Bhabha, Georges Didi-Huberman, David Morgan and Lee Siegel, as well as a series of focused contributions by Yve-Alain Bois, Wendy Doniger, Kenneth Frampton, Martin E. Marty, John Hallmark Neff, Annemarie Schimmel, and Helen Tworkov consider how rapture resonate's both in a cultural context and within the experience of a single human being.

Applied Ethics has developed first in the English-Speaking world, but since the 1970's onward, the field also developed in the french part of Canada, especially Québec. This book presens three major contributions of the field in that context for a French public; in France, applied ethics is a quite recent development (1990's). Theoretical analysis of three authors is followed by interviews with the same persons to go further in the clarifications. The authors are Pierre Fortin, Guy Durand and Georges A. (...) Legault respectively from Rimouski, Montreal and Sherbrooke. (shrink)

At the crossroads of poetry and philosophy: Francis Ponge and Maurice Merleau-Ponty The aim of the present article is to clarify the place of the sensitive dictionary in the work of Francis Ponge and to show how it denotes human's relationship to nature. To achieve that, we will use the body question as a measure of the human–nature relationship and apply the phenomenological method that Ponge took over from Merleau-Ponty. It should be noted that Merleau-Ponty rarely makes reference (...) to Ponge's poems, except for a few incisions in his Causeries. As for Ponge, he uses explicitly only the notion of phenomenological reduction to explain his project of sensitive dictionary. However, we will argue that there are many similarities of thought between the philosopher and the poet, which are still unexplored. (shrink)

"Francis Ponge, souvent qualifié de poète des choses ordinaires, écrit sur la chèvre, le savon, le crottin... Il tente ainsi, hors de tout procédé rhétorique et de toute technique poétique, d'entrer dans les choses comme telles ou telles qu'elles sont. Mais ce 'telles qu'elles sont', souvent nous en faisons un 'telles qu'elles nous paraissent être' à nous-mêmes, nous qui ne savons pas réellement rendre compte de la part sensible des choses. Comment comprendre alors cette immersion dans un univers sensible (...) que l'on sait par avance hors des choses? Cette immersion s'inscrit-elle dans une lecture philosophique de la réalité, une sorte de réduction phénoménologique merleau-pontienne, ou dans une vision naturaliste du monde faisant de la nature un principe fondamental, à la manière de la religion naturelle de Diderot ou de l'écriture naturaliste de Zola? Francis Ponge écrit-il pour montrer les lacunes du langage courant, ou au contraire pour mettre en place un autre langage? Écrit-il ou est-il dans une tentative d'écriture comme tous ces écrivains, tels Sarraute, Blanchot ou Beckett, qui résistent à l'écriture en écrivant?"--. (shrink)

The main themes of the philosopher writings are addressed in a book that joyfully explores Wolff's ontological, ethical, and anthropological investments. A substantial postface by Francis Wolff is the starting point for a dialogue between author and subject that illustrates the productive nature of such exchanges.

Alain Badiou, one of the most powerful voices in contemporary French philosophy, shows how our prevailing ethical principles serve ultimately to reinforce an ...

"Logiques des mondes, auquel Alain Badiou travaille depuis une quinzaine d'années, est conçu comme une suite de son précédent "grand" livre de philosophie, L'être et l'évènement, paru aux Editions du Seuil en 1988".

Twenty years ago, Alain Badiou's first Manifesto for Philosophy rose up against the all-pervasive proclamation of the "end" of philosophy. In lieu of this problematic of the end, he put forward the watchword: "one more step". The situation has considerably changed since then. Philosophy was threatened with obliteration at the time, whereas today it finds itself under threat for the diametrically opposed reason: it is endowed with an excessive, artificial existence. "Philosophy" is everywhere. It serves as a trademark for (...) various media pundits. It livens up cafés and health clubs. It has its magazines and its gurus. It is universally called upon, by everything from banks to major state commissions, to pronounce on ethics, law and duty. In essence, "philosophy" has now come to stand for nothing other than its most ancient enemy: conservative ethics. Badiou's second manifesto therefore seeks to demoralize philosophy and to separate it from all those "philosophies" that are as servile as they are ubiquitous. It demonstrates the power of certain eternal truths to illuminate action and, as such, to transport philosophy far beyond the figure of "the human" and its "rights". There, well beyond all moralism, in the clear expanse of the idea, life becomes something radically other than survival. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In this article, we first document the virtually complete absence of infectious disease examples and concerns at the time bioethics emerged as a field. We then argue that this oversight was not benign by considering two central issues in the field, informed consent and distributive justice, and showing how they might have been framed differently had infectiousness been at the forefront of concern. The solution to this omission might be to apply standard approaches in liberal bioethics, such as autonomy (...) and the harm principle, to infectious examples. We argue that this is insufficient, however. Taking infectious disease into account requires understanding the patient as victim and as vector. Infectiousness reminds us that as autonomous agents we are both embodied and vulnerable in our relationships with others. We conclude by applying this reunderstanding of agency to the examples of informed consent and distributive justice in health care. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In this article, we first document the virtually complete absence of infectious disease examples and concerns at the time bioethics emerged as a field. We then argue that this oversight was not benign by considering two central issues in the field, informed consent and distributive justice, and showing how they might have been framed differently had infectiousness been at the forefront of concern. The solution to this omission might be to apply standard approaches in liberal bioethics, such as autonomy (...) and the harm principle, to infectious examples. We argue that this is insufficient, however. Taking infectious disease into account requires understanding the patient as victim and as vector. Infectiousness reminds us that as autonomous agents we are both embodied and vulnerable in our relationships with others. We conclude by applying this reunderstanding of agency to the examples of informed consent and distributive justice in health care. (shrink)

ABSTRACTFrom its origins in antiquity to the emergence of neoliberalism, democracy had always been thought of as a fragile institutional construct, comprising two complementary dimensions: an objective dimension, and a subjective one. Appeared in the 1970s, the Law and economic doctrine has undermined this bases of democracy by assimilating the enactment of laws to negotiation on a market, and reducing democracy to a ‘market of ideas’. The specific status of speech in the democratic area fades out, paving the way for (...) ‘post-truth politics’ and ‘democratic dictatorships’. (shrink)

The real invariably functions today as a means of intimidation and constraint. That we consistently fail to overcome this static conception stems from the fact that we do not know what the real actually is, nor do we know how to access it. To address this shortcoming, Badiou looks first to the well-known story of the death of Molière to show how all access to the real necessarily entails division—not only a division of the real from semblance, but also a (...) division of the real itself. Staying with theatre, Badiou then turns his attention to Pirandello to pursue the idea that, since the real is always manifested within semblance, its exposure demands not simply that its “mask must be torn off as semblance,” but moreover that “the mask itself demands that it be taken as real.” Applying these principles to our present situation, Badiou proceeds to isolate the contemporary semblance of real capitalism—the crucial mask that needs to be torn off today—as nothing other than democracy itself, noting that, as with all access to the real, its division will necessarily entail a measure of violence. (shrink)

"French philosopher Alain Badiou (b. 1937) introduces the concept of democratic materialism to refer to the belief that there are only bodies and languages, then employs a fair amount of science in what he calls a somewhat fastidious examine of it. He covers formal theory on the subject (meta-physics); the greater logics: the transcendental, the object, and relation; the four forms of change; the theory of points; what a body is; and what it is to live."--Provided by publisher.

In this article, we offer a rebuttal to a key thesis in Chapter 5 of Engelhardt’s After God: namely, that there exists an “unbridgeable gap” between the dominant secular culture and traditional religious believers. Contra Engelhardt, we argue that it is possible to bridge the gap by employing a strategy that includes, but is not limited to, methods for cultivating understanding and respect and a sense of solidarity. Our argument proceeds in three steps. First, we elucidate Engelhardt’s thesis in light (...) of some of the key concepts he discusses elsewhere in After God. Second, in the hope of developing understanding and respect, we elucidate the history and teachings that form the consciences of traditional Christian medical professionals concerning abortion, euthanasia, and disfiguring surgeries. Third, in the hope of developing a sense of solidarity, we explain the broad scope of the dominant secular culture’s attempt to limit people’s freedom of conscience rights, showing that it includes not only traditional Christians but also members of other traditional religions, members of mainline religious groups, people with alternative conceptions of secularity, and even faithful members of the dominant secular culture. (shrink)

In this paper I discuss Albert the Great’s notion of univocal analogy, which he raised in his Commentary on Pseudo-Dionysius’s De divinis nominibus. While other scholars such as Francis Ruello and Alain de Libera have addressed “analogy” as it pertains to Albert, I intend to treat the “univocal” aspect of “univocal analogy” so as to explain (1) how it informs Albert’s teaching on analogy, and (2) how it remains opposed to any pantheistic reduction of God to creature. While (...) my own account remains close to that of Ruello and De Libera, I hope to show how primacy is to be accorded to univocity in such a manner that, in actual reality, for Albert, it is analogy that qualifies univocity rather than vice versa. (shrink)

In this age of globalization, societies and people across the world are asking themselves the same questions about modernity: where are we going ?

Since the 1980s, two different paradigms have reshaped industrial societies: the Neoliberal paradigm and a Research and Innovation paradigm. Both have been conceptualized and translated into strong policies with massive economic and social consequences. They provide divergent responses to the environmental transition. The Neoliberal paradigm is based on economic models and geopolitical solutions. The Research and Innovation paradigm's goal is to manage knowledge differently in order to reorient the evolution of society. Since the mid-1990s, a version of the Research and (...) Innovation paradigm has led to the design of large-scale research and innovation policies. This book examines how these policies have evolved and how they can be extended and reformed to respond to present and future environmental constraints. It studies the transformation of the conception, organization and role of science and technology in the evolution of industrial societies and explores the future of these developments. The book offers three unique lines of enquiry. The first is to focus not specifically on economics, sociology, political science or history, but on knowledge creation from an institutional and reflexive point of view. The second is to establish a convergence between the British school of science and technology studies and the research trends opened by the work of Michel Foucault. Both introduced trans-disciplinary and policy-oriented research associating case studies, long-term perspectives and theory. The third is to consider climate change as the overwhelming challenge of our time. The book is an insightful guide for students, scholars and researchers across the humanities and social sciences, including philosophy, political science, law, economics, business and media. (shrink)

Although resolution-based inference is perhaps the industry standard in automated theorem proving, there have always been systems that employed a different format. For example, the Logic Theorist of 1957 produced proofs by using an axiomatic system, and the proofs it generated would be considered legitimate axiomatic proofs; Wang’s systems of the late 1950’s employed a Gentzen-sequent proof strategy; Beth’s systems written about the same time employed his semantic tableaux method; and Prawitz’s systems of again about the same time are often (...) said to employ a natural deduction format. [See Newell, et al (1957), Beth (1958), Wang (1960), and Prawitz et al (1960)]. Like sequent proof systems and tableaux proof systems, natural deduction systems retain.. (shrink)

To this day, the study of the substratum of thought and its implied mechanisms is rarely directly addressed. Nowadays, systemic approaches based on introspective methodologies are no longer fashionable and are often overlooked or ignored. Most frequently, reductionist approaches are followed for deciphering the neuronal circuits functionally associated with cognitive processes. However, we argue that systemic studies of individual thought may still contribute to a useful and complementary description of the multimodal nature of perception, because they can take into account (...) individual diversity while still identifying the common features of perceptual processes. We propose to address this question by looking at one possible task for recognition of a “signifying sound”, as an example of conceptual grasping of a perceptual response. By adopting a mixed approach combining qualitative analyses of interviews based on introspection with quantitative statistical analyses carried out on the resulting categorization, this study describes a variety of mental strategies used by musicians to identify notes’ pitch. Sixty-seven musicians (music students and professionals) were interviewed, revealing that musicians utilize intermediate steps during note identification by selecting or activating cognitive bricks that help construct and reach the correct decision. We named these elements “mental anchorpoints”. Although the anchorpoints are not universal, and differ between individuals, they can be grouped into categories related to three main sensory modalities – auditory, visual and kinesthetic. Such categorization enabled us to characterize the mental representations that allow musicians to name notes in relationship to eleven basic typologies of anchorpoints. We propose a conceptual framework which summarizes the process of note identification in five steps, starting from sensory detection and ending with the verbalization of the note pitch, passing through the pivotal role of mental anchorpoints and mental representations. We found that musicians use multiple strategies and select individual combinations of mental anchorpoints belonging to these three different sensory modalities both in isolation and in combination. (shrink)

Gilles Deleuze exprime un besoin de philosophie apte à révolutionner les manières convenues de pratiquer la philosophie. Il souhaite mettre un terme au cycle des interprétations pour mieux expérimenter les forces impersonnelles, associe l'histoire de la philosophie à l'" agent de pouvoir " dans la pensée, et formule ce curieux désir de sortir de ta philosophie par ta philosophie. Ses monographies d'auteurs ont pourtant acquis le statut de " classiques " de la philosophie. Deleuze prend également part, à sa manière, (...) aux grands débats de son temps en situant son travail dans le courant de la métaphysique occidentale. D'où la nécessité d'interroger l'héritage philosophique de Deleuze, dix années après la disparition de fauteur. Les contributions réunies ici ouvrent de nouvelles pistes en étudiant les rapports complexes de Deleuze à notre tradition et en récusant aussi toute tentative de réduction de la pensée deleuzienne à un simple moment historique. Contributions de Manola Antonioti, Alain Beaulieu, Constantin Boundas, Olivier Fahle, Stéfan Leclercq et Arnaud Viltani. (shrink)

This paper aims to offer an ethical defence of the modern practice of corrida. First, the study introduces a criticism of contemporary “animal liberation” ethics. Secondly, it draws a new set of principles and guidelines regarding our moral behaviour towards animals. Eventually, the study demonstrates that the ethics of corrida are based on the respect for the bull’s nature which is defined by the concept of “bravura”.

Two opposite statements must be rejected with the same rigor. First (1) is that a few countries have identified themselves with modernity by their scientific, technical and economic achievement and that the rest of the world, which is lagging behind the ‘advanced countries’, must follow in their footsteps and imitate their example. The article first of all sets out the falsity of such a statement, because there is not one but many western paths of modernization, and indicates that it is (...) nothing but a colonialist ideology, which spread from European and American societies and cultures and destroyed all independent efforts of modernization in other countries, in particular China. The hegemony of the western capitalist model is more than challenged by other ways of modernization, for though the soviet model has failed, other countries are ‘emerging’ or have already emerged. Second (2) the opposite representation defends the idea of a complete multiculturalism including political regimes and human rights. It fights against the previous colonialist model and supports a total relativism. But this view makes impossible the communication between completely different countries and cultures and reciprocal fear leads to an extreme conflict between ‘civilizations’, such as S. Huntington has described. This view leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable if each civilization has a complete internal unity and a complete control on all its activities. But the world is not divided into various theocratic states: no single theocratic state commands the whole or the majority of Muslim population. The central problem remains real and difficult: how to combine unity and diversity, the difference between cultures and the capacity for them to communicate with each other? The most useful idea is to elaborate one general definition of modernity, as a culture which is based on universalistic principles. The western mode of modernization is not the only possible one; nor is it at all sure that the western process of separation of temporal and spiritual powers is the only possibility. We cannot assert that universalism must penetrate social life only through political institutions and citizenship. It is beyond any reasonable doubt that modernity, with its universalistic components, cannot be identified with only one type of social organization and cultural values. (shrink)

Résumé La fascination pour la mesure, que représente l’évaluation quantitative dans le domaine écologique, occulte le fait que le choix des éléments à mesurer est subjectif et qu’en aucun cas la scientificité ne vient directement de l’observation de l’objet. J’en donnerai la preuve dans trois catégories qui regroupent l’ensemble du sophisme scientifique que constitue l’évaluation : le suivi d’un objet technique simple, avec l’exemple du progrès mesuré dans l’évolution du couteau et d’autres objets, l’histoire quantitative d’un fait naturel, le réchauffement (...) climatique, la chronique d’un indicateur qui est lui-même un concept, l’empreinte écologique. L’évaluation est bien un mode privilégié de connaissance de la technocratie « info-com ». Et la question environnementale a mis ce mode au centre du débat. Fondée sur la recherche obsessionnelle de la mesure, elle fait partie des instruments de connaissance qui nous enferment dans le monde techno-scientifique et participe à la fabrication de la modernité dans toute sa puissance aliénante, celle de l’hypersauvage contemporain. (shrink)

LLe terme ' évaluation ' est porteur d'une ambiguïté dès l'origine car son contenu sémantique est double : donner un prix, ou une mesure, mais aussi ' donner une valeur ' entendu d'un point de vue éthique, la valeur dont parle Weber. Or la fascination pour la mesure occulte le fait que le choix des éléments à mesurer est subjectif et qu'en aucun cas la scientificité ne vient directement de l'observation de l'objet. Cette caractéristique subjective est tout simplement ignorée dans (...) le domaine de l'évaluation des effets induits par le développement technologique. Le mode de fonctionnement de ce sophisme scientifique qu'est l'évaluation est très différent suivant la catégorie d'objets mesurés. Je vais donc dégager trois grandes catégories qui nous font passer du plus concret au plus abstrait, du plus simple au plus compliqué dans le sophisem: la description du ' progrès ' technique à parti de l'évolution d'objets simples, couteau et automobile, l'histoire quantitative d'un fait naturel, le réchauffement climatique, la chronique d'un indicateur qui est lui-même un concept, l'empreinte écologique. Chacune de ces catégories pose un problème d'interprétation spécifique. (shrink)

Résumé La notion de la « personne » est devenue aujourd’hui une notion très floue. D’une certaine manière, il s’agit d’une notion qui paraît n’avoir d’autre pertinence que l’usage qui en est fait pour légitimer, ou invalider, telle ou telle position concernant des problèmes éthiques contemporains. Mais un tel usage s’avère insatisfaisant, faute de pouvoir interroger vraiment la relation que cette notion entretient avec celle de « nature », que l’on précise au besoin comme étant humaine. Or, dans l’histoire du (...) monde, il existe un étant, Jésus de Nazareth, dont il est affirmé que, pour lui, le rapport entre nature et personne ne va pas de soi, comme cela semble être le cas pour les autre hommes. Ce rapport est posé d’une manière très singulière par la théologie catholique, plus précisément par le Concile tenu à Chalcédoine en 451. L’interrogation de ce texte conciliaire peut, dans un premier temps, inquiéter la philosophie en rendant délicat, voire incertain, le rapport entre « nature » et « personne ». Mais nous pensons qu’en se laissant inquiéter de la sorte, la philosophie peut trouver une voie nouvelle pour penser la « personne », au-delà des masques qui, traditionnellement, en tiennent lieu. (shrink)

Alain Deligne est philosophe et Professeur émérite de littérature française à l'Université de Münster (Allemagne). Ses travaux portent sur l'idéalisme allemand (Schopenhauer, Schleiermacher), sur la traduction, la littérature ainsi que sur l'image. Il est coéditeur de catalogues sur la caricature ainsi que de la revue Ridiculosa et l'auteur de la première monographie française sur C. G. Carus (La Terre qui vit - Peinture et savoirs, 2003), et de la première monographie allemande sur Weil (Ein zeitgenôssischer Philosoph, 1998). Du jeune (...) Éric Weil, recommandé par Albert Einstein à Ernst Cassirer, on connaissait son doctorat sur Pomponazzi (1932), son essai sur Plotin et Ficin (1933) et son grand article sur l'intérêt pris à l'histoire (1935). Mais nous ignorions tout d'autres écrits précédents ou contemporains. Grâce au travail d'édition bilingue d'Alain Deligne, nous avons maintenant accès à ses exposés d'étudiant, conférences, articles, interventions radiophoniques ou ses travaux en vue de futures études (1922-1936). Nous pouvons ainsi mieux saisir ce qu'Éric Weil allait devenir : le fondateur d'un système ouvert de compréhension (Logique de la philosophie, 1950) et rester : un philosophe curieux de toutes les formes de savoir. À cette fin, il fallait, sur la base d'archives, restituer ses multiples intérêts en philosophie, sciences, histoire de l'art, germanistique, Renaissance italienne et occultisme. Sa pensée plonge ses racines dans les débats politiques de la République de Weimar pré-hitlérienne. Depuis l'exil parisien de 1933, Éric Weil en affrontera toute la violence."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)