Dans son célèbre article de 1950 «Computing Machinery and Intelligence», Alan Turing suggère qu'un critère d'intelligence pour une machine serait qu'elle puisse se faire passer pour un interlocuteur humain. Ce test, appelé «Test de Turing», a été critiqué par John Searle, qui a remis en cause sa pertinence en s'appuyant sur une expérience mentale connue sous le nom de l'argument de la chambre chinoise. L'expérience tend à montrer que l'intelligence artificielle au sens propre du terme est impossible, parce que les (...) symboles manipulés par les programmes de prétendue «intelligence artificielle» sont dépourvus de signification. L'intentionalité propre à certains êtres vivants peut seule faire naître le sens. L'imitation d'un comportement intentionnel ne le peut pas. Le test de Turing serait done insatisfaisant, parce qu'il ne permettrait pas de distinguer les systèmes intentionnels de systèmes qui ne le sont pas, et que par conséquent il ne permettrait pas de distinguer l'intelligence authentique de la simulation de l'intelligence. (shrink)

Textes d'anciens élèves et amis de Jean Brun analysant son projet philosophique et sa pensée. Comporte également plusieurs de ses articles qui témoignent de sa quête de la vérité et du chemin, termes bibliques souvent utilisés par lui.

This contribution presents the fundamentals of an amazement laboratory as a methodological means of transforming an object of disappointment into an object of desire for the researcher. First, the authors report on a Spinozist reading of their affects caused by their confrontation with a foreign material to the field of psychology, a docu-soap opera about school dropout entitled « Les persévérants » (Ferron & Baer, 2014). They consider astonishment as an affect to renew the interest of the researcher for his (...) research subject. Then they examine its conditions of emergence. Finally, the conditions for setting up an amazement laboratory are illustrated by examples drawn from the literature and the authors practices. (shrink)

Résumé À partir d’une réflexion initiée par une petite forme donnée au théâtre de la Cité internationale en juin 2009 (Au bois dormant), l’étude vise à établir que l’instauration d’une mise en commun et d’un temps commun lors de la représentation n’implique pas l’existence d’une véritable « communauté ». Prolongeant le souci de l’« adresse » et du public sur lesquels s’interrogent les milieux de théâtre, elle se demande ce qu’est un « public » et ce qu’il en est de (...) la communauté créée par le fait d’être réuni. Cette question invite à repenser l’articulation du public et du privé, de l’intime et du social. Or dans le monde moderne, le privé ou l’intime s’oppose au social et non au politique dont il partage l’éviction ou l’oubli. Le dispositif théâtral propose paradoxalement de mobiliser la sphère de l’intime, mais en présence d’autrui, sans toutefois vouloir mettre en place une « communauté théâtrale ». C’est en ce sens qu’indirectement sa leçon revêt une dimension philosophique, éthique et politique. (shrink)

En 1961, un article de Souriau relevant une difficulté signalée en 1953 par Dufrenne porte sur la juste part à accorder à la contemplation dans la relation à l’art. La zone d’ombre concernant la relation humaine et intellectuelle entre les deux hommes fera l’objet d’un premier examen. L’hypothèse souralienne d’une transmutation de conceptions théologiques dans le domaine de l’art sera ensuite examinée par rapport à Dufrenne sans évacuer la question de sa pertinence par rapport aux études phénoménologiques ultérieures. La question (...) de la relation à l’art, telle que Souriau l’envisage ressurgira dans sa pleine actualité jusque dans le face à face avec les œuvres. (shrink)

Les ordinateurs, peuvent-ils être un instrument pour faire de la philosophie? La réponse proposée par cet article développe dix moments dont les thèmes sont.

L'informatique se définissant comme le traitement rationnel de l'information par machine automatique et l'intelligence se caractérisant par une même capacité de traitement rationnel, il était inévitable que l'on songe à associer l'intelligence au traitement automatique de l'information. C'est ce qu'a fait John McCarthy en forgeant le terme d'intelligence artificielle. Par «intelligence artificielle» on peut vouloir exprimer l'ambition de1. Recréer, transformer ou développer l'intelligence artificiellement2. Simuler l'intelligence en la reconstituant dans des modéles imitant certains aspects de notre intelligence dite naturelle.

This article provides a critical view of the didactic transposition of the dominant approach to psychology, which is now extended to the psychology of education. First, we present the scientific principles used in psychology training. These principles concern the notion of participant, privileged research objects and the activity of the researcher. Following Habermas (1987), we demonstrate that this psychology participates in a “colonization of the lifeworld” and in its historico-cultural narrowing. Finally, we propose an epistemological and methodological alternative allowing a (...) re-reading of these three principles in a historico-cultural perspective. (shrink)

La logique intervient doublement dans les discussions sur l'identité personnelle. D'une part, certaines théories de l’identité personnelle ont été critiquées pour ne pas respecter les propriétés logiques de l’identité, d'autre part, l’identité personnelle a été présentée comme un contreexemple à Ia logique de l’identité, justifiant une révision radicale de celle-ci.Ainsi, Ia logique de l’identité est le garde fou des théories de l’identité personnelle et l’identité personnelle est Ia pierre d'achoppement de Ia théorie logique de l’identité.L’identité logique est caractérisée par le (...) fait d'être une relation d'équivalence, et par le principe de substitutivité. Or certaines situations comme par exemple les cas de dedoublement de personnalité, semblent déroger à ce principe. Si l'on peut dire que a et b sont le même homme mais pas Ia même personne, alors le principe, selon lequel si deux individus sont identiques ce qui est prédicable de l'un est prédicable de l'autre, ne s'applique plus. (shrink)

La relation d'identité est-elle univoque, ou est-elle au contraire relative au concept sous lequel le jugement est énoncé? Depuis quelques années, parmi les philosophes anglo-américains, partisans et adversaires de la thèse que l'on a appelée « la relativité de l'identité », se sont affrontés sur ce point.

De la scolastique médiévale au XIXe siècle, la tradition philosophique a cherché à saisir l'unité des directions en lesquelles elle se déploie à travers des métaphores, celle de l'arbre par exemple, ou en élaborant des systèmes dont le XXe siècle semble bien avoir fait le deuil. Comment donc penser l'hétérogénéité de ces directions, qui font l'ampleur d'une pensée, si ce n'est en les reconduisant à des modalités de l'existence qui en constituent le sol? Cet ouvrage s'est ainsi proposé de recueillir (...) le déploiement de la philosophie lorsqu'elle pense le mythique, l'esthétique et le logique, en partant de cette réflexion sur l'existence. Publié en l'honneur de Maryvonne Perrot, il se clôt par un triple hommage à sa personne, le premier d'entre eux témoignant du rayonnement international qu'elle a contribué à donner au Centre Gaston Bachelard, et ainsi à l'Université de Bourgogne. (shrink)

In many settings, and perhaps especially in low-middle income countries, training institutions do not adequately prepare their students for the ethical challenges that confront them in professional life. We conducted a survey to assess the training needs in research ethics among the faculty at the University of Zambia, School of Medicine using a structured questionnaire distributed to faculty members in January 2015. The study was approved by the University of Zambia Biomedical Research Ethics Committee. Seventy-five faculty members of various ranks (...) completed the questionnaire. It was found that 31% of the faculty had not received any research ethics training. Of those who had received training, most of them had received it through short workshops of five days or less, while only 27.7% received ethics training as a component of an academic degree and 22.2% obtained it through electronic web-based courses. While most faculty reported being well-prepared to guide their students in developing a research methods section of a research protocol, only 25.3% felt they were well-prepared to guide on ethical considerations. This study has demonstrated gaps in research ethics training among faculty members at UNZASoM. Mandatory instruction in research ethics among faculty and students is recommended. (shrink)

The interviewer's desire for rapport with the respondent is both the greatest weakness and the greatest strength of semi-structured interviewing. As has been discussed at some length, structured interviews present difficulties with aged or mentally ill respondents who are unwilling or unable to play the game involved therein. Structured interviews also are impregnated with subjectivity in the form of working assumptions made by the researcher. For these reasons, they are likely to yield little understanding of the experiential world of the (...) elderly. It has been suggested here that the major strength of the semi-structured interview is its flexibility, allowing the researcher to grasp more of the substance of the old person's world than is permitted in a more rigid methodological technique. This is not to say that the entire substance of the older person's world can ever be touched; one's understanding of anyone else will be imperfect. As Laing observed about the schizophrenic: What is required of us? Understand him? The kernel of a schizophrenic's experience of himself must remain incomprehensible to us.... But comprehension as an effort to reach and grasp him by our own categories whereby he inevitably falls short is not what the schizophrenic wants or requires. We have to recognize all the time his distinctiveness and differentness, his separateness and loneliness and despair.16 Semi-structured interviews such as those just described attempt to take into consideration both the nature of the experience of the interviewer and the respondent and their distinctiveness. Through this method, one can hope not only to describe particular experiences and perceptions of the respondent but also to "set them within the gestalt." With such information, perhaps one can not only move closer to a phenomenology of the interview but also possess more reliable tools in social science that will be of use with a variety of populations. Hopefully, one may also glean knowledge about the aging process, in both its normal and pathological aspects, that will provide a more complete understanding about this last stage of the life cycle and its relationship to all of life. (shrink)

Research ethics remains a cornerstone of the scientific enterprise as it defines the boundaries of responsible conduct of research. Our aim was to systematically identify, review and test online training courses in research ethics which could be considered most appropriate for future training at the University of Botswana. We used an evaluative tool that included both descriptive and evaluative criteria for assessing the strengths, weaknesses and appropriateness of 10 online research ethics courses which are publicly accessible. We then assembled Focus (...) Group Discussions to engage the UB community to select the best 2–3 online courses that are considered most suited for use in future training of research ethics at UB. Twenty respondents participated in three FGDs. Our findings show that there is limited research ethics training capacity in low resourced academic institutions like UB. Online training opportunities could be used to address this challenge. Our analysis reveal that out of the 10 online courses reviewed, CITI program, Family Health International, and Training and Resource in Research Ethics Evaluation have characteristics that would make them suitable for utilization in Botswana. We believe the findings from this case study will be of value to other similarly situated research institutions. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Post-abortion care (PAC) research is increasingly being conducted in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to help reduce the high burden of unsafe abortion. This study aims to help address the evidence gap about ethical challenges that researchers in LMICs face when carrying out PAC research with adolescents. Employing an explorative qualitative approach, the study identified several ethics challenges encountered by PAC researchers in Zambia, including those associated with seeking ethics and regulatory approvals at institutional and national levels. Persistent stigma (...) around abortion and community perceptions that PAC studies encourage adolescents to seek abortion affected adolescents’ right to exercise their autonomy and to make decisions as well as exposed adolescents to social stigmatization risks. Challenges with recruitment was reported to result in abandoning of studies, thereby undermining development of PAC services that are more responsive to adolescent needs. Training needs identified included knowledge of best practices for conducting and disseminating PAC research. Strategies for addressing the ethical challenges included trust building and using less value-laden terminology when seeking permission and consent. It is essential to the future of PAC research in Zambia and globally that these important challenges be addressed through the development of comprehensive ethics guidance. (shrink)

Post-abortion care research is increasingly being conducted in low- and middle-income countries to help reduce the high burden of unsafe abortion. This study aims to help address the evidence gap about ethical challenges that researchers in LMICs face when carrying out PAC research with adolescents. Employing an explorative qualitative approach, the study identified several ethics challenges encountered by PAC researchers in Zambia, including those associated with seeking ethics and regulatory approvals at institutional and national levels. Persistent stigma around abortion and (...) community perceptions that PAC studies encourage adolescents to seek abortion affected adolescents’ right to exercise their autonomy and to make decisions as well as exposed adolescents to social stigmatization risks. Challenges with recruitment was reported to result in abandoning of studies, thereby undermining development of PAC services that are more responsive to adolescent needs. Training needs identified included knowledge of best practices for conducting and disseminating PAC research. Strategies for addressing the ethical challenges included trust building and using less value-laden terminology when seeking permission and consent. It is essential to the future of PAC research in Zambia and globally that these important challenges be addressed through the development of comprehensive ethics guidance. (shrink)

Aim: Streamlining consent for low-risk comparative effectiveness research (CER) could facilitate research, while safeguarding patients' rights. Materials & methods: 2618 adults were randomized to one of seven consent approaches (six streamlined and one traditional) for a hypothetical, low-risk CER study. A survey measured understanding, voluntariness, and feelings of respect. Results: Participants in all arms had a high understanding of the trial and positive attitudes toward the consent interaction. Highest satisfaction was with a streamlined approach showing a video before the medical (...) appointment. Participants in streamlined were more likely to mistakenly think a signature was required. Conclusion: Streamlined consent was no less acceptable than traditional, signed consent. Streamlined and traditional approaches achieved similar levels of understanding, voluntariness and a feeling that the doctor–patient interaction was respectful. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Research ethics remains a cornerstone of the scientific enterprise as it defines the boundaries of responsible conduct of research. Our aim was to systematically identify, review and test online training courses in research ethics which could be considered most appropriate for future training at the University of Botswana (UB). We used an evaluative tool that included both descriptive and evaluative criteria for assessing the strengths, weaknesses and appropriateness of 10 online research ethics courses which are publicly accessible. We then (...) assembled Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) to engage the UB community to select the best 2–3 online courses that are considered most suited for use in future training of research ethics at UB. Twenty respondents participated in three FGDs. Our findings show that there is limited research ethics training capacity in low resourced academic institutions like UB. Online training opportunities could be used to address this challenge. Our analysis reveal that out of the 10 online courses reviewed, CITI program, Family Health International, and Training and Resource in Research Ethics Evaluation have characteristics that would make them suitable for utilization in Botswana. We believe the findings from this case study will be of value to other similarly situated research institutions. (shrink)