This article investigates Heidegger's views on technology, specifically focussing on whether it is possible to fit Heidegger's ideas into an ecologically minded framework. The author concludes that the question of what we should do in the wake of the technological crisis we face is inappropriate in terms of Heidegger's philosophy, since he proposes that we should first tackle the question “What should we think?”. The question whether Heidegger's ideas on technology provide us with new paths of action, specifically in terms (...) of ecological practice, is flawed. S. Afr. J. Philos. Vol.22(2) 2003: 157–172. (shrink)

In _African Somaesthetics: Cultures, Feminisms, Politics_, Catherine F. Botha brings together original research on the body in African cultures, interrogating the possible contribution of a somaesthetic approach in the context of colonization, decolonization, and globalization in Africa.

Corporate citizenship is a prominent international issue as contemporary corporations are no longer expected to perform financially, but are also expected to have an ethical relationship of responsibility between the corporate itself and the society in which it operates and performs it business activities. Provides an up-to-date theoretical content pertaining to corporate citizenship, providing local and global examples and case studies.

The following is an English translation of the 1960 paper by the South African philosopher D. C. S. Oosthuizen entitled “Die Transendentaal-Frenomenologiese Idealisme: ‘n Aspek van die konstitusie-probleem in die filosofie van Edmund Husserl,” preceded by a few contextualizing remarks by the translator. The paper attempts to show that the phenomenological, eidetic and transcendental reductions, the problem of constitution and transcendental genesis are indispensable parts of the transcendental phenomenological method. It then demonstrates that this method and the results that are (...) obtained by means of it cannot, strictly speaking, be said to decisively favour a metaphysical or epistemological idealism, specifically because the transcendental reductions cannot be undone. (shrink)

As a response to Moran's (1994) recommendation that Heidegger's Destruktion be extensively elaborated and critiqued, this paper suggests a way in which Heidegger's thinking can be more clearly understood as a search for how better to ‘say' the destruction. By briefly tracing how Heidegger's thinking on the Destruktion repeatedly turns against itself throughout his writings, it is demonstrated that Heidegger does indeed revise the notion by abandoning the term in his later writing; to replace it first with the concept of (...) ‘overcoming', and subsequently with the notion of Verwindung . This self-critical reworking of the Destruktion is evident in his turning towards these concepts; which is taken up by Derrida's deconstruction in its simultaneous turning towards and away from Heidegger's Destruktion . South African Journal of Philosophy Vol. 27 (1) 2008 pp. 52-68. (shrink)

I discuss in this paper how robotic scientists tend to produce replicas of human bodies that are consistent with their own cultural norms by exploring how gender is embodied in humanoid robots. My focus is specifically on care robots, and their reception in the African context. I argue that since the bodies of the robotic scientists are the reference points according to which they design and manufacture robots, a somaesthetics of robotics can best reveal and challenge how gendered norms are (...) materialised in these machines. (shrink)

Born in 1900–1901 with the publication of Edmund Husserl’s Logical Investigations, phenomenology, as a critical method of reflection on consciousness and its cognitive achievements against its naturalisation in the natural sciences, has undergone many changes and developments. Critiques of both its methods and tasks have emerged, plus it has served as an inspiration for numerous thinkers, including Max Scheler, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Gabriel Marcel, Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jean-Luc Nancy, Michel Henry, Emmanuel Levinas, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Paul Ricoeur and (...) Jacques Derrida, in their attempts to address the question of value, the meaning of being, existence, the lived body, the Other, life, art, history and language in original and fresh ways. The current paper reflects upon the question of what the fate of phenomenology in the twenty-first century could be by considering some of the recent work presented at the first conference of the South African Centre for Phenomenology held at the University of Johannesburg earlier this year. (shrink)

Un conflit public, souvent passionné, a surgi ces trente dernières années entre l’histoire, science du passé menée par les historiens, et la mémoire, célébration du passé par les vainqueurs et les victimes, et organisé par les Etats. Pour faire bref : une polémique a surgi du fait que Ricoeur a été accusé de minimiser le rôle du génocide des juifs (Shoah), ou de ne pas marquer assez la singularité de la Shoah. Le livre est construit en trois parties : sa (...) réception et les débats qu’il a suscités ; des réflexions qui précisent la portée de certains thèmes du livre (en particulier sur le rôle et les moyens de la mémoire) ; une réflexion philosophique sur l’histoire et le métier d’historien. Le livre, collectif, est l’hommage du Seuil à son grand auteur philosophe pour le centième anniversaire de sa naissance. C’est un livre de philosophie, certes, mais ses questions sont liées à des conflits très actuels. (shrink)

This exploratory research aims to identify the accommodation and support measures, the challenges and the needs, for students with disabilities in teaching internship context. By answering an online questionnaire, 158 SH trainees in teaching in Belgium and Quebec, affirm, for the most part, that their situation of disability has repercussions on their internships. Their main challenges and needs are related to organization and written communication. However, few accommodation and support measures have been established during the internship.

BackgroundBesides balancing burdens and benefits of intensive care, ethical conflicts in the process of decision-making should also be recognised. This calls for an ethical analysis relevant to clinicians. The aim was to analyse ethically difficult situations in the process of deciding whether a patient is admitted to intensive care unit.MethodsAnalysis using the ‘Dilemma method’ and ‘wide reflective equilibrium’, on ethnographic data of 45 patient cases and 96 stakeholder interviews in six UK hospitals.Ethical analysisFour moral questions and associated value conflicts were (...) identified. Who should have the right to decide whether a patient needs to be reviewed? Conflicting perspectives on safety/security. Does the benefit to the patient of getting the decision right justify the cost to the patient of a delay in making the decision? Preventing longer-term suffering and understanding patient’s values conflicted with preventing short-term suffering and provision of security. To what extent should the intensivist gain others’ input? Professional independence versus a holistic approach to decision-making. Should the intensivist have an ongoing duty of care to patients not admitted to ICU? Short-term versus longer-term duty to protect patient safety. Safety and security were key values at stake in the ethical conflicts identified. The life-threatening nature of the situation meant that the principle of autonomy was overshadowed by the duty to protect patients from harm. The need to fairly balance obligations to the referred patient and to other patients was also recognised.ConclusionProactive decision-making including advance care planning and escalation of treatment decisions may support the inclusion of patient autonomy. However, our analysis invites binary choices, which may not sufficiently reflect reality. This calls for a complementary relational ethics analysis. (shrink)

In Between the Absolute and the Arbitrary, Catherine Z. Elgin maps a constructivist alternative to the standard Anglo-American conception of philosophy's ...

The French medical context is characterized by institutionalization of the ethical reflection in health care facilities and an important disparity between spaces of ethical reflection. In theory, the healthcare professional may mobilise an arsenal of resources to help him in his ethical reflection. But what happens in practice? We conducted semi-structured interviews with 22 health-care professionals who did and did not have recourse to clinical ethical committees. We also implemented two focus groups with 18 professionals involved in various spaces of (...) ethical reflection in order to let them debate about a better way to organize ethical reflection in their institutional contexts. The qualitative analysis allows to us to underline the coexistence of different conceptions of ethics among health care professionals. We also observed that the participants in our study shared the experience of ethically problematic situations as roadblocks in the process of communication and decision-making. We therefore report the factors which favour or inhibit the ethical course leading to the resolution or at the very least soothing of the situation at hand. Finally, we discuss methodological issues and underline the fact that while the patient is at the heart of the professional’s ethical preoccupations, this does not imply that they are actors in decisions that concern them. (shrink)

Between the Psyche and the Social is the first collection that specifically features the field of psychoanalytic social theory emerging in and between psychoanalysis, feminism, postcolonial studies, and queer theory, and across the disciplines of philosophy, literary, film, and cultural studies. This collection of essays takes the psychoanalytic study of social oppression in some new directions by engaging—indeed, stirring up—unconscious fantasies and ethical tensions at the heart of social subjectivity.

The reception of Rawls in France has been an extremely complex story where forces of innovation have been, in the end, overwhelmed by the resistance of `philosophical nationalism'. This is surprising as, in many ways, France was going through tremendous changes and modernization at the time of the translation of A Theory of Justice in 1987. In that context, Rawls's project seemed to have something useful and suggestive to offer: bridging the gap between freedom and equality in a new version (...) of social democracy, combining social justice and market efficiency, respecting the plurality of values within civil society and creating a consensus on democratic legitimacy. But the intellectual obstacles, represented mostly by the French idiosyncratic brand of republicanism, were to prove too strong to allow for a true `liberalization' of French intellectual and political life. Whereas a number of lawyers, economists and political scientists as well as proportion of the French civil service saw all the benefits of a rigorous engagement with Rawls, philosophers and the intelligentsia on the whole, with the exception of Paul Ricoeur, reacted negatively to Rawls. (shrink)

L’article présente les activités éditoriales du mathématicien Albert Châtelet (1883-1960), dont résulte une bibliographie particulièrement étendue par les types de publics auxquels elle s’adresse. Il montre la part importante prise par le mathématicien dans la vie des éditions Bourrelier et précise les objectifs poursuivis par Châtelet à travers la publication de manuels scolaires en mettant en évidence la manière dont ce travail a consolidé son engagement en faveur de la pédagogie et de l’enseignement scientifique.

L’article présente les activités éditoriales du mathématicien Albert Châtelet, dont résulte une bibliographie particulièrement étendue par les types de publics auxquels elle s’adresse. Il montre la part importante prise par le mathématicien dans la vie des éditions Bourrelier et précise les objectifs poursuivis par Châtelet à travers la publication de manuels scolaires en mettant en évidence la manière dont ce travail a consolidé son engagement en faveur de la pédagogie et de l’enseignement scientifique.

"Examines the work of three nineteenth-century utilitarian feminist philosophers: Catharine Beecher, Frances Wright, and Anna Doyle Wheeler.

We will not try here to attempt a complete comparison of decentralized local government in France and Japan together with their respective impact on economic development, but rather to focus on some points which appear to be of particular significance for further reflection in order to learn from both cases.

Distincte de la responsabilité managériale et de la responsabilité pénale, la responsabilité financière des gestionnaires publics, qui vise à protéger la régularité de la gestion publique, s’inscrit, en France, dans une longue tradition : le contrôle et la responsabilité sont même indissociablement liés à l’existence même des juridictions financières, dont la Cour des comptes constitue le cœur. Si les fondements philosophiques de cette responsabilité demeurent plus que jamais d’actualité, dans un contexte de perte de confiance des citoyens en l’action publique, (...) les modalités pratiques de l’exigence faite aux gestionnaires publics de « rendre compte », et partant de leur responsabilité individuelle, doivent, pour être justes et efficaces, s’adapter en permanence aux évolutions des modes de gestion : la réforme en profondeur des régimes de responsabilité de droit public financier, annoncée pour 2022, en offre un exemple particulièrement pertinent et actuel. Toutefois, la crédibilité dans la durée du nouveau régime dépendra à la fois de la plasticité des infractions et du développement, en amont, de contrôles de régularité pertinents permettant « d’alimenter » le contentieux financier. (shrink)

This article recalls the historical evolution of training in humanities and social sciences (SHS) in French engineering schools as that of the research’s implementation before presenting the current situation of HSS research in these schools. The progressive passage of the humanities in the HSS including the human training of the engineers does not have anything linear nor obvious, not more than are to it the links of schools with the university research. The committed efforts since the 1950’s to develop these (...) trainings, in spite of the renewal of the debates in 1990s very scarcely allowed thinking of the science and technique as human and social realities. In addition, the schools historical situation compared to that of the universities and their long opposition to the latter did not facilitate a research development in the schools. The disparity is strong today between the schools both as regard the training in HSS as the research in HSS which remain overall not very present, in spite of the challenges which interdisciplinary collaborations between HSS and sciences and technology of speciality take on. (shrink)

Homère nous présente dans l'Odyssée son activite poétique à travers deux aèdes, Phémios et Démodokos, et un conteur hors pair, Ulysse. II s'en degage une conception de la poésie qui apparait comme un melange de vérites et de faussetés. Une telle définition nous conduit, par une réflexion sur les notions de vraisemblable et de monde simulé, a penser la poesie d'Homere comme un recit fictionnel. Homer in his Odyssey presents his poetic activity through two aeds, i. e. Phemios and Demodokos, (...) and through an exceptional master of tale-telling, i. e. Ulysses. Hence a new conception of poetry as a mixture of thruths and falsities. Such a definition leads us, through a reflexion on the concepts of verisimilitude and simulated world, to think Homer's poetry as a fictional narrative. (shrink)

"Henri Bergson est élu au Collège de France le 17 mai 1900 et y enseigne jusqu’en 1914. Il fait deux cours : le samedi, où il explique un texte, et le vendredi où il traite de sujets comme "l’idée de cause" (1900-1901), "l’idée de temps" (1901-1902), "l’histoire des théories de la mémoire" (1903-1904), etc. Il ne fait pas cours tous les ans. À trois reprises, il se fait remplacer : en mars 1906 par Couturat (Bergson reprend ses cours à l’automne (...) 1906) ; en 1909-1910 par R. Worms ; entre 1914 et 1921 par Édouard Le Roy. Les événements de sa vie, postérieurs à la publication de L’Évolution créatrice, comportent, notamment, ses missions pendant la Première Guerre mondiale, en Espagne et surtout aux États-Unis, et la participation à la création de l’Institut international de coopération intellectuelle au sein de la Société des Nations. En 1928, il reçoit le prix Nobel de littérature". (shrink)

La promulgation de l'édit de Nantes, en 1598, a-t-elle connu aux Pays-Bas un écho comparable à celui provoqué par la Révocation de ce même édit, un siècle plus tard? Une première enquête menée à partir de documents directement liés aux événements de l'époque (correspondances d'hommes politiques, pamphlets, actes de synodes, etc.) ne livre aucun témoignage révélateur d'un intérêt néerlandais pour le règlement français du biconfessionnalisme Les hypothèses avancées dans cet article pour expliquer ce silence se fondent sur les déplacements des (...) enjeux politiques et théologiques de la tolérance entre la France et les Pays-Bas dans la période considérée. (shrink)

Résumé Cet article se propose d’étudier le processus par lequel se construit puis se perpétue une renommée savante en considérant le cas de Sylvain Lévi (1863-1935), professeur de langue et littérature sanskrites au Collège de France et qui fut pendant 15 ans (1920-1935) président de l’Alliance israélite universelle. On analyse la renommée de Sylvain Lévi sur les trois plans que sont le nom propre, l’œuvre et les actions dans lesquelles il s’est engagé. On montre que la position éminente de Sylvain (...) Lévi, de son vivant, tient au fait que son double magistère d’homme de science et d’autorité morale est en pleine adéquation avec l’actualité de son temps. Mais au lendemain de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, les conditions historiques, politiques et sociales ne sont plus réunies pour soutenir ce type de position. La renommée de Sylvain Lévi est alors fragmentée selon les publics, et la mémoire de son nom s’efface même des reconstructions historiographiques portant sur les grandes figures intellectuelles de la première moitié du XXe siècle. (shrink)

Homère nous présente dans l'Odyssée son activite poétique à travers deux aèdes, Phémios et Démodokos, et un conteur hors pair, Ulysse. II s'en degage une conception de la poésie qui apparait comme un melange de vérites et de faussetés. Une telle définition nous conduit, par une réflexion sur les notions de vraisemblable et de monde simulé, a penser la poesie d'Homere comme un recit fictionnel.

Ce numéro spécial consacré à Marcel Conche réunit des philosophes et historiens de la philosophie qui ont été influencés à des titres divers par sa pensée, laquelle a nourri ou nourrit encore leurs réflexions. Marcel Conche a acquis aujourd’hui une place d’importance dans le paysage philosophique français. Bien que ses travaux d’historien soient moins connus du grand public, ce..

Résumé Des Principes de l’Architecture, de la Sculpture, de la Peinture et des autres Arts qui en dépendent - avec un Dictionnaire des termes propres à chacun de ces Arts ont été publiés en 1676. Contemporain du système des Académies établi par Colbert, le livre est destiné à décrire et fixer par des mots précis la pratique des arts figuratifs dans la France de Louis XIV et forme ainsi la première encyclopédie méthodique et illustrée qui en ait traité. L’article s’intéresse (...) à la théorie poïétique sous-jacente à l’édifice que Félibien consacre aux « plus beaux des Arts ». Loin du dogmatisme que l’on prête trop souvent au propos académicien, cette théorie s’avère avant tout attentive aux spécificités irréductibles de chacune des pratiques dont elle rend compte et ne parvient à la sûreté du discours, qu’une fois l’épreuve faite des limites rencontrée par la rationalité lorsque celle-ci se tourne vers les ouvrages d’art. (shrink)

Un nouvel intérêt se manifeste en France pour l'œuvre de Max Weber. Des traductions récentes rendent enfin accessibles au public français des textes majeurs jusqu'alors ignorés, tandis que les questions qui traversent cette œuvre, celle des formes de domination, des logiques d'individualisation et de socialisation, des conflits de valeur, imposent leur actualité à une époque où l'expansion planétaire de certains types de rationalité d'origine occidentale va de pair avec la remise en question irréversible des représentations eurocentriques du sens. Le moment (...) est venu d'une lecture philosophique, puisant aux textes et à leur commentaire érudit les moyens d'une reconstitution du programme scientifique wébérien, en le dégageant des mythes d'hier (la " sociologie compréhensive ") comme des distorsions d'aujourd'hui (la " crise de la modernité "), également incapables de renoncer aux postulats téléologiques que Weber n'a cessé de critiquer. Au fil de ses études, Catherine Colliot-Thélène s'y emploie en passant de la question des rationalités à celle des conditions historiques et à la genèse des systèmes juridiques. Instituant les confrontations nécessaires (Marx, Gierke, Schmitt, Elias, Wittgenstein, Habermas, Foucault), elle centre son alternative aux récupérations idéalistes de Weber sur trois concepts : contingence, conduites de vie, puissances de socialisation, dont l'ensemble fait de Weber le pionnier d'un nouvel universalisme sans fondation ni mission. (shrink)

Un nouvel intérêt se manifeste en France pour l'œuvre de Max Weber. Des traductions récentes rendent enfin accessibles au public français des textes majeurs jusqu'alors ignorés, tandis que les questions qui traversent cette œuvre, celle des formes de domination, des logiques d'individualisation et de socialisation, des conflits de valeur, imposent leur actualité à une époque où l'expansion planétaire de certains types de rationalité d'origine occidentale va de pair avec la remise en question irréversible des représentations eurocentriques du sens. Le moment (...) est venu d'une lecture philosophique, puisant aux textes et à leur commentaire érudit les moyens d'une reconstitution du programme scientifique wébérien, en le dégageant des mythes d'hier (la " sociologie compréhensive ") comme des distorsions d'aujourd'hui (la " crise de la modernité "), également incapables de renoncer aux postulats téléologiques que Weber n'a cessé de critiquer. Au fil de ses études, Catherine Colliot-Thélène s'y emploie en passant de la question des rationalités à celle des conditions historiques et à la genèse des systèmes juridiques. Instituant les confrontations nécessaires (Marx, Gierke, Schmitt, Elias, Wittgenstein, Habermas, Foucault), elle centre son alternative aux récupérations idéalistes de Weber sur trois concepts : contingence, conduites de vie, puissances de socialisation, dont l'ensemble fait de Weber le pionnier d'un nouvel universalisme sans fondation ni mission. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Many scholars have contended that Clare of Assisi’s original intention upon leaving her family home to take up religious life sometime around 1211 was to lead a life essentially like that of the mendicant friars.1 She and the women who soon joined her would be not only poor and penitential, but also itinerant and apostolic. Like the friars their life would be marked by both insertion into the world (...) and seclusion from it as they alternated between active service and recollected contemplation. The important proof text for this claim is a passage in a letter composed by Jacques de Vitry in 1216, just five years after Clare’s conversion. Many scholars, including Paul Sabatier, Luigi Pellegrini, Roberto Rusconi, Marco Bartoli, Ingrid Peterson, Chiara Frugoni, Giovanni Boccali, and Chiara Augusta Lainati believe the text to be the earliest witness to the manner of life led by Clare and her followers during their initial years.2 The letter has been used to argue further that the women were explicitly grouped together with the Lesser Brothers, were known by the parallel title of “Lesser Sisters,” and had the freedom to come and go as they wished during their early years in San Damiano.Since claims about the women’s early likeness to the friars’ mendicant way of life are often made as brief assertions resting on Jacques’s letter, I think it important to consider in a more detained fashion the provocative passage thought to support them. Closer scrutiny of Jacques’s text shows that while none of these claims can be entirely ruled out, importantly, none can be supported with any solid evidence. I agree essentially with scholars such as Lilly Zarncke, Ernest McDonnell, Maria Pia Alberzoni, Jacques Dalarun, and Lezlie Knox who consider the letter’s language too general to know if it refers specifically to Clare and her sisters.3 I suggest, furthermore, that there are reasons to conclude that this is certainly unlikely if the passage is interpreted to mean, specifically, that Clare and her sisters carried on an active apostolate outside of San Damiano.Jacques de Vitry is generally recognized as one of the most astute and forward-thinking observers of his time in terms of recognizing the importance of new religious groups. A Parisian master, canon regular, and bishop, Jacques had the opportunity to live in a variety of settings, including his native France, the Low Countries, Italy, and the holy land.4 In 1216, he traveled from Liège in the Low Countries to Perugia to be consecrated bishop by Honorius III, who himself had just been elevated to the papacy.5 Along with observations about other matters, Jacques shared the following comment about religious men and women in a letter that he sent almost certainly to a group of his friends back in Liège. He was writing in the early days of October 1216 as he was leaving Italy on a boat that would carry him to his new episcopal see in Acre. The letter, the first of six that survive, is prized not only for its reference to the Lesser Sisters, but also as the very first written testimony regarding the Franciscan movement in general. The great nineteenth-century historian Paul Sabatier thought it provided a more vivid and precise description of Francis’s ministry than any single passage contained in his early biographies.6 The passage, which represents less than seven percent of the entire letter, is rendered thus in a widely available English translation:I found one consolation in those parts, nevertheless: many men and women [multi enim utriusque sexus], rich and worldly, after renouncing everything for Christ, fled the world. They are called Lesser Brothers and Lesser Sisters [fratres minores et sorores minores]. They are held in great esteem by the Lord Pope and the cardinals. They do not occupy themselves with temporal affairs, but work each day with great desire and.. (shrink)

In democratic Switzerland, each of its 26 cantons (states) has its own government and its own laws. Thus there are 26 ministries of health and as many different laws regulating medical and health care practice. The Swiss Nurses' Association likewise has 13 regional chapters and a central organization that works on the national level. Medicine is private and practically all of the Swiss population is privately insured. High technology has led to high specialization with, among other results, a reduced number (...) of premature deaths, longer life span but also rising costs of health. Health professionals are also becoming much more aware of ethical issues such as cost versus quality, high technology versus compassionate care, etc. A multilingual (four national languages) and multicultural country, Switzerland's health care system relies heavily on foreign nurses, many of whom come from neighbouring France and Germany but also from England, Yugoslavia, Canada and other countries. Regulation of nursing practice is still poor. Nursing or nurses are hardly mentioned in the state laws and, when mentioned, are often put in a dependent relation to the physician. Basic nurse training is regulated nationally by cantonal delegations to the Swiss Red Cross. Although there is a good postbasic training scheme, nurses are still striving for access to the university. Meanwhile, they go abroad to acquire degrees. Research in nursing is being developed mainly by the efforts of individuals and the Swiss Nurses' Association. (shrink)