Le livre de Jean-Claude Terrier aborde l'histoire de la philosophie moderne, de Kant à Heidegger, sous l'angle de la question du corps et du désir, chemin buissonnier peu emprunté par les exégètes des grands systèmes totalitaires de la pensée - systèmes dont le souci essentiel fut de délimiter le champ théorique du savoir, ce qu'on désigne comme la critique de la connaissance. Prenant appui sur d'autres sources, tout particulièrement patristiques, Jean-Claude Terrier conteste l'ambition totalitaire des philosophies issues de (...) l'idéalisme allemand du XIXe siècle. En introduisant le thème du corps et du désir, propre à la tradition théologique et spirituelle du christianisme, il élargit l'horizon de la réflexion hégélienne et marxiste, il en marque les insuffisances et engage à son tour la voie de la pensée non vers la théorie de la totalité mais, par-delà la proclamation nietzschéenne de la mort de Dieu, vers l'expérience intérieure de la plénitude. Nous avons ici, d'une écriture puissante et transparente, le récit des aventures de la dialectique et l'ouverture d'une pensée en quête de la réconciliation de la chair et de l'esprit dans la transcendance de l'amour. Claude Louis Combet. (shrink)

Sade, Pasolini, Bataille, Claude Louis-Combet, David Nebreda et bien d’autres, sans doute sont-ils nombreux à avoir cherché Dieu au fond de la fécalité. Sur le concept du visage du fils de Dieu, pièce de théâtre mise en scène par Roméo Castellucci, semble ouvrir une autre relation entre ces deux pôles, faisant peut-être de l’excrément le signe éminent de l’impossibilité de Dieu. Sur le concept du visage du fils de dieu, parce que la défécation est donnée à voir (...) sur la scène, pose d’emblée la... (shrink)

For several centuries prior to the founding of the Theosophical Society in 1875, individual 'theosophers' in Britain and Europe were quietly in touch with one another all seekers of the inward way. Theosophic Correspondence (1792 1797) is a series of inspiring letters, personal and philosophic, exchanged during the climactic days of the French Revolution between Kirchberger, member of the Sovereign Council at Berne, Switzerland, and Saint-Martin, whom Kirchberger regarded as 'the most eminent writer . . . and most profound of (...) his age'. (shrink)

The multiplier is a central concept in Keynesian and post-Keynesian economics. It is largely what justifies activist full-employment fiscal policy: an increase in fiscal expenditures contributing to multiple rounds of spending, thereby financing itself. Yet, while a copingstone of post-Keynesian theory, it is not universally accepted by all post-Keynesians, for reasons vastly different than the mainstream. This book explores both the pros and cons of the multiplier from a strictly post-Keynesian – and Kaleckian – approach. Anchored within the tradition of (...) endogenous money, this book offers a lively discussion from a number of well-known post-Keynesians from a variety of perspectives: history of thought, theory and economic policy. The book starts by analysing the historical foundations of the Keynesian Multiplier and it’s treatment throughout the history of economic thought. Moving through a critical debate about the limits of the multiplier, the contributions finish by offering cutting edge new views on this fascinating concept. (shrink)

Le Tableau naturel des rapports qui existent entre Dieu, l'homme et l'univers est un ouvrage fondamental pour ceux qui cherchent à comprendre les mystères de la Création. Pour Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, l'homme porte en lui-même la clé de tous les mystères. Se connaître soi-même est donc la condition primordiale pour accéder à la Connaissance. Les textes sacrés nous enseignent que l'histoire de l'humanité est liée à un drame en trois actes. Le premier est celui de l'âge d'or ; (...) le deuxième celui d'une chute douloureuse dans la matière ; le troisième, qui reste à venir, sera marqué par une rédemption, une réintégration dans le Divin. L'auteur de ce livre s'efforce de percer le sens ésotérique de ces trois étapes. Il montre aussi que l'impasse dans laquelle se trouve l'homme résulte de la confusion qui règne dans ses pensées. S'il nourrissait sa volonté à la chaleur de l'Amour divin, il accéderait à la régénération d'une manière naturelle, et l'humanité trouverait la Connaissance menant à la Paix Profonde. (shrink)

After forty years of incessant wars begun in 1494, the Italian peninsula is experiencing a long period of relative peace, until the end of the 18th century. Florence, Venice and Rome are at that time the three cultural and political spaces that give birth to the most important – and the most “European” – thinking upon the question of war and “post-war era”. After Florentine political thought and its connection of conquest politics to conservation in times of war, the “after-war” (...) is always virtually tensed between the impossibility of peace and the consent to political and military domination. The understanding of such a situation is expressed by the praising of neutrality and pacification of power relations, in particular in venetian thought. In this perspective, peace is in the same time an imposed and a mobile framework. At stake is what does war transmit to after-war. Since war is a radical experience, a limit-experience, it brings a knowledge that gains necessity: therefore this knowledge continues to inform the reflection even when the circumstances are totally different. Even when the reasons of conservation are placed before the reasons of conquest, war is not replaced with peace. It is not thought anymore that after war comes peace: on the contrary, it is considered that peace has its origins in war. (shrink)

1.Idéologie proprement dite. Introd. et appendices par H. Gouhier.--2. Grammaire.

For several centuries prior to the founding of the Theosophical Society in 1875, individual 'theosophers' in Britain and Europe were quietly in touch with one another all seekers of the inward way. Theosophic Correspondence (1792 1797) is a series of inspiring letters, personal and philosophic, exchanged during the climactic days of the French Revolution between Kirchberger, member of the Sovereign Council at Berne, Switzerland, and Saint-Martin, whom Kirchberger regarded as 'the most eminent writer . . . and most profound of (...) his age'. (shrink)

t. 1. Des erreurs et de la vérité.--Ode sur l'origine.--Stances sur l'origine.

Reprint of the first edition. This incisive critique was written around 1807 by Tracy [1754-1836], a French philosopher and path-breaking psychologist who was a friend of Jefferson [1743-1826]. Jefferson saw the Commentary when it was still a manuscript and was so impressed that he took pains to have it printed. He even helped with the translation and corrected the page proofs. Although the translation was published anonymously, we can identify the author and translators through a letter by Jefferson dated January (...) 26, 1811. Elsewhere in this letter he commends it for correcting the Spirit of the Laws. While other studies had merely "nibbled only at its errors...This want is now supplied, and with a depth of thought, recision of idea, of language and of logic, which will force conviction into every mind. I declare to you, Sir, in the spirit of truth and sincerity, that I consider it the most precious gift the present age has received.": The Writings of Thomas Jefferson V:566-571. (shrink)

Juris-Data is one of the largest case-study base in France. The case studies are indexed by legal classification elaborated by the Juris-Data Group. Knowledge engineering was used to design an intelligent interface for information retrieval based on this classification. The aim of the system is to help users find the case-study which is the most relevant to their own.The approach is potentially very useful, but for standardising it for other legal document bases it is necessary to extract a legal classification (...) of the primary documents. Thus, a methodology for the construction of these classifications was designed together with a framework for index construction. The project led to the implementation of a Legal Case Studies Engineering Framework based on the accumulated experimentation and the methodologies designed. It consists of a set of computerised tools which support the life-cycle of the legal document from their processing by legal experts to their consultation by clients. (shrink)

Dans maintes exégèses récentes des textes de Michel Foucault, sont sans doute négligés la place et les effets théoriques d’une étape particulière de sa pensée, celle qui croise ce que l’on peut appeler « les années 68 ». Le présent article tente d’aborder cette question en s’appuyant sur une attention à la chronologie précise et systématique des écrits et des différentes formes d’interventions de Foucault durant cette période (et durant les années qui suivent dès lors que les passages évoqués peuvent (...) être analysés, tout ou partie, comme des « effets » de ces années-là). Au contraire, la philosophie définie à ce moment-là par Foucault comme une « espèce de journalisme radical » permet de refuser l’attitude des intellectuels–prophètes dans la mesure même où il n’existe pas de philosophie conservatrice ou de philosophie révolutionnaire mais des outils que la philosophie fournit et dont chacun fait l’usage qui lui semble bon. Au fil des années, un réseau de plus en plus dense se mit en place pour penser l’inscription du travail de la pensée dans le présent. Cette tâche peut même remettre en cause l’écriture ou la réorienter radicalement : on en trouve une illustration lors de la constitution du GIP (Groupe information sur les prisons), en 1971. (shrink)

The paper describes the conceptual models used to understand the processes determining plant growth rates in response to environmental changes. A series of experiments and growth models were used at three organizational levels: the specific plant organs, the whole plant and the plant canopy. The energy conversion efficiency and the total plant carbon balance were first examined. The carbon partitioning amongst the plant parts was then studied. The energy conversion efficiency is generally understood. In modelling carbon partitioning it was first (...) necessary to establish the carbon demand for each plant organ. The carbon partitioned amongst plant organs was then calculated in two ways. The first one based on empirical data consisted in defining which organ received the carbon prior to other organs. The second one was based on the relationship between the carbon mass of specific organs and their trophic activity. This hypothesis allowed the optimization of the carbon partitioning in order to maximize the whole plant growth rate. The opportunities to use these theoretical approaches in plant growth modelling are discussed. (shrink)

BOOK I. OF LAWS IN GENERAL. Positive laws oughtto be consequenft of the laws of nature: this is the spirit of laws. MONTESQ_UIEU'S SPIRIT OF LAWS. ...

New concepts may prove necessary to profit from the avalanche of sequence data on the genome, transcriptome, proteome and interactome and to relate this information to cell physiology. Here, we focus on the concept of large activity-based structures, or hyperstructures, in which a variety of types of molecules are brought together to perform a function. We review the evidence for the existence of hyperstructures responsible for the initiation of DNA replication, the sequestration of newly replicated origins of replication, cell division (...) and for metabolism. The processes responsible for hyperstructure formation include changes in enzyme affinities due to metabolite-induction, lipid-protein affinities, elevated local concentrations of proteins and their binding sites on DNA and RNA, and transertion. Experimental techniques exist that can be used to study hyperstructures and we review some of the ones less familiar to biologists. Finally, we speculate on how a variety of in silico approaches involving cellular automata and multi-agent systems could be combined to develop new concepts in the form of an Integrated cell (I-cell) which would undergo selection for growth and survival in a world of artificial microbiology. (shrink)

Le Traité des prédicables, aussi appelé Isagogè, fut rédigé par Porphyre, vers la fin du IIIe siècle, pour servir d'introduction à la logique et en particulier au Traité des categories d'Aristote. L'auteur y traite des cinq universaux – le genre, l'espèce, la différence, le propre et l'accident – qui sont, si l'on veut, cinq sortes de prédicats généraux qu'un sujet quelconque est susceptible de se voir attribuer. Traduit du grec au latin par Boèce, sans doute au début du VIe siècle, (...) l'ouvrage fut intégré par le Moyen Age au corpus de la logique aristotélicienne et devint, à ce titre, l'un des manuels de base de l'enseignement de la logique. Lorsque, vers 1320, le Franciscain Guillaume d'Occam entreprend d'expliquer «les divers livres de la logique», c'est en premier lieu vers l'Isagogè qu'il se tourne, pour le commenter à sa façon: ce fut là le tout premier ouvrage de logique de celui qui allait devenir l'un des plus grands logiciens de tous les temps. Occam y prend occasion du texte de Porphyre pour réitérer, sous le couvert d'une interprétation parfois audacieuse, sa célèbre critique du réalisme des universaux, qui le conduit à voir dans les cinq prédicables cinq sortes de signes généraux. (shrink)

« La méthode d’analyse logique, que Hans Reichenbach célébrait comme l’avènement de la philosophie scientifique, s’oppose à la conception que se font de l’objet de la philosophie ceux qui croient disposer des méthodes intuitives, réflexives, illuminatives ou dialectiques, leur livrant l’accès de réalités transcendantes au monde de la science et du sens commun. » [Rougier 1963a, 128]Louis Rougier.

What is the use of trying to describe a philosophy as ‘materialistic’ or ‘idealistic’? Why multiply the species of each genus? We have ‘subjective’, ‘absolute’, and ‘objective’ idealism, ‘mechanistic’ and ‘dialectical’ materialism, to which we must now add ‘uncertain’ or ‘random’ materialism. Must we worry if a philosophy belongs to this or that ‘trend’, ‘current’, or ‘tradition’? We find ourselves asking all these types of questions when reading Louis Althusser’s later work, in which he appears to have devoted some (...) effort to developing the idea of an “underground” or “subterranean” trend in philosophy. After some hesitation, he termed this “materialism of the encounter” or “uncertain materialism,” which I will refer to hereafter in abbreviated form as UM. (shrink)

If the object of Althusser’s main theoretical work was Marx’s historical materialism, the form this work took was philosophy. Philosophy was his most important object. His reflections focused on the question of the existence of a Marxist philosophy, on philosophy as practice, the practice of philosophy and its role in ideological and political class struggles. This article sets out to understand how what is somewhat improperly called Althusser’s ‘last’ philosophy, the materialism of the encounter or aleatory materialism, is the philosophy (...) that renounces the dominant form of philosophy to take the form of what I would call a counter-philosophy. (shrink)

« Dans chaque cas [les formes variées de réalismes], je me suis employé à démasquer les illusions psychologiques qui leur ont donné naissance et à expliciter les postulats qui s’y trouvent impliqués. »[Rougier 1961c, 29]Louis Rougier.

Prince-évêque de Strasbourg de 1704 à 1749, Gaston de Rohan devient en 1713, par la volonté de Louis XIV, grand aumônier de la Cour, un an après avoir été promu au cardinalat. Dès lors, le prélat se voit investi de la mission de mettre fin à la querelle jansé- niste. Il s’y emploie avec efficacité dans son diocèse, mais ne peut résoudre la crise à l’échelle nationale.

Claude Buffier’s Traité des premières vérités (1724) was published twice in the 19th century. The first was a Catholic edition (1822) emphasising the continuity between the Jesuit philosophy of common sense and Félicité de Lamennais’ principle of authority. Conversely, the other edition, of the Cousinian school (1843), stressed the debt of the Scottish school of Common Sense to Buffier’s work. Both editions sought to dissociate Buffier from the philosophy to which he perhaps felt the closest, but which in many (...) ways prefigured all the excesses (sensualism, materialism, atheism) of the 18th century against which Catholics and Cousinians fought: that of Locke. Because of their shortcomings, these two editions do not tell us much about the Traité des premières vérités, but they do tell us a lot about the ideological struggles of the 19th century. (shrink)

This text derives from a recording, and transcripts, of the introduction which Althusser gave on 6 December 1963, to a seminar for students in the École Normale Supérieure, Paris, offered at his invitation by Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron. Althusser takes the opportunity to raise questions about the status of social science and suggests that Bourdieu and Passeron represent slightly different strands of contemporary research practice, partly as a result of their different formation and practice since themselves leaving the (...) École. Althusser first considers the relation between the human sciences and the traditionally instituted Faculty of Letters or Humanities. What is the origin of the compulsion to constitute a science of human relations? Given that the social sciences have established themselves, Althusser then tries to define their nature. He suggests that they have three forms: as abstract and general theory, as ethnology, and as empirical sociology. He discusses the pros and cons of each in some detail. Althusser then asks what are the features which constitute sciences and concludes that they must always possess discrete theoretical perspectives corresponding with discrete components of reality but must also possess an element of self-referentiality or, as he puts it, must be objects to themselves. Althusser suggests that his contemporary social sciences are not philosophically adequate by the criteria which he advances. He proceeds to introduce Bourdieu and Passeron in such a way as to invite consideration of whether their practices meet his criteria. (shrink)

On aura lu dans le présent numéro de Dialogue une longue étude critique, où Claude Panaccio analyse la traduction, par Roland Galibois, du Commentaire d'Occam sur le Livre des Prédicables de Porphyre, ainsi que mon introduction à ce texte.On nous permettra sans doute d'y répondre, et on trouvera ci-après l'excellente justification que R. Galibois donne de sa traduction.