This article develops a historico-critical analysis of uncertainty and accuracy in measurement through a case-study of the adjustment of the fundamental physical constants, in order to investigate the sceptical “problem of unknowability” undermining realist accounts of measurement. Every scientific result must include a “measurement uncertainty”, but uncertainty cannot be be eval- uated against the unknown, and therefore cannot be taken as an assessment of “accuracy”, defined in the metrological vocabulary as the closeness to the truth. The way scientists use and (...) interpret uncertainty in the adjustment activity illustrates how they try to overcome this predicament. I iden- tify two operative roles of measurement uncertainty, in the comparison and in the combination of measurement results. This duality implies a tension between selection and combination when aggregating results, leading to a crucial question: should the evaluation of uncertainties favour safety over precision? I present contrasting answers and identify a specific account of physicists who implicitly try to conciliate realism with the problem of unknowability. I argue that this invites us to reconsider accuracy from a dynamical standpoint, as the gradual achievement of scientific progress through error correction. Finally, I present two interpretations of measurement uncertainty, objective and epistemic, which I criticize and suggest improvements to. (shrink)

The logic of conditional is developed hereby in a series of papers, contributing to a historical and critical analysis of what the logical constant is expected to mean.

À propos de : Bruno Bachimont, Herméneutique matérielle et Artéfacture : des machines qui pensent aux machines qui donnent à penser. Critique du formalisme en intelligence artificielle, Thèse de doctorat en épistémologie sous la direction de Jean Petitot, École Polytechnique, 24 mai 1996. 354 p. Ce travail, qui n’a malheureusement pas encore bénéficié d’une publica­tion, est l’aboutissement de dix ans de travail. Herméneutique matérielle et Artéfacture : des machines qui pensent aux machines...

Comment définir la mystique chrétienne au regard de la psychanalyse? Dans L'avenir d'une illusion, Freud inscrit la genèse de toute croyance religieuse dans l'angoisse et le vécu de la petite enfance. Illusoire, la religion tient sa force de la force des désirs qu'elle réalise. Les états et phénomènes mystiques, insolites, relèvent ainsi d'une angoisse portée à son paroxysme. Ce livre étudie deux profils mystiques présentés comme « cas cliniques », et qui semblent corroborer parfaitement le diagnostic du fondateur de la (...) psychanalyse. La vie mystique pourrait ainsi être ramenée à l'histoire de vie du sujet, dans le nouage de la relation triangulaire père-mère-enfant. La clinique dégage notamment, dans l'approche de la relation mère-enfant, le rôle déterminant du narcissisme, qui fait apparaître dans la mentalité chrétienne une polarité maternelle, fusionnelle, convoquée comme explication du désir d'union mystique sur le plan étiologique. L'approche clinique traditionnelle, pour pertinente qu'elle soit, accuse l'hétérogénéité manifeste avec cet objet déconcertant que constitue la vie mystique. Le mystique semble essentiellement démis du sens qui informe sa responsabilité dans l'expérience mystique, au profit d'une approche exclusivement libidinale de son discours et de ses affects. Viktor Frankl. qui fut élève et correspondant de Freud, souligne la limite de l'approche psychanalytique freudienne en proposant la notion d'un inconscient psychique qui soit avant tout et fondamentalement spirituel, de façon à rendre toute son intelligibilité à l'expérience mystique. (shrink)

During the nineteenth century, neuroanatomical knowledge and the clinical practice of treating mental illnesses develop at the same time. Some practitioners of mental medicine try to combine the clinical practice of treating mental diseases with neuroanatomical knowledge using the idea of cerebral localisations. This point of view is advocated by Gall and the field of phrenology. But there is no obvious success of such a localisationist project before Broca and Wernicke’s works on aphasia. This discovery will provoke a revival of (...) the desire to localise the cerebral zones involved in mental diseases. However, the cerebral localisation project progressively decreases during the end of the nineteenth century while neurological clinical practice emerges. Moreover, neurological clinical practice aims to localise anatomical lesions through clinical examination. From a philosophy of science point of view, this segment of history brings into question the relation between a scientific object (the cerebral localisation of zones involved in diseases) and a scientific subject (psychiatry and neurology). It stresses how a scientific project can migrate from one subject to another. (shrink)

While many brands face the after-effects of historical transgressions, prior research provides little insight into these issues. Against this backdrop, this research presents five experiments providing convergent evidence for a lingering negative effect of historical brand transgressions (HBTs) on present brand evaluation, an effect that is due to a detrimental effect of HBTs on perceptions of brand warmth. Studies 1 and 2 establish the main effect and mediation. Studies 3–5 examine mitigating effects. Study 3 checks if high institutional pressure can (...) serve as an excuse strategy that buffers the negative effects of a transgression. Studies 4 and 5 test the mitigating effect of different response styles (recognition, apology, and/or compensation). Together, these results contribute to the business ethics and marketing literature by defining the concept of HBT and showing why it harms a current brand’s evaluation and how brands can mitigate its negative effects. (shrink)

Ce livre commence avec un problème de nomination de ce que l'on appelle économie et avec la disparition du terme chrématistique. Il pose l'hypothèse qu'il s'agit d'un problème métaphysique d'interprétation du réel et du monde. Le livre continue avec l'hypothèse étrange qui consiste à dire que la disparition du terme chrématistique est en lien avec la transformation substantielle et radicale du terme poièsis. Il pose alors la thèse qu'il y a une source fondamentale pour penser le problème de l'agir et (...) de l'opérativité et pour interpréter ce que l'on nomme une économie de l'œuvre. Enfin ce livre indique des manières de lire l'œuvre moderne et contemporaine en supposant qu'il y a eu, à cet endroit, un irrémédiable tournant : c'est ce que nous appelons critique de la poièsis. Ce livre pourra être lu de trois manières différentes et conjointes : comme un traité métaphysique de l'opérativité et de la disqualification des agir, comme un traité esthétique pour la lecture moderne du concept de poièsis (autrement dit de l'œuvre et de ses crises) et enfin comme un traité de philosophie politique en vue de faire face à ce qui tient de notre extrême et scandaleux contemporain. (shrink)

Key activities in biomedicine and related research rely on collections of biological samples and related files. Access to such resources in industry and in academic contexts has become strategic and represents a central issue in the general framework of rising patenting practices and in debates about the knowledge economy. It raises important issues concerning the organisation of scientific and medical work, the outline of data-sharing guidelines, and science policy's contribution to the elaboration of an adapted framework. This paper presents an (...) ethnographic study of three French human biobanks. Building on field work (participant observation and in-depth interviews), the study focuses on data access in the concrete practices in biobanks. The paper develops a perspective based on an analysis of different exchange regimes. We argue that access practices are submitted to the different regimes that can coexist and be articulated within the daily activities of each biobank. We also discuss how this perspective can further our understanding of biomedical research, and how it might inform data access policy. (shrink)

Science communication, as a field and as a practice, is fundamentally about knowledge distribution; it is about the access to, and the sharing of knowledge. All distribution brings with it issues of ethics and justice. Indeed, whether science communicators acknowledge it or not, they get to decide both which knowledge is shared, and who gets access to this knowledge. As a result, the decisions of science communicators have important implications for epistemic justice: how knowledge is distributed fairly and equitably. This (...) paper presents an overview of issues related to epistemic justice for science communication, and argues that there are two quite distinct ways in which science communicators can be just in the way they distribute knowledge. Both of these paths will be considered before concluding that, at least on one of these accounts, science communication as a field and as a practice is fundamentally epistemically unjust. Possible ways to redress this injustice are suggested. (shrink)

My aim in this book is to propose a comparativist, Buddhist-Neoplatonic interpretation of the idea of “logos” in the Prologue to the Gospel according to John. To do so, I proceed in three steps. I begin with Nāgārjuna’s doctrine of emptiness. Nāgārjuna thinks that that all things are empty because they depend on causes and conditions in a way that makes it impossible for them to genuinely exist. Nevertheless, they are not completely non-existent, for they possess the appearance of something (...) that exists. This corresponds, in turn, to Vasubandhu’s response to Nāgārjuna. Emptiness is not ultimate because there is the appearance of empty things. The place where this appearance unfolds is the mind, which, in an absolute sense, exists, but which, in the sense of external, objectifiable reality does not exist. Vasubandhu thus thinks of the mind as an entity that does not conform to the categories of ordinary existence. This, then, corresponds to what Meister Eckhart says about God. God is a Mind ("intellectus"). But due to his fundamental ontological role, God transcends ordinary existence and cannot be compared to any specific being. God is the mind of which Vasubandhu states that it is non-dual, transcendent knowledge. To conclude, I use this triadic constellation of Buddhist and Neoplatonic concepts to read John’s Prologue. The Prologue describes the generation of a foundational concept, “logos,” by a primordial, divine Mind. Since this Mind is, in a Buddhist sense, “empty,” the concept that it generates can be said to be absolute. It has no beginning and no cause. Against this background of Buddhist and Neoplatonic ideas, John’s Prologue can thus be interpreted as a narrative describing the foundation of reality as an intellectual process. (shrink)

Roman Suszko said that “Obviously, any multiplication of logical values is a mad idea and, in fact, Łukasiewicz did not actualize it.” The aim of the present paper is to qualify this ‘obvious’ statement through a number of logical and philosophical writings by Professor Jan Woleński, all focusing on the nature of truth-values and their multiple uses in philosophy. It results in a reconstruction of such an abstract object, doing justice to what Suszko held a ‘mad’ project within a generalized (...) logic of judgments. Four main issues raised by Woleński will be considered to test the insightfulness of such generalized truth-values, namely: the principle of bivalence, the logic of scepticism, the coherence theory of truth, and nothingness. (shrink)

A formal theory of oppositions and opposites is proposed on the basis of a non- Fregean semantics, where opposites are negation-forming operators that shed some new light on the connection between opposition and negation. The paper proceeds as follows. After recalling the historical background, oppositions and opposites are compared from a mathematical perspective: the first occurs as a relation, the second as a function. Then the main point of the paper appears with a calculus of oppositions, by means of a (...) non-Fregean semantics that redefines the logical values of various sorts of sentences. A num- ber of topics are then addressed in the light of this algebraic semantics, namely: how to construct value-functional operators for any logical opposition, beyond the classical case of contradiction; Blanché's "closure problem", i.e., how to find a complete structure connecting the sixteen binary sentences with one another. All of this is meant to devise an abstract theory of opposition: it encompasses the relation of consequence as subalternation, while relying upon the use of a primary "proto- negation" that turns any relatum into an opposite. This results in sentential negations that proceed as intensional operators, while negation is broadly viewed as a difference-forming operator without special constraints on it. (shrink)

In this article, we present our work to provide a navigation and localization system on a constrained humanoid platform, the NAO robot, without modifying the robot sensors. First, we tried to implement a simple and light version of classic monocular Simultaneous Localization and Mapping algorithms, while adapting to the CPU and camera quality, which turned out to be insufficient on the platform for the moment. From our work on keypoints tracking, we identified that some keypoints can be still accurately tracked (...) at little cost, and used them to build a visual compass. This compass was then used to correct the robot walk because it makes it possible to control the robot orientation accurately. (shrink)

On analyse ici la structure et la dynamique d’un champ économique : le champ des opérations de LBO en France dans les années 2000. À partir de données relationnelles et de documents couvrant la période 2000-2010, nous tentons d’en expliquer l’explosion et l’implosion en identifiant trois mécanismes opérant à des échelles de temps distinctes et superposées : l’hégémonie financière, la coopération entre concurrents et la réaction aux crises. L’article illustre une manière d’utiliser l’analyse de réseaux sociaux afin de formaliser un (...) champ organisationnel et d’articuler structure et processus dans des ordres sociaux de niveau intermédiaire. (shrink)

This article discusses the definitions of ‘‘measurement uncertainty” given in the three editions of the International Vocabulary of Metrology (VIM) and a fourth definition which was suggested for the next edition of this document. It is argued that none of the definitions is satisfying. First, a thorough definition of measurement uncertainty should supply an explanation about the meaning of the concept, which is missing from the VIM2&3. Secondly, when provided, the meanings are not accurate enough: the VIM1 version is flawed (...) and the possible future definition appeals to an overly restrictive notion of ‘‘belief”. Alternative options are then proposed, based on the conclusions that (i) measurement uncertainty is a statement – an inference – made by the experimenter about the measurand; (ii) it is only based on what is accessible to one’s knowledge, and therefore rests on the hypothesis that no unknown systematic error affects the measurement. (shrink)

Valuing conservation and biodiversity outcomes in economic analysis is difficult, as it is in health economics. Because health economics has previously had to respond to the many challenges currently faced by conservation economics, health economists have developed very successful tools for responding to these challenges which conservation economists can draw upon. What is surprising is that despite rhetorical support for the use of these economic analysis tools in conservation valuations, in practice, these economic tools are used far less frequently in (...) conservation and biodiversity decision then they are in health decisions. Drawing on a simple database search and an analysis of universities that lead in both economics and environmental studies, this paper considers why conservation economists stick with philosophically and pragmatically difficult economic tools when they have other options, and argues that part of the reasons is the way conservation economics is framed and conceptualised. (shrink)

A general framework for translating various logical systems is presented, including a set of partial unary operators of affirmation and negation. Despite its usual reading, affirmation is not redundant in any domain of values and whenever it does not behave like a full mapping. After depicting the process of partial functions, a number of logics are translated through a variety of affirmations and a unique pair of negations. This relies upon two preconditions: a deconstruction of truth-values as ordered and structured (...) objects, unlike its mainstream presentation as a simple object; a redefinition of the Principle of Bivalence as a set of four independent properties, such that its definition does not equate with normality. (shrink)

The objective of this article is to develop a faith development perspective on corporate sustainability. A firm’s management of sustainability is arguably determined by the way decision-makers relate to the other and the natural environment, and this relationship is fundamentally shaped by faith. This study advances theoretical understanding of the approach managers take on sustainability issues by explaining how four distinct phases of faith development—improvidence, obedience, irreverence and providence—determine a manager’s disposition towards sustainability. Combining insights from intentional and relational faith (...) development theories, the analysis reveals that a manager’s faith disposition can be measured according to four interrelated process criteria: (1) connectivity as a measure of a manager’s actual engagement and activities aimed at relating to sustainability; (2) inclusivity as a measure of who and what is included or excluded in a manager’s moral consideration; (3) emotional affinity as a measure of a manager’s sensitivity and affection towards the well-being of others and ecological welfare; and (4) reciprocity as a measure of the degree to which a manager is rewarded for responding to the needs and concerns of ‘Others’, mainly in the form of a positive emotional (and relational) stimulus. The conceptual model consolidates earlier scholarly works on the psychological drivers of sustainability management by illuminating our search for a process of faith development that connects with an increasingly complex understanding of the role of business in society. (shrink)

Le philosophe Gerald A. Cohen est décédé le 5 août 2009. Sa contribution s’est d’abord articulée autour de la pensée de Marx. Elle émergea sur la scène intellectuelle en 1978 avec la parution de Karl Marx’s Theory of History : A Defence, qui impulsa la constitution du marxisme analytique. Par la suite, Cohen tendit à se détacher progressivement de la théorie de Marx. Il participa à la discussion sur le concept libertarien de propriété de soi en vue de l’associer à (...) une approche marxiste, avant d’intégrer pleinement le débat normatif autour des problématiques de justice sociale, autour de la Théorie de la justice de John Rawls. Fondée sur la philosophie kantienne, sa critique de la théorie de Rawls lui reproche de ne pas accorder suffisamment d’autonomie aux choix individuels. Le présent article discute la pertinence du voyage intellectuel de Jerry Cohen dans son rapport à l’œuvre de Marx. (shrink)

It has been recently argued that the well-known square of opposition is a gathering that can be reduced to a one-dimensional figure, an ordered line segment of positive and negative integers [3]. However, one-dimensionality leads to some difficulties once the structure of opposed terms extends to more complex sets. An alternative algebraic semantics is proposed to solve the problem of dimensionality in a systematic way, namely: partition (or bitstring) semantics. Finally, an alternative geometry yields a new and unique pattern of (...) oppositions that proceeds with colored diagrams and an increasing set of bitstrings. (shrink)

A general theory of logical oppositions is proposed by abstracting these from the Aristotelian background of quantified sentences. Opposition is a relation that goes beyond incompatibility (not being true together), and a question-answer semantics is devised to investigate the features of oppositions and opposites within a functional calculus. Finally, several theoretical problems about its applicability are considered.

Cette contribution se propose d’étudier la place qu’occupe la renommée au sein du stoïcisme. Considérée par les stoïciens comme un indifférent préférable, elle a fait l’objet de discussions approfondies au cours de l’histoire de l’école. Cet article tente ainsi de proposer, à partir des sources conservées, une reconstitution terminologique diachronique des différentes notions théorisées par les stoïciens à propos de la bonne réputation. Il cherchera aussi à restituer les débats portant sur son statut au sein de la catégorie des préférables.

An arithmetic theory of oppositions is devised by comparing expressions, Boolean bitstrings, and integers. This leads to a set of correspondences between three domains of investigation, namely: logic, geometry, and arithmetic. The structural properties of each area are investigated in turn, before justifying the procedure as a whole. Io finish, I show how this helps to improve the logical calculus of oppositions, through the consideration of corresponding operations between integers.

The present paper wants to develop a formal semantics about a special class of formulas: quantifying statements, which are a kind of predicative statements where both subject- and predicate terms are quantifier expressions like ‘everything’, ‘something’, and ‘nothing’. After showing how talking about nothingness makes sense despite philosophical objections, I contend that there are two sorts of meaning in phrases including ‘thing’, viz. as an individual (e.g. ‘some thing’) or as a property (e.g. ‘something’). Then I display two kinds of (...) logical forms for quantifying statements, depending on how these ‘thing’s are ordered into a whole predication. Finally, an algebraic semantics is proposed for the finite set of quantifying statements to order these into a (fragmentary) dodecagon of logical relations. The corresponding Sub-Model Semantics (hereafter: $$\mathbb {SMS}$$ ) aims to update the usual theory of opposition whilst leading to a research program for other kinds of statement like categorical and even modal propositions. (shrink)

Evagrius famously characterises divine nature as γνῶσις οὐσιώδης, ‘substantial knowledge’. In the Alexandrian, Cappadocian, and other intellectual contexts informed by Platonic, Aristotelian, and Philonic thought, characterisations of God as a noetic or intellectual being are fairly common. However, these traditions concur in using the term νοῦς rather than γνῶσις. How can we explain that Evagrius deviates from the metaphysical mainstream? In this paper, I review this question from an historical and systematic point of view. I propose to examine ancient theories (...) of Mind about the function and structure of the νοῦς, compare them to the Evagrian theory, and identify a possible explanation for the substitution of γνῶσις to the νοῦς. Since God is the key element in Evagrius's metaphysics, a clearer vision of the divine essence will help us appreciate the whole system more fully. (shrink)

Ces études voudraient inviter le public francophone à la découverte de la philosophie de l'école de Marbourg et de son apport au site pratique de la philosophie. La réflexion morale, juridique et politique s'est trouvée fort enrichie par les écrits de Friedrich Albert Lange, Hermann Cohen et Paul Natorp. Ernst Cassirer a poursuivi la réflexion de ses maîtres en théorie de la connaissance, mais aussi dans le site pratique, ici dominé par un socialisme d'inspiration kantienne.

Dès les premières études sur les usages sociaux des dispositifs télématiques, l’un des chemins empruntés par la recherche fut celui de l’analyse des nouvelles modalités de lien social. Aujourd’hui, le succès des sites de réseaux sociaux relance cet intérêt. La possibilité de constitution de cercles relationnels étendus dont les membres peuvent potentiellement appartenir à des espaces sociaux éloignés des milieux de sociabilité ordinaires a notamment conduit à ce que se développent des recherches portant sur la constitution de ces réseaux d’« (...) Amis », leur morphologie sociale, leur structure topographique ou, plus rarement, sur les motivations et le sens social de ces engagements numériques de soi couplés à des mobilisations d’autrui. S’intéressant au rôle que joue l’informatique connectée dans la construction du lien social, la recherche anglo-saxonne a notamment privilégié des approches s’inspirant des théories du capital social. Cet article rend compte des principaux résultats de ces études et souligne certaines de leurs limites. Quelques pistes de travail qui permettent d’aborder la question du lien social sur les sites de réseaux sociaux depuis des perspectives plus critiques sont également envisagées.From the very first studies on social uses of computer communication systems, researchers were already analysing the new kinds of social ties that were emerging. Today, the success of social networking sites has brought renewed interest in this topic. Possibilities for creating wide-ranging relational networks whose members may move in circles that are very far removed from ordinary social life have given rise in particular to studies on how these networks of “ friends” come into being, on their social morphology, their topographical structure and, more rarely, on the motivations and social significance of online engagement, which goes hand in hand with other people’s motivations. Looking into the role of online communication in the creation of social ties, research in the UK and USA has focused in particular on approaches based on theories of social capital. This article describes the main results of these studies and shows some of their limitations. We also consider several avenues for further research, from a more critical perspective, on the question of social ties on social networking sites. (shrink)

The concept of continuous creation is now widely used in the context of reflections on the dialogue between science and religion. The first part of this research work seeks to understand its meaning through a twofold elaboration: (1) the historical setting of the three philosophical trends in which this concept was developed: scholastic (conservation), Cartesian (conservation through repetition of the creative act at each instant), and dynamic (interpreting the emergence of radical and contingent novelty in nature as a sign of (...) the continuity of creation); (2) a philosophical and theological critique of the concept of continuous creation regarding the question of the relationship between change and creation, in the light of its highly polymorphous contemporary use, and, in opposition, its absence within the Catholic Magisterium. This work opens the field a further step toward reflection on a renewed concept of continuous creation. (shrink)

A logical theory of oppositions deals with the relation between propositions and their truth values. On the basis of a formal semantics that proceeds by means of questions-answers, three theses are claimed in the following: (1) the concept of opposition usually refers to incompatibility, but our logical analysis focusses upon a broader relation of difference; (2) more generally, opposition has to do with negativity; our semantics accounts for it through opposite-forming operators; (3) subalternation is a particular case of non-contradiction expressing (...) an “opposition of an opposition”; it is not a proper opposition, accordingly, but its very meaning depends upon the latter. There is not only one but rather a number of expressions for negativity and the paper presents a detailed analysis of these "floating" expressions in a twofold sense of the word: floating quantification is closely related to the logical operations of sentential negation and denial; to what extent natural languages do not clearly express the meaning of a negative thought will be exemplified. L'objectif du texte qui suit est double : non seulement proposer une analyse logique du concept d'opposition, susceptible d'apporter de la précision à cette notion tout aussi vague que courante ; mais aussi, proposer une explication des différentes façons dont la négation se manifeste dans les langues naturelles, en particulier dans notre modèle local de la langue française. Tandis que la communauté des linguistes propose couramment une distinction entre une négation logique et une négation linguistique, l'article qui suit a la prétention d'une explication unifiée de la négation, c'est-à-dire un cadre théorique commun dans lequel ces deux aspects de l'opérateur de négation apparaissent comme des cas particuliers aux significations distinctes. Il n'y aurait donc pas une négation logique, d'un côté, et une négation linguistique ou "métalinguistique", de l'autre. Une approche structurelle des expressions négatives devrait apporter un éclairage sur ce point, par le biais d'une analyse algébrique de la signification en termes de questions-réponses. Mais revenons pour commencer sur l'origine philosophique du concept d'opposition, avant d'en exposer les propriétés logiques par la suite et les expressions linguistiques pour conclure. (shrink)