Post-apartheid South Africa is ravaged by crises of extreme unemployment, poverty, and inequality. While the majority who were politically excluded by apartheid can now choose their government through democratic elections, social and economic justice continues to elude them. Neoliberal policies which seek to reduce state expenditure on social services and promote state policies that protect the interests of big businesses at the expense of working-class and poor communities, along with corruption and abuse of power, are the primary causes of poverty (...) and unemployment. However, what is missing in the assessments of social justice since the pre-1994 democratic era is the recognition that social justice organisations have not simply disappeared, but have actually remained involved in social justice struggles. Based on information from in-depth interviews and internet sources, this article records some of the partial victories scored through these struggles, albeit in the context of generalised pauperisation of working-class and poor communities. These partial victories in the era of defeats show that these organisations, although weakened, have not given up the struggle for social justice. (shrink)

The connection between quantum mechanics and classical statistical mechanics has motivated in the past the representation of the Schrödinger quantum-wave equation in terms of “projections” onto the quantum configuration space of suitable phase-space asymptotic kinetic models. This feature has suggested the search of a possible exact super-dimensional classical dynamical system, denoted as Schrödinger CDS, which uniquely determines the time-evolution of the underlying quantum state describing a set of N like and mutually interacting quantum particles. In this paper the realization of (...) the same CDS in terms of a coupled set of Hamiltonian systems is established. These are respectively associated with a quantum-hydrodynamic CDS advancing in time the quantum fluid velocity and a further one the RD-CDS, describing the relative dynamics with respect to the quantum fluid. (shrink)

The problem is posed of the prescription of the so-called Boltzmann–Grad limit operator ) for the N-body system of smooth hard-spheres which undergo unary, binary as well as multiple elastic instantaneous collisions. It is proved, that, despite the non-commutative property of the operator \, the Boltzmann equation can nevertheless be uniquely determined. In particular, consistent with the claim of Uffink and Valente that there is “no time-asymmetric ingredient” in its derivation, the Boltzmann equation is shown to be time-reversal symmetric. The (...) proof is couched on the “ab initio” axiomatic approach to the classical statistical mechanics recently developed. Implications relevant for the physical interpretation of the Boltzmann H-theorem and the phenomenon of decay to kinetic equilibrium are pointed out. (shrink)

Me rendant à l’université de Bâle, je fus étonnée de voir notés sur les marches du grand escalier du bâtiment administratif, le Kollegienhaus, les noms, en ordre chronologique, des premières étudiantes admises, tardivement, à partir de 1890. Ce lieu de mémoire particulier marque les esprits. Il renvoie au premier pan des recherches reflétées dans ce livre : documenter l’apparition et l’accroissement des étudiantes puis des enseignantes dans les institutions d’enseignement supérieur. Fruit d’u...

Papers from a conference held August 2010.

L'âge technique, annoncé par Heidegger, n'est rien d'autre que la mise en place d'un règne absolu de la Raison. Ce règne planétaire, dont la forme aboutie est celle d'une domination des mathématiques, est la mise en oeuvre d'un idéalisme selon lequel la réalité empirique, qu'elle soit naturelle ou sociale, a pour vocation d'être entièrement produite et contrôlée par la pensée rationnelle.

Eight papers followed by a discussion and an epilogue.

Une certaine relecture de Descartes est à l'origine de ce livre. En témoignent, par exemple, la place de l'animal dans la philosophie de l'homme, le rôle de l'image dans la pensée, l'interprétation du malin génie. On s'arrête trop souvent à l'idée de dualisme quand on parle de l'âme et du corps à propos de Descartes, mais c'est oublier l'interaction de l'âme et du corps qui caractérise pour lui l'homme vrai.

A reference that is as discreet as it is obstinate runs through the pragmaticist inquiry into the meaning of meaning: when he intends to clarify what meaning is, Peirce very often appeals to a quote by John of Salisbury, a rather obscure author of the 12th century. What is the point of mentioning that names “name singulars but signify universals”? My paper intends to show that, in twisting the original purport of the sentence, Peirce uses it for his semiotic, pragmatist (...) and realist theory of signification. (shrink)

Livre fondateur de R. Carnap, "Der logische Aufbau der Welt" (1928) est une oeuvre philosophique allemande centrale du XXe siècle.Cet ouvrage veut montrer l'actualité de l'"Aufbau" tout en présentant la logique de pensée de Carnap et ses conséquences philosophiques.

While $$\Lambda $$ Λ CDM has emerged as the standard model of cosmology, a small group of physicists defends modified newtonian dynamics (MOND) as an alternative view on cosmology. Exponents of MOND have employed a broad, at times explicitly philosophical, conceptual perspective in arguing their case. This paper offers reasons why that MONDian defense has been ineffective. First, we argue that the defense is ineffective according to Popperian or Lakatosian views–ostensibly the preferred philosophical views on theory assessment of proponents of (...) MOND. Second, we argue that the defense of MOND can instead best be reconstructed as an instance of meta-empirical theory assessment. The formal employment of meta-empirical assessment by MONDians is unconvincing, however, because it lacks a sufficient epistemic foundation. Specifically, the MONDian No Alternatives Argument relies on falsifiability or explanation conditions that lack epistemic relevance, while the argument from Unexpected Explanatory Success fails since there is a known alternative to MOND. In the last part of the paper, we draw some lessons for applications of meta-empirical assessment more generally. (shrink)

A quoi ressemblerait une société vraiment féministe? L'identité, la sexualité, l'amour et la parentalité se vivraient sans contrainte ni injonction. La réponse aux crimes serait la réparation et non l'exclusion. L'attention au soin changerait notre relation au travail. L'écoféminisme nous ferait entrer dans une relation non prédatrice à la nature. Les théoriciennes féministes ont développé, depuis des siècles, suffisamment d'outils pour modifier en profondeur chaque pan de la société, au-delà des relations femmes-hommes. Appliquer un programme féministe à la société, c'est (...) redéfinir le sens d'aimer, d'éduquer, de juger, de produire, de vivre même. Dans cet essai, qui entrecroise vulgarisation des pensées féministes et récit intime, je vous propose des solutions pour répondre aux urgences de l'époque et bâtir un futur désirable. La bonne nouvelle, c'est que ce futur est déjà là. (shrink)

First recorded in the 14th century, the analogy of spit-roast meat argues that expecting the Sun to rotate around a strictly immobile Earth would be just as ludicrous as trying to move the fire around the roasting meat. On the contrary, it should be the Earth that spins upon itself in order to glean, from all possible angles, all the benefits of the Sun, just as it is the meat’s responsibility to turn on the spit before the motionless fire for (...) it to be perfectly cooked on all sides. Aimed at demonstrating, in geocentricism, the plausibility of the rotation of the Earth and, in heliocentrism, at supporting the physical reality of this terrestrial rotation, nowadays this analogy barely elicits more than an amused, or even condescending, smile. However, its continued long-term existence and its frequency of use — from the 14th to the 19th century, we found it mentioned by no less than 45 different authors — incited us to finally pay attention to it. We then noticed that beyond its explicitly cosmological scope, it raises, in its own way, the question of the purpose of the natural world: had the latter been conceived based upon humankind, then it is normal, despite what this analogy advocates, that the Sun is at the service of something more important than itself by rotating, to the profit of humankind, around the Earth; conversely, since such an infringement of the rule of common sense, as illustrated by this analogy, can neither be justified nor tolerated, it is up to the Earth to move around the Sun. Tracing the vicissitudes of this analogy, over 6 centuries, is thus not only about reconstructing the largely forgotten history of a presently obsolete analogy, but also about discovering the deeper meaning, henceforth incomprehensible, behind it. In describing how this meaning became progressively lost, one can finally pro­vide an understanding of why, in the present day, we are no longer capable of more than an amused smile when happening upon it! (shrink)