Athletes’ identity development upon retirement from elite sport was examined through a model of self-reformation that integrates and builds on the theoretical underpinnings of identity development and liminality, while advancing seven propositions and supporting conceptual conjectures using findings from research on athletes’ transition out of sport. As some elite athletes lose a salient athletic identity upon retiring from sport, they experience an identity crisis and enter the transition rites feeling in between their former athletic identity and future identity post-sport life, (...) during which a temporary identity moratorium status is needed for identity growth. Given the developmental challenges encountered in moratorium and psychosocial processes necessary to establish a new, fulfilling identity for life after elite sport, we identified key conditions, triggers, and processes that advance how a journey of identity growth paradox experienced during liminality serves as a catalyst toward identity achievement. Elite athletes must be encouraged to persevere in this challenging identity search and delay commitments for as long as it is necessary to achieve identity growth despite experiencing uncomfortable feelings of confusion, void, and ambiguity during the liminal phase. Reforming into an achieved identity for life after elite sport would corroborate the successful navigation of transition, as elite athletes evolved into a synthesized sense of self by cementing, through a negotiated adaptation pathway, constructed identity commitments that will provide new beginnings and meaningful directions to their life after elite sport. (shrink)

Mindfulness—the awareness of the present moment and experiences in daily life—contributes to genuine intrinsic and social-oriented values and curbs materialistic and hedonistic values. In the context of materialism, money is power. Avaricious individuals take risks and are likely to engage in dishonesty. Very little research has investigated the effects of mindfulness in reducing the avaricious monetary attitudes and enhancing ethical consumer beliefs. In this study, we theorize that mindfulness improves consumer ethics directly and indirectly by lowering avaricious monetary attitudes. To (...) test our theory, we collected data from 523 individuals with the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction training and 307 individuals without MBSR. The results of our whole sample support our theory. Three multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses reveal intriguing discoveries. First, with MBSR training, mindfulness excites consumer ethical beliefs directly and indirectly. Without training, trait mindfulness fails to reduce monetary attitudes—mindfulness training matters. Second, the power of MBSR training holds for participants completing the training within 1 year, but wears off after 1 year—the duration after training matters. Finally, after 1 year, the training retains its strength for those who practice mindfulness, but weakens its power for those who do not—practice matters. We shed light on mindfulness, monetary wisdom, and consumer ethics, in particular, and business ethics, in general. (shrink)

What causes adolescents to develop consumer’ ethical beliefs? Prior research has largely focused on the negative influence of peers and negative patterns of parent–child interactions to explain risky and unethical consumer behaviors. We take a different perspective by focusing on the positive support of parents and peers in adolescent social development. An integrative model is developed that links parental and peer support with adolescents’ self-worth motives, their materialistic tendencies, and their consumer ethical beliefs. In a study of 984 adolescents, we (...) demonstrate support for a sequential mediation model in which peer and parental support is positively related to adolescents’ self-esteem and feelings of power, which are each associated with decreased materialism as a means of compensating for low self-worth. This reduced materialism is, in turn, associated with more ethical consumer beliefs. (shrink)

A well-known common wisdom asserts that strong social bonds undermine delinquency. However, there is little empirical evidence to substantiate this assertion regarding adolescence academic cheating across cultures. In this study, we adopt social bonding theory and develop a theoretical model involving four social bonds and adolescence self-reported academic cheating behavior and cheating perception. Based on 913 adolescents in France and China, we show that parental attachment, academic commitment, and moral values curb academic cheating; counterintuitively, peer involvement contributes to cheating. We (...) test our theoretical model across culture and gender, separately, using multi-group analyses. For French teens, peer involvement encourages and moral values undermine cheating; for Chinese adolescents, all four social bonds contribute to cheating, similar to the whole sample. For girls, parental attachment deters, but peer involvement enhances cheating. For boys, parental attachment is the only social bond that does not affect cheating. We treat social integration as a mediator of the relationship between peer involvement and social bonds that construct, in turn, is related to cheating and ask: Considering popularity, who are likely to cheat? Our answers provide an interesting paradox: Popularity matters, yet popular French girls and unpopular Chinese boys are likely to cheat. Social sharing is a positive pro-social behavior in consumer behavior. However, academic cheating and rule breaking, reflecting self-serving altruism and the red sneakers effect, at a very young age may have the potential to grow into the Enron Effect later in their lives as executives in organizations. We shed new lights on both the bright and dark sides of social bonds on cheating, demonstrate bad company corrupts good morals, differently, across culture and gender, and provide practical implications to social bonding, business ethics, and cheating. (shrink)

Adolescents have increasing discretionary income, expenditures, and purchasing power. Inventory shrinkage costs $123.4 billion globally to retail outlets. Adolescents are disproportionately responsible for theft and shoplifting. Both parents and peers significantly influence adolescents’ monetary values, materialism, and dishonesty as consumers. In this study, we develop a theoretical model involving teenagers’ social attachment and their consumer ethics, treat adolescents’ money attitude in the context of youth materialism as a mediator, and simultaneously examine the direct and indirect paths. Results of 1018 adolescents (...) illustrate that social attachment discourages unethical beliefs directly, but encourages it indirectly through monetary values. Our multi-group analyses demonstrate a novel paradox: The correlation between parental and peer attachments is smaller in France than in China, but similar across gender. Parents contribute more than peers to social attachment in France, but both carry equal weight in China. There is a negative direct path for the Chinese sample and for girls. Indirectly, parental attachment prevents French teenagers’ unethical beliefs, whereas peer attachment promotes boys’ unethical intention, supporting the notion—bad company corrupts good morals. Across both culture and gender, monetary attitude excites dishonesty consistently for all adolescents. A negative direct path exists for Chinese boys only. Overall, social attachment reduces unethical beliefs. Parental and peer supports shape teenagers’ monetary intelligence and ethical or unethical decision making, differently, across culture and gender. We provide theoretical, empirical, and practical implications to ethical parenting, peer attachment, monetary values, and business ethics. (shrink)

La première loi envisageant de mobiliser les femmes en cas de guerre est mise en application en 1939 en France et des femmes s’engagent pour la première fois dans l’Armée française au début de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. De 1939 à 1962, la France est en guerre sans discontinuer et les effectifs militaires féminins ne cessent d’augmenter. Cette présence féminine dans un bastion masculin, par excellence, engendre de nombreux débats et questionnements. Ces femmes doivent affronter de lourdes critiques et briser (...) les préjugés dont elles sont l’objet. Peinant à être reconnues comme militaires à part entière, les pionnières de la féminisation de l’Armée intriguent. Les médecins, les politiques mais aussi la presse et la société portent sur elles un regard très contrasté. Générant mythes et fantasmes, leur identité féminine et sexuelle est souvent remise en question. (shrink)

This article, focusing on America, analyses the way in which Baudrillard uses aphoristic statements in order to propose a response, in the form of parody both of America and of its mediatization, to the proliferation of signs and loss of referentiality which characterize hyperreality. The text in question might be among the most controversial by its author due partly to its non-discursive style and the way in which it offers a punchy critique of America. It raises the question of legitimacy (...) that the aphorism bears at its heart as a self-sufficient authoritative statement, as well as the use of irony. This article analyses the way in which Baudrillard's use of the name ‘America’ both refers to a place and functions as the title of a book. This allows us to question the notion of identity both in terms of identification and of sharing, thereby enabling us to reconsider the notion of contemporaneity. (shrink)

Dans cet ouvrage-hommage à Michèle Riot-Sarcey, les travaux et la pensée de l’historienne sont mis en perspective au travers de dix-huit articles organisés autour des thèmes « Genre », « Utopies et discontinuités », « Révolution, république et démocratie », et « Se situer dans son propre présent ». L’ensemble de l’ouvrage constitue une invitation à lire ou relire les œuvres de l’auteure et à prendre avec elle le parti de se confronter en toute conscience aux enjeux de l’écriture de (...) l’histoire... (shrink)

Timothy Verhoeven, de l’université de Monash en Australie, est spécialiste de l’histoire contemporaine de la France et des États-Unis. Son ouvrage Sexual Crime, Religion and Masculinity in Fin-de-Siècle France: the Flamidien affair se situe à la croisée de deux thématiques qu’il avait déjà étudiées auparavant, l’anticléricalisme et les relations entre Église et États d’un côté, et l’histoire des masculinités à partir des sexualités cléricales de l’autre. À partir d’un fait divers propice à me...

L’auteure trace l’historique des réflexions sur la médiation en France depuis 30 ans. Elle tire de ces analyses des propositions sur la notion de certification de la médiation, ses modalités possibles et la manière dont celle-ci pourrait répondre aux dimensions originales de la médiation sans les réduire à d’autres formes de régulation des conflits.

Marketing research on adolescents’ ethical predispositions and risky behaviors has focused primarily on individual difference variables. The present study, in contrast, examines the social network positions that an adolescent occupies within a group. A survey of 984 adolescents demonstrates that EP and RB stem from a balance between assimilation and individuation. In particular, we show that adolescents with close first-degree relationships within a specific peer group and/or high need for uniqueness have lower EP and engage in more RB, while adolescents (...) that are more central to the entire network have higher EP. The theoretic and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (shrink)

Physician empathy is considered essential for good clinical care. Empirical evidence shows that it correlates with better patient satisfaction, compliance, and clinical outcomes. These data have nevertheless been criticized because of a lack of consistency and reliability. In this paper, we claim that these issues partly stem from the widespread idealization of empathy: we mistakenly assume that physician empathy always contributes to good care. This has prevented us from agreeing on a definition of empathy, from understanding the effects of its (...) different components and from exploring its limits. This is problematic because physicians’ ignorance of the risks of empathy and of strategies to manage them can impact their work and wellbeing negatively. To address this problem, we explore the effects of the potential components of empathy and argue that it should be conceived as a purely descriptive and wide term. We end by discussing implications for medical education. (shrink)

Engaging in unethical consumption behaviors is an acute societal problem that can have severe consequences for adolescents, and businesses in particular have been accused of making such consumption particularly appealing and accessible. However, the causes of unethical behaviors are not well understood and research on the causes has been mixed. In this research, we investigate the effects of coping strategies for loneliness on adolescents’ adoption of unethical behaviors, a topic that business ethics research has not explored. In a large-scale study (...) of adolescents, we show that whether loneliness leads to the adoption of unethical behaviors depends on the strategies adolescents use to cope with their loneliness: active coping strategies are associated with fewer unethical behaviors, whereas passive coping strategies are associated with more unethical behaviors. In addition, we show that active and passive coping strategies can be executed through consumption practices. We show that the relation between active coping and fewer unethical behaviors is mediated by sharing of possessions, whereas the relation between passive coping strategies and more unethical behaviors is mediated by product acquisition. Finally, we also show that these mediated relations differ as a function of age cohort. The indirect effect of active coping on fewer unethical behaviors via sharing holds only for middle school adolescents, whereas the indirect effect of passive coping on more unethical behaviors via product acquisition holds only for high school adolescents. We shed new light on both the bright and dark sides of materialism and unethical behaviors and provide practical implications for research on loneliness, business ethics, and unethical behaviors. (shrink)

Le concept de « civilisation écologique » a initialement été développé par des intellectuels chinois, à la fin des années 1980, comme une critique de la modernité industrielle et du système capitaliste face à la catastrophe écologique planétaire en cours. À partir du milieu des années 2000, et suite à l’accentuation des contestations environnementales dans les grandes villes du pays, le Parti Communiste Chinois (PCC) a décidé de faire de cette notion un de ses slogans politiques phares, mais au prix (...) de vider ce concept de sa dimension critique pour l’instrumentaliser au service de la propagande d’État, de la croissance verte et du contrôle numérique des écosystèmes. La Chine serait-elle en train d’inventer de nouvelles normes de gouvernance? (shrink)

Cette étude se focalise sur différentes méthodes utilisées pour l’analyse phonologique de la parole aphasique. Nous comparons des tâches expérimentales de répétition et de dénomination d’image, des tâches d’élicitation semi-structurées et de la parole naturelle. Nous montrons que le type de mots rencontrés, le type de consonnes ou encore le nombre de productions diffèrent selon la tâche. Si les protocoles expérimentaux permettent d’obtenir toutes les cibles voulues, les tâches d’élicitation semi-structurée permettent d’avoir un plus grand nombre d’occurrences de sons et (...) de mots et des productions subissant des transformations différentes. (shrink)

Christopher Boorse’s bio-statistical theory of health and disease argues that the central discipline on which theoretical medicine relies is physiology. His theory has been much discussed but little has been said about its focus on physiology or, conversely, about the role that other biomedical disciplines may play in establishing a theoretical concept of health. Since at least the 1950s, epidemiology has gained in strength and legitimacy as an independent medical science that contributes to our knowledge of health and disease. Indeed, (...) it not only provides important information about disease distribution and aetiology, but the risk-factor approach it employs seems to challenge BST’s binary conception of health and disease. The objective of the article is to show, firstly, how important information deriving from descriptive and analytical epidemiology forms part of our contemporary medical concepts of health and disease, and secondly, that these elements are not taken into account by BST in a satisfactory way. The article’s central contention, therefore, is that if the project of defining the theoretical concept of health is to be maintained, more importance should be accorded to the contribution made by epidemiology—alongside physiology—in defining health. (shrink)

Sympathy (empathic concern) is mainly understood as a feeling for another and is often contrasted with empathy—a feeling with another. However, it is not clear what feeling for another means and what emotions sympathy involves. Since empirical data suggests that sympathy plays an important role in our social lives and is more closely connected to helping behavior than empathy, we need a more detailed account. In this paper, I argue that sympathy is not a particular emotion but a type of (...) emotional experience: those that have another person as focus. I explain what this means and show that this sheds light on why sympathy, rather than empathy, directly motivates altruistic actions. (shrink)

On trouve sous la plume de Bayle des rapprochements étonnants qu’il théorise lui-même comme un art de faire de « belles applications » ; nous nous interrogeons sur l’affinité qu’il décèle entre épicurisme et augustinisme et proposons de réévaluer sous cet angle la portée de la thèse baylienne de l’athée vertueux par rapport à la thèse de la vertu des païens défendue par La Mothe Le Vayer.

Empathic concern is essential to our social lives because it motivates helping behavior. It has, however, well-known shortcomings such as its limitation in scope. Here, we highlight a further shortcoming of empathic concern: it contributes little to understanding the relevant features of complex social situations, and unaided by further cognitive inputs, likely fails to produce effective helping. We then elaborate on the conditions needed for an accurate assessment of others’ situations: the ability to pay attention and try to understand others (...) for their own sake. We explain that when combining these abilities with the valuing aspect of empathic concern, we obtain “availability”, an understudied mental state which plays a crucial role in helping motivation. We provide a detailed definition of that notion and show how availability can be trained and exercised by health professionals in order to improve their care and relationships with patients. (shrink)

Cet article vise à développer de quelles manières et pour quelles raisons le franglais, en règle générale décrié, est utilisé dans les tabloïdes français qui ont également mauvaise presse. Via un corpus constitué de gros titres, titres, et extraits d’articles provenant des magazines en ligne de presse à scandale français Closer, Gala, Grazia, Paris Match, Public, Purepeople, et Voici, nous débutons notre analyse par une première partie consacrée aux spécificités du franglais appliquées à la presse à sensation française, à savoir (...) l’aspect codé et ciblé de ce lexique ainsi que la notion de « quantité ». Puis, dans une seconde partie, nous traitons des principales raisons justifiant l’utilisation du franglais dans ce type de presse en abordant les notions clés d’ « économie du langage » et d’ « identité de groupe ». (shrink)

Cet article vise à développer de quelles manières et pour quelles raisons le franglais, en règle générale décrié, est utilisé dans les tabloïdes français qui ont également mauvaise presse. Via un corpus constitué de gros titres, titres, et extraits d’articles provenant des magazines en ligne de presse à scandale français _Closer_, _Gala_, _Grazia_, _Paris Match_, _Public_, _Purepeople_, et _Voici_, nous débutons notre analyse par une première partie consacrée aux spécificités du franglais appliquées à la presse à sensation française, à savoir (...) l’aspect codé et ciblé de ce lexique ainsi que la notion de « quantité ». Puis, dans une seconde partie, nous traitons des principales raisons justifiant l’utilisation du franglais dans ce type de presse en abordant les notions clés d’ « économie du langage » et d’ « identité de groupe ». (shrink)

Cet article relate les détours d’un parcours de recherche doctorale sinueux. L’interdisciplinarité du projet dont il est question a mis au jour une incompatibilité des conceptions du sens et de l’implicite. Le projet visait à étudier les moyens de communication dont dispose l’interlocuteur pour gérer l’intercompréhension. Afin de mener les analyses, quatre types d’observables ont été dégagés : celles qui informent directement sur le contenu de son interprétation ou sur sa satisfaction vis-à-vis de cette interprétation, celles qui changent de sujet, (...) et celles qui poursuivent l’interaction « vers l’avant ». Ces quatre types d’observables ont conduit à une conception tridimensionnelle du sens : une dimension situante du sens ; la dimension structurante du sens ; la dimension relationnelle du sens. Cette modélisation remet en question la notion d’implicite ainsi que la distinction entre connotation et dénotation. (shrink)

Cet article relate les détours d’un parcours de recherche doctorale sinueux. L’interdisciplinarité du projet dont il est question a mis au jour une incompatibilité des conceptions du sens et de l’implicite. Le projet visait à étudier les moyens de communication dont dispose l’interlocuteur pour gérer l’intercompréhension. Afin de mener les analyses, quatre types d’observables ont été dégagés : celles qui informent directement sur le contenu de son interprétation ou sur sa satisfaction vis-à-vis de cette interprétation, celles qui changent de sujet, (...) et celles qui poursuivent l’interaction « vers l’avant ». Ces quatre types d’observables ont conduit à une conception tridimensionnelle du sens : une dimension situante du sens ; la dimension structurante du sens ; la dimension relationnelle du sens. Cette modélisation remet en question la notion d’implicite ainsi que la distinction entre connotation et dénotation. (shrink)

Les confits parentaux aigus et séparations parentales ultraconflictuelles – souvent qualifiées de « déchirantes » – ont aujourd’hui massivement envahi les dispositifs de Protection de l’enfance. Cet article interroge les effets de tels contextes traumatogènes sur la vie psychique des enfants qui en sont victimes à partir de la pratique de psychologue clinicienne de l’auteure au sein d’un service éducatif en milieu ouvert, mais aussi de psychothérapeute psychanalytique en libéral. Au-delà du conflit de loyauté auquel sont confrontés ces enfants, l’auteure (...) analyse les traces de ces conflits parentaux aigus dans l’organisation somato-psychique de ces enfants, leur corps étant porteur de ces dynamiques conflictuelles. Des vignettes cliniques témoignent des effets de déchirure sur les enveloppes du Soi, appréhendés au travers de tableaux symptomatologiques spécifiques. Cette approche psychanalytique montre comment la « part déchirée du soi » chez ces enfants porte les traces des parents qui se déchirent sur leur dos. (shrink)

This article re-analyses in detail the meaning of the expression ludi Graeci which appears in two of Cicero’s letters (Ad Fam. 7,1 and Ad Att. 15,5). A careful examination of the first instance reveals that ludi Graeci indeed referred to theatrical performances in Greek language and not merely to Latin plays that followed Greek models. A brief survey of contemporary epigraphical sources shows that no occurrence excludes this interpretation. The question of the apparent contradiction between Cicero’s philhellenism and his criticism (...) of the ludi Graeci in the two letters is also addressed, in order to demonstrate that the two attitudes are not mutually exclusive. (shrink)

The article shows that Odysseus in Sophocles’ _Ajax_ and _Philoctetes_ is at the centre of a redefinition of the concept of “nobility”. This figure has been seen to promote a new definition of the concept, but previous analyses tended to focus only on one or the other of the two plays, as Odysseus appeared too dissimilar to be considered from the same viewpoint. A closer analysis reveals that he defends the same values and is endowed with the same non-élite features (...) in both plays. Among those values is the idea that nobility has nothing to do with descent, but with the ability at proving helpful to the whole social group. The perception other characters have of Odysseus, however, changes between the first and the second play. This change can be linked to the evolution of Athenian society. With the development of democracy, non-élite citizens redefined concepts such as _eugeneia_. (shrink)

One afternoon in 1836 the Transcendental Club held its first meeting in Boston. The membership was noteworthy not only for the list of impressive personages, headed by Emerson, but for the general youthfulness of the group (Thoreau was only twenty-two) and for the fact (unusual for the day) that several women were invited to attend. The club consisted mainly of "bright young Unitarians seeking to find meaning, pattern, and purpose in a universe no longer managed by a genteel and amiable (...) Unitarian God." The club met irregularly for three years and then passed into oblivion. The intellectual activity it engendered continues to affect American thought and values even today. The transcendentalists concerned themselves with problems of law, truth, individuality, theology, mysticism, pantheism, and personality, to mention only a few. Moreover, they were prolific writers and produced reams of letters, essays, poems, sketches, and memoirs. Historian Paul Boller traces the movement from its earliest stirrings through its height as a powerful movement to its decline in the aftermath of the Civil War. Whenever possible, he lets the transcendentalists speak for themselves. He sorts the permanent from the transient and demonstrates the immeasurable importance of a body of ideas which still live a century and a half after their inception.--From publisher description. (shrink)

Youth materialism excites adolescents’ unethical consumer beliefs (UCB-dishonesty). We develop a second-stage moderated mediation model, investigate the relationships between materialism and Generation Z teenagers’ consumer ethics (UCB-dishonesty), and treat two self-concept mechanisms (power and self-esteem) as dual mediators and culture as a moderator (China vs. France). We theorize that materialism enhances power (public self) and reduces self-esteem (private self). French adolescents’ sense of power increases UCB more than their Chinese counterparts. Chinese teenagers’ self-esteem reduces UCB more than their French counterparts. (...) We challenge the assumption that the interaction effects between consumers’ self-concepts and UCB are the same across cultures. We offer the following discoveries based on 1,005 (409 Chinese and 596 French) adolescents. First, the measurement model of consumer ethics with four subconstructs is superior to the model with one overall construct. Second, a sense of power and self-esteem mediate the relationships between youth materialism and consumer ethics, creating two positive and negative paths for power and self-esteem, respectively. Third, French adolescents display a higher magnitude and positive intensity between adolescents’ power (public self) and UCB-dishonesty than their Chinese counterparts across all four subconstructs. Chinese teenagers illustrate a lower magnitude but a higher negative intensity between self-esteem and UCB than their French counterparts across three subconstructs, with one exception: Adolescents’ self-esteem has no impact on “no harm, no foul” across cultures. Neither buyers nor sellers experience substantial financial gains or losses. Finally, cultures moderate the second-stage mediation effects. Scholars must enhance adolescents’ self-esteem and curb their power to promote honesty. We offer implications for materialism, consumer ethics, self-concepts, and culture for consumers and retailers. (shrink)

Originally published by Rand McNally & Company in 1969, this volume provides a discussion of the Gilded Age, the decades between the end of the Civil War and the closing of the Spanish-American War. Many aspects of this period are examined, including the transition from a rural-agrarian federation to an industrial, urban nation-state. An intensive study of ideas, this volume fulfills the need for an informative and highly readable work of the intellectual and cultural developments in an important era of (...) American History. (shrink)

First published in 2006. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

In this proof-of-concept study, we assessed the potential for immersive virtual reality to measure transfer following strategic memory training, and whether efficacy and transfer are increased when training is complemented by practice in an immersive virtual environment. Forty older adults with subjective memory complaints were trained with the method of loci. They were randomized to either a condition where they practiced the strategy in VR or a control condition where they were familiarized with VR using a non-memory task. Training efficacy (...) was measured with word recall, and transfer of the training benefit was measured with a recall task completed in two VR tasks as well as a self-report memory questionnaire. Testing was administered before, midway, and after training. Participants improved their scores on word recall. Regarding transfer measures, participants improved their performance in the two VR recall tasks but not on the self-report memory questionnaire. No significant group effect was observed. Improvement was found when comparing PRE to POST 3 with no further improvement at POST 6. Thus, strategic memory training improved the memory of seniors with memory complaints on word recall and a transfer task relying on a VR scenario that resembles real-life. However, no evidence supporting an increase in transfer effects was found when enriching training with VR memory exercises. (shrink)

The philosophical analysis of trauma has grown over the last ten years due to our need to elucidate the lived experience endured by an increasing number of human beings undergoing forced migration, abuses, war crimes, and traumatizing situations. The irreducibility of trauma renders the task of care ethics more and more difficult. Yet, this paper argues that a phenomenological analysis of the care relation with traumatized patients can help elucidate the inter-affective dynamics at stake in such encounters. First, I will (...) analyze the phenomenon of compassion fatigue and show how it differs from “emotional contagion” and how it relates to empathy. Relying on phenomenological approaches to empathy, I will assess the kind of “affective sharing” entailed by compassion fatigue. In the second section, I will reframe this conception of empathy by uncovering the existential feeling of vulnerability and the pre-reflective bodily resonance that frames our encounter with others. In the final section, I will argue that vicarious traumatization could be overcome thanks to a “creative kind” of compassion which links the sense of self to the sense of agency, the act of caring with the quest for justice, in a constant effort to restore balance through affective sharing and mutual recognition. (shrink)

Afin d’accompagner les frères et sœurs d’enfants handicapés, des dispositifs groupaux se développent depuis quelques années dans les services médico-sociaux. L’auteure, psychologue clinicienne, présente ici le fonctionnement d’un groupe fratrie destiné à des enfants de 4 à 10 ans, et plus particulièrement l’utilisation du dessin dans ce cadre. Par le croisement d’éléments théoriques et l’apport de situations cliniques, une réflexion est menée sur l’intérêt du dessin et du récit de celui-ci dans la relance des processus narratifs chez les enfants. Ces (...) capacités de liaison ainsi soutenues permettent, le plus souvent, de contrer les effets traumatiques de la survenue du handicap dans la famille. Ceci permet d’appréhender l’un des facteurs de l’effet thérapeutique de ce dispositif. (shrink)

Canguilhem criticized the concept of “public health”: health and disease are concepts that only apply to individuals, taken as organic totalities. Their extension to a different level of organization is purely metaphorical. The importance assumed by epidemiology in the construction of our knowledge of the normal and the pathological does, however, call for reflection on the role and the status of the population level of organization in our approach to health phenomena. The entanglement of the biological and the social in (...) human life and in contemporary societies justifies this level of analysis for better understanding the complexity and the interaction of health determinants both at the level of individuals and their interactions and at that of the population. But is this population level just a useful level of analysis that makes it possible to bring to light the social determinants of health at the individual level, or does it rest instead on characteristics of the population that are irreducible to individual characteristics, but which are nevertheless important for understanding and taking action with respect to both population and individual health? Defending this second alternative, I show how the epidemiological point of view, and in particular that of social epidemiology, leads us to rethink the possibility of a concept of “population health” that is not reducible to the sum of individual instances of health. (shrink)

The contemporary emphasis on vulnerability and interdependence stresses the ethical necessity of a critical care concept to undermine the individualistic paradigm of autonomy and the modern understanding of well-being regarding individual self-achievement and world mastery. This paper analyzes how the philosophical investigation of vulnerability has led to an existential, social, and ethical reflection that brought to light a fundamental interdependence among living beings. This chapter examines the nature of this interdependence and the type of relations involved in these dynamics. The (...) author argues that caring for the living involves a holistic approach of the human being that considers not only the plurality of her interpersonal relations but also her relation to the environment and her relation to her ‘self’ as a person with rights and responsibility. Moreover, speaking of interdependence also implies examining the philosophical understanding of our modern concepts of nature and culture along the lines of a philosophical critique of the immunity paradigm and cultural biology anew. Drawing on phenomenological ethics, this chapter shows that the concept of responsibility that stems from this renewed understanding of interdependence implies an ethics based on responsiveness and responsibility that articulates the dignity of human beings as persons with the care for the living they demonstrate in the ‘forms of life’ they inhabit with others. It bears consequences for contemporary issues in bioethics, such as caring for vulnerable people or determining the moral standing of our relations. (shrink)

La possibilité d’une définition naturaliste de la santé et d’une distinction entre le normal et le pathologique qui ne repose pas sur des normes culturelles, sociales ou subjectives est au cœur des débats en philosophie de la médecine. Or le concept statistique de la normalité, fondamental pour une définition objective de la santé, soulève d’importantes difficultés. Christopher Boorse défend une « théorie bio-statistique » qui, en articulant ce concept à une notion non normative de fonction biologique, résoudrait ces difficultés. L’identification (...) de la santé et de la normalité au sens statistique demeure toutefois centrale dans sa définition. Après avoir précisé le rôle que joue la normalité statistique dans la BST, nous dégageons, à partir de l’épidémiologie contemporaine, un certain nombre de problèmes et questions que cette définition naturaliste soulève.The liability for a naturalist definition of health and for a value-free distinction between the normal and the pathological is at the core of discussions on health and disease in philosophy of medicine. But the statistical concept of normality, a central one for any objective definition of health, raises numerous problems. Christopher Boorse argues for a « biostatistical theory » which aims at solving these difficulties by articulating a statistical concept of normality and a non-normative concept of biological function. However the BST is still based on identifying normality and health with the most frequent. After analyzing in details the true role of statistical normality in BST, I will show how results and data from modern epidemiology can be mobilized to reveal several limits and difficulties with respect to this naturalist definition of health and disease. (shrink)