In “Ruyer, Leibniz and the Unity of Bodies”, Bertrand Vaillant addresses the problem of the unity of bodies as inherited from Leibniz by French philosopher Raymond Ruyer (1902-1987). He examines Ruyer’s metaphysical solution, a “corrected monadology”, in the light of this Leibnizian influence. He intends to show that this solution, designed to avoid the difficulties raised by Leibniz’ metaphysics, doesn’t quite succeeds in that respect.

La biologie occupe une place centrale dans la philosophie de Raymond Ruyer. Nous nous intéressons dans cet article à certains faits biologiques, considérés par Ruyer comme ayant une portée métaphysique essentielle. Nous nous demanderons si les récentes évolutions de la biologie du développement ont pu invalider ses thèses concernant la morphogenèse, c’est-à-dire l’apparition d’une nouvelle forme dans le développement embryonnaire, et particulièrement son rejet des explications mécanistes. Nous étudierons trois ensembles de faits sur lesquels Ruyer appuie sa philosophie du développement (...) : le rejet du mécanisme et l’importance des facteurs non-génétiques dans l’embryogenèse, la coordination spatiale du développement et notamment de la différenciation cellulaire, et la nécessité de faire appel à une forme de causalité descendante allant de l’organisme au génome. À travers cette étude, si nous ne pouvons prétendre statuer définitivement sur la solution ruyérienne, nous avons toutefois cherché à mettre en évidence la persistance d’importants débats philosophiques autour du problème de la morphogenèse et la fécondité d’une étude de la philosophie de Ruyer pour les aborder. (shrink)

La biologie occupe une place centrale dans la philosophie de Raymond Ruyer. Nous nous intéressons dans cet article à certains faits biologiques, considérés par Ruyer comme ayant une portée métaphysique essentielle. Nous nous demanderons si les récentes évolutions de la biologie du développement ont pu invalider ses thèses concernant la morphogenèse, c’est-à-dire l’apparition d’une nouvelle forme dans le développement embryonnaire, et particulièrement son rejet des explications mécanistes. Nous étudierons trois ensembles de faits sur lesquels Ruyer appuie sa philosophie du développement (...) : le rejet du mécanisme et l’importance des facteurs non-génétiques dans l’embryogenèse, la coordination spatiale du développement et notamment de la différenciation cellulaire, et la nécessité de faire appel à une forme de causalité descendante allant de l’organisme au génome. À travers cette étude, si nous ne pouvons prétendre statuer définitivement sur la solution ruyérienne, nous avons toutefois cherché à mettre en évidence la persistance d’importants débats philosophiques autour du problème de la morphogenèse et la fécondité d’une étude de la philosophie de Ruyer pour les aborder. (shrink)

This paper explores the conditions favouring or inhibiting the implementation of strategic corporate social responsibility policies in the context of global value chains. Using transaction cost theory, we specify the economic and behavioural issues raised by strategic CSR policies. We show that the existence of market rewards for such policies does not constitute a solution per se, but tends to increase the difficulties that value chain members face. Bringing TCT into the analysis of the diffusion of strategic CSR policies in (...) GVCs helps us to make different contributions. We first theoretically identify some limiting conditions of strategic CSR policies in GVCs. We also contribute to developing a more robust theoretical perspective for CSR in GVC research, which remains underdeveloped and mostly driven by empirical case studies. Finally, we shed light on new research questions and topics that could guide major theoretical and empirical investigations in the capacity of GVCs members to bypass the numerous difficulties involved in the implementation of strategic CSR policies. (shrink)

The article on my theory of descriptions by Mr. Lejewski raises two points. One is as to the copula. I do not quite understand why it is thought that an ambiguity in the meaning of the word “is” is relevant in regard to my theory of descriptions. There are many problems in regard to which it is relevant. I have mentioned one of these in criticizing Hegel in Our Knowledge of the External World on p. 39 n of the original (...) edition . But, although I have read Mr. Lejewski's argument several times, it still seems to me quite clear that in “Scott is the author of Waverley” the “is” is that of identity. Nor have I been able to understand why he considers his theory of descriptions preferable to mine. I am, however, quite willing to believe that there is some point that I have missed in his discussion. (shrink)

Volume 1. "Depuis la naissance de la philosophie moderne, la rationalité est le thème central dans l'élaboration et le déploiement de la connaissance. Mais cela induit une liquidation des autres modes de représentation, extra-scientifiques et extra-techniques, pour se fondre dans les modèles standardisés et définis de la culture contemporaine. L'émergence des Lumières est l'un des symboles forts de cette uniformisation du savoir, comme tend à le démontrer ce premier tome en s'appuyant sur la pensée hebgaenne."--Page 4 of cover.

Recent computational models of perception conceptualize auditory oddball responses as signatures of a learning process, in line with the influential view of the mismatch negativity as a prediction error signal. Novel MMN experimental paradigms have put an emphasis on neurophysiological effects of manipulating regularity and predictability in sound sequences. This raises the question of the contextual adaptation of the learning process itself, which on the computational side speaks to the mechanisms of gain-modulated prediction error. In this study using electrocorticographic signals, (...) we manipulated the predictability of oddball sound sequences with two objectives: Uncovering the computational process underlying trial-by-trial variations of the cortical responses. The fluctuations between trials, generally ignored by approaches based on averaged evoked responses, should reflect the learning involved. We used a general linear model and Bayesian Model Reduction to assess the respective contributions of experimental manipulations and learning mechanisms under probabilistic assumptions. To validate and expand on previous findings regarding the effect of changes in predictability using simultaneous EEG-MEG recordings. Our trial-by-trial analysis revealed only a few stimulus-responsive sensors but the measured effects appear to be consistent over subjects in both time and space. In time, they occur at the typical latency of the MMN. In space, we found a dissociation between time-independent effects in more anterior temporal locations and time-dependent effects in more posterior locations. However, we could not observe any clear and reliable effect of our manipulation of predictability modulation onto the above learning process. Overall, these findings clearly demonstrate the potential of trial-to-trial modeling to unravel perceptual learning processes and their neurophysiological counterparts. (shrink)

a philosophy of life based on spirituality and goodness.

This paper concerns the relations between the relative Manin–Mumford conjecture and Pink’s conjecture on unlikely intersections in mixed Shimura varieties. The variety under study is the 4-dimensional Poincaré biextension attached to a universal elliptic curve. A detailed list of its special subvarieties is drawn up, providing partial verifications of Pink’s conjecture in this case, and two open problems are stated in order to complete its proof.

Bertrand Russell was born in 1872 and died in 1970. One of the most influential figures of the twentieth century, he transformed philosophy and can lay claim to being one of the greatest philosophers of all time. He was a Nobel Prize winner for Literature and was imprisoned several times as a result of his pacifism. His views on religion, education, sex, politics and many other topics, made him one of the most read and revered writers of the age. (...) This, his autobiography, is one of the most compelling and vivid ever written. This one-volume, compact paperback edition contains an introduction by the politician and scholar, Michael Foot, which explores the status of this classic nearly 30 years after the publication of the final volume. (shrink)