders (FAS), have been considered. The results indicate that employee share ownership (...) plans have no effect on shareholders’ or stakeholders’ value creation. (shrink)

Everything we do in life involves a connection with information, experience and know-how: together these represent the most valuable of intangible human assets encompassing our history, cultures and wisdom. However, the more easily new technologies gather information, the more we are confronted with our limited capacity to distinguish between what is essential, important or merely ‘nice-to-have’. This article presents the case study of a multilingual Knowledge Management System, the Business enabling e-Platform that gathers and protects tacit knowledge, as the key (...) to developing structured intellectual capital, while acknowledging the urgent need here to integrate Ethics-by-design alongside AI-by-design, in view of the far-reaching consequences involved, for good or ill. It also explains how a beneficial Circular Economy of Knowledge depends on evidence-based answers, and how harmonising taxonomies, terminology and standards promotes global trust as the basis for the unhindered transfer of tacit knowledge between generations in a way that benefits everyone. (shrink)

Liang Shuming, considered to be the Last Confucian, was a Buddhist.

This root-and-branch reevaluation of Darwin's concept of sexual selection tackles the subject from historical, epistemological and theoretical perspectives. Contributions from a wealth of disciplines have been marshaled for this volume, with key figures in behavioural ecology, philosophy, and the history of science adding to its wide-ranging relevance. Updating the reader on the debate currently live in behavioural ecology itself on the centrality of sexual selection, and with coverage of developments in the field of animal aesthetics, the book details the current (...) state of play, while other chapters trace the history of sexual selection from Darwin to today and inquire into the neurobiological bases for partner choices and the comparisons between the hedonic brain in human and non-human animals. Welcome space is given to the social aspects of sexual selection, particularly where Darwin drew distinctions between eager males and coy females and rationalized this as evolutionary strategy. Also explored are the current definition of sexual selection (as opposed to natural selection) and its importance in today's biological research, and the impending critique of the theory from the nascent field of animal aesthetics. As a comprehensive assessment of the current health, or otherwise, of Darwin's theory, 140 years after the publication of his Descent of Man, the book offers a uniquely rounded view that asks whether 'sexual selection' is in itself a progressive or reactionary notion, even as it explores its theoretical relevance in the technical biological study of the twenty-first century. (shrink)

L'homme est le seul être vivant qui ait besoin du langage pour vivre : il ne peut voir, agir et penser sans y avoir recours. Se voit ainsi résolue l'énigme que l'homme a toujours représentée à ses propres yeux car l'usage des sons engendre aussi bien le psychisme humain que les institutions. Prêtant sa parole au monde, l'être humain fait de chaque expérience une sorte de communication et lui subordonne l'usage de la main et celui de l'œil. Tout en proposant (...) ainsi une clef du fonctionnement du psychisme et des institutions humaines, le présent ouvrage dégage également ce qui a condamné l'histoire moderne à l'échec. L'homme ne peut tenter de se transformer directement lui-même sans se heurter aux limites que lui impose cet usage de la parole. Il ne peut se transformer lui-même qu'indirectement : en soumettant son action et son désir au jugement de vérité comme il lui soumet sa connaissance. C'est là que s'origine la fameuse révolution copernicienne que la modernité a opérée dans les sciences. Le langage doit en effet sa puissance d'orientation à la conscience d'écoute qui lui est inhérente, car celle-ci engendre perceptions, pensées, actions et désirs au filtre du jugement. La fonction de régulation que l'écoute de vérité a dans la vie humaine lui est ici restituée, ainsi que sa puissance critique. Ces éléments d'anthropobiologie du langage rendent ainsi à chacun l'accès à sa faculté philosophique de juger. (shrink)

Ce volume est consacré à une interrogation sur la signification des notions de « justice », « droit » et « justification » et à leur corrélation et contextualité culturelles. Étant donné que dans le monde dans lequel nous ...

Ce volume est consacré à une interrogation sur la signification des notions de « justice », « droit » et « justification » et à leur corrélation et contextualité culturelles. Étant donné que dans le monde dans lequel nous vivons, droit et justice ne coïncident pas a priori, l'énoncé « le droit se base sur la justice » serait donc un énoncé descriptif erroné. Les notions de « justice », de « droit » et de « justification » sont des (...) éléments et fonctions de théorie normative. Ni l'idée de droit - la justice - ni le droit positif ne peuvent se comprendre comme une objectivité ontiquement « donnée » par la nature, par la raison ou par l'histoire, une objectivité que les sujets de droit n'auraient qu'à reconnaître. Le savoir et les actions morales s'élaborent dans les contextes du pluralisme des cultures épistémiques et des pratiques sociales. Les normes de conduite dérivent d'une multitude de versions culturelles du monde dans les contextes desquelles les perceptions du bien, de la justice, de l'acte juste, de la reconnaissance et de la réconciliation se différencient également. Le volume développe ces questions dans un esprit critique et dans la perspective transculturelle du dialogue arabo-allemand de l'UNESCO, auquel participent des spécialistes de l'épistémologie, de la philosophie politique, de l'histoire de la philosophie et des religions, notamment de l'Islam. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage porte sur l'auto-comprehension de l'homme moderne dans son rapport a la dimension de l'animalite. L'auteur part du statut paradoxal des discours philosophiques de la Renaissance et de l'Age Classique sur la nature des animaux. Ce caractere paradoxal a ete bien caracterise par Pierre Bayle qui, dans l'article Pereira de son Dictionnaire, place son lecteur devant une alternative inconfortable entre les deux positions extremes que sont l'opinion tres dangereuse de Montaigne (qui affirme la superiorite des animaux sur les hommes) (...) et l'opinion absurde de Descartes (celle des animaux-machines). L'auteur propose une analyse minutieuse des deux textes seminaux que sont l'Apologie de Raimond Sebond de Montaigne et la cinquieme partie du Discours de la methode de Descartes, en s'attachant tout particulierement aux deplacements operes dans ces textes sur le fonds legue par la litterature zoologique antique, d'Aristote a Pline, Plutarque et Elien. Il montre ainsi le lien des paradoxes du discours zoologique des Modernes a un paradoxe philosophique plus fondamental par lequel l'anthropologie moderne se trouve degagee des ontologies scalaires traditionnelles pour constituer une champ autonome d'investigation. Cette liberation a une consequence importante pour les temps modernes: l'unite de l'homme n'est plus donnee dans un ordre predefini de l'etre, mais constitue une tache que l'homme doit accomplir, a la fois sur le plan ethique et sur le plan technique, en affrontant, dans une perspective d'immanence, le dualisme de la vie et de la pensee, du biologique et du noetique. (shrink)

Ce livre cherche à montrer comment l'eau, à la fois réalité et symbole, nourrit la pensée de Platon. Quelle est l'origine de cette thématique et quelles en sont les finalités? A travers ces interrogations, il s'agit de mettre en lumière la fonction de cette matière particulière dont les aspects sont déclinés de manière originale dans l'ensemble de son oeuvre. En rassemblant la multiplicité des images de l'eau, l'auteur interroge la nature et la valeur des images en s'efforçant de montrer comment (...) Platon, écrivain et poète, met en oeuvre avec inventivité métaphores, allégories et mythes. De quoi alimenter un questionnement sur le réel, auquel l'eau donne un fil directeur. On y voit aussi se défaire une certaine idée du platonisme. Critique à l'égard de la rhétorique et des arts, Platon vise dans le miroir les effets illusoires de l'image et de l'imitation, mais Socrate utilise lui-même les images et les reflets tout au long des dialogues, et on en découvre avec étonnement toutes les variations. La métaphore hydrique conditionne l'univers de la parole et de la science, reflète le mouvement de la pensée et ses dérives. Dans les images métaphysiques et morales, ce sont les flux, les fleuves et le monde marin qui reflètent la nature et la qualité des âmes ; mythes et allégories déplient les symboles de la corruption, de l'oubli et de l'incontinence, où se jouent une idée de la matière et la valeur de l'existence. Sur le plan ontologique, l'eau dénoue les figures de l'instable qui mettent en oeuvre la réfutation des «liquides» - théoriciens du flux - et l'intelligibilité du devenir. Enfin, dans l'ordre politique, la critique de la thalassocratie, les mythes (l'Atlantide, la mer de la dissemblance) et les images nautiques suivent les lignes fluctuantes de l'histoire athénienne, mais tracent aussi les contours de la Cité juste et le visage du vrai gouvernant. Dans le scintillement des eaux, à la croisée du sensible et de l'intelligible, se construit l'iconologie platonicienne. L'eau figurée, transfigurée dans le fil liquide de la poésie, forme les multiples reflets de ce qu'il faut vraiment voir pour se libérer du spectacle des ombres et penser le chemin d'une sagesse, qui ne renonce jamais au monde. (shrink)

Valorising the biocultural heritage of common goods could enable peasant farmers to achieve socially and economically inclusive sustainability. Increasingly appreciated by consumers, peasant heritage products offer small farmers promising opportunities for economic, social and territorial development. Identifying the obstacles and levers of this complex, multi-scale and multi-stakeholder objective requires an integrative framework. We applied the panarchy conceptual framework to two cases of participatory research with small quinoa producers: a local fair in Chile and quinoa export production in Bolivia. In both (...) cases, the “commoning” process was crucial both to bring stakeholders together inside their communities and to gain outside recognition for their production and thus achieve social and economic inclusion. Despite the differences in scale, the local fair and the export market shared a similar marketing strategy based on short value chains promoting quality products with high identity value. In these dynamics of biocultural heritage valorisation, the panarchical approach revealed the central place as well as the vulnerability of the community territory. As a place of both anchoring and opening, the community territory is the privileged space where autonomous and consensual control over the governance of common biocultural resources can be exercised. (shrink)

This essay provides an explanation and interpretation of the undertreatment of pain by discussing some of the scientific, clinical, cultural, and philosophical aspects of this problem. One reason why pain continues to be a problem for medicine is that pain does not conform to the scientific approach to health and disease, a philosophy adopted by most health care professionals. Pain does not fit this philosophical perspective because (1) pain is subjective, not objective; (2) the causal basis of pain is often (...) poorly understood; (3) pain is often regarded as a mere symptom, not as a disease; (4) there often are no magic bullets for pain; (5) pain does not fit the expert knowledge model. In order for health care professionals to do a better job of treating pain, some changes need to occur in medical philosophy, education, and practice. (shrink)

L’Introduction à l’analyse des lignes courbes algébriques de Gabriel Cramer, paru en 1750, a tout de suite bénéficié du soutien de D’Alembert qui l’a inclus dans les références bibliographiques de ses articles de mathématiques de l’Encyclopédie portant sur les courbes. Ainsi choisi et légitimé par l’entreprise encyclopédique et ses reprises, l’ouvrage de Cramer devient objet patrimonial au tournant du xixe siècle pour les mathématiciens, amateurs, professionnels ou enseignants qui travaillent sur les courbes algébriques. Le suivi sur le temps long des (...) mentions de l’Introduction dans les encyclopédies, dictionnaires ou histoires des mathématiques en langue française, ainsi que dans quelques textes d’enseignement, nous permettra de comprendre que ce processus de patrimonialisation n’induit pas sa conservation, sa protection, sa valorisation à de seules fins mémorielles, en figeant l’ouvrage dans un passé immuable. Au contraire, il permet une historicisation critique de la part des acteurs qui les met en position d’interroger et de réactualiser les connaissances et les pratiques que l’œuvre contient, au gré des mouvements d’émergence, de réorganisation et des spécialisations des savoirs mathématiques, quitte à en oublier certains aspects pour en mettre de nouveaux en valeur. (shrink)

Formal topology aims at developing general topology in intuitionistic and predicative mathematics. Many classical results of general topology have been already brought into the realm of constructive mathematics by using formal topology and also new light on basic topological notions was gained with this approach which allows distinction which are not expressible in classical topology. Here we give a systematic exposition of one of the main tools in formal topology: inductive generation. In fact, many formal topologies can be presented in (...) a predicative way by an inductive generation and thus their properties can be proved inductively. We show however that some natural complete Heyting algebra cannot be inductively defined. (shrink)

Objective: Body dissatisfaction is a major risk factor underlying vulnerability to eating disorders. Laboratory settings suggest that body dissatisfaction could be improved by using evaluative conditioning (EC). The present study evaluates the feasibility of using an EC app in everyday life and the effects of its use on body dissatisfaction. Method: We designed a game-like app inspired by the Therapeutic Evaluative Conditioning app. 60 participants were randomly assigned to two conditions. Participants in the EC condition had to pair photographs of (...) their own body with positive photographs, while participants in the neutral condition had to pair photographs of their own body with neutral photographs. We tested the effect of use of the app on body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, self-esteem, mood and eating behaviors. Results: Analysis revealed that participants in all conditions presented a significant decrease in body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness. However, contrary to our hypothesis, these reductions were not greater in the EC condition than in the neutral condition. Conclusions: This is the first study to evaluate the effects of an app-based EC intervention targeting body image. Results appear to be promising and the app could easily be implemented in an ecological setting as it is a low effort, attractive and accessible intervention. However, these findings do not support the idea that evaluative conditioning is responsible for the effects. Results are discussed. (shrink)

"Based on the reading of the only twelfth-century manuscript of the Enigma extant, Charleville MS. 114, and an examination of the fifteenth-century manuscript Uppsala C. 79." Revision of the editor's thesis, Catholic University of America, 1971, presented under title: The enigma fidei of William of Saint Thierry, a translation and commentary. Bibliography: p. 119-120.

Plusieurs de ceux qui présentent des problèmes de santé mentale se retrouvent dans le système judiciaire. Leur profil clinique se caractérise par une problématique complexe où se juxtaposent divers troubles ou déficits. Il n’est pas toujours facile de dépister ces personnes et d’intervenir auprès d’elles dans le cadre du processus judiciaire et pénal, qui n’est pas conçu pour répondre à leurs besoins cliniques. De son côté, le réseau de la santé et des services sociaux semble lui aussi peu adapté pour (...) intervenir auprès de cette clientèle marginale, souvent réfractaire à l’aide et parfois intimidante. Ces deux réseaux fonctionnent en parallèle, très peu familiers l’un de l’autre. Ils ont tendance à se renvoyer cette clientèle problématique. L’État doit s’assurer de soutenir et de coordonner des services qui peuvent rejoindre et aider ces personnes. (shrink)

The classical experimental methodology is ill-suited for the investigation of the behavioral and physiological correlates of natural social interactions. A new experimental approach combining a natural conversation between two persons with control conditions is proposed in this paper. Behavior, including gaze direction and speech, and physiology, including electrodermal activity, are recorded during a discussion between two participants through videoconferencing. Control for the social aspect of the interaction is provided by the use of an artificial agent and of videoed conditions. A (...) cover story provides spurious explanations for the purpose of the experiment and for the recordings, as well as a controlled and engaging topic of discussion. Preprocessing entails transforming raw measurements into boxcar and delta functions time series indicating when a certain behaviour or physiological event is present. The preliminary analysis presented here consists in finding statistically significant differences between experimental conditions in the temporal associations between behavioral and physiological time series. Significant results validate the experimental approach and further developments including more elaborate analysis and adaptation of the paradigm to functional MRI are discussed. (shrink)

In recent years, neurophysiological evidence has accumulated in favor of a common coding between perception and execution of action. We review findings from recent neuroimaging experiments in the action domain with three complementary perspectives: perception of action, covert action triggered by perception, and reproduction of perceived action (imitation). All studies point to the parietal cortex as a key region for body movement representation, both observed and performed.

This article compares four ways of thinking corporate responsibility. When corporate responsibility is defined by its function, firm’s moral obligations are limited to obligations imposed on it by its function, whatever its capacity (strict functionalism), or as far as it is compatible with its effective capacity (compatibilist functionalism). When corporate responsibility is defined by its capacity, firms’ moral obligations are limited to obligations which its power imposes on it, whatever its function (strict capacitarism), or insofar as it is compatible with (...) the respect of its specific function (compatibilist capacitarism). Due to the impossibility of perfectly aligning moral tasks with social tasks and of reducing all general obligations to specific obligations, capacitarism seems more convincing than functionalism. Because of the indispensability of a division of (moral) labor, compatibilist capacitarism seems more robust than strict capacitarism. (shrink)

This paper assesses the problem of the possible tension between development and environmental protection, especially for developing countries. Some leaders of these countries like Jacob Zuma claim for example that poor countries should only join the fight against climate change if it does not compromise their economic development, thus suggesting that environmental protection is more often than not an obstacle to economic development. I argue that this argument is if not misleading, at least incomplete because it does not take the (...) diversity of environmental protection seriously and reduces development to economic development. In fact, some aspects of environmental protection may clearly clash with some kinds of economic development. In that line, when countries are still very poor, their economic development should take priority over some ecological-friendly policies. But this is only one side of the truth. The other side of the truth is that some ecologically-friendly policies can also make poor countries richer, more democratic and fairer. (shrink)

Taking advantage of the fact that they need not replicate their DNA, terminally differentiated neurons only repair their expressed genes and largely dispense with the burden of removing damage from most of their genome. However, they may pay a heavy price for this laxity if unforeseen circumstances, such as a pathological condition like Alzheimer's disease, cause them to re‐enter the cell cycle. The lifetime accumulation of unrepaired lesions in the silent genes of neurons is likely to be significant and may (...) result in aborting the mitotic process and triggering cell death if the cells attempt to express these dormant genes and resume DNA replication. BioEssays 25:168–173, 2003. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Thierry Meynard examines how the Jesuits in China came to understand the Confucian tradition, and how they offered the first complete translation of the Lunyu in the West, in the Confucius Sinarum Philosophus.

The romance customarily termed “classical” occupies a special place within Cambodian literature as a whole. The term betrays a certain Eurocentrism and is justified only because the written language of this type of text is neither the old Khmer of epigraphic inscriptions, nor modern Khmer, but the form of the language known as “middle Khmer,” which in theory designates the period from the fourteenth century through the end of the nineteenth century, and of which we have written records from the (...) eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in the romances as we know them. While these romances share one significant feature with Khmer literature as a whole, they are distinguished by other characteristics that are peculiar to them. (shrink)