L'un des principaux intérêts du matériel céramique recueilli lors des fouilles récentes dans l'habitat mésohelladique de l'Aspis d'Argos (1974-1990) tient au fait qu'il provient de dépôts d'habitat stratifiés couvrant presque toute la période, de ΓΗΜ Ι à ΓΗΜ IIIB. Parmi ce matériel, les céramiques à décor peint constituent un lot particulièrement intéressant, non seulement parce qu'elles représentent plus du tiers de l'ensemble mais aussi parce qu'elles se prêtent mieux, de par leurs caractères physiques (technologie, formes, décor), à l'étude de la (...) variabilité des céramiques. Or c'est à travers cette dernière que l'on peut le mieux tenter une approche des relations et des conceptions sociales et, d'une manière plus générale, de l'organisation socio-économique, domaines encore largement inexplorés pour cette période. Les céramiques mésohelladiques à décor peint se répartissent en deux grandes catégories : la céramique à peinture mate (Mattpainted ware), parmi les plus caractéristiques de la période, et la céramique à peinture lustrée (Lustrous Decorated ware), beaucoup plus rare et moins largement répandue. Le premier volet de cette étude, consacré à la céramique à peinture mate, présente un aperçu de ses diverses classes technologiques et de ses principaux types, ce qui permet de discerner plusieurs traits originaux de la production argienne mais aussi d'apprécier la part qu'y occupent des séries importées d'autres centres producteurs du bassin égéen. (shrink)

Στο πρώτο μέρος της μελέτης της κεραμικής με γραπτό διάκοσμο από τις πρόσφατες ανασκαφές του μεσοελλαδικού οικισμού της Ασπίδας του 'Αργούς, είχαμε αναφερθεί στην αμαυρόχρωμη κεραμική (Mattpainted Ware), τοπικής και αιγινήτικης παραγωγής. Στο δεύτερο αυτό μέρος του άρθρου παρουσιάζονται τα προκαταρκτικά αποτελέσματα της μελέτης της κεραμικής με στιλπνή βαφή {Lustrons Decorated Waré), πολύ σπανιότερης και προερχόμενης από κάποιο κέντρο παραγωγής που εντοπίζεται πιθανότατα στη ΝΑ Πελοπόννησο. Βασικό χαρακτηριστικό της αποτελούν οι ομοιότητες της με τη μινωική κεραμική (ΜΜ ΙΑ-ΜΜ ΙΠΒ/ΥΜ Ι), (...) ομοιότητες όχι μόνο μορφολογικές αλλά και τεχνολογικές, γεγονός που δηλώνει την εξοικείωση του εργαστηρίου παραγωγής της με τη μινωική τεχνογνωσία. Μέσα από τη μελέτη των φυσικών χαρακτηριστικών της (εξειδικευμένη τεχνολογία, περιορισμένο σχηματολόγιο, περίτεχνη διακόσμηση) διερευνάται η λειτουργία της κεραμικής αυτής (κατανάλωση υγρών τροφών) και ο κοινωνικός της ρόλος (ένδειξη κύρους), καθώς και τα χαρακτηριστικά του κέντρου παραγωγής της. Τέλος, μέσα από την κεραμική διαφοροποίηση και των δύο κατηγοριών με γραπτό διάκοσμο (αμαυρόχρωμης και με στιλπνή βαφή) γίνεται μια προσπάθεια να διερευνηθούν η κοινωνικοπολιτική οργάνωση του οικισμού και οι αλλαγές που σηματοδότησαν την πορεία του: η χωροταξική του αναδιάταξη στην αρχή της περιόδου των ταφικών κύκλων των Μυκηνών και η εγκατάλειψη του στα τέλη της ίδιας περιόδου. (shrink)

Les études de mobilier en vue de la publication des fouilles de l’Aspis se sont poursuivies activement au cours des campagnes de 2014 et 2015. Au cours de la seconde, elles se sont accompagnées de deux opérations de terrain également liées à la préparation de la publication : d’une part, le nettoyage partiel et le relevé des deux citernes hellénistiques de l’Aspis ; d’autre part, une série de carottages dans la plaine argienne dans le cadre de l’étude paléo‑environnementale du site. (...) Parallèle... (shrink)

Les années 2014 et 2015 ont été consacrées à la poursuite de l’étude du mobilier des tombes de la nécropole mycénienne de la Deiras fouillées par Vollgraff au début du xxe s., étude centrée sur le mobilier non céramique mais qui prend aussi en compte, de façon plus marginale, le mobilier céramique. Rappelons que l’essentiel de ce matériel (objets en or, pâte de verre, ivoire, pierre, bronze, argent) est actuellement conservé au Musée national d’Athènes, tandis que certains objets (vases fragm...

Cet article présente les résultats des analyses radiochronologiques pratiquées sur sept échantillons d'ossements humains issus des fouilles de l'habitat mésohelladique de l'Aspis. Les analyses ont été réalisées au Centre de recherche sur les isotopes de l'université de Gröningen, par la méthode SMA (spectrométrie de masse par accélérateur). L'objectif principal des analyses est de dater plus précisément les phases d'occupation de l'habitat en comparant les dates absolues avec la chronologie relative fondée sur la stratigraphie complexe et la séquence céramique du site. (...) Les résultats suggèrent que le passage de l'HM III à l'HR I se situe aux alentours de 1700 av. J.-C. La méthode ne permet pas de dater avec précision le passage de l'HM II à l'HM III parce que ces deux phases sont de courte durée alors que la marge d'incertitude des datations par le radiocarbone est assez grande, étant donné la forme de la courbe de calibration pour cette période. (shrink)

Cet article présente les résultats de l'analyse d'isotopes stables du carbone et de l'azote pratiquée sur des échantillons d'ossements humains issus des fouilles de l'habitat mésohelladique de l'Aspis. L'objectif de l'analyse est de reconstituer le régime alimentaire des habitants de l'Aspis et d'étudier les variations de régime entre des sous-groupes de population définis par des critères d'âge et de sexe et/ou de statut social. Sept échantillons ont été prélevés, dont quatre seulement ont fourni suffisamment de collagène pour être analysés. Les (...) données isotopiques indiquent que les habitants de l'Aspis avaient un régime alimentaire de type terrestre C3 relativement homogène ; toutefois, le seul individu de sexe masculin inhumé dans le cimetière semble avoir consommé plus de protéines animales (viande et/ou produits laitiers). Les ressources marines semblent avoir occupé une place négligeable dans l'alimentation des habitants de l'Aspis. D'une façon générale, le signal isotopique de leur régime alimentaire ne diffère pas fondamentalement de celui qui a été observé pour leurs contemporains de Lerne ou pour le groupe inhumé dans le Cercle Β de Mycènes. (shrink)

"Foot stands out among contemporary ethical theorists because of her conviction that virtues and vices are more central ethical notions than rights, duties, justice, or consequences--the primary focus of most other contemporary moral theorists....[These] essays embody to some extent her commitment to an ethics of virtue. Foot's style is straightforward and readable, her arguments subtle..."--Choice.

Moral Dilemmas is the second volume of collected essays by the eminent moral philosopher Philippa Foot, gathering the best of her work from the late 1970s to the 1990s. It fills the gap between her famous 1978 collection Virtues and Vice (now reissued) and her acclaimed monograph Natural Goodness, published in 2001. In this new collection, Professor Foot develops further her critique of the dominant ethical theories of the last fifty years, and discusses such topics as the nature of moral (...) judgement, practical rationality, and the conflict of virtue with desire and self-interest. Moral Dilemmas, alongside her other two books, completes the summation of her distinctive and lasting contribution to twentieth-century moral philosophy. (shrink)

One of the reasons why most of us feel puzzled about the problem of abortion is that we want, and do not want, to allow to the unborn child the rights that belong to adults and children. When we think of a baby about to be born it seems absurd to think that the next few minutes or even hours could make so radical a difference to its status; yet as we go back in the life of the fetus we (...) are more and more reluctant to say that this is a human being and must be treated as such. No doubt this is the deepest source of our dilemma, but it is not the only one. For we are also confused about the general question of what we may and may not do where the interests of human beings conflict. We have strong intuitions about certain cases; saying, for instance, that it is all right to raise the level of education in our country, though statistics allow us to predict that a rise in the suicide rate will follow, while it is not all right to kill the feeble-minded to aid cancer research. It is not easy, however, to see the principles involved, and one way of throwing light on the abortion issue will be by setting up parallels involving adults or children once born. So we will be able to isolate the “equal rights” issue and should be able to make some advance... (shrink)

Philippa Foot has for many years been one of the most distinctive and influential thinkers in moral philosophy. Long dissatisfied with the moral theories of her contemporaries, she has gradually evolved a theory of her own that is radically opposed not only to emotivism and prescriptivism but also to the whole subjectivist, anti-naturalist movement deriving from David Hume. Dissatisfied with both Kantian and utilitarian ethics, she claims to have isolated a special form of evaluation that predicates goodness and defect only (...) to living things considered as such; she finds this form of evaluation in moral judgements. Her vivid discussion covers topics such as practical rationality, erring conscience, and the relation between virtue and happiness, ending with a critique of Nietzsche's immoralism. This long-awaited book exposes a highly original approach to moral philosophy and represents a fundamental break from the assumptions of recent debates. Foot challenges many prominent philosophical arguments and attitudes; but hers is a work full of life and feeling, written for anyone intrigued by the deepest questions about goodness and human. (shrink)

By illuminating the striking affinity between the most innovative aspects of postmodern thought and religious mystical discourse, Shadow of Spirit challenges the long established assumption that western thought is committed to nihilism. This collection of essays by internationally recognized scholars explores the implications of the fascination with the "sacred," "divine" or "infinite" which characterizes much contemporary thought. It shows how these concerns have surfaced in the work of Derrida, Baudrillard, Lyotard, Kristeva, Irigaray and others. Examining the connection between this postmodern (...) "turn" and the current search for a new discourse of ethics and politics, it also stresses the contribution made by feminist thought to this unexpected intellectual direction. (shrink)

Kantian moral concepts concerning respect for human dignity have played a central role in articulating ethical guidelines for medical practice and research, and for articulating some central positions within bioethical debates more generally. The most common of these Kantian moral concepts is the obligation to respect the dignity of patients and of human research subjects as autonomous, self-determining individuals. This article describes Kant’s conceptual distinction between dignity and autonomy as values, and draws on the work of several contemporary Kantian philosophers (...) who employ the distinction to make sense of some common moral intuitions, feelings, and norms. Drawing on this work, the article argues that the conceptual distinction between dignity and autonomy as values is indispensable in the context of considering our obligations to those who are dependent and vulnerable. (shrink)

Mental state reasoning or theory-of-mind has been the subject of a rich body of imaging research. Although such investigations routinely tap a common set of regions, the precise function of each area remains a contentious matter. With the help of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we sought to determine which areas are involved when processing mental state or intentional metarepresentations by focusing on the relational aspect of such representations. Using non-intentional relational representations such as spatial relations between persons and between (...) objects as a contrast, the results ascertained the involvement of the precuneus, the temporal poles, and the medial prefrontal cortex in the processing of intentional representations. In contrast, the anterior superior temporal sulcus and the left temporo-parietal junction were implicated when processing representations that refer to the presence of persons in relational contexts in general. The right temporo-parietal junction, however, was specifically activated for persons entering spatial relations. The level of representational complexity, a previously unexplored factor, was also found to modulate the neural response in some brain regions, such as the medial prefrontal cortex and the right temporo-parietal junction. These findings highlight the need to take into account the critical roles played by an extensive network of neural regions during mental state reasoning. (shrink)

This paper revisits Ronald Dworkin’s influential position that a person’s advance directive for future health care and medical treatment retains its moral authority beyond the onset of dementia, even when respecting this authority involves foreshortening the life of someone who is happy and content and who no longer remembers or identifies with instructions included within the advance directive. The analysis distils a eudaimonist perspective from Dworkin’s argument and traces variations of this perspective in further arguments for the moral authority of (...) advance directives by other authors. It then critiques a feature of the eudaimonist perspectives within these arguments—namely, the position that dementia has a retroactive negative impact on what a person has previously valued—and challenges the commonly held assumption underlying them that a person’s life and well-being have relatively low value beyond the onset of dementia. Although advance directives have moral authority as a means of guiding one’s future health care, accounts that dismiss the value of the lives and well-being of people living with dementia should be questioned to the extent that such accounts are used to support the moral authority of advance directives stipulating measures to foreshorten individuals’ lives. (shrink)

This article is both an elaborated critique on the one-sided analysis of the misogynist nature of ballet as a cultural practice, and a contribution to a more embodied feminist theory. Based on empirical material, that was brought together by observing the body practices in ballet and listening to the life stories of dancers, the author explores the contradictions that the body in ballet provokes. In describing the embodied experiences ofprofessional ballet dancers she shows that ballet offers women the possibility to (...) transcend the discontinuity of body, mind and emotions. (shrink)

This book surveys research in quantification starting with the foundational work in the 1970s. It paints a vivid picture of generalized quantifiers and Boolean semantics. It explains how the discovery of diverse scope behavior in the 1990s transformed the view of quantification, and how the study of the internal composition of quantifiers has become central in recent years. It presents different approaches to the same problems, and links modern logic and formal semantics to advances in generative syntax. A unique feature (...) of the book is that it systematically brings cross-linguistic data to bear on the theoretical issues, discussing French, German, Dutch, Hungarian, Russian, Japanese, Telugu (Dravidian), and Shupamem (Grassfield Bantu), and pointing to formal semantic literature involving quantification in around thirty languages. -- -/- 1. What this book is about and how to use it; 2. Generalized quantifiers and their elements: operators and their scopes; 3. Generalized quantifiers in non-nominal domains; 4. Some empirically significant properties of quantifiers and determiners; 5. Potential challenges for generalized quantifiers; 6. Scope is not uniform and not a primitive; 7. Existential scope versus distributive scope; 8. Distributivity and scope; 9. Bare numeral indefinites; 10. Modified numerals; 11. Clause-internal scopal diversity; 12. Towards a compositional semantics of quantifier words. (shrink)

Le propre des grands œuvres est d’être une source infinie de réflexion pour les siècles qui la suivent. L’attraction de Platon se compte, comme un petit nombre d’autres auteurs, en millénaires. Ses dialogues n’en finissent pas d’émerveiller : hauteur de vue, atopie des analyses, diversité des thèmes, subtil congé donné à la vanité philosophique dans un mélange de jeu et de sérieux, mise en scène de personnages croqués rapidement ou peints lentement au fil du dialogue, ressorts infinis du styl...

'Foot stands out among contemporary ethical theorists because of her conviction that virtues and vices are more central ethical notions than rights, duties, justice, or consequences - the primary focus of most other contemporary theorists. This volume brings together a dozen essays published between 1957 and 1977, and includes two new ones as well. In the first, Foot argues explicitly for an ethic of virtue, and in the next five discusses abortion, euthanasia, free will/determination, and the ethics of Hume and (...) Nietzsche. The final eight essays chart her growing disenchantment with emotivism and prescriptivism and their account of moral arguments. All the essays embody to some extent her commitment to an ethics of virtue... Foot's style is straightforward and readable, her arguments subtle, ingenious, and some of them important.' Choice. (shrink)

Within the historiography of early modern science, trust and credibility have become synonymous with genteel identity. While we should not overlook the cultural values attached to social hierarchy and how it shaped the credibility of knowledge claims, this has limitations when thinking about how contemporaries regarded the origins of that knowledge and its location in different types of workers and skillsets. Using the example of seamen in the circles of the Royal Society, this article employs the category of experience, and (...) by extension expertise, to illustrate how recognized forms of knowledge and skill acted as routes to credibility and authority in early modern science. It argues that, within the experimental community, the seaman’s authority derived from their direct experience of novel and remote phenomena and the cumulative effect of their wider experience. The accumulated experience they acquired from frequent practice, observation, and exposure translated into a form of “expertness” that rendered seamen trustworthy and credible observers and thinkers. The gentlemanly trust model does not accommodate nor acknowledge the ways the seaman’s direct and accumulated experience were recognized and valued in inquiry and discourse. The article therefore sets out a new model for understanding trust, credibility, and authority in early modern science that can take us beyond a restrictive mono-model that locates trust in one sociocultural category to highlight the multiple, and sometimes competing, claims to epistemological authority. (shrink)