Is ‘knowledge society’ yet another empty slogan? More than ever, ‘knowledge is power’. But we can hardly affirm that the society we live in is based on the vigour of knowledge. The market price placed on knowledge fails to provide it with the needed qualitative impetus. Inequities remain the blind spot of technological systems. To be sure, we are living in an information society at higher scales of exchange, with ‘a great deal of information, but little knowledge’. We may indeed (...) be restoring a sort of enlightened despotism of a technologically neo-positivistic type, a realm of experts whose ‘know-how’ is but another term for ‘doing without knowing’. In a truly democratic sense, the knowledge society is a basic human right. Knowledge is nourished in society. Conversely, societies find in knowledge a compass for their peaceful co-existence. (shrink)

To the extent that our future depends on our ability to change and ‘live together’, we cannot do without utopian thought. We know utopia goes astray when it puts off indefinitely confronting the present, trying to prolong the temptation to go back to complete, stable models. It goes astray when its totality merges into totalitarianism. But if utopia was shattered, broken into pieces, divided into lots, would it still be utopia? Turned into a listed heritage, a legacy that is both (...) fertile and too weighty, utopia demands an approach at the same time critical and self-critical. (shrink)

Is ‘knowledge society’ yet another empty slogan? More than ever, ‘knowledge is power’. But we can hardly affirm that the society we live in is based on the vigour of knowledge. The market price placed on knowledge fails to provide it with the needed qualitative impetus. Inequities remain the blind spot of technological systems. To be sure, we are living in an information society at higher scales of exchange, with ‘a great deal of information, but little knowledge’. We may indeed (...) be restoring a sort of enlightened despotism of a technologically neo-positivistic type, a realm of experts whose ‘know-how’ is but another term for ‘doing without knowing’. In a truly democratic sense, the knowledge society is a basic human right. Knowledge is nourished in society. Conversely, societies find in knowledge a compass for their peaceful co-existence. (shrink)

Résumé Dans la mesure où notre avenir dépend de nos aptitudes à la transformation et au « vivre ensemble », nous ne pouvons pas nous passer de la pensée utopique. Nous savons que l’utopie s’égare lorsqu’elle reporte indéfiniment l’affrontement du présent, cherchant à faire durer la tentation du retour aux modèles complets et stables. Elle s’égare quand sa totalité se confond avec totalitarisme. Mais si l’utopie était brisée, rompue en morceaux, divisée en lots, serait-elle encore utopie? Devenue un patrimoine classé, (...) un héritage à la fois fécond et trop lourd, l’utopie demande une approche à la fois critique et autocritique. (shrink)

This book considers the role of Western philosophy in the 21st century in the light of historical developments; and presents contributions from experts in a number of fields including philosophy, sociology, history, politics and literature.