In this article, we present a dialogical approach to empirical ethics, based upon hermeneutic ethics and responsive evaluation. Hermeneutic ethics regards experience as the concrete source of moral wisdom. In order to gain a good understanding of moral issues, concrete detailed experiences and perspectives need to be exchanged. Within hermeneutic ethics dialogue is seen as a vehicle for moral learning and developing normative conclusions. Dialogue stands for a specific view on moral epistemology and methodological criteria for moral inquiry. Responsive evaluation (...) involves a structured way of setting up dialogical learning processes, by eliciting stories of participants, exchanging experiences in (homogeneous and heterogeneous) groups and drawing normative conclusions for practice. By combining these traditions we develop both a theoretical and a practical approach to empirical ethics, in which ethical issues are addressed and shaped together with stakeholders in practice. Stakeholders' experiences are not only used as a source for reflection by the ethicist; stakeholders are involved in the process of reflection and analysis, which takes place in a dialogue between participants in practice, facilitated by the ethicist. This dialogical approach to empirical ethics may give rise to questions such as: What contribution does the ethicist make? What role does ethical theory play? What is the relationship between empirical research and ethical theory in the dialogical process? In this article, these questions will be addressed by reflecting upon a project in empirical ethics that was set up in a dialogical way. The aim of this project was to develop and implement normative guidelines with and within practice, in order to improve the practice concerning coercion and compulsion in psychiatry. (shrink)

According to Joshua Greene’s influential dual process model of moral judgment, different modes of processing are associated with distinct moral outputs: automatic processing with deontological judgment, and controlled processing with utilitarian judgment. This paper aims to clarify and assess Greene’s model. I argue that the proposed tie between process and content is based on a misinterpretation of the evidence, and that the supposed evidence for controlled processing in utilitarian judgment is actually likely to reflect generic deliberation which, ironically, is incompatible (...) with a utilitarian outlook. This alternative proposal is further supported by the results of a recent neuroimaging study we have done. (shrink)

For decisions between many alternatives, the benchmark result is Hick's Law: that response time increases log-linearly with the number of choice alternatives. Even when Hick's Law is observed for response times, divergent results have been observed for error rates—sometimes error rates increase with the number of choice alternatives, and sometimes they are constant. We provide evidence from two experiments that error rates are mostly independent of the number of choice alternatives, unless context effects induce participants to trade speed for accuracy (...) across conditions. Error rate data have previously been used to discriminate between competing theoretical accounts of Hick's Law, and our results question the validity of those conclusions. We show that a previously dismissed optimal observer model might provide a parsimonious account of both response time and error rate data. The model suggests that people approximate Bayesian inference in multi-alternative choice, except for some perceptual limitations. (shrink)

With this second dialogue, Salviati wants to remove Simplicio’s difficulties on the actual distinction of essence and being as well as on the notion of the act of being (actus essendi). Feeling that he had skipped stages in their first dialogue, he suggests going back to the determination of the exact subject of metaphysics according to Thomas Aquinas. He will progress in two steps: the transition from «first perceived being» to «common being» or «being as being» by a judgment of (...) separation, and then the definition of the subject of metaphysics as «being negatively or neutrally immaterial». With this conclusion, Salviati intends to lead Simplicio to understand the autonomy of the principles of metaphysics towards philosophy of nature. Simplicio remains curious but dubious. Is not the negatively immaterial being a simple dialectical notion that Salviati would take for a metaphysical one? Is the independence of metaphysics from physics therefore also ensured? And consequently, is there actually a difference between the first perceived being and the common being, subject of metaphysics? What is, actually, the subject of metaphysics? (shrink)

La vie, la voix, la pensée, le combat de Vladimir Jankélévitch (1903-1985) qui marquèrent le siècle, en philosophie, en musique, en politique, ne pouvaient pas mieux ressortir que dans un "éblouissement". Ce fut celui de Guy Suarès (1932-1996), homme de théâtre, de radio et de télévision, qui s'est particulièrement attaché, par ses traductions et ses mises en scène, à mieux faire connaître la culture hispanique (Lorca, Neruda, Bergamin...) et a dirigé la Comédie de la Loire à Tours à l'invitation d'André (...) Malraux, à qui il a consacré deux ouvrages. Une relation, lumineuse, face aux mystères de la vie et de la mort ; et dont les voix portent encore. (shrink)

En 1885, le Bureau des longitudes se voit contraint d’adapter les éphémérides de la Connaissance des temps aux besoins des navigateurs. En procédant à un audit sur les éphémérides en usage dans les ports, le Bureau redécouvre que depuis 1836 sont publiées à Saint-Brieuc des Éphémérides maritimes,véritables extraits de la CDT. Nous avons ainsi identifié une affaire de contrefaçon d’éphémérides nautiques. Les pièces de son jugement par un tribunal rennais posent la question cruciale de la propriété intellectuelle des calculs astronomiques. (...) Au-delà de cette affaire concernant des imprimeurs-libraires briochins et parisiens, nous interrogeons aussi l’insuffisance de la réponse apportée par le Bureau des longitudes aux demandes répétées de simplification des éphémérides à destination des marins. (shrink)

Cet article propose une analyse du procès Clinton en se penchant sur les différentes étapes de l’affaire, les stratégies des acteurs en jeu et les choix de l’opinion publique américaine. En nous révélant l’image d’une société américaine à la recherche d’un modèle politique s’appuyant tant sur le libéralisme interventionniste que sur le conservatisme, le procès Clinton a mis en lumière la dérive partisane dont il a été l’objet. L’auteur nous montre cependant à quel point l’opinion publique américaine a su rester (...) en dehors du débat politicien et préserver sa confiance au président. (shrink)

This essay seeks first to clarify the type of complementary understanding two disciplines such as philosophy and sociology can bring to the investigation of the concept of morality. The present study concerns Durkheim, attempts to show how the sociological concept of morality that he develops in his works on the division of labor, solidarity, anomie, suicide, elementary forms of religion, collective ideals, etc..., inevitably spills over into essentially philosophical considerations. Should philosophical inquiry into the concept of morality also make reference (...) to essentially sociological considerations? It is ultimately to this question that this essay addresses itself.Cet article a pour but premier de mettre en lumière le type de complémentarité que peuvent apporter deux disciplines comme la philosophie et la sociologie dans l'approfondissement du concept de moralité. La présente étude porte sur l'exemple de Durkheim et tente de montrer comment le concept sociologique de moralité qu'il a développé dans ses thèses portant sur la division du travail, la solidarité, l'anomie, le suicide, la religion élémentaire, les idéaux collectifs, etc... débouche inévitablement sur des considérations d'ordre philosophique. Inversement, la philo- sophée qui s'interroge sur le concept de moralité se voit-il dans l'obligation de faire appel à des considérations d'ordre sociologique' C'est la question que soulève en dernière analyse cet article. (shrink)

RésuméCet article est consacréà la présentation et à l'examen critique des principes de la justice élaborés dans l'ouvrage du professeur John Rawls intituléA Theory of Justice. L'auteur examine notamment l'approche contractuelle utilisée par Rawls de même que son inspiration Kantienne et le type de rationalité qu'il met en œuvre pour construire sa théorie.