According to Thagard and Stewart :1–33, 2011), creativity results from the combination of neural representations, and combination results from convolution, an operation on vectors defined in the holographic reduced representation framework. They use these ideas to understand creativity as it occurs in many domains, and in particular in science. We argue that, because of its algebraic properties, convolution alone is ill-suited to the role proposed by Thagard and Stewart. The semantic pointer concept allows us to see how we can apply (...) the full range of HRR operations while keeping the modal representations so central to Thagard and Stewart’s theory. By adding another combination operation and using semantic pointers as the combinatorial basis, this modified version overcomes the limitations of the original theory and perhaps helps us explain aspects of creativity not covered by the original theory. While a priori reasons cast doubts on the use of HRR operations with modal representations :5039–5054, 1987) such as semantic pointers, recent models point in the other direction, allowing us to be optimistic about the success of the revised version. (shrink)

According to Thagard and Stewart :1–33, 2011), creativity results from the combination of neural representations, and combination results from convolution, an operation on vectors defined in the holographic reduced representation framework. They use these ideas to understand creativity as it occurs in many domains, and in particular in science. We argue that, because of its algebraic properties, convolution alone is ill-suited to the role proposed by Thagard and Stewart. The semantic pointer concept allows us to see how we can apply (...) the full range of HRR operations while keeping the modal representations so central to Thagard and Stewart’s theory. By adding another combination operation and using semantic pointers as the combinatorial basis, this modified version overcomes the limitations of the original theory and perhaps helps us explain aspects of creativity not covered by the original theory. While a priori reasons cast doubts on the use of HRR operations with modal representations :5039–5054, 1987) such as semantic pointers, recent models point in the other direction, allowing us to be optimistic about the success of the revised version. (shrink)

Jean-Frédéric de Pasquale ,Pierre Poirier.

This paper examines two issues related to research of certified fair trade goods. The first is the question of how agendas for fair trade research should be developed. The second issue is the existence of major gaps in the fair trade literature, including the study of the particular features of fair trade practice in individual northern countries. In taking up the first of these issues, the paper proposes that normative analysis should provide the basis for developing research agendas. Such an (...) approach is important to ensure that the necessary types of questions to make normative judgments and policy decisions are posed and that biases that tend to favor mainstreaming practices in the generation of knowledge are minimized. The paper addresses the second research issue by examining the development of research agendas at the level of individual countries, using Canada as a case. (shrink)

This paper examines two issues related to research of certified fair trade goods. The first is the question of how agendas for fair trade research should be developed. The second issue is the existence of major gaps in the fair trade literature, including the study of the particular features of fair trade practice in individual northern countries. In taking up the first of these issues, the paper proposes that normative analysis should provide the basis for developing research agendas. Such an (...) approach is important to ensure that the necessary types of questions to make normative judgments and policy decisions are posed and that biases that tend to favor mainstreaming practices in the generation of knowledge are minimized. The paper addresses the second research issue by examining the development of research agendas at the level of individual countries, using Canada as a case. (shrink)

Age‐related and cancer‐related epigenomic modifications have been associated with enhanced cell‐to‐cell gene expression variability that characterizes increased cellular stochasticity. Since gene expression variability appears to be highly reduced by—and epigenetic and phenotypic stability acquired through—direct or long‐range cellular interactions during cell differentiation, we propose a common origin for aging and cancer in the failure to control cellular stochasticity by cell–cell interactions. Tissue‐disruption‐induced cellular stochasticity associated with epigenetic drift would be at the origin of organ dysfunction because of an increase in (...) phenotypic variation among cells, ultimately leading to cell death and organ failure through a loss of coordination in cellular functions, and eventually to cancerization. We propose mechanistic research perspectives to corroborate this hypothesis and explore its evolutionary consequences, highlighting a positive correlation between the median age of mass loss onset (a proxy for the onset of organ aging) and the median age at cancer diagnosis. (shrink)

Lip reading is the ability to partially understand speech by looking at the speaker's lips. It improves the intelligibility of speech in noise when audio-visual perception is compared with audio-only perception. A recent set of experiments showed that seeing the speaker's lips also enhances sensitivity to acoustic information, decreasing the auditory detection threshold of speech embedded in noise [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 109 (2001) 2272; J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 108 (2000) 1197]. However, detection is different from comprehension, and it remains (...) to be seen whether improved sensitivity also results in an intelligibility gain in audio-visual speech perception. In this work, we use an original paradigm to show that seeing the speaker's lips enables the listener to hear better and hence to understand better. The audio-visual stimuli used here could not be differentiated by lip reading per se since they contained exactly the same lip gesture matched with different compatible speech sounds. Nevertheless, the noise-masked stimuli were more intelligible in the audio-visual condition than in the audio-only condition due to the contribution of visual information to the extraction of acoustic cues. Replacing the lip gesture by a non-speech visual input with exactly the same time course, providing the same temporal cues for extraction, removed the intelligibility benefit. This early contribution to audio-visual speech identification is discussed in relationships with recent neurophysiological data on audio-visual perception. (shrink)

Stochastic gene expression plays a leading developmental role through its contribution to cell differentiation. It is also proposed to promote phenotypic diversification in malignant cells. However, it remains unclear if these two forms of cellular bet‐hedging are identical or rather display distinct features. Here we argue that bet‐hedging phenomena in cancer cells are more similar to those occurring in unicellular organisms than to those of normal metazoan cells. We further propose that the atavistic bet‐hedging strategies in cancer originate from a (...) hijacking of the normal developmental bet‐hedging of metazoans. Finally, we discuss the constraints that may shape the atavistic bet‐hedging strategies of cancer cells. (shrink)

Based on the presentation of a research framework (the shared work of teachers), this text uses an empirical approach to examine the hypothesis of a co-elaboration of the professional situation. To do so, the empirical investigation, based on the Goffman framework, analyzes the process of reconstructing a teaching session (reference situation) over the course of a pedagogical counselling session (support situation) characterized by interaction between a beginning teacher and a trainer. The invalidation of the hypothesis leads to a suggested conceptualization (...) of the professional situation combining definitional approaches (emphasizing the duality between its singularity and its genericity) and methodological approaches. (shrink)

This paper deals with calibration in scientific practices which investigate relatively well-understood natural phenomena by means of already standardized instrumental devices. Calibration is a crucial topic, since it conditions the reliability of instrumental procedures in science. Yet although important, calibration is a relatively neglected topic. We think more attention should be devoted to calibration. The paper attempts to take a step in this direction. The aims are two-fold: (1) to characterize calibration in a relatively simple kind of scientific practices; (2) (...) to provide conceptual and taxonomic tools of broader scope that help to get a better understanding of calibration in more complex cases and other kinds of scientific practices. For this purpose, we first provide indications for why a conceptual framework is needed. Second, a bibliographic survey of works dealing with calibration is attempted. Third, we introduce different tools to enable a better understanding of calibration. Fourth, we turn to the elaboration of what we call a “simple exemplar” of calibration, illustrated through the case of the calibration of an equal-arm balance. Fifth, the tools previously introduced, and the framework of the simple exemplar, are applied to a more complex case of calibration: calibration procedures in X-ray experiments. This serves to show the work accomplished by the simple exemplar and to emphasize features of more complex cases of calibration. Eventually, we revisit and specify the nature, status, scope and value of the proposed framework. (shrink)

La Seconde Guerre mondiale venait à peine de s'achever quand le hasard fit de Frédéric de Towarnicki le premier visiteur de Heidegger dans l'Allemagne ne cendres, verrouillée de toute part. Quel " coup de dés " l'avait donc conduit dans Fribourg en ruine, à la recherche de ce philosophe dont on ne savait rien depuis des années? Le récit insolite, parfois drôle, de ses rencontres avec Heidegger dans sa maison de Zähringen ou sur les routes de la Forêt-Noire est (...) suivi de vingt-trois conversations avec Jean Beaufret qui fut, durant plus de trente ans, l'ami et l'interlocuteur du penseur le plus audacieux et le plus attaqué de notre temps. La passion qui anime ce livre pourrait bien, au-delà des polémiques, révéler au lecteur la surprenante simplicité à laquelle aboutissent les méditations de Heidegger. (shrink)

Umberto Eco -- Stephen Jay Gould -- Jean-Claude Carrière -- Jean Delumeau.

Cognitive Science, Volume 46, Issue 4, April 2022.

Lex necessitatis vel contingentiae Cet article se propose de reconsidérer de manière critique deux présupposés spécifiques à l’interprétation gilsonienne de Thomas d’Aquin : (i) le fait que, dans l’univers thomasien, tous les étants différents de Dieu soient marqués par une « contingence radicale » ; (ii) l’idée qu’en dernière analyse cette contingence est fondée sur la distinction entre être et essence – et, plus généralement, (iii) la conviction que la conception thomiste de la providence se présente comme une alternative radicale (...) au déterminisme et au nécessitarisme de la tradition gréco-arabe. À cette fin, nous examinerons successivement les points suivants : les significations les plus communes que Thomas confère aux notions de nécessité et de contingence ; le rapport entre fortune, sort et providence ; la réfutation conditionnée du déterminisme astral ; le mode sur lequel la providence dispose les événements nécessaires aussi bien que les événements contingents ; les réactions opposées de Siger de Brabant et de Jean Duns Scot au modèle par lequel Thomas tente de sauver la contingence au sein de l’ordre providentiel ; l’affirmation par Thomas de l’existence de créatures formellement nécessaires. En conclusion, on suggère que Thomas affaiblit certains présupposés fondamentaux de la stratégie anti-déterministe mise en œuvre par Aristote dans le livre VI de la Métaphysique, que l’alternative entre nécessité et contingence ne représente pas chez Thomas le véritable départ entre le créateur et la créature, et que, pour cette raison, la distinction entre être et essence n’a pas pour premier et principal objectif de rendre compte de la contingence de tous les étants créés. (shrink)

Produites entre 1967 et 1974, les Organisations d’espaces de Jean-Michel Sanejouand constituent un exemple d’installations avant la lettre. Les définissant en opposition par rapport aux pratiques artistiques traditionnelles, notamment la sculpture, leur auteur a l’ambition d’induire de nouvelles relations entre l’intervention artistique, l’espace qui l’accueille et les personnes qui en font l’expérience. Notre analyse se propose d’exposer de quelle façon ces relations sont mises en œuvre par l’artiste et de pointer leurs singularités. Il s’agit d’abord de revenir sur les (...) circonstances qui amènent Sanejouand à faire du rapport à l’espace la donnée centrale de ses interventions et à tourner le dos à la production d’œuvres autonomes déplaçables au profit d’une pratique in situ. Ensuite, l’investigation porte sur les qualités des matériaux présents dans les Organisations d’espaces et sur la manière dont l’artiste les utilise. Si certains matériaux sont présents antérieurement dans son œuvre, nous montrons comment l’artiste cherche désormais à déplacer l’attention de l’objet vers ce que celui-ci révèle ou perturbe dans le lieu où il prend place. L’observation menée permet ainsi de mettre en lumière une différence qualitative dans la prise en compte du lieu au sein des Organisations d’espaces, par rapport aux œuvres précédentes de l’artiste. Enfin, l’action menée sur le lieu et son but sont interrogés. La volonté de Sanejouand de désaliéner l’individu permet de comprendre pourquoi celui-ci conçoit les Organisations d’espaces comme des expériences perceptives qui font des lieux et de leur stabilité des espaces, pour reprendre les distinctions posées par Michel de Certeau. Produced between 1967 and 1974, Jean-Michel Sanejouand’s Organisations d’espaces are an example of installation art before the term existed. Defining them in opposition to traditional artistic practices, especially sculpture, their author has the ambition to induce new relationships between the artistic intervention, the space that welcomes it and the people who experience it. Our analysis proposes to expose how these relationships are implemented by the artist and to point out their singularities. First of all, it is a question to return to the circumstances that lead Sanejouand to make the relationship with space the heart of his interventions and to turn his back on the production of autonomous works that can be displaced in favor of a site-specific practice. Then, the investigation focuses on the qualities of the materials present in the Organisations d’espaces and on the way in which the artist uses them. If some materials are previously present in his work, we show how the artist now seeks to shift the attention of the object towards what it reveals or disturbs in the place where it takes place. The observation carried out thus provides the possibility to highlight a qualitative difference in the way Organizations d’espaces take into account the places, compared to the previous works of the artist. Finally, the action carried out on the place and its purpose are questioned. Sanejouand’s desire to de-alienate the individual makes it possible to understand why he conceives Organisations d’espaces as perceptive experiences that turn places and their stability into spaces, to use the distinctions put forward by Michel de Certeau. (shrink)

Ce texte a pour objet de comparer différentes lectures phénoménologiques de la théorie cartésienne de la connaissance, en montrant comment celle-ci est mobilisée pour répondre à certaines inquiétudes contemporaines. En premier lieu, nous pouvons constater une tension intéressante entre le modèle d’un « monde crépusculaire » de la science cartésienne développé par Jean-Luc Marion et celui d’un « monde de lumière » décrit par Emmanuel Levinas dans De l’existence à l’existant. Alors que le premier traduit l’emprise métaphysique d’une volonté (...) de puissance égologique, le second rend possible dans une certaine mesure la liberté d’un arrachement à l’être. Toutefois, ces deux modèles se rejoignent sur un point fondamental, à savoir le caractère à la fois égologique et carcéral du monde de l’objectivité. En outre, ces deux interprétations ne permettent pas de rendre justice à l’idée cartésienne que Dieu nous a donné une « bonne nature », du point de vue de la lumière naturelle, mais aussi des passions. C’est pourquoi nous proposons dans ce travail une lecture phénoménologique de Descartes qui prenne davantage en considération cette idée de « bonne nature ». Cette lecture devra prendre en compte la sensibilité humaniste de Descartes tout en respectant les enjeux contemporains liés à la phénoménologie. Cet autre modèle propose de repenser la métaphysique de l’objectivité à partir de notions et de perspectives qui ne renvoient pas à la solitude de l’ego, mais plutôt au cadre humaniste de la civilité, tout en respectant la valeur humaine du savoir. (shrink)

Le newtonisme moral, à la mode au milieu du XVIIIe siècle, n’est pas seulement une métaphore: en vertu du principe de l’unité de la nature, il postule dans la société une loi semblable à la loi des distances en physique, voire une possibilité de mesure. La même règle d’analogie (A/B = CID) sous-tend le Contrat social de Jean-Jacques Rousseau : en prolongement des métaphores classiques de l’horloge, la définition du gouvernement reproduit l’agencement d’une montre, jusque dans les calculs de (...) proportion qui servent aux horlogers à former le rouage. De même, dans la Théorie des sentiments moraux, Adam Smith se sert de la vieille métaphore de I’ oeil de lesprit et des notions plus modernes de la perspective optique pour agencer en système lensemble des interactions possibles entre deux personnes – hormis l’intérêt – en faisant varier la distance imaginaire entre les protagonistes selon les passions exprimées et leur intensité. Il est important de restituer ces transferts et ces controverses pour comprendre les enjeux fondamentaux de la sociologie au XIXe siècle. (shrink)