In this paper, we challenge the vision of creating a giant knowledge graph of reusable research data from multiple projects and platforms, based on Semantic Web technologies and a shared conceptualisation in the form of a commonly used ontology ecosystem, promoted by the Semantic Data for Humanities and Social Sciences project (SDHSS). Three main issues are raised: the difficulty of proposing a cross-disciplinary ontology for humanities and social sciences given the different research agendas and constructivist approaches; the difficulty of interlinking (...) the objects present in the different information systems, due to different notions of identity; the challenge of dealing with uncertainty, inconsistencies and contradictions in information sources, when the aim is to produce ‘factual’ information. First, I propose an epistemological analysis of information, as distinct from data and knowledge, then I develop a conceptualisation of information in humanities and social sciences, based on the OntoClean methodology, and the foundational ontologies DOLCE and Descriptions and Situations, and show how it can ground a cross-disciplinary ontology ecosystem based on the CIDOC CRM and its SDHSS integration. Finally, I apply these principles to a detailed analysis of the information production process and show how the proposed conceptualisation provides possible solutions to the three challenges raised. (shrink)

Can transcendental empiricism be the mainstay to devise a poetics of the modern novel? Deleuze synthesizes it into a formula borrowed from Butor: “telling multiple stories simultaneously”. This process, closely related to experimentation in the plastic arts, is based on a new transcendental imagination, which finds what concerns it specifically in the notion of disparation, drawn from Simondon. Cosmos is its emblematic novel. The construction of the Platonic simulacrum already embedded such disparity. But instead of showing several perspectives, the literary (...) simulacrum narrates them, in the form of series, following the structuralist model. They coexist without any of them being privileged, but are nonetheless perspectives on absolutely divergent worlds. In contrast to Finnegans Wake, a simulacrum that complicates all the stories of the world, Borges' Fictions rely on chance so that one and the same story can tell an infinity of outcomes. (shrink)

The Latin etymological wordplay, although the object of more and more studies, has received few definitional attempts that take into account both the singularity of the ancient etymology and the playful modalities implemented by the poets. Whereas sound echoes and paronyms are the basis of certain ancient etymological connections, it is important to have a poetic approach to the process based on the allusive capacity of the origin of words, and to insist on the playful part of the process.In what (...) way is the origin of words one of the means available to Latin poets to play with the literary, philological and antiquarian knowledge of their readers? How can it enter into a process of connivance with the reader? What are the characteristic features of etymological ludism in its poetic singularities? Of Latin etymological ludism in particular, in its relationships with Greek? (shrink)

In a letter to theologian Thomas Burnet in the early 1680s, Newton suggests a chymical interpretation of the Mosaic account of Creation. He postulates that the System of the World, the Sun, the Earth and its landforms were formed through a succession of separations and coagulations from a “common Chaos”. The seas and the mountains resulted from the irregular coagulation of the parcel of Chaos assigned to our planet, in the same way as a saltpeter solution coagulates. All the transformations (...) of the primeval Chaos are performed by a formative force that played on a large scale the role alchemical theories attributed to ferments. That force is gravitation, which Newton associates in this text with the spirit of God. In this respect, the philosopher’s reconstruction has much in common with the chrysopoetic treatises that develop the analogy between the alchemical Magisterium and Genesis. Newton himself had drafted commentaries around these readings, in a period close to the time of his letter to Burnet. (shrink)

The pervasive impact of computers, the Web, and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies on almost every aspect of modern life has become an undeniable reality. We are currently navigating an era often referred to as Web 3.0. While interpretations of this term vary – encompassing concepts such as the Web of Data, the Semantic Web, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, AI, cryptocurrencies, and blockchains – it broadly refers to the widespread integration of digital and computational techn...

“This species of device is so radically new that many of its uses will become clear only after it’s been put into operation.” It’s what he said to me. ‘Cause he understood. He knew the real challenge was not building the thing but asking it the right questions in a language intelligible to the machine. And he was the only one who spoke that language.”(Benjamín Labatut, The MANIAC)“Let the whole outside world consist of a long paper tape.”(John von Neumann, 1948) (...) Introduction The Old Dream of... (shrink)

Le but de cet article est d’offrir une appréciation de l’« anamnèse », la méthode d’historiographie philosophique pratiquée par Fruteau de Laclos. Cette méthode met en cause la hiérarchisation des doctrines philosophiques courante dans la pratique et l’enseignement de l’histoire de la philosophie. Pour mesurer la nouveauté et l’ampleur de la révision historiographique proposée par Fruteau de Laclos, l’anamnèse sera contrastée avec la « dianoématique », la philosophie de l’histoire de la philosophie de Martial Gueroult qui repose aussi, à sa (...) manière, sur une problématisation de la hiérarchie des systèmes philosophiques. Une réflexion d’inspiration aristotélicienne sur le telos de la pratique philosophique nous permettra de trancher en faveur de l’anamnèse comme une méthode capable de saisir le devenir philosophique à la fois dans son épaisseur historique et dans son ouverture vers l’avenir. (shrink)

To want to describe the world objectively, instead of commenting on texts, sociologists have come to underestimate the contribution of writing and the inevitable presence of a point of view. What are the perceptible traces from the sociologist’s point of view when he describes the indigenous point of view? This article examines ways of writing specific to the interview report. The study of an exemplary case highlights processes that are both trademarks from an author’s point of view and common solutions (...) to difficulties in the treatment of interviews. The sociologist’s point of view has an effect on the reader without needing to be explained. Reporting is a simplified representation, as is modelling from a research perspective. But we tend to forget that data and conclusions are related to this perspective. (shrink)

To show the importance of preparing historical editions as textual data first, while leaving presentation (whether in print or on the web) as a secondary down-stream task, this article identifies beneficial outcomes for research that can be achieved through computational analysis when such a corpus of textual data is at hand. With a focus on the deep intertextuality characteristic of the medieval scholastic corpus, it reviews three distinct methods for detecting different forms of textual relatedness within the corpus: n-gram intersections, (...) document embeddings, and convolution. In each case, special attention is given to how the availability of a domain specific knowledge graph helps us both properly prepare the corpus for analysis and visualize the results in ways that enhance research. Such results include observing trends in citation practices across different genres and sub-genres of the corpus, automatically grouping questions by similarity, and detecting sustained and uncited textual re-use. (shrink)