This article explores the 'transmission of knowledge' between the western world and Indian and Chinese civilization, a role fulfilled over several centuries by Muslim civilization. The Muslim world is essentially 'western' for philosophical and religious reasons: it was informed by Greek thought and fed upon Judaeo-Christian culture, of which the Koran is a newer reading. For these reasons, the Islamic countries, situated between India and China, may be considered as an extension of the western view of the Far East. From (...) among the Fare Eastern knowledge systems with which Muslims came into contact (and which they sometimes adopted), the author has chosen some that later revolutionized or challenged western thought, precipitating a (positive) 'clash of civilizations': Buddhist thought, yoga, acupuncture, and Ayurvedic medicine. (shrink)

There is no plant that embodies the encounter between humans and plants better than the mandrake, whose myth, as Arlette Bouloumié writes, ‘has the cosmic sense of a profound correlation between nature and humanity and the possibility of their merging’. Zarcone presents a collection of extracts on this theme, under three main headings: (1) ancient documents in which legend and scholarship are mixed in varying degrees; (2) contemporary scholarly studies; and (3) literary texts.

In his study of the conversion of Westerners to Islam, a Turkish sociologist revealed in 1996 that it happened that a significant proportion of the converts had adopted that religion under the influence of Islamic mysticism, or Sufism. Now Sufism, located at the meeting-point of the written and oral traditions of Islam, offers an original commentary on the Quran and a spiritual practice based on psychosomatic exercises close to yoga. Interest in Sufism among Westerners was revealed at the end of (...) the nineteenth century and became considerable from the 1930s onwards, resulting in the foundation in Europe of Sufi groups directed by converts who very quickly became shaykhs (shaikh). These first groups, to which new ones were added, are still active today, although somewhat bruised by numerous divisions. The reasons for conversion to Sufism among Europeans, for the most part from intellectual milieux, rest on concerns of a spiritual dimension linked to the climate of religious crisis which the modern West has experienced since the end of the nineteenth century. To which should be added in recent decades the fashionable exoticism fostered by the development of means of transport and communication which have brought East and West closer. (shrink)

Some religious groups and trends of thought in the Turkic world, in Asia and Europe, have for several centuries nurtured an unusual vision of nature in which old animistic and shamanistic beliefs, and even nomads’ Buddhist beliefs, are combined with Arab philosophy stemming from Neo-Platonism and Muslim mysticism (Sufism). This vision, which in fact is not homogeneous since it exists in several variants, claims that all animate and inanimate creatures - humans, animals, plants and stones - are receptacles of the (...) same ‘vital energy’ and are consequently intimately bound up with one another, and may even migrate towards each of their respective modes of being, animal, plant or mineral; hence the existence of stone people, tree people and animal people. This article aims to trace the origins of this vision of nature and look at its current influence, paying particular attention to the ‘ethics of the environment’ (çevre ahlakï) it has inspired in recent years in Turkey. (shrink)

Résumé Quelques groupes religieux et mouvements de pensée du monde turc, en Asie et en Europe, cultivent, depuis plusieurs siècles, une vision originale de la nature dans laquelle les vieilles croyances animistes et chamanistes, et même bouddhistes des nomades sont combinées à la philosophie arabe d’ obédience néoplatonicienne et à la mystique musulmane (soufisme). Cette vision, qui n’est pas du reste homogène puisqu’elle connaît plusieurs variantes, établit que toutes les créatures animées et inanimées – humain, animaux, plantes et pierres – (...) sont les réceptacles d’une même « énergie vitale » et qu’elles sont en conséquence intimement liées les unes aux autres, et même susceptibles de migrer vers chacun de leurs modes d’être respectifs, animal, végétal ou minéral ; de là l’existence d’hommes-pierres, d’hommes-arbres et d’hommes-animaux. Cet article se propose de faire la généalogie de cette vision de la nature et d’en étudier l’influence actuelle, en portant une attention particulière à l’« éthique de l’environnement » ( çevre ahlakï ) qu’elle a inspirée, ces dernières années, en Turquie. (shrink)

In a poetic conversation with Thierry Zarcone, the painter and calligrapher Fabienne Verdier exposes her deep and harmonious connection to nature. She tells of her garden, her house and her osmosis with nature. Painting is to her an art of living and being that recalls the Tao masters as well as some Christan mystics.

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

Etudier le probleme de la personne, c'est s'interesser a un probleme qui traverse a peu pres tous les domaines de la philosophie, depuis la psychologie jusqu'a la theologie en passant par l'ethique et par le droit, mais dont le denominateur commun est la definition du soi-meme. Etudier ce probleme chez Maimonide, c'est voir comment un philosophe juif du Moyen-Age pouvait elaborer une representation coherente de l'homme en s'appuyant a la fois sur la pensee greco-arabe et sur la tradition hebraique. Ce (...) livre espere contribuer a une meilleure comprehension d'un philosophe dont on a trop souvent fragmente la pensee, apparemment dechiree entre des sources contradictoires. En fait, Maimonide a su developper un dialogue critique entre deux heritages qui demeurent aux fondements de la civilisation occidentale. C'est ce qui donne a sa pensee son caractere eminemment actuel. (shrink)

Le droit court derrière la "révolution numérique". Les algorithmes nous espionnent et restreignent les libertés publiques, ils calculent les indemnités au service des compagnies d'assurance. La diminution lente et continue des services chargés de veiller à l'application du droit affaiblit et parfois anéantit l'efficacité de ces lois. L'échec de la loi Hadopi est significatif à cet égard. Le mal est en fait bien plus profond et ne date pas d'hier. Nous vivons une époque de démolition des codes établis. Si le (...) droit est partout, en définitive il n'est nulle part... (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)

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)

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)

Logical metonymy resolution (begin a book begin reading a book or begin writing a book) has traditionally been explained either through complex lexical entries (qualia structures) or through the integration of the implicit event via post-lexical access to world knowledge. We propose that recent work within the words-as-cues paradigm can provide a more dynamic model of logical metonymy, accounting for early and dynamic integration of complex event information depending on previous contextual cues (agent and patient). We first present a self-paced (...) reading experiment on German subordinate sentences, where metonymic sentences and their paraphrased version differ only in the presence or absence of the clause-final target verb (Der Konditor begann die Glasur Der Konditor begann, die Glasur aufzutragen/The baker began the icing The baker began spreading the icing). Longer reading times at the target verb position in a high-typicality condition (baker + icing spread ) compared to a low-typicality (but still plausible) condition (child + icing spread) suggest that we make use of knowledge activated by lexical cues to build expectations about events. The early and dynamic integration of event knowledge in metonymy interpretation is bolstered by further evidence from a second experiment using the probe recognition paradigm. Presenting covert events as probes following a high-typicality or a low-typicality metonymic sentence (Der Konditor begann die Glasur AUFTRAGEN/The baker began the icing SPREAD), we obtain an analogous effect of typicality at 100 ms interstimulus interval. (shrink)

Le premier chapitre de la Métaphysique allemande ne comprend que neuf paragraphes et semble ne représenter qu' une sorte de préambule. De ce fait, on peut avoir le sentiment que la métaphysique ne commence à proprement parler qu'avec le § 10, lequel ouvre, avec l'énoncé du principe de contradiction, la partie ontologique de l'ouvrage. Pourtant, Wolff fait figurer dans cette première partie des considérations qui concernent de très près le commencement de sa philosophie: il présente tout d'abord quelque chose comme (...) un cogito. De plus, les acquis de ce premier chapitre sont repris à l'ouverture des cinq autres chapitres qui suivent : y aurait-il là matière à affirmer que la métaphysique wolffienne est fondée dans une expérience psychologique? Cette hypothèse est donc ici testée par l'examen successif des statuts de l' Ontologie, de la Logique et de la Psychologie empirique au travers d'une lecture conjointe de la Métaphysique allemande et de la Logique allemande. The first chapter of the German Metaphysics gathers only nine paragraphs and seems to represent but some kind of a preamble. Hence one may feel that metaphysics begins only with paragraph 10 opening the ontological part of the text with the contradiction principle. Yet Wolff already mentions a few considerations in this first part that are extremely close to the beginning of his philosophy : he presents from the start something very similar to a cogito. Moreover the assets of this first chapter are recaptured whenever every one of the five following chapters opens. Would there be therein sufficient matter at stake to evidence that the Wolffian Metaphysics is grounded in a psychological experience? Hence the author tests here such a hypothesis through the successive analysis of the status of Ontology, of Logics and of empirical Psychology, through a joint reading of the German Metaphysics and of the German Logics. (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.

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)

. The effort in providing constructive and predicative meaning to non-constructive modes of reasoning has almost without exception been applied to theories with full classical logic [4]. In this paper we show how to combine unrestricted countable choice, induction on infinite well-founded trees and restricted classical logic in constructively given models. These models are sheaf models over a $\sigma$ -complete Boolean algebra, whose topologies are generated by finite or countable covering relations. By a judicious choice of the Boolean algebra we (...) can directly extract effective content from $\Pi_2^0$ -statements true in the model. All the arguments of the present paper can be formalised in Martin-Löf's constructive type theory with generalised inductive definitions. (shrink)

The aim of this essay is to understand the relationship between knowledge and society and to reflect on the links between science and political decision making. The text evolved from a number of reflections the author made while president of the European Astronomical Society, president of the Swiss Academy of Sciences and vice-president of the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC). The book starts by using astronomy as a showcase for what science brings to society in terms of intellectual enrichment, (...) of practical tools and of societal inputs. It then turns to looking generally at science as a human endeavour for which pleasure is a prime motivation and it describes the efforts made by researchers to rationalise their findings, thus making them universally acceptable. The author also describes the role of science in shaping our environment and discusses resulting responsibility of the scientists with respect to the evolution of the world. As part of an analysis of the relationship between science and policy the author describes the way in which scientists can (and must) bring knowledge in the political decision making process. The argument is closed with considerations on global governance, while the conclusion puts evidence based decision making processes in relation with the more emotional aspects of our behaviour. The readership of the book is intended to be all scientists involved in "science for policy" activities, as well as those who should become more active in this domain. This includes, but is not limited to, all members of science academies. Astronomers will find specific elements to help them think about their science. The intended readers of the book also include civil servants and policy makers who develop legislation and societal action in domains in which a solid knowledge base is important. The book should furthermore be of interest to citizens following public life and all those worried by the "post evidence" trends in policy. (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)

The general framework of this paper is a reformulation of Hilbert’s program using the theory of locales, also known as formal or point-free topology [P.T. Johnstone, Stone Spaces, in: Cambridge Studies in Advanced Mathematics, vol. 3, 1982; Th. Coquand, G. Sambin, J. Smith, S. Valentini, Inductively generated formal topologies, Ann. Pure Appl. Logic 124 71–106; G. Sambin, Intuitionistic formal spaces–a first communication, in: D. Skordev , Mathematical Logic and its Applications, Plenum, New York, 1987, pp. 187–204]. Formal topology presents a (...) topological space, not as a set of points, but as a logical theory which describes the lattice of open sets. The application to Hilbert’s program is then the following. Hilbert’s ideal objects are represented by points of such a formal space. There are general methods to “eliminate” the use of points, close to the notion of forcing and to the “elimination of choice sequences” in intuitionist mathematics, which correspond to Hilbert’s required elimination of ideal objects. This paper illustrates further this general program on the notion of valuations. They were introduced by Dedekind and Weber [R. Dedekind, H. Weber, Theorie des algebraischen Funktionen einer Veränderlichen, J. de Crelle t. XCII 181–290] to give a rigorous presentation of Riemann surfaces. It can be argued that it is one of the first example in mathematics of point-free representation of spaces [N. Bourbaki, Eléments de Mathématique. Algèbre commutative, Hermann, Paris, 1965, Chapitre 7]. It is thus of historical and conceptual interest to be able to represent this notion in formal topology. (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.