This essay reads the thirteenth-century Old Occitan epic Canso de la crozada through Jean-Luc Nancy’s theories of community and communal mythologies. Through its analysis of the Canso ’s unfinished manuscript decorations and the presence of two politically opposed poets, the essay shows that the creation of myth in the chansons de geste is the result of historical desires. In so doing, this essay also expands the theoretical world of Nancy’s readings of the “communal,” and provides a frame for theorizing his (...) engagements with time as ideological by revealing how the past and the possible speak to one another in his work. (shrink)

The aim of the present paper is to analyse the archeology of the concept of contradiction, more precisely in Plato, and to reveal the influence that the latter had on Aristotle’s reflection on contradiction and contrariety. This paper will show that it is possible to find examples of a notion of contradiction in Plato’s refutative dialogues, in which Socrates is described as refuting his interlocutors by demonstrating the contrary of their initial thesis. However, Plato never used the word antiphasis to (...) name the act of contradicting oneself, but preferred the expression enantia legein heautôi, which means “to say the contrary to oneself”. (shrink)

This new edition of Genevieve Lloyd's classic study of the maleness of reason in philosophy contains a new introduction and bibliographical essay assessing the book's place in the explosion of writing and gender since 1984.

“Modern slavery,” a term used to describe severe forms of labor exploitation, is beginning to spark growing interest within business and society research. As a novel phenomenon, it offers potential for innovative theoretical and empirical pathways to a range of business and management research questions. And yet, development into what we might call a “field” of modern slavery research in business and management remains significantly, and disappointingly, underdeveloped. To explore this, we elaborate on the developments to date, the potential drawbacks, (...) and the possible future deviations that might evolve within six subdisciplinary areas of business and management. We also examine the value that nonmanagement disciplines can bring to research on modern slavery and business, examining the connections, critiques, and catalysts evident in research from political science, law, and history. These, we suggest, offer significant potential for building toward a more substantial subfield of research. (shrink)

As a constructive alternative to the exclusionary binaries of Cartesian philosophy, Genevieve Lloyd and Moira Gatens turn to Spinoza. Spinoza's understanding of the body as "in relation" takes the focus of philosophical thought from the homogeneous subject to the heterogeneity of the social, and the focus of politics from individual rights to collective responsibility. The implications for feminism are radical; Spinoza enables a reconceptualization of the imaginary and the possibility of a sociability of inclusion.

A serious retardant to development of a specifically public relations (PR) ethical philosophy is the tendency to retain a commitment uniquely journalistic? objectivity. Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays offered two ethical options or imperatives, based on objectivity or on advocacy. Public relations must accept a commitment to the ethics of persuasion in order to reduce a crippling inferiority complex and advance understanding of the profession by its practitioners as well as the public.

ABSTRACT Spinoza has often been cited as a classic example of the philosophical category of ‘rationalism’; and there is indeed much about his philosophy that can seem to warrant that classification. This essay will argue that it is nonetheless a simplification, which can cloud some of the most important and interesting insights that can be gained from reading Spinoza now. Although it is true that his treatment of human knowledge emphasized the exercise of reason, his crucial—and frequently misunderstood—concept of ratio (...) was much richer and more nuanced than the common understanding of ‘rationalism’ can capture. The essay seeks to clarify Spinoza’s version of human reason, elaborating its interconnections with imagination and emotion; and its positioning within the totality of Nature. It draws on comparisons with Pascal—and on consideration of Flaubert’s responses to Spinoza’s works—to illuminate what is distinctive in Spinoza’s account of human reason. What emerges, it is argued, is important—not only for contemporary philosophy, but more broadly for the understanding of conceptual aspects of current issues associated with the status of human beings within the natural world. (shrink)

The burden of difference: pluralist justice and the public sphere -- Moral conversations and democratic hermeneutics -- Particularism versus universalism: a false debate? -- Secularism, culture, and critique -- Laïcité and the memory of public culture -- The ties that bind: public culture and the debt to the past -- Normative solidarity and public hermeneutics -- From intersubjectivity to encounter -- Exit of religion, debt of meaning.

In South Africa, the majority of the population suffers from the inadequacy of learning opportunities and poor access to the higher education system. This causes the widening of the knowledge gap and increased socio-economic marginalisation, which threatens community agency. Critical knowledge created by academics at South African higher education institutions often culminates in access-controlled, costly scientific publications, thus limiting public access. On the other hand, because of the distance between universities and communities, community knowledge and intelligences are never fed back (...) into the university to enrich scholarship and enhance relevance. This paper explores the need for higher education to be freed from its elitist captivity in order to widen access to knowledge that would enhance community agency and revitalise academic agency for social change. The paper starts with a discussion on the need for change in the elitist nature of higher education. I will recount how essential shifts in thinking and action created the Chance 2 Advance programme hosted by the largest provider of higher education on the continent, the University of South Africa. This programme was designed in an attempt to re-vision academic scholarship for the benefit of the poor. Chance 2 Advance is an engaged scholarship and community-learning programme designed to bring communities and academics closer, in a mutual and reciprocal process of knowledge creation and knowledge mobilisation for social change. The programme has been replicated in urban and rural areas with success. At the end of 2018, the programme is poised to reach 100 000 participants, since its inception in 2010. (shrink)

Spinoza's doctrine of the uniqueness of substance has been interpreted as absorbing individual self-consciousness into an all-embracing whole.

Chez Berkeley, la courte vue correspond, métaphoriquement, à l'inspection minutieuse d'un objet, tandis que la vision synoptique est la contemplation de l'univers d'un point de vue qui serait celui de Dieu. Dès 1707, Berkeley déclare qu'il est « naturellement myope », en ajoutant que ce défaut le conduirait à examiner les choses et les mots de beaucoup plus près qu'il n'est nécessaire pour les autres. Ses écrits sont entièrement soustendus par une dualité entre myopie et vue synoptique mais cette dualité, (...) très présente dans l'immatérialisme stricto sensu, peut être problématique pour les desseins apologétiques de Berkeley. With Berkeley, short-sightedness is a metaphorical description of minute inspection of a definite object, whereas long -sightedness is the idealized contemplation of universe from the standpoint of God. As early as 1707, Berkeley asserts that he is "naturally short-sighted", adding that this defect may induce him to examine things and words nearer than it is necessary for other people. My aim is to show that the duality between short sightedness and long -sightedness entirely underlies Berkeley's writings. I shall exhibit that such a duality is present in Berkeley's immaterialism, as well as in his moral philosophy, producing a clash between Berkeley's own free-thinking and his apologetic concerns. (shrink)

Social science has recently examined the dramatic increase of witchcraft and magic in everyday contemporary African. A study, which took place in the 1970's, on the representation of madness in postcolonial Congo, contributes to the elucidation of such an outgrowth. In line with the first version of La Psychoanalyse, it aimed at identifying variations in the images, beliefs, and attitudes associated with groups whose social positioning differed in relation to modernity. Sixty old men were interviewed. The respondents provided a representation (...) in the making that neither reflected Western knowledge nor faithfully echoed local patterns. The Western elements were anchored in a strongly objectified local belief system. For “traditional” informants the meaning attributed to madness testifies to the transformation of a hegemonic representation into a polemical one since it addressed the question of their identity shaken by modernity. An emancipated representation emerged within the most educated group. A secondary analysis of the data contributes to current theoretical debates within social representations theory in focusing on tolerance/intolerance to alternative representations through semantic barriers. It brings more evidence to the fragmentation of the hegemonic system of belief and confirms how social—identity content and relations mediate knowledge construction. (shrink)

L’Action catholique spécialisée a donné naissance pendant le deuxième tiers du XXe siècle au Mouvement populaire des familles (MPF) et à ses dérivés. Ces Mouvements se donnaient pour but la formation et la promotion du monde ouvrier par lui-même, notamment par le biais de la famille. Les mères de famille au foyer prenaient en charge les intérêts de leur quartier et de toutes les familles ouvrières, assumant ainsi une maternité sociale. Elles organisaient des délégations auprès des mairies, créaient et géraient (...) des services (Femmes de prisonniers pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, services de machines à laver, travailleuses familiales pendant les trente glorieuses…). Le modèle d’action du MPF entre en déclin avec la modernisation du pays puis, dans les années 1970 avec l’accès généralisé des femmes au travail. (shrink)

Le présent article propose une analyse comparative de l’Isagôgè et du Commentaire aux Catégories d’Aristote de Porphyre. Il s’agira de déterminer si le Commentaire aux Catégories d’Aristote permet de jeter quelque lumière sur le questionnaire porphyrien ou de trancher le débat qui a mené à la célèbre querelle des universaux.

The burden of difference: pluralist justice and the public sphere -- Moral conversations and democratic hermeneutics -- Particularism versus universalism: a false debate? -- Secularism, culture, and critique -- Laïcité and the memory of public culture -- The ties that bind: public culture and the debt to the past -- Normative solidarity and public hermeneutics -- From intersubjectivity to encounter -- Exit of religion, debt of meaning.

Genevieve Lloyd illuminates and challenges some perplexing aspects of contemporary attitudes to wonder. She draws especially on Flaubert, who influenced the thought of Jean-Paul Sartre, Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Derrida. She also reaches into contemporary debates on refugees, secularisation and climate change.

L'argumentation visant à éliminer le mot « matière » du langage des savants repose, au dire de Berkeley, sur la conception de la nature des termes généraux mise en œuvre par l'Introduction des Principes. Il y a pourtant, dans cet ouvrage, des indices qui rendent fragile la dépendance entre l'immatérialisme et la critique des idées abstraites. Aussi est-il nécessaire d'identifier cette dépendance avec précision, afin de mieux évaluer son rôle apparent et son rôle réel de fondement, en un temps où (...) les systèmes théoriques étaient pensés dans les termes de l'architecture. Berkeley's argument to get rid of the word "matter" from learned language rests on the particular view about universals which is settled in the Introduction of the Principles. However, some tokens in the Principles make the dependence Berkeley tries to stress, between immaterialism and the critic of abstract ideas, rather weak. Thus, it is necessary to identify strictly this dependence, so as to estimate wether the Introduction should be considered as a true foundation for immaterialism, given that the ending 17th century was seeking for theoretical system to be thought as steady buildings. (shrink)

Résumé Commentaire de l’article d’Hélène Bouchilloux qui précède.

The early discovery of cis‐regulatory elements able to promote transcription of genes over large distances led to the postulate that elements, termed insulators, should also exist that would limit the action of enhancers, LCRs and silencers to defined domains. Such insulators were indeed found during the past fifteen years in a wide range of organisms, from yeast to humans. Recent advances point to an important role of transcription factors in insulator activity and demonstrate that the operational observation of an insulator (...) effect relies on a delicate balance between the “efficiency” of the insulator and that of the element to be counteracted. In addition, genuine insulator elements now appear less common than initially envisaged, and they are only found at loci displaying a high density of coding or regulatory information. Where this is not the case, chromatin domains of opposing properties are thought to confront each other at “fuzzy” boundaries. In this article, we propose models for both fixed and fuzzy boundaries that incorporate probabilistic and dynamic parameters. BioEssays 26:523–532, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)