Le 7 mars 1277 Etienne Tempier, évêque de Paris, publiait un mandement en forme de lettres patentes, interdisant d'enseigner ou de soutenir 219 propositions dont la liste était jointe au document; il s'agissait de thèses répandues à la Faculté des Arts, exposait le prélat, et il faisait remarquer que leurs partisans les suggéraient mais refusaient de les soutenir ouvertement, grâce à un subterfuge: ils disent que ces propositions sont vraies d'après la philosophie mais ne le sont pas d'après (...) la foi chrétienne, comme s'il pouvait exister deux vérités contradictories. De cette description de l'attitude prise par les philosophes sont nées la théorie et la formule, qui leur furent attribuées, de la double vérité: le philosophe et le fidèle admettent des vérités différentes et qui s'excluent mutuellement; la raison humaine et la Révélation que reçoit l'homme aboutissent à des affirmations opposées. Et cependant il faut reconnaître comme simultanément valables ces positions antagonistes et les conclusions contradictoires auxquelles elles aboutissent. Théorie bien étrange, et Ton comprendrait qu'Etienne Tempier reproche à ceux qu'il condamne leurs erreurs, ou plutôt leurs sottises et leurs insanités. M. Gilson a très heureusement traduit le sentiment d'incompréhension que l'on éprouve devant cette théorie lorsqu'il parle de réduction à l'absurde tentée par des théologiens orthodoxes contre des philosophes qui ne l'étaient pas tout en constatant que, si l'on emploie couramment cette formule de la double‐vérité, il faut reconnaître que l'expression n'est pas des plus heureuses. (shrink)

The double truth question is located at the center of an extensive debate on the relationship of theology and philosophy—on the epistemic order of reason and scientific knowledge on the one hand and revelation and faith on the other. While this field of tension has been a crucial topic for the self-perception of Christian theology ever since, the disputes largely intensified in the 13th century within the scope of both the growing influence of the rediscovered Aristotelianepistemology and the condemnation of (...) 219 articles by the Parisian bishop Étienne Tempier. In this context, the present article investigates the accounts offered by Thomas Aquinas, Henry of Ghent, and Meister Eckhart, discusses their mutual relation, and traces significant aspects in their interpretation of the Early Christian authors Augustine and Boethius. (shrink)

Are the conclusions reached by mature sciences merely “likely stories” or are they “really true”? Questions of this sort have been live issues from Étienne Tempier’s March 1277 condemnation of theses of the Radical Aristotelians of Paris to the May 2005 Kansas State Board of Education deliberations on Darwinism. One major difficulty with the view that scientific findings are “really true” is that, from the historical record, all such statements are recognized as being revisable, even replaceable. Several attempts to (...) formalize a notion of “approximate truth” have addressed this difficulty—without notable success. This book proposes a new solution to the problem—a resolution that stands in the tradition of the American Pragmatists: Peirce, James, and Dewey. (shrink)

Sigieri di Brabante, maestro di filosofia presso la facoltà delle arti dell'università di Parigi, fu uno dei principali esponenti di quell'"aristotelismo radicale" che costituì uno dei principali obiettivi delle condanne del vescovo Étienne Tempier del 1270 e del 1277. Il De aeternitate mundi è la testimonianza di un corso tenuto da Sigieri nel 1272 sul problema se la specie umana sia stata creata nel tempo. Vengono qui esaminate sia in generale le tesi di Sigieri riguardo ai diversi argomenti affrontati, (...) sia nello specifico il problema della causazione per intermediari. Quest'ultimo tema rimanda non solo alle altre opere in cui Sigieri ha affrontato tali problematiche, ma anche ad una tradizione che trae le sue origini nella filosofia greca classica e si sviluppa nel medioevo latino e arabo. Segue la traduzione del testo di Sigieri, condotta sull'edizione critica curata da Bernardo Carlos Bazán. (shrink)

In this paper I consider Derrida’s anathematization during the 1992 "Cambridge affair" in the light of the 1270 and 1277 condemnations of unorthodox philosophical theses by the bishop of Paris, Etienne Tempier, the inventor of double truth. In particular, I compare these two occurrences through a reading of modernities as a re-centring on the new orthodoxy of naturalistic ontology, which began to take place in the 17th century. After the Humean attack, Kant recast such a naïve naturalistic objectivity (...) into a more defendable shape, by internalizing the supposed universal spatio-temporal structure of Newtonian physics as transcendental conditions of possibility. Though the Kantian ontological and theological legacy is still detectable in Derrida's quasi-concept of iterability, Derrida's theoretical contributions well exceed metaphysical discourse. More generally, I argue that during the last fifty years these contributions, together with contemporary reconsiderations of modernities, produced an emerging theoretical region. Within this region, the metaphysical chain of substitution of centre for centre is displaced, so that we can evaluate practices of exclusion without having to rely on alternative injunctions. (shrink)

Le 7 mars 1277, l'évêque de Paris, Étienne Tempier, promulgue la condamnation de 219 thèses philosophiques et théologiques hétérodoxes, selon lui enseignées et diffusées par des hommes d'études ès arts, c'est-à-dire des philosophes de l'Université de Paris. Si cet événement est considéré par les historiens comme un des faits saillants de l'histoire intellectuelle du XIIIe siècle, voire du Moyen Âge, c'est qu'il est la seule condamnation médiévale qui ait eu une telle ampleur tant par le nombre de thèses condamnées (...) que par le nombre et la «raison sociale» des personnes visées. (shrink)

Este artículo pretende realizar un repaso por la historiografía de la noción de averroísmo latino, desde los primeros trabajos de E. Renan hasta las investigaciones más recientes. Se destaca la falta de acuerdo entre las distintas posiciones y las grandes dificultades de definición que ésta categoría ha comportado para los historiadores de la filosofía durante los dos últimos siglos.

본 논문은 가톨릭신앙의 핵심을 다루는 1277년 3월 7일 파리대학 단죄 항목들인 “사멸한 신체가 수적으로 동일한 것으로 되돌아오는 일은 생기지 않으며, 수적으로 동일한 것이 되살아나지도 않을 것이다”와 “미래의 부활에 대해 철학자가 동의해서는 안 된다. 왜냐하면 이성으로 탐구할 수 없기 때문이다. - 이것은 오류다. 왜냐하면 철학자는 그리스도에게 순종토록 지성을 다잡아야하기 때문이다”를 중심으로 1277년 단죄 조치의 목적과 성격을 재조명한다. 이 과정에서 본 논문은 먼저 이 두 명제가 13세기 파리대학에서 활동하던 사상가들이 견지했던 사상과 일치하는 대상이 엄밀한 의미에서 없음을 보에티우스 다치아와 시제 브라방의 주요저작들을 분석하면서 (...) 밝힌다. 그리고 다른 한편으로 이 과정에서 드러나는 1277년 단죄 목록 전반의 특징인 익명성과 그에 따른 문헌학적 불명료성이 텅피에의 의도를 반영할 가능성을 모색한다. 그리고 그 의도와 관련하여 텅피에의 단죄 조치를 특정 사상가 혹은 입장에 대한 단죄보다는 파리대학의 교육과정에서 거론될 수 있는 심각한 오류에 대한 예방조치로 이해해야 한다고 제안하려 한다. (shrink)

Two essays, one by Althusser, the other by Balibar which were presented as papers at a seminar on Marx's "Capital" at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in 1965, and included al.

English summary: Condillacs 1746 Essai sur lorigine des connaissance humaines represents a pioneering approach to the philosophy of knowledge. Working through a semiotic method, Condillac is able to radically revisit the theory of ideas developed by predecessors such as Malebranche and Locke. This critical edition allows readers to better understand Condillacs essential contributions to Enlightenment philosophy. French description: L'Essai sur l'origine des connaissances humaines que Condillac publie en 1746 est un texte surprenant a plusieurs points de vue. Il l'est tout (...) d'abord du fait qu'on ne sait pas exactement dans quelles conditions il a ete compose, et que, faute de manuscrits, il reste impossible a ce jour d'en connaitre la redaction initiale. Dans ses ouvrages ulterieurs, Condillac en a par ailleurs critique plusieurs elements, mais rien ne nous permet de savoir s'il a touche a l'Essai quand il a entrepris de reviser ses ecrits en vue de leur publication dans ses oeuvres completes qu'il n'aura pas eu le temps de mener a bonne fin. Il l'est aussi dans son contenu qui s'efforce d'articuler une philosophie de la connaissance avec ce que nous considererions comme une semiotique generale. Dans cet effort, le genie de Condillac prend appui sur toute la culture de son temps pour ouvrir avec alacrite une voie de recherche dans laquelle il fait oeuvre de pionnier. Ayant en effet arrime l'idee au signe, il entreprend l'inventaire des modalites de fonctionnement de toutes les especes de signes d'institution. Il lui devient alors possible de bousculer de l'interieur la theorie des idees sous les formes qu'elle a prises chez ses predecesseurs, en particulier Malebranche et Locke, et de reconduire sans reste l'idee jusqu'a la sensation. Au cours de ce travail, il met en place non seulement les bases, mais jusqu'au projet, destine a alimenter pour longtemps les discussions, d'une theorie de l'esprit. (shrink)

This book proposes a review of important Western philosophies and their significance for managers, management academics, and management consultants. It argues that management is an applied philosophical endeavor.

This paper builds on previous work that investigated anticancer drugs as ‘informed materials’, i.e., substances that undergo an informational enrichment that situates them in a dense relational web of qualifications and measurements generated by clinical experiments and clinical trials. The paper analyzes the recent transformation of anticancer drugs from ‘informed’ to ‘informing material’. Briefly put: in the post-genomic era, anti-cancer drugs have become instruments for the production of new biological, pathological, and therapeutic insights into the underlying etiology and evolution of (...) cancer. Genomic platforms characterize individual patients’ tumors based on their mutational landscapes. As part of this new approach, drugs targeting specific mutations transcend informational enrichment to become tools for informing their targets, while also problematizing the very notion of a ‘target’. In other words, they have become tools for the exploration of cancer pathways and mechanisms. While several studies in the philosophy and history of biomedicine have called attention to the heuristic relevance and experimental use of drugs, few have investigated concrete instances of this role of drugs in clinical research. (shrink)

The book proposes a critique of Nietzsche's works 'from within'. In doing so, it answers the continuing question asked by any reader of Nietzsche: Why did he decide not to write the major work he said he would write?

The physical environment leads to a thermal sensation that is perceived and appraised by occupants. The present study focuses on the relationship between sensation and evaluation. We asked 166 people to recall a thermal event from their recent past. They were then asked how they evaluated this experience in terms of 10 different emotions (frustrated, resigned, dislike, indifferent, angry, anxious, liking, joyful, regretful, proud). We tested whether four psychological factors (appraisal dimensions) could be used to predict the ensuing emotions, as (...) well as comfort, acceptability, and sensation. The four dimensions were: the Conduciveness of the event, who/what caused the event (Causality), who had control (Agency), and whether the event was expected (Expectations). These dimensions, except for Expectations, were good predictors of the reported emotions. Expectations, however, predicted the reported thermal sensation, its acceptability, and ensuing comfort. The more expected an event was, the more uncomfortable a person felt, and the less likely they reported a neutral thermal sensation. Together, these results support an embodied view of how subjective appraisals affect thermal experience. Overall, we show that appraisal dimensions mediate occupants' evaluation of their thermal sensation, which suggests an additional method for understanding psychological adaption. (shrink)

Culinary traditions and food practices are at the center of our daily lives and therefore constitute an important part of culture. Whether they are part of significant rituals or simply routinely enacted, they tell us something about the way we relate to each other and to the non-human world. In other words, food practices have an ethical dimension. Our paper focuses on the possibility to make objective ethical assessments of problematic cultural practices rooted in culinary traditions as a reply to (...) arguments associated with an ethical relativism according to which cultures produce ethical systems that are self-validating and therefore that cannot be criticized objectively. Drawing from examples involving animal cruelty and production methods harmful to the environment, we argue that it is possible to judge ethically questionable food practices from an objectivist standpoint inspired by moral progress, in contrario to a relativist point of view. Following a short discussion of ethical relativism, we present the outline of an acceptability test for questionable food practices and use it to analyse the case of the dog meat industry in South Korea. (shrink)

The article addresses the question: ‘To what extent can Max Weber’s ethic of responsibility be a helpful resource in the search of Christian Social Ethics for an appropriate contemporary approach’? This question is addressed by, first of all, providing a summary of Weber’s famous speech Politics as a Vocation in which he developed his view on the ethic of responsibility; secondly, providing an interpretation of his view; and, thirdly, critically discussing the extent to which this ethic can serve as a (...) resource for Christian Social Ethics in its search for an appropriate contemporary approach. The conclusion is that although some aspects of Weber’s view on the ethic of responsibility are unacceptable to Christian Social Ethics, the core of it is commendable. Some of the implications of incorporating an ethic of responsibility approach in Christian Social Ethics are also briefly discussed. (shrink)

An elegant English version of La Boetie's _Discourse on Voluntary Servitude_, which is both a key to understanding much of Montaigne and a major piece of early modern political thought. --Timothy Hampton, Professor of French and Comparative Literature, University of California, Berkeley.

Vous menez depuis plusieurs années des enquêtes sur le personnel politique en France, avec l’ambition de reconsidérer la notion de « professionnel » de la politique et par extension les ressorts d’une « professionnalisation » de la vie politique en France. Un point de départ, semble-t-il, de votre réflexion porte sur le fait que ces termes servent souvent (à l’instar du vocable péjoratif de « politicien » auquel ils se substituent souvent) à dévaloriser le personnel politique. Ils avaient pourtant été (...) conçus par les sciences sociales pour mettre à distance tout jugement de valeur à propos des élus. On pense bien sûr à Max Weber, mais aussi aux travaux fondateurs de Daniel Gaxie ou Jacques Lagroye, notamment. Comment vos propres travaux se situent-ils par rapport à la dimension normative inévitablement attachée à cet objet qu’est le « métier » de député? Il est vrai que je mène une critique des « professionnels de la politique », mais pas tout à fait dans le sens de celle qui domine... (shrink)

Etienne Gilson Reason and Revelation in the Middle Ages, first delivered as the Richard Lectures in 1937, was published in 1938 and became an immediate success. Not only does it contribute to a major question of debate in Christian, Jewish, and Islamic philosophy and religion in the medieval period but it also insists on the validity of truth obtainable through reason as well as revelation, on rational argument alongside religious faith. This message is as important in the twenty-first century (...) as it was in the fourth century of the young Augustine, the thirteenth of St Thomas Aquinas, and the twentieth of the mature Gilson. (shrink)