While reflexivity is seen as a not-to-be-missed concept in professional training, references to design pedagogical devices to enhance actors’ reflective capacities on their professional situations and to foster their professional and personal development are scarce and embedded in a patchwork of theoretical and practical approaches. As designers of such devices in agricultural higher education, our practical experiences, theoretical background and discussions led us to build a model of reflexivity as five intertwined key dimensions. These dimensions deal with aspects of reflexivity (...) that it is possible to work on directly with learners by using appropriate scaffolding methods, which we describe and illustrate in this paper, referring to our teaching experiences. Two dimensions of the model are particularly relevant for people who are not familiar with reflexivity, and sometimes reluctant to practice it. (shrink)

On sait peu de choses d’Edme Mariotte, membre de l’Académie royale des sciences de 1668 à 1684. Une analyse de son Essai de logique montre cependant que, pour défendre ses pratiques expérimentales, il s’appropria des bribes venues de différentes traditions intellectuelles. Ainsi, ce livre examine ce qu’on entendait par « méthode » à la fin du XVIIe siècle, les épistémologies de la physique qui s’affrontaient alors, quelques débats ouverts par la gestion de l’héritage cartésien. Mais l’essentiel sera peut-être la question (...) suivante : comment reconstituer les idées d’un savant ordinaire, qui n’a ni bouleversé l’ordre des sciences, ni montré une perspicacité épistémologique exceptionnelle ? (shrink)

Festa, E., Roux, S. (2008). The Enigma of the Inclined Plane from Heron to Galileo. In: Laird, W.R., Roux, S. (eds) Mechanics and Natural Philosophy Before the Scientific Revolution. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 254. Springer, Dordrecht.

According to a grand narrative that long ago ceased to be told, there was a seventeenth century Scientific Revolution, during which a few heroes conquered nature thanks to mathematics. This grand narrative began with the exhibition of quantitative laws that these heroes, Galileo and Newton for example, had disclosed: the law of falling bodies, according to which the speed of a falling body is proportional to the square of the time that has elapsed since the beginning of its fall; the (...) law of gravitation, according to which two bodies are attracted to one another in proportion to the sum of their masses and in inverse proportion to the square of the distance separating them -- according to his own preferences, each narrator added one or two quantitative laws of this kind. The essential feature was not so much the examples that were chosen, but, rather, the more or less explicit theses that accompanied them. First, mathematization would be taken as the criterion for distinguishing between a qualitative Aristotelian philosophy and the new quantitative physics. Secondly, mathematization was founded on the metaphysical conviction that the world was created pondere, numero et mensura, or that the ultimate components of natural things are triangles, circles, and other geometrical objects. This metaphysical conviction had two immediate consequences: that all the phenomena of nature can be in principle submitted to mathematics and that mathematical language is transparent; it is the language of nature itself and has simply to be picked up at the surface of phenomena. Finally, it goes without saying that, from a social point of view, the evolution of the sciences was apprehended through what has been aptly called the "relay runner model," according to which science progresses as a result of individual discoveries. Grand narratives such as this are perhaps simply fictions doomed to ruin as soon as they are clearly expressed. In any case, the very assumption on which this grand narrative relies can be brought into question: even in the canonical domain of mechanics, the relevant epistemological units crucial to understanding the dynamics of the Scientific Revolution are perhaps not a few laws of motion, but a complex set of problems embodied in mundane objects. Moreover, each of the theses just mentioned was actually challenged during the long period of historiographical reappraisal, out of which we have probably not yet stepped. Against the sharp distinction between a qualitative Aristotelian philosophy and the new quantitative physics, numerous studies insist that Rome wasn't built in a day, so to speak. Since Antiquity, there have always been mixed sciences; the emergence of pre-classical mechanics depends on both medieval treatises and the practical challenges met by Renaissance engineers. It is indeed true that, for Aristotle, mathematics merely captures the superficial properties of things, but the Aristotelianisms were many during the Renaissance and the Early Modern period, with some of them being compatible with the introduction of mathematics in natural philosophy. In addition, the gap between the alleged program of mathematizing nature and its effective realization was underlined as most natural phenomena actually escaped mathematization; at best they were enrolled in what Thomas Kuhn began to rehabilitate under the appellation of the "Baconian sciences," i.e., empirical investigations aiming at establishing isolated facts, without relating them to any overarching theory. Hence, mathematization of nature cannot pretend to capture a historical fact: at most, it expresses an indeterminate task for generations to come. On top of these first two considerations, and against the thesis of the neutrality of the mathematical language, it was urged that mathematics is not "only a language" and that, exactly as other symbolic means or cognitive tools, it has its own constraints. For example, it has been thoroughly explained that the Euclidean theory of proportions both guides and frustrates the Galilean analysis of motion; its shortages were particularly clear with respect to the expression of continuity, which is crucial in the case of motion. Consequently, when calculus was invented and applied to the analysis of motion, it was not a transposition that left things as they stood. Even more clearly than in the case of a translation from one natural language to another, the shift from one symbolic language to another entails that certain possibilities are opened while others are closed. The cognitive constraints imposed by established mathematical theories, as seen in the theory of proportions or calculus, were not the only ones to be studied in relation to mathematization. Certain schemes dependent on the grammar of natural languages, e.g., the scheme of contrariety, or certain symbolic means of representation, e.g. geometrical diagrams and numerical tables, were also subject to such scrutiny. Lastly, it was insisted that, even if we concede the existence of scientific geniuses, mathematics is largely produced by intellectual communities and embedded within social practices. More attention was consequently paid to the forms of communication in given mathematical networks, or to the teaching of the discipline in, for example, Jesuit colleges and universities. The set of mathematical practices specific to specialized craftsmen, highly-qualified experts and engineers began to be studied in its own right. All these reflections may have helped us change our perspectives on the question of mathematization. It seems, however, that they were instead set aside, both because of a general distrust towards sweeping narratives that are always subject to the suspicion that they overlook the unyielding complexity of real history, and because of a shift in our interests. The more obscure and idiosyncratic they are, an alchemist, a patron of the sciences or a lunatic collector is nowadays honored in journals of the history of sciences. As for the general issues involved in the question of mathematization, they are rejected as obsolete, or reserved for specialized journals in the history of mathematics. Consequently, before presenting the essays of this fascicle, I would like to say a few words in favor of a renewed study of the forms of mathematization in the history of the early sciences. (shrink)

Labor unions are key stakeholders in the field of corporate social responsibility but researchers have paid surprisingly little attention to their CSR strategies. This article extends stakeholder theory by treating unions as having stakeholders that influence their CSR strategies. Drawing on qualitative data from a longitudinal study on selected unions in France between 2006 and 2013, this paper analyzes the underlying reasons for the differences in their approaches. It finds connections between the unions’ CSR strategy, and the perception of and (...) cooperation with stakeholders. (shrink)

Il faut saluer d’emblée l’ambition et la réussite du dernier livre d’Anna Jaubert, professeure émérite à l’université de Nice-Côte d’Azur et stylisticienne reconnue, qui parvient à proposer sous une forme relativement concise une élégante synthèse d’un itinéraire personnel de recherche et de pensée, prolongeant et approfondissant ainsi les perspectives théoriques énoncées dans _La Lecture pragmatique_ (Hachette, 1990). Un défi d’ailleurs rarement relevé, l’idée même de style demeurant un impensé dans la plupart des publications stylistiques. La démarche d’A. Jaubert est donc (...) résolument théorique, au prix d’un pas de côté tactique : la substitution de la catégorie dynamique de stylisation (dans une référence au « temps opératif » défini par les travaux de Gustave Guillaume) à celle, plus statique, de style. Dans cette optique, c’est « la diagonale du style » qui figure, selon un trajet « en zig-zag » (schématisé p. 25), les grandes étapes de l’actualisation du style, mobilisant « trait... (shrink)

This paper presents a review of studies that were aimed at determining which brain regions are recruited during visual self-recognition, with a particular focus on self-face recognition. A complex bilateral network, involving frontal, parietal and occipital areas, appears to be associated with self-face recognition, with a particularly high implication of the right hemisphere. Results indicate that it remains difficult to determine which specific cognitive operation is reflected by each recruited brain area, in part due to the variability of used control (...) stimuli and experimental tasks. A synthesis of the interpretations provided by previous studies is presented. The relevance of using self-recognition as an indicator of self-awareness is discussed. We argue that a major aim of future research in the field should be to identify more clearly the cognitive operations induced by the perception of the self-face, and search for dissociations between neural correlates and cognitive components. (shrink)

This is the first volume of a two-volume project whose aim is to publish all the known Middle English manuscript translations of the French Somme le mi, a thirteenth-century manual of religious instruction offering teaching on the Decalogue, the seven deadly sins and their remedies, compiled by the Dominican friar Laurent of Orleans. The project extends and deepens our knowledge of the influence of this popular French text, known today only from the versions entitled The Ayen bite of Inwit and (...) The Book of Vices and Virtues, published in 1866 and 1942, respectively. This volume presents the versions extant in BL MSS Royal 18. A. x and Add. 37677; the second will cover the versions in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 494, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 1286, and Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS e Musaeo 23. The texts of both volumes have been prepared with the help of the recently-published edition of the French text, a circumstance from which the earlier English editions were unable to benefit. It is likely that the versions edited here for the first time will make a considerable contribution to our understanding of the processes of textual transmission and to that of translation itself in English literary circles of the fifteenth century. (shrink)

Roman B. J. Kwasniewski, a son of Polish immigrants, used his camera to document life in this neighborhood shortly after the turn of the twentieth century. The photographs in this book are representative of the Polish American experience in Milwaukee prior to World War II. Kwasniewski's photographs document this critical time when the children and grandchildren of Milwaukee's Polish immigrants established themselves fully as American citizens. The photographs in this collection depict what life was like in Kwasniewski's Lincoln Avenue/Mitchell Street (...) neighborhood. Many images such as family portraits and wedding pictures are from the time when Kwasniewski operated Park Studio between 1913 and 1947. Kwasniewski also took his camera out into the community to capture scenes of life on the streets, local businesses, homes, classrooms, and cultural, social, and recreational activities. With an introduction by well-known Milwaukee historian John Gurda, this book provides a visual picture of the growth of Milwaukee's second largest ethnic group and the distinctive community that developed on Milwaukee's South Side. (shrink)

The pervasiveness of domestic employment in the South African context gives rise to the question as to why women not only enter into, but remain in, such an undervalued work situation, and whether they are ultimately able to exit this sector. Contextualising the sectoral engagement of domestic workers as a transitional work-life cycle characterised by impoverishment, limited alternatives, acceptance of the work context, and future directedness, with individual transition through these phases determined by a unique set of circumstances, female domestic (...) workers’ lived experience of their work-life cycle was explored within the framework of an interpretivist research design. Non-probability respondent-driven self-sampling was employed to select 20 participants, most of whom were representative of families with a long history of sectoral involvement, particularly along the female line. Dense, non-numerical data was generated through in-depth interviewing. Inductive data explication was conducted with the aid of MAXQDA. The findings confirmed the existence of an institutionalised culture of engagement within the sector perpetuated from one generation to the next. Hardship and an urgent need for survival leave many with little option but to enter and remain within the sector. Despite negative societal perceptions of the sector, those within it take pride in their work and view their engagement as an enabling tool to better their future prospects and those of their families. Attempts to exit the sector are unsuccessful due, in part, to a limited formal education and skills repertoire. Domestic workers are thus entrapped within a never-ending cycle of sectoral engagement, with the possibility of exiting the sector remaining merely a dream for many. (shrink)

On appelle « Affaire Sokal » l’ensemble de controverses que suscitèrent la publication en 1996 d’une parodie écrite par un physicien américain, Alan Sokal, puis, en 1997, de l’ouvrage Impostures intellectuelles, qu’il co-signa avec un physicien belge, Jean Bricmont. Dans Retours sur l’Affaire Sokal¸ des historiens des sciences reviennent sur cette affaire. Ils montrent qu’elle recouvre différentes controverses et qu’il faut distinguer ces dernières non seulement selon la nature des écrits qui les ont occasionnées, mais aussi en fonction des questions (...) abordées, et peut-être surtout des manières de concevoir et pratiquer les échanges intellectuels. Les auteurs analysent en particulier ces controverses en France, aux États-Unis et au Royaume-Uni ; ils examinent aussi la façon dont ont été traités la relation entre le domaine scientifique et le domaine littéraire ou l’usage des métaphores en sciences. (shrink)

In France, some institutions seem to call for the engineer’s sense of social responsibility. However, this call is scarcely heard. Still, engineering students have been given the opportunity to gain a general education through courses in literature, law, economics, since the nineteenth century. But, such courses have long been offered only in the top ranked engineering schools. In this paper, we intend to show that the wish to increase engineering students’ social responsibility is an old concern. We also aim at (...) highlighting some macro social factors which shaped the answer to the call for social responsibility in the French engineering “Grandes Ecoles”. In the first part, we provide an overview of the scarce attention given to the engineering curriculum in the scholarly literature in France. In the second part, we analyse one century of discourses about the definition of the “complete engineer” and the consequent role of non technical education. In the third part, we focus on the characteristics of the corpus which has been institutionalized. Our main finding is that despite the many changes which occurred in engineering education during one century, the “other formation” remains grounded on a non academic “way of knowing”, and aims at increasing the reputation of the schools, more than enhancing engineering students’ social awareness. (shrink)

The preparation of teachers in higher education is increasingly valued in institutions around the world. On the other hand, training models are not standardized and valorization varies. Considering that the initial or professional development of teachers passes, at least in part, by the development of a reflective practice supported on basis of scientific literature, we propose to the on think on one hand about a model of reflective practice, that of Kelchtermans, through four dimensions (instrumental, moral, political, and emotional), and (...) on the other hand about training of teachers in higher education from the perspective of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. This article, which is meant to be an open discussion on the development of reflective practice in Higher education Training, is based on a review of the scientific literature on the topic, but also in large part on our teaching practice. (shrink)

Philosophy in nature strips away the pomp of institutions and the ideal of athleticism while creating an opportunity for a basic human exchange that is all too rare – it sets people side by side on the land to talk things over and think things through. Like any endeavor, operating philosophy tours has distinctive challenges and rewards. Doing philosophy in nature is a tour of the land and of ideas. Taking this into account might make the idea of a “philosophy (...) tour guide” sound more plausible and less bizarre. These tours usually happen on public lands, and so it is grounded in the political realities in which we live. Doing philosophy in nature is a unique opportunity to allow the amazing natural environment to facilitate personal growth and insight. (shrink)

I will demonstrate how religious change repeatedly confronts the sociology of religion with new problems of interpretation and explanation. In the first part (I), I will take a closer look at these problems at a macro sociological level. In doing so, I will provide a brief historical outline and link this to the respective problems of interpretation and explanation. This historical development allows us to discuss the various explanatory models. In the second part (II), I will take a different perspective (...) and switch to the micro sociological level. I will show how responding to the question of meaning is still possible in secular societies, where the answers handed down by religious traditions are no longer accepted as a matter of course. In this part, I will take up the problems of explanation previously outlined and trace in particular the transformation of church-based religion into subjective forms of religiosity. My paper focuses on the following questions: How are social developments and religious change interwoven? How do theories in the sociology of religion explain religious change? What does social modernization and functional differentiation mean for the individual? What effects does modernity have on religion and in particular on the religiosity of individuals? (shrink)

Addressing the mind-body problem in light of the difficulties raised by Cartesianism, this work traces a route leading from Descartes to contemporary philosophy of mind along with an evaluation of positions that focuses on certain facts and asks whether these positions do or do not make it possible to explain them.

_Les philosophes face au vice, de Socrate à Augustin_ explore la manière dont les philosophes de l’Antiquité ont tracé une cartographie des vices, analysé leurs causes et leurs effets, et se sont interrogés sur leurs usages. _Les philosophes face au vice, de Socrate à Augustin_ explores how ancient philosophers described the vices, delineated their various kinds, accounted for their causes and effects, and reflected on how to use them.

This paper provides a summary of the symposium on the institutional and social construction of Responsible Investment (RI), held at the 22nd IABS conference. In the context of the symposium, we propose to move beyond the dominant focus on the financial impact of RI to consider the potential of emergent institutional and sociological perspectives to explain the practices and concepts related to RI. In doing so, our aim is to explore in greater detail the current changes in the RI infrastructure (...) and the impact of these changes on wider issues of corporate sustainability and social responsibility. (shrink)

Cette contribution revient sur le dialogue qui s’est développé depuis dix ans entre des chercheurs en Études théâtrales et des chercheurs en Sound Studies dans le cadre de deux projets successifs. Après avoir rappelé le contexte dans lequel a été élaborée la présente réflexion, précisé ce que j’entends ici par Sound Studies et donné quelques informations sur les Études théâtrales, je montrerai comment la relation intense que les secondes ont entretenue avec les premières a contribué à l’élaboration d’une véritable réécriture (...) de l’histoire du théâtre et comment les théâtrologues ont pu, en s’appuyant sur leur bases disciplinaires propres, opposer des approches critiques au modèle des Sound Students. (shrink)

Cette contribution revient sur le dialogue qui s’est développé depuis dix ans entre des chercheurs en Études théâtrales et des chercheurs en Sound Studies dans le cadre de deux projets successifs. Après avoir rappelé le contexte dans lequel a été élaborée la présente réflexion, précisé ce que j’entends ici par Sound Studies et donné quelques informations sur les Études théâtrales, je montrerai comment la relation intense que les secondes ont entretenue avec les premières a contribué à l’élaboration d’une véritable réécriture (...) de l’histoire du théâtre et comment les théâtrologues ont pu, en s’appuyant sur leur bases disciplinaires propres, opposer des approches critiques au modèle des Sound Students. (shrink)

Dans cet article, Christelle Taraud revient sur trente ans d’histoire des femmes, du genre et des sexualités au Maghreb à l’époque coloniale. Mettant l’accent sur l’apport fondamental des gender, subaltern & colonial studies, l’article vise aussi à faire un bilan critique des avancées, et au contraire des absences et résistances dans un champ qui, au moins depuis les années 1970, est en voie de constitution. Au cœur de l’article, cinq grandes thématiques – colonisation, peuplement et femmes européennes ; femmes européennes (...) et femmes « indigènes » : une rencontre coloniale? ; l’orientalisme recontextualisé ; sexualités en situation coloniale ; et femmes, hommes et guerre en contexte colonial – permettent d’avoir une vision claire, quoique non exhaustive, de la production historiographique des années 1980-2010. (shrink)

In this paper, we compare and contrast institutional theory and convention theory on the concept of mimetism, suggesting how they can cross-pollinate each other and more specifically how the self-referential quality of collective beliefs improves the understanding of mimetic isomorphism. We test this proposition with the case of responsible investment’s mainstreaming.First level results decompose the history of RI into five successive periods. A content analysis of articles on RI in the financial press leads to second level results consisting in a (...) number of salient representations of RI, which we consider to be the dominant conventions. The data is structured using a bracketing strategy, which allows a longitudinal analysis of conventions and their evolution over the five RI periods. (shrink)

This article attempts to clarify and critically to discuss some variants of the sociological Interpretation of regularities in social action. The widely held view that the concept of norm yields the decisive approach to a specifically sociological understanding of behavioural regularities is placed in opposition to Weber’s reflections on the basic concepts of sociology. Weber from the start reserves room for an utility - and interestoriented component of explanation, apart from the concept of norm and in principle not less important. (...) In this connection the article also works out and criticises Parsons' attempt to ‘integrate’ Weber's sociology into a normativistic conception of the discipline. As o consequence of this criticism the author stresses the value of using the concept of norm - and also tho of rule - in o more differentiated fashion. In particular we should distinguish clearly between on the one hand norms, or rules with obligatory components, and on the other utility- or means -ends-oriented rules, followed in the process of furthering one’s own interests. If we neglect this distinction and, like Parsons, subsume o conflation of these concepts under the notion of norm, we run the risk of perceiving any moderately polished and strategically prudent pursuit of an agent’s own interests as a case of norm-governed action. (shrink)

This article presents the ethical issues of the professional practice of engineers.

More and more companies are developing corporate social responsibility -related programs which imply strategic and organizational changes. This article focuses on a public utility organization, the Groupe La Poste, in which CSR issues and practices are linked to its specific mission as a public service, thus defining and explicitly structuring its CSR programs. We explore the following research questions: Why did the Groupe La Poste formulate explicitly its CSR program? What is the content of this program and how it is (...) perceived by managers? To provide answers to these questions, we have developed a conceptual framework based on a literature review linking CSR to strategic and organizational change and we apply it to the Groupe La Poste. The analysis shows a progressive convergence between strategic and CSR trajectories and sheds light into how an organization can progressively integrate CSR as a central part of its strategic plan. It confirms the role of central dimensions that support the integration of CSR programs within the organization. CSR-related mission and vision aim at orienting the organization toward sustainability and responsibility. CSR-related principles and policies transpose vision and mission into commitments and guide the implementation and adoption of responsible behavior while CSR-related shared values underlie the whole program. (shrink)

L'évangélisation des Indiens du Mexique fut entreprise dans une perspective messianique et eschatologique, notamment par les missionnaires franciscains formés aux idéaux des 'spirituels' et influencés par les prophéties millénaristes de Joachim de Flore. Dans leur esprit, l'Église, en voie de dépérissement dans le 'Vieux Monde' corrompu, allait 'renaître' dans ce monde 'nouveau', dont les populations semblaient vivre en état d'innocence et qui se laissaient convertir avec tant de docilité. Il fallut bientôt déchanter : l'idolâtrie persistait, les Indiens se revoltaient, ils (...) étaient massacrés, et bientôt décimés par des épidémies de caractère 'apocalyptique'. Alors on s'interrogeait : la violence peut-elle être acceptée comme une nécessité pour extirper le culte des démons, hâter l'évangélisation, consolider la conversion de ces peuples? (shrink)

Lorsqu’il rédige son traité De officiis, Cicéron a sous les yeux le Peri kathekontos de Panétius, auquel il emprunte sa structure tripartite. Cette structure laisse pourtant perplexe, puisque le devoir (kathekon) y est envisagé sous l’angle du beau moral, puis sous l’angle de l’utile, pour en venir à une confrontation des deux. La perplexité naît de ce que le beau moral et l’utile sont interchangeables, si l’on s’en tient aux principes posés par Zénon et Chrysippe. Que signifie alors cette structure? (...) Notre hypothèse est la suivante : Panétius entend, par ce programme, résoudre le problème de l’indétermination inhérente à la définition même du devoir ; il s’efforce de refonder le devoir en remontant à son lieu d’origine, la vertu elle-même, comprise sous ses deux faces les plus claires : kalon et sympheron. (shrink)

Au centre de cet article, l’idée que les prostituées « indigènes », parce qu’elles se trouvent au croisement de l’ordre et du désordre, de la conformité et de la déviance, du permis et de l’interdit, sont des êtres de l’hybridation. Bien que sous contrôle d’un système réglementariste extrêmement répressif, les prostituées « indigènes » ne se contentent pas, en effet, de se situer dans un « entre deux » mais proposent une synthèse inédite qui touche l’ensemble de leur vie quotidienne (...) : leurs pratiques religieuses, médicales, corporelles, sexuelles, linguistiques… Ce faisant, elles donnent à voir leur extraordinaire capacité d’adaptation mais aussi la richesse et la complexité d’une société « en mouvement » qui se recompose au contact de la colonisation. (shrink)

La contribution s’intéresse aux transitions institutionnelles dans la formation en travail social et aux effets de ces évolutions dans le rapport au travail des formateurs. Elle a pour objet de repérer les mouvements mais aussi les tensions, les difficultés, les transactions nécessaires pour (re) donner du sens à l’activité et construire de nouveaux repères professionnels entre travail prescrit, travail rêvé/idéalisé et réel du travail de formation. Des entretiens ont été conduits dans quatre établissements de formation d’une même région. L’analyse du (...) corpus a permis de mettre à jour quelques grandes problématiques qui traversent le monde des formateurs en travail social, en prise avec les évolutions du secteur. Les résultats donnent à comprendre les remaniements identitaires et les formes d’implication des acteurs. Ils montrent la nécessite de « faire collectif », de retrouver des marges d’action et assurer sa mission de façon plus éclairée et mieux soutenue. (shrink)

The study focuses on the driving instructors of the French Horse and Riding Institute who are confronted with a restructuring of the sector and a reengineering of the training. It addresses professional transitions and their effects in terms of identity dynamics, work and/or training relationships. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted. The results reveal transactions between acquired skills and the change expected by the institution, as well as strong tensions between feelings of legitimacy and forms of recognition by others. Misunderstandings about (...) restructuring blurred the reading of work situations for all the actors. (shrink)