Scientific knowledge is no longer transmitted solely through a one-way channel of communication from scientific communities to `lay' readers through the knowledge transmission `chain'. Communication between the two communities has now been extended into media and everyday social discourse where it crops up in news debates about issues such as public health and food safety. In this process, scientific academic discourse has lost much of its original form. This article examines part of the current research at the Centre de recherche (...) sur les discours ordinaires et spécialisés. It provides evidence of new discursive forms adopted by science in media and social discourse, such as the emergence of enunciative standpoints, the redefinition of the role of the journalist as mediator between science and the general public, the use of specific forms of intertextuality and the interweaving of scientific elements in general social discussions. This research on new data implies renewed definitions of certain concepts used in linguistic descriptions: discursive meaning and signification, interdiscursive memory bank, etc. These recent forms of discourse have brought about a change in the status of science so that science has now become an object of debate in the public arena — a sign of its crucial social role. (shrink)

RESUME Dans cet article, on aborde le champ de la vulgarisation scientifique en mettant l'accent sur les différentes sphères d'activité langagière qui s'y croisent. On rappelle d'abord le modèle classique et linéaire de la diffusion scientifique avant de montrer le déplacement qui s'est ensuite produit avec l'intervention des médias traditionnels, qui, notamment lors d'événements scientifiques, ont fait dialoguer différentes communautés langagières. On aborde enfin les changements apportés par les nouveaux outils technologiques dans des formes de participation et de prise de (...) parole qu'autorise l'internet.ABSTRACT This paper deals with the field of popular science with a focus on the different linguistic spheres that intersect it. It starts by reviewing the classical linear model of scientific dissemination. The authors then show the displacement that took place with the involvement of traditional media that established a dialogue between different language communities, in particular for scientific events. Finally, the changes to forms of participation and speech resulting from new technological tools and made possible by the Internet are presented.RESUMO O presente artigo aborda o campo da divulgação científica através das diferentes esferas de atividade linguageira que nele se cruzam. Evocaremos incialmente o modelo clássico e linear da divulgação científica, antes de apresentarmos o deslocamento produzido, em seguida, pela mídia tradicional, que possibilitou o diálogo entre diferentes comunidades linguageiras, especialmente em acontecimentos científicos. Mostraremos finalmente as modificações trazidas pelas novas ferramentas tecnológicas nas formas de participação e de tomada da palavra proporcionadas pela Internet. (shrink)

An accessible and thorough introduction to implicatures, a key topic in all frameworks of pragmatics. Starting with a definition of the various types of implicatures in Gricean, neo-Gricean and post-Gricean pragmatics, the book covers many important questions for current pragmatic theories, namely: the distinction between explicit and implicit forms of pragmatic enrichment, the criteria for drawing a line between semantic and pragmatic meaning, the relations between the structure of language and its use, the social and cognitive factors underlying the use (...) of implicatures by native speakers, and the factors influencing their acquisition for children and second language learners. Written in non-technical language, Implicatures will appeal to students and teachers in linguistics, applied linguistics, psychology and sociology, who are interested in how language is used for communication, and how children and learners develop pragmatic skills. (shrink)

Lorsque Laurent Schwartz entre à l’École normale supérieure en 1934, il n’existe à Paris que deux séminaires de mathématiques : le séminaire Hadamard, « tribune internationale », et le séminaire Julia, « cercle d’une équipe restreinte1 ». En 1968, une trentaine de séminaires de mathématiques s’y tiennent chaque semaine. Il est difficile de se saisir, historiquement, de l’objet « séminaire de mathématiques », d’autant plus qu’il est oral et ne laisse que peu de traces. On peut considérer Schwartz comme un (...) bon témoin – spectateur et acteur – de la période, afin d’interroger la place structurante que prend le séminaire dans la vie collective des mathématiques. Schwartz, en effet, voit l’évolution du développement du séminaire de mathématiques en France et contribue à la construction de sa place dans la vie mathématique. Il participe à de nombreux séminaires où il est tour à tour auditeur, orateur, organisateur ou créateur de séminaires. L’analyse de ces rôles à partir de sources en partie inédites nous permettra d’expliciter les formes d’échanges rendues possibles par le séminaire de mathématiques à partir du cas de Schwartz.1. Expressions empruntées à [Beaulieu 1989]. (shrink)

Lorsque Laurent Schwartz entre à l’École normale supérieure en 1934, il n’existe à Paris que deux séminaires de mathématiques : le séminaire Hadamard, « tribune internationale », et le séminaire Julia, « cercle d’une équipe restreinte1 ». En 1968, une trentaine de séminaires de mathématiques s’y tiennent chaque semaine. Il est difficile de se saisir, historiquement, de l’objet « séminaire de mathématiques », d’autant plus qu’il est oral et ne laisse que peu de traces. On peut considérer Schwartz comme un (...) bon témoin – spectateur et acteur – de la période, afin d’interroger la place structurante que prend le séminaire dans la vie collective des mathématiques. Schwartz, en effet, voit l’évolution du développement du séminaire de mathématiques en France et contribue à la construction de sa place dans la vie mathématique. Il participe à de nombreux séminaires où il est tour à tour auditeur, orateur, organisateur ou créateur de séminaires. L’analyse de ces rôles à partir de sources en partie inédites nous permettra d’expliciter les formes d’échanges rendues possibles par le séminaire de mathématiques à partir du cas de Schwartz.1. Expressions empruntées à [Beaulieu 1989]. (shrink)

ABSTRACT:This paper re-examines the import of Rawls’s theory of justice for private sector institutions in the face of the decline of the welfare state. The argument is based on a Rawlsian conception of justice as the establishment of a basic structure of society that guarantees a fair distribution of primary goods. We propose that the decline of the welfare state witnessed in Western countries over the past forty years prompts a reassessment of the boundaries of the basic structure in order (...) to include additional corporate institutions. A discussion centered on the primary good of self-respect, but extensible to power and prerogatives as well as income and wealth, examines how the legislator should intervene in private sector institutions to counterbalance any unfairness that results from the decline of the welfare state. (shrink)

Three experiments were conducted in order to validate 56 musical excerpts that conveyed four intended emotions (happiness, sadness, threat and peacefulness). In Experiment 1, the musical clips were rated in terms of how clearly the intended emotion was portrayed, and for valence and arousal. In Experiment 2, a gating paradigm was used to evaluate the course for emotion recognition. In Experiment 3, a dissimilarity judgement task and multidimensional scaling analysis were used to probe emotional content with no emotional labels. The (...) results showed that emotions are easily recognised and discriminated on the basis of valence and arousal and with relative immediacy. Happy and sad excerpts were identified after the presentation of fewer than three musical events. With no labelling, emotion discrimination remained highly accurate and could be mapped on energetic and tense dimensions. The present study provides suitable musical material for research on emotions.Keywords. (shrink)

Everett's main claim is that language is a “cultural tool“, created by hominids for communication and social cohesion. I examine the meaning of the expression “cultural tool“ in terms of the influence of language on culture (i.e. the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) or of the influence of culture on language (Everett's hypothesis). I show that these hypotheses are not well-supported by evidence and that language and languages, rather than being “cultural tools“ as wholes are rather collections of tools used in different language (...) games, some cultural or social, some cognitive. I conclude that the coincidence between language and culture is due to the fact that both originate from human nature. (shrink)

There is an extensive body of work that has previously examined the teaching of ethics in business schools whereby it is hoped that the values and behaviours of students might be provoked to show positive and enduring change. Rather than dealing with the content issues of particular business ethics courses per se, this article explores the philosophical foundations and the structural conditions for developing ethical training programs in business schools. It is informed by historical analysis, specifically, an examination of Platonic (...) and Aristotelian philosophies that inspires virtue ethics, and together provides four conditions for consideration: respect for law, dialectics, imitation and deliberation. We outline the necessary structural conditions for implementing these requirements as well as suggesting the necessary pedagogical protocol applicable to all courses. It is argued that reference to our two ancient Greek philosophers provide many valuable and insightful lessons for the implementation of ethical training today including choice of theoretical content and the approach towards learning. Further, the enactment of a pedagogical protocol requires a policy of recruiting and managing business school teachers-instructors that takes into account, and consciously encourages, intellectual, relational and spiritual pedagogical qualities. (shrink)

Committees multiply in firms, whether stakeholder boards or committees, multi-stakeholder initiatives, ethics committees, or oversight boards. These arrangements aim to organise and legitimise the social and political activities of corporations. This article raises the question of the appropriate form of such governance structures. The examples above illustrate three possible ways of legitimising corporate quasi-public social and political activities: deliberation within the company, deliberation outside, and an approach we label _corporate constitutionalism_. While the first two models have been tested in practice (...) and assessed in theory, the third one is comparatively more recent, both in practice and in theory. This article focuses on the latter model and asks whether corporate constitutionalism offers a suitable addition, or alternative, to deliberation (with or within firms) for legitimising corporate quasi-public social and political activities. It examines the respective merits of the three models and argues that a corporate constitutional court may mitigate some of the limits of deliberative practices alone. It argues the court is needed in weak regulatory environments, whether they are failing or inherently limited. (shrink)

ABSTRACT:Singer has recently argued that questions related to corporate governance are beyond the reach of Rawls’s political conception of justice. This is because justice applies to the basic structure of society, understood as society’s legally coercive structures, and because corporate governance cannot be considered part of this structure in political liberalism. This commentary challenges the second part of the argument. First, it suggests that the criterion used to exclude corporate governance from the basic structure—whether employees can exit economic organizations—is not (...) conclusive for corporate governance, notably as institutionalized in corporate law. Second, even if the focus were on corporate governance, it would still be possible to argue that it legally coerces citizens, if not employees, in a relevant way. Thus, the argument is not successful in demonstrating that political liberalism goes beyond its legitimate boundaries when considering that aspects of corporate governance may be matters of justice. (shrink)

An emotion-based lengthening effect on the perception of durations of emotional pictures has been assumed to result from an arousal-based mechanism, involving the activation of an internal clock system. The aim of this study was to systematically examine the arousal effect on time perception when different discrete emotions were considered. The participants were asked to verbally estimate the duration of emotional pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). The pictures varied either in arousal level, i.e., high/low-arousal, for the same (...) discrete emotion (disgust or sadness) or in the depicted emotion, e.g., disgust/fear for pictures matched for arousal (high-arousal). The results systematically revealed a lengthening effect on the perception of the duration of the emotional compared to the neutral pictures and indicated that the magnitude of this effect increased with arousal level. Nevertheless, variations in time perception were observed for one and the same arousal level, with the duration of disgust-inducing pictures (e.g., body mutilation) being judged longer than that of fear-inducing pictures (e.g., snake). These results suggest that arousal is a fundamental mechanism mediating the effect of emotion on time perception. However, the effect cannot be reduced to arousal, since the impact of the content of pictures also plays a critical role. (shrink)

Businesses have long been admonished for being unduly focused on the pursuit of profit. However, there are some organizations whose purpose is not exclusively economic to the extent that they seek to constitute common good. Building on Christian ethics as a starting point, our article shows how the pursuit of the common good of the firm can serve as a guide for humanistic management. It provides two principles that humanistic management can attempt to implement: first, that community good is a (...) condition for the realization of personal good, and second, that community good can only be promoted if it is oriented towards personal good. To better understand which community good can favor personal good and how it can be achieved, we examine two recent humanistic movements—Conscious Capitalism and Economy of Communion—that strive to participate in the common good. From the analysis of these two movements, we identify a shared managerial willingness to adopt the two principles. Moreover, we also reveal that Conscious Capitalism and Economy of Communion present different ways of linking community good and personal good, and therefore, different means exist for firms to participate in the common good. (shrink)

This article asks whether firms should exempt employees when they object to elements of their work that go against their conscience. Fairness requires that we follow the rules of an organization we have joined voluntarily only if these rules express mutual advantage. In corporations, I argue that subordination and exemption provides for mutual advantage better than subordination plus right of exit. This is because agents want to protect their conscientious convictions, even in hierarchical organizations geared towards efficient preference satisfaction. Thus (...) exemptions should be granted in unforeseeable circumstances, provided the costs are limited. (shrink)

Social relations are predominantly influenced by an exchange paradigm whereby the logic of reciprocity shapes behaviour. If the notion of exchange instrumentalism is common across different business disciplines, this does not deny attempts – such as through gift exchange theory – to present different conceptions of traditional exchange-based relations. Gift exchange theory appears promising as it seeks to establish more meaning and significance to the nature and context of exchange relations between human actors or parties. The underlying processes may be (...) different for gift exchange and more traditional economic-based exchanges, but the general outcome remains the same – the obligation of reciprocity between actors. In this article, we develop an alternative conception of social and business experience that transcends the dominant logic of exchange: the existential gift. Firmly embedded in the idea of giving for its own sake, the existential gift suggests that for some individuals the expectations of reciprocity are neither sought nor established. Generosity that is expressed in both tangible and intangible ways need not depend on the response of intended receivers or recipients to precipitate future acts of giving. Based on the logic of unconditionality, the existential gift provides human actors with greater freedom in their choices and relationships. It may well be that this freedom, in turn, creates a new ‘ethic of generosity’ whereby significant progress can be made towards developing more human models and practices in business. (shrink)

Telling the story of three overlooked revolutionary thinkers, Liberty in Their Names explores the lives and works of Olympe de Gouges, Sophie de Grouchy and Manon Roland. All three were thinking and writing about political philosophy, especially equality and social justice, before the French Revolution. As they became engaged in its efforts, their political writing became more urgent. At a time when women could neither vote nor speak at the Assembly, they became influential through their writings. Yet instead of Gouges, (...) Grouchy and Roland, we speak of Voltaire, Rousseau and Diderot. -/- Sandrine Bergès examines the lives and writings of these trailblazing women philosophers, and their impact on philosophical thought during the French Revolution. Featuring pictures, a timeline and a bibliography of their works, this book offers exciting new insights into the history of political philosophy and of the French Revolution. (shrink)

ABSTRACTDrawing upon the theoretical debate on the concept of common good involving, in particular, Sison and Fontrodona, I aim to show how the common good principle can serve as the basis for a new diversity perspective. Each of the three dominant diversity approaches—equality, diversity management, and inclusion—runs the ethical risk of focusing on community or individual levels, or on particular disciplines—economic, social, or moral. This article demonstrates that the common good principle could mitigate the ethical risks inherent to each of (...) these diversity approaches. There are three positive aspects to a comprehensive common good perspective: 1) it includes considering different community levels, which it connects by subsidiarity, 2) it embraces the moral, social, and economic fields, which it connects by teleological hierarchy, and 3) it avoids the risk of exclusion by generating a sense of solidarity. (shrink)

This article asks whether firms should contribute to the costs of procreation and parenthood. We explore two sets of arguments. First, we ask what the principle of fair play – central in parental justice debates – implies. We argue that if one defends a pro-sharing view, firms are required to shoulder part of the costs of procreation and parenthood. Second, we turn to the principle of fair equality of opportunity. We argue that compensating firms for costs they incur because their (...) employees decide to procreate or parent may undermine some of the incentives leading to (statistical) discrimination in the workplace. (shrink)

Peut-on et doit-on admettre des propriétés non physiques? Une ontologie minimale accepte seulement la réalité des propriétés physiques. Elle prend appui sur un critère d’existence restreint : le critère causal. A l’inverse, une ontologie d’accueil affirme la réalité d’au moins certaines propriétés non physiques, et conteste par là la validité du critère causal. Le but de cette investigation est de défendre une version modérée du réalisme par rapport aux propriétés non physiques et de proposer un nouveau critère d’existence : le (...) critère explicatif. (shrink)

Sandrine Sanos's biography of Simone de Beauvoir situates Beauvoir's life and works in historical context, charting how she was enmeshed in most 20h century events and developments from WW2, to Decolonization, the Cold War, Socialist Politics, Feminismâe"as well as topics and ideas of contemporary relevance. Building on recent scholarship, this biography focuses especially on the colonial, transnational, and postcolonial influences that shaped Beauvoir and emphasizes her paradoxical and complicated relationship to politics. Written in accessible and lively prose, the book (...) is divided in 7 chapters and includes lesser-known photos of Beauvoir, as well as primary sources of both historical and contemporary interest. (shrink)

How can you act ethically in a publication system that attempts to regulate research activity in a way that you might find, in many respects, to be unethical? In this article, we address this question by drawing on the Aristotelian perspective of practical wisdom. Drawing on thirty semi-structured interviews with academics working in French business schools, we outline different means through which they act ‘wisely’ by deliberating and focusing on what is within their power and in line with their best (...) judgment. In particular, we show how some of them succeed in performing virtuous actions both within the publication system and beyond. (shrink)

In the early modern period, ignorance was commonly perceived as a sin, a flaw, a defect, and even a threat to religion and the social order. Yet praises of ignorance were also expressed in the same context. Reclaiming the long-lasting legacy of medieval doctrines of ignorance and taking a comparative perspective, Sandrine Parageau tells the history of the apparently counter-intuitive moral, cognitive and epistemological virtues attributed to ignorance in the long seventeenth century (1580s-1700) in England and in France. With (...) close textual analysis of hitherto neglected sources and a reassessment of canonical philosophical works by Montaigne, Bacon, Descartes, Locke, and others, Parageau specifically examines the role of ignorance in the production of knowledge, identifying three common virtues of ignorance as a mode of wisdom, a principle of knowledge, and an epistemological instrument, in philosophical and theological works. How could an essentially negative notion be turned into something profitable and even desirable? Taken in the context of Renaissance humanism, the Reformation and the "Scientific Revolution" - which all called for a redefinition and reaffirmation of knowledge - ignorance, Parageau finds, was not dismissed in the early modern quest for renewed ways of thinking and knowing. On the contrary, it was assimilated into the philosophical and scientific discourses of the time. The rehabilitation of ignorance emerged as a paradoxical cornerstone of the nascent modern science. (shrink)

La référence au cartésianisme est constante dans les travaux contemporains de philosophie de l’esprit et de sciences cognitives. Sa fonction n’est pas de fournir une exégèse historique de Descartes ; elle est plutôt de dégager certains aspects de la conception cartésienne de l’esprit, ceux qui informeraient encore la recherche philosophique et scientifique actuelle, et qu’il resterait à dépasser. Ainsi l’adjectif cartésien n’est-il pas seulement utilisé pour faire directement référence à Descartes, mais aussi pour désigner les théories et les approches modernes (...) de l’esprit qui, tout en rompant avec le cartésianisme sur plusieurs points, auraient néanmoins hérité d’importantes erreurs cartésiennes. On remarquera en outre que dans cette logique, l’adjectif cartésien revêt un sens essentiellement critique. Et pour la plupart des théoriciens contemporains en effet, le cartésianisme est bien l’ennemi à combattre. La présente contribution se propose de dresser un portrait de cet ennemi, à partir de quelques-uns des usages qui sont faits de la notion de cartésianisme en philosophie de l’esprit et en sciences cognitives. Cette analyse, qui ne prétend pas à l’exhaustivité, nous permettra de faire apparaître les raisons et les enjeux de la référence à la figure cartésienne dans les réflexions des deux champs mentionnés. (shrink)

Dans un ouvrage issu d’une thèse de doctorat soutenue en 2014 à Louvain, M. Degand s’intéresse, à travers l’œuvre de Sénèque, à une question éthique qui est devenue un objet privilégié des études contemporaines en sociologie et en anthropologie : le don ou les pratiques oblatives. L’auteur insiste à juste titre sur les limites d’une équivalence entre beneficium et don et, par conséquent, sur la spécificité et l’historicité des catégories antiques (p. 30-32), autant que sur l’usage heuristique...

Les assemblages de céramiques hellénistiques à Délos et à Thasos sont caractéristiques : la répartition des importations de céramique fine est déterminée, soit par la proximité des centres de production, en l'occurrence l'Asie Mineure, soit par l'établissement de liaisons commerciales à longue distance, par exemple avec la péninsule italique. Au IIe siècle avant J.-C., l'apport et l'influence micrasiatiques prévalent pour les deux îles : pour Délos, la région ionienne est le fournisseur prépondérant, et à Thasos, les produits pergaméniens sont prédominants. (...) Quand aux centres exportateurs plus éloignés, comme Antioche (sigillées orientales A), Thasos était en mesure de suppléer la défaillance des importations par des imitations locales. Enfin, lorsqu'il s'agit de commerce à longue distance et très organisé, l'éloignement n'a que peu d'incidence sur l'approvisionnement comme le montrent les importations italiques, aussi bien à Délos qu'à Thasos. (shrink)

Cet article montre que les discours qui rendent compte de l’usage sexuel des psychoactifs révèlent tout autant les règles sociales dominantes qui assignent à chaque sexe un code de conduite spécifique dans l’acte sexuel que l’idéologie normative en vigueur dans un sous-groupe particulier. L’analyse, centrée sur l’usage de psychoactifs associé à la pénétration anale entre hommes, s’appuie sur cinquante entretiens ouverts et semi-directifs avec des usagers de psychoactifs s’identifiant comme gay et des informateurs clés, dans le cadre de l’enquête ethnographique (...) Homosexualité masculine et usage de substances psychoactives en contextes festifs gais (OFDT). On voit dans ce contexte, comment la consommation de psychoactifs, par ses effets attendus sur les inhibitions sexuelles, “autorise” l’actualisation de fantasmes ou de pratiques contrevenant aux prescriptions sociales en matière de genre ou de sexualité, et permet de répondre à l’injonction de performance valorisée dans ce sous-groupe. (shrink)

Early mathematical abilities matter for later formal arithmetical performances, school and professional success. Accordingly, it seems central to accurately assess numerical school readiness at school entrance. This is a prerequisite for identifying school-starters who are at risk to encounter difficulties in mathematics and stimulate their acquisition of mathematical fundamentals as soon as possible. In the present study, we present a new test which allows professionals working with children (e.g., teachers, school psychologists, speech therapists, school doctors) to assess children’s numerical school (...) readiness when they enter formal schooling in a simple, rapid and efficient manner. 346 children were assessed at the entrance of 1st grade (6-to-7-year-olds) with the novel numerical school readiness test (T1). In addition, children’s numerical skill levels were evaluated with classical arithmetical tests at T1 and a year later in 2nd grade (T2, 7-to-8-year-olds). Performance in these classical tests in 1st and 2nd grade systematically related to their early mathematical abilities assessed with the numerical school readiness test. By using the present test to evaluate numerical school readiness it is possible to identify pupils at risk for developing poor mathematical skills right from the start of formal schooling. Such a tool is needed, as a child’s scholastic level in mathematic at school entrance (or school readiness) is known to be critical for his or her future school and professional carrier (Currie & Thomas, 1999; Duncan et al., 2007; Pagani, Fitzpatrick, Archambault, & Janosz, 2010; Rivera-Batiz, 1992; Romano, Babchishin, Pagani, & Kohen, 2010). (shrink)

Anne-Emmanuelle Demartini est professeure d’histoire contemporaine à l’université Paris 3 et avait consacré sa thèse au criminel Lacenaire ; elle y décortiquait la construction d’un monstre polymorphe et surtout l’utilisait pour interroger l’imaginaire social de la monarchie de Juillet. Avec ce nouvel ouvrage, centré sur la parricide Violette Nozière, elle réussit de nouveau à déployer tout l’imaginaire social des années 1930 et propose in fine « une manière de faire de l’histoire avec une af...

Solidarity is a principle oriented toward the common good that ensures that each person can have the necessary goods and services for a dignified life. As such, it is very often approached in a theoretical manner. In this empirical study, we explored the development of a culture of solidarity within an organizational context. In particular, we qualitatively investigated how a culture of solidarity can concretely spread within and beyond organizations by conducting 68 semi-structured interviews with members of three common good-oriented (...) organizations located in the Philippines, Korea, and Paraguay. We found that a culture of solidarity develops through a three-step process that includes constructing the solidarity mission, sharing solidarity, and disseminating solidarity, which together form a virtuous circle. We further found that solidarity is not supported by constrained, instrumentalized, or sacrificial actions, but can instead be a free, authentic, and fulfilling way for members of an organization to flourish while serving the mission of their company. (shrink)

Deliberation has faced criticism with regard to its application to business, on the basis that it can be misused to disseminate an ideology, divert attention from genuine debates, or strengthen the power of certain people. We suggest that Aristotle’s notion of deliberation can mitigate these ethical risks and help companies strengthen their deliberative practices. A comprehensive perspective based on Aristotelian deliberation reveals the relevance of (a) individual and collective deliberation, promoting a virtuous and meaningful reflection, free from ideological conditioning; (b) (...) deliberation on ends and means that facilitates a transcendental and rooted reflection, thereby avoiding artificial debates; and (c) deliberation that is decisive and cooperative and thus prevents instrumentalization of deliberation by the strongest. We contribute to the discussion of the relationship between business and society by identifying the different steps in the deliberative process and promoting a dynamic perspective on deliberation. (shrink)