There are many reasons for questioning the relevance of the concepts of self-organization (SO) and emergence. By studying three types of SO, respectively related to ontogeny, phylogeny and formalized models, we show that we always have to suppose an associated hetero-organization and preconceived immergence, unconsciously present in the authors mind. In order to understand how these unusual couples are working, they must be considered as agonistic antagonistic couples. Heteroorganization and immergence put constraints on the system so that SO and emergence (...) will produce new patterns and forms, depending on these constraints. Besides, such couples (SO and heteroorganization, emergence and immergence) seem to belong to a series of couples of the same type, allowing us to define a kind of model of life.The concept of self-organization has been presented as the main concept defining systemics, and second order cybernetics. This concept has been accepted also in general Biological Theory (BT) where authors endowed the key to many phenomena until then poorly understood. (shrink)

New class of therapies, including bipolar therapies (BPT) and paradoxical unipolar therapies (PUT) were firstly proposed in relation to a clinical insight and to some results of biological investigations, then they gave rise to mathematical modeling which brought a justification of these therapies, at least from a theoretical point of view. After recalling the mathematical model for the regulation of agonistic antagonistic couples, and reporting the fundamental types of control simulation by means of it, we point out the validity of (...) therapeutical applications inferred from this model. These therapy modalities, including BPT and PUT, now concern the following diseases: astrocytomas, epilepsia and trials on multiple sclerosis. Even if such attempts are in their early stage, noticeably for the last case where biological changes have mainly been studied, it seems that a large span of treatments is open to BPT and PUT. Improvement of these techniques in the future depends, in our opinion, on a parallel working on the dynamics of the mathematical model and the dynamics, perceived by clinical insight and confirmed by biological investigations, of the body reactions to such strategies. Justification of BPT and PUT was given, by resorting to the notion of pathological homeostasis which, too often, intervenes in order to nullify the effects of unilateral (not paradoxical) therapies. This research has elicited some therapies which use two agents with antagonistic effects or only an agent with effects similar to the agent already in excess in the body - in both cases at nearly physiological doses. (shrink)

To answer the question in the title, we take as an example the model for the regulation of agonistic antagonistic couples (MRAAC). It is a model that associates 4 non-linear differential equations and allows to simulate balance, imbalance between two state variables, and control, if necessary, by two control variables of the same nature as the state variables: this control is defined as a bilateral strategy (bipolar therapy in the medical field). The super model for the regulation of agonism antagonistic (...) couples (SMRAAC), that may be also considered as an agonistic antagonistic network (AAN), associates several elementary MRAAC's, but the interconnection structure falls equally under the category of the agonistic antagonism (AA). First we indicate what may be the results of the interconnection, favourable or not. In the last case, a control can be performed, by acting upon a sole couple of the SMRAAC, even if other couples were imbalanced (with two AA control variables only). Simulation examples are given. We bring also a new result with the SMRAAC, i.e. the appearance of strange auractors with this model. The general models belonging to the AA phylum should put on a growing importance in the future, because they could be the sole models enable to control some complex systems by avoiding the perverse effects of the unilateral strategies. (shrink)

A link between biological and human sciences may be established, under the condition that we should admit the existence of reciprocal influences between them. The model for the regulation of agonistic antagonistic couples (MRAAC) is built from the study of biological systems and gives rise to specific types of control. This model can be helpful in decision processes in some human sciences such as management, economical and political strategies. The reason for such an opportunity lies in the fact that MRAAC (...) is a general and phenomenological model able to incorporate the whole of the agonistic antagonistic systems. This type of regulation might be related to the concept of the viability of a system (yet also valid for human science systems) and to a functional and structural pattern which is the basis for agonistic antagonistic networks. (shrink)

Porté aux nues par les écrivains du XIXè siècle qui voyaient en lui le type même du poète maudit, Byron (1788-1824) a subi au XXè siècle un long purgatoire avant d'être enfin reconnu comme une personnalité littéraire de premier plan. Après les traductions en prose du siècle dernier qui, malgré leur mérite, n'offraient qu'un pâle reflet, on redécouvre aujourd'hui toute la virtuosité d'un poète qui jongle avec les rimes et les rythmes et qui demandait donc à être traduit en vers. (...) Ce choix de poèmes n'a d'autre ambition que de donner une meilleure idée de ses œuvres les plus célèbres. On y retrouva des poèmes de circonstances qui transcendent l'anecdote autobiographique, des morceaux de bravoure qui ont fait la réputation de Childe Harold et de Don Juan, sans oublier cet hymne vibrant à la liberté qu'est le Prisonnier de Chillon et, pour finir, la dernière tirade de Marino Faliero, drame peu connu en France et suprême hommage du poète anglais à la Venise de son imagination. (shrink)

The active debate about the return of incidental or secondary findings in research has primarily focused on return to research participants, or in some cases, family members. Particular attention has been paid to return of genomic findings. Yet, research may generate other types of findings that warrant consideration for return, including findings related to the pathology of donated biospecimens. In the case of deceased biospecimen donors who are also organ and/or tissue transplant donors, pathology incidental findings may be relevant not (...) to family members, but to potential organ or tissue transplant recipients. This paper will describe the ethical implications of pathology incidental findings in the Genotype-Tissue Expression project, the process for developing a consensus approach as to if/when such findings should be returned, possible implications for other research projects collecting postmortem tissues and how the scenario encountered in GTEx fits into the larger return of results/incidental findings debate. (shrink)

Simone Weil's Leçons de Philosophie are derived from a course she taught at the lyce;e for girls at Roanne in 1933-4. Anne Reynaud-Gue;rithault was a pupil in the class; her notes are not a verbatim record but are a very full and, as far as one can judge, faithful rendering, often catching the unmistakable tone of Simone Weil's voice as well as the force and the directness of her thought. The lectures form a good general introduction to philosophy, (...) ranging widely over problems about perception, mind, language, reasoning and problems in moral and political philosophy too. Her method of presentation is a characteristic combination of abstract argument, personal experience and literary or historical reference. Peter Winch points out in his introduction to the book some of the more systematic connections in her philosophical work (and between this philosophical work and her other concerns), and makes a number of suggestive comparisons between Simone Weil and Wittgenstein. The translation is by Hugh Price from the Plon edition of 1959. Dr Price has added some notes to explain references in the text that might be unfamiliar to English speaking students beginning philosophy. (shrink)

Pour mieux re-penser, en fonction de « notre » situation, l’héritage philosophique d’Eric Weil, on le suit d’abord ici dans sa manière de porter la finitude de la condition historique jusqu’à la vue du sens présent. C’est alors son articulation originale de la liberté (moderne) et de la raison (antique) à l’intérieur du tout infini de la réalité que l’on se risque à interroger en l’ouvrant à l’éventualité d’un « autrement » qui n’entrerait peut-être pas sans reste dans le (...) cercle de la compréhension systématique. (shrink)

This study juxtaposes Simone Weil's exposition of God's invitation to know and love the good through the divine signature of beauty stamped on the order of the world and Flannery O'Connor's depiction of a society whose oppressive order allows some characters to oppose outright a divine order or to live under the illusion that the divine invitation is irrelevant because they, in their egoism and materialist values, are the centre of the universe. An examination of O'Connor's and Weil's (...) ideas on order and beauty, grace and decreation, within the disorders of their contexts, reveals both writers' skills in pointing prophetically through disorder to divine order, thus, disclosing bridges of revelation. (shrink)

Simone Weil's rejection of pacifism -- The empire of force -- Love of neighbor versus totalitarianism -- Values for reading the universe -- Reading and justice -- Simone Weil and the Bhagavad-Gita -- Justice and the supernatural -- Neither victim nor executioner -- Appendix : English translations of Simone Weil's essays.

The purpose of this article is to elaborate the many literary allusions that Simone Weil used in her ultimate work: L' Enracinement, translated as The Need for Roots, to achieve her goal of encouraging her fellow countrymen to create a new postwar society. Understanding how she used the riches of the French and Western Literary Cannon, less easily grasped by those not educated in the French Education system, enriches the understanding of Weil's purpose and skill in writing on (...) many levels, simultaneously for different target audiences. Underlying her stress on the need for truth and honesty about a county's past and present, with discernable respect for every person, is her foundational belief in the spiritual destiny of every human being. Examining her literary allusions in detail to show her clever subversion of traditionally accepted interpretations brings a new dimension to Simone Weil studies, while underlining the relevance of this essay to contemporary dilemmas. (shrink)

How can we articulate the intimate demand of the spiritual life and the struggle for solidarity? These two issues have often been treated separately; in _Simone Weil: Attention to the Real_, however, Robert Chenavier explores the work of Simone Weil and demonstrates how she brought them together in a single movement of thought. "Our time has a unique mission, calling for the creation of a civilization based on the spirituality of work," she wrote near the end of her (...) short life. Her experience as a militant and the call of the divine nurtured in her writing an intense and unwavering defense of this new civilization, backed by her personal sense of intellectual, moral, and political responsibility. Originally published in French in 2009, _Simone Weil: __Attention to the Real_ leads the reader through her earliest writing as a perceptive social critic to her work on spirituality and materialism, and finally to her extraordinary concept of decreation, produced before her death at the age of thirty-four. "To an exceptional degree," Chenavier says, "the life of Simone Weil, her personality, her commitment, and her reflection form one single whole." Chenavier argues that Weil's vocation took on a very original form in the history of philosophical thought. He is especially concerned with Weil's philosophical writings on the concept of work, which remain relevant today, and which provide an important key to her thinking throughout her life. Bernard Doering's superb translation brings to English readers Chenavier's succinct account of Simone Weil's life and an illuminating introduction to her philosophical thought. "Bernard Doering has crafted a very fine translation of Robert Chenavier's comprehensive but brief introduction to Simone Weil's philosophical project. It provides an excellent English introduction to the social philosophy of Simone Weil, with due attention to her understanding of the importance of work in learning to attend to the real. Doering's translation will be of interest to both a religious and secular readership, both inside and outside the academy." —_Lawrence Schmidt, University of Toronto_. (shrink)

Simone Weil believed that Greece’s vocation was to build bridges between God and man. This paper argues that, in light of Weil’s “tradition of mystical thought,” the Christian vocation is an extension of the Greek. The search for the perfect bridge in Homer, Sophocles and Plato comes to fruition in the Passion of Christ. The Greek thinkers, especially Plato with his Perfectly Just Man, already had implicit knowledge of the Passion’s truth.

Explores the intersection between the philosophy of Simone Weil from Paris, France, and the fiction of Flannery O'Connor from the Southern state of Georgia, USA.

"Anyone interested in Simone Weil will want, and need, to read this superb collection." —Diogenes Allen, Princeton Theological Seminary “These essays—some written by leading specialists in Simone Weil's thought, others by prominent theologians and philosophers of religion—are especially valuable not only for elucidating Weil's reading of Plato but also for showing what one or another form of Christian Platonism can mean for us today.” —James A. Wiseman, O.S.B., Catholic University of America "This remarkable and penetrating collection of (...) essays on Simone Weil's religious philosophy illumines the living intersection between serious metaphysics and ethics. The authors carefully examine this relation that much post-modern reflection has until now only skimmed, but that Weil herself managed to embrace with breathtaking intellectual discipline and self-giving. The book is a bracing testimony to the deep moral consequences of classical ontology and its challenging Christian reorientation." —The Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner, Ascension Episcopal Church, Pueblo, Colorado In this book a group of renowned international scholars seek to discern the ways in which Simone Weil was indebted to Plato, and how her provocative readings of his work offer challenges to contemporary philosophy, theology, and spirituality. This is the first book in twenty years to systematically investigate Weil’s Christian Platonism. (shrink)

Entre la conscience transcendantale et le système spéculatif, la volonté de discours cohérent hésite avant de se trouver invinciblement reconduite à la finitude sans recours de sa position existentielle. De cette histoire de tensions irréductibles résulte pour la philosophie une exigence nouvelle : se comprendre en son originalité comme milieu du sens, d’un sens dialogal librement exigé et partagé, dont la forme vide travaille les interactions de l’existence finie jusqu’à la porter finalement au-delà d’elle-même. The want of a coherent discourse (...) hesitates between the transcendental conscience and the speculative system, before finding itself invincibly taken back to finiteness, without help of its existential position. From this story of irreducible tensions results a new requirement for philosophy : to conceive itself, in its originality, as the milieu of sense, of a dialogic sense freely required and shared, the empty shape of which works on the interactions of the finite existence, up to finally carrying it beyond itself. (shrink)

Précédant le discours systématiquement développé qu'est la Logique de la philosophie, une substantielle introduction cherche dans une réflexion anthropologique la condition première et l'envoi le plus décisif de l'entreprise philosophante. Toujours pris dans la dualité essentielle de la raison et de la violence, l'homme s'appuie d'abord sur une sécurité communautaire idéalisée avant de chercher un recours dans des constructions ontologiques dont la fragilité objective ne pourra cependant pas résister à l'émergence d'une " condition " moderne vouée à l'épreuve de sa (...) finitude radicale. Prior to the systematically developed discourse which is the Logic of Philosophy, a substantial introduction seeks the first condition and the most decisive start of the undertaking of philosophy in an anthropological reflection. Being always caught in the essential duality of reason and violence, man first leans on an idealised communalistic security before having recourse to ontological constructions, the objective fragility of which, however, cannot resist the emergence of a modern " condition " destined for the test of its radical finiteness. (shrink)

The Fifth International Congress of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science was held at the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada, 27 August to 2 September 1975. The Congress was held under the auspices of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science, Division of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, and was sponsored by the National Research Council of Canada and the University of Western Ontario. As those associated closely with the work of the Division over the years (...) know weIl, the work undertaken by its members varies greatly and spans a number of fields not always obviously related. In addition, the volume of work done by first rate scholars and scientists in the various fields of the Division has risen enormously. For these and related reasons it seemed to the editors chosen by the Divisional officers that the usual format of publishing the proceedings of the Congress be abandoned in favour of a somewhat more flexible, and hopefully acceptable, method of pre sentation. Accordingly, the work of the invited participants to the Congress has been divided into four volumes appearing in the University of Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science. The volumes are entitled, Logic, Foundations of Mathematics and Computability Theory, Foun dational Problems in the Special Sciences, Basic Problems in Methodol ogy and Linguistics, and Historical and Philosophical Dimensions of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science. (shrink)

Este artigo aborda a democracia a partir das contribuições teóricas de Eric Weil, especialmente em seus escritos “Limites da democracia” e “A democracia em um mundo de tensões”. Weil critica definições do termo e busca estabelecer as condições gerais para um sistema político verdadeiramente democrático. O artigo está estruturado em três partes. Primeiramente, discute o panorama atual das percepções das crises democráticas. Em seguida, trata das condições para a participação nos processos democráticos, adotando a concepção weiliana da democracia (...) como um “sistema de livre discussão em evolução”. Por fim, o texto se volta às inconsistências dos discursos que, dentro de um contexto democrático, defendem um Estado autoritário. Esse problema será analisado à luz do “paradoxo da tolerância” de Karl Popper, e com o apoio dos argumentos de Robert Dahl. (shrink)

Der Aufsatz untersucht die wenig behandelte Echnaton-Studie von Karl Abraham, eine frühe Arbeit zur angewandten Psychoanalyse. Kritisch wird beleuchtet, wo Irrtümer und Schwächen in der Darstellung des altägyptischen Pharaos liegen. Gründe dafür sieht der Beitrag im theoriegeleiteten Denken sowie selbstanalytischen Anteilen Abrahams; diese werden als allgemeine Probleme psychoanalytischer Biographik diskutiert. Abrahams Arbeit wird dann als wichtiger psychoanalytischer Beitrag gewürdigt, weil hier neue Sichtweisen auftauchten, die Impulse für die weitere Theorieentwicklung Abrahams gegeben hätten, von Nachfolgern aufgegriffen worden seien und heute (...) zum Bestand psychoanalytischer Theorien gehörten. Anhand von Freuds Kritik geht es um das Verhältnis von Neurose und Leistung, um die Ambivalenz in ödipalen Beziehungen sowie um manische Züge in Charakter und Religion des Pharaos, die Abraham vor dem Hintergrund einer kurz zuvor erstellten ersten Theorie der Manie habe beschreiben können. In der wissenschaftlichen Korrespondenz von Freud und Abraham deuteten sich in dieser Zeit erste Differenzen an, wobei es nie zu einem Bruch zwischen beiden kam. (shrink)

Robert Dunn, David Finkelstein and Richard Moran have recently contributed to broadening the debate on self-knowledge within the analytic tradition. They raise questions concerning the sort of awareness that may have a healing effect in psychoanalytic therapy, and enhance the relevance to self-knowledge of a deliberative, and practically committed, attitude toward oneself. They reject, however, that self-observation could play a significant role in a strictly first-person attitude toward oneself, since they conceive of it as essentially detached and, in this respect, (...) similar to the kind of attitude that a third party might adopt. I will appeal to Simone Weil's distinction between two sorts obedience and to the contrast between two characters in *The Karamazov Brothers* to elucidate a kind of self-awareness that involves a kind of observation that is constitutively committed. This line of reasoning will also serve to elucidate a fundamental sort of self-knowledge that derives from the subject's capacity to acknowledge her own position within the ethical world and is closely associated to the goal of psychoanalytic therapy. (shrink)

Philosophers of literature direct their studies to the moral, cognitive, and emotional aspects of our involvement with fiction. In spite of this, they rarely engage works of popular fiction. In this paper I use The Da Vinci Code as a case study of the impact of popular fiction on readers in terms of these three areas. Although this book will never be considered good literature, its impact is far reaching. l address concerns dealing with the fiction/non-fiction distinction as weIl (...) as issues with history, accuracy, and falsehoods. I flesh out the issues The Da Vinci Code brings up and argue that it, along with other works of popular fiction (Oprah’s book club for example), might be taken more seriously by philosophers of literature. (shrink)