In this panoramic survey Guy Lemarchand undertakes to outline the history of the feudal system which persisted across the European continent from the sixteenth until the second half of the nineteenth century. In the crisis of the seventeenth century, seigneurial reaction backed by the absolutist state enabled this feudal mode to reconsolidate and extend itself eastward. The eighteenth century represented the system’s apogee based on high food prices, increased rents and state support. Feudalism’s dissolution beginning with the French Revolution (...) and continuing until the emancipation of the Russian serfs came about as a result of revolution from below and from above under the increasing influence of capitalism and liberalism. Offering an enormous comparative perspective on this long-lived mode of production, Lemarchand’s work fails to articulate theoretically the relationship between this enduring mode and the concurrent rise of capitalism. (shrink)

Noradrenergic pathways are involved in mediating the central and peripheral effects of physiological arousal. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of noradrenergic transmission in moral decision-making. We studied the effects in healthy volunteers of propranolol (a noradrenergic beta-adrenoceptor antagonist) on moral judgement in a set of moral dilemmas pitting utilitarian outcomes (e.g., saving five lives) against highly aversive harmful actions (e.g., killing an innocent person) in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group design. Propranolol (40 mg orally) (...) significantly reduced heart rate, but had no effect on self-reported mood. Importantly, propranolol made participants more likely to judge harmful actions as morally unacceptable, but only in dilemmas where harms were ‘up close and personal’. In addition, longer response times for such personal dilemmas were only found for the placebo group. Finally, judgments in personal dilemmas by the propranolol group were more decisive. These findings indicate that noradrenergic pathways play a role in responses to moral dilemmas, in line with recent work implicating emotion in moral decision-making. However, contrary to current theorising, these findings also suggest that aversion to harming is not driven by emotional arousal. Our findings are also of significant practical interest given that propranolol is a widely used drug in different settings, and is currently being considered as a potential treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder in military and rescue service personnel. (shrink)

The Bayesian model has been used in psychology as the standard reference for the study of probability revision. In the first part of this paper we show that this traditional choice restricts the scope of the experimental investigation of revision to a stable universe. This is the case of a situation that, technically, is known as focusing. We argue that it is essential for a better understanding of human probability revision to consider another situation called updating (Katsuno & Mendelzon, 1992), (...) in which the universe is evolving. In that case the structure of the universe has definitely been transformed and the revision message conveys information on the resulting universe. The second part of the paper presents four experiments based on the Monty Hall puzzle that aim to show that updating is a natural frame for individuals to revise their beliefs. (shrink)

This paper provides an empirical defense of credit theories of knowing against Mark Alfano’s challenges to them based on his theses of inferential cognitive situationism and of epistemic situationism. In order to support the claim that credit theories can treat many cases of cognitive success through heuristic cognitive strategies as credit-conferring, the paper develops the compatibility between virtue epistemologies qua credit theories, and dual-process theories in cognitive psychology. It also a response to Lauren Olin and John Doris’ “vicious minds” thesis, (...) and their “tradeoff problem” for virtue theories. A genuine convergence between virtue epistemology and dual-process theory (DPT) is called for, while acknowledging that this effort may demand new and more empirically well-informed projects on both sides of the division between Conservative virtue epistemology (including the credit theory of knowing) and Autonomous virtue epistemology (including virtue responsibility, and meliorative projects for providing guidance to epistemic agents engaged in inquiry). (shrink)

On one view, limb transplants cross technological frontiers but not ethical ones; the only issues to be resolved concern professional competence, under the assumption of patient autonomy. Given that the benefits of limb transplant do not outweigh the risks, however, the autonomy and rationality of the patient are not necessarily self‐evident. In addition to questions of resource allocation and informed consent, limb, and particularly hand, allograft also raises important issues of personal identity and bodily integrity. We present two linked schemas (...) for exploring ethical issues in limb transplants. The first, relying on conventional concepts in biomedical ethics, asks whether the procedure is research or therapy, whether the costs outweigh the benefits, and whether it should be up to the patient to decide. The second introduces more speculative and theoretically challenging questions, including bodily integrity, the argument from unnaturalness, and the function of the hand in expressing personal identity and intimacy. We conclude that limb transplants are not ruled out a priori, unlike some procedures that are prima facie wrong to perform, such as amputation of healthy limbs to relieve body dysmorphic disorders. However, their legitimacy is not proven by appeals to the interests of scientific research, cost‐benefit, or patient autonomy. (shrink)

When is an artwork complete? Most hold that the correct answer to this question is psychological in nature. A work is said to be complete just in case the artist regards it as complete or is appropriately disposed to act as if he or she did. Even though this view seems strongly supported by metaphysical, epistemological, and normative considerations, this article argues that such psychologism about completeness is mistaken, fundamentally, because it cannot make sense of the artist's own perspective on (...) his or her work. For the artist, the question is not about his or her own psychology, but about the character of the work and the context in which he or she works. A nonpsychological account of completeness, on which completeness is a question of whether the work satisfies the conditions implicit in the artist's plan, avoids this problem and is equally or better able to explain the metaphysical, epistemic, and normative phenomena which appeared to support psychologism. (shrink)

Hersch’s objective in his paper was to “illustrate how an existential ontology has a great deal to offer psychotherapists”. The first of three sections addresses existential themes such as guilt and anxiety and explores the notion of bad faith; the second focuses on why existential ontology provides a more suitable grounding for psychotherapy than traditional models; and the third offers the author’s invention of a mental status examination that is derived from existential ontology. To illustrate how existential ontology may be (...) useful to psychotherapists, Hersch directs our attention to those existential themes that are crucial to understanding the role ontology plays, existential.. (shrink)

Recent studies have shown that Einstein did not write the EPR paper and that he was disappointed with the outcome. He thought, rightly, that his own argument for the incompleteness of quantum theory was badly presented in the paper. We reconstruct the argument of EPR, indicate the reasons Einstein was dissatisfied with it, and discuss Einstein's own argument. We show that many commentators have been misled by the obscurity of EPR into proposing interpretations of its argument that do not accurately (...) represent Einstein's own views. Finally, we evaluate Einstein's own incompleteness argument, concluding that recent experimental findings have likely shown it to be unsound. (shrink)

La 4e de couverture indique : "Ce qui se passe, se produit ou arrive et qui présente une certaine importance pour les hommes " : pareille définition, en raison de son manque de rigueur scientifique, ne saurait satisfaire l'auteur de cet ouvrage. Le grand événement y est présenté comme une notion susceptible de faire l'objet d'une approche authentiquement épistémologique. Rejetée du système scientifique de façon tapageuse, hâtive et passionnelle durant la majeure partie du XXe siècle par contagion disciplinaire en dépit (...) du réel tourmenté de cette période, la notion de grand événement a été réhabilitée à la faveur de Mai 1968 et des récentes découvertes des sciences dites exactes, mais avec une certaine méfiance voire une certaine honte et sans que l'on en ait tiré toutes les conséquences. L'auteur se prononce en faveur d'une prise en considération affirmée et effective de cette notion intrinsèquement révolutionnaire qui apparaît, à plus d'un titre, comme le trublion de l'ordre scientifique établi. Il se risque même à préconiser la création d'une science transversale dont le grand événement constituerait l'objet. Son approche se situe à la croisée des recherches sur le travail de mémoire et sur le retour du présent qui animent la réflexion de ce changement de siècle et de millénaire. Cette provocation épistémologique interpellera tous ceux qui, à un titre ou à un autre, ont été ou sont confrontés aux grands événements : historiens, journalistes, politologues, diplomates, juristes... acteurs et spectateurs.". (shrink)

We describe a tool that allows the merging of extensions of argumentation frameworks, following the approach defined by 33–42). The tool is implemented in Java, and is highly modular thanks to Object Oriented Programming principles. We describe a short experimental study that assesses the scalability of the approach, as well as the impact on runtime of using an integrity constraint.

A Review of John Greco's book Acheiving Knowledge. The critical points I make involve three claims Greco makes that represent common ground between the reliabilists (including agent reliabilists like himself) and the character epistemologists (which would include myself): I. Such virtues are often needed to make our cognitive abilities reliable (to turn mere faculties into excellences); II. Such virtues might be essentially involved in goods other than knowledge; III. Such virtues might be valuable in themselves.

If you want to challenge or at least weaken the adhesion to a system of values, you can basically adopt two radically opposed rhetorical strategies. Either you will attack the system in a frontal way: for instance, fundamentalists or fascists deny any validity to democratic values and human rights. Or you will pretend to argue from within the system (by saying that you accept some of its basic premises), while subtly distorting the process of reasoning in order to get to (...) your conclusions. If the audience is naïve or poorly informed, you will be able to defend positions that are fundamentally at odds with liberal-democratic values while seeming to argue from inside the system. I would like to show how such a process of “perverse” translation works in the context of the Darwinism/Creationism “controversy”. The attacks on the teaching of evolutionary biology began approximately one century ago. The way Creationists have argued and changed several times their rhetorical strategies seems very interesting to me, in that it exemplifies an important contemporary phenomenon, which I call “perverse translation” or “the wolf in the sheepfold”. (shrink)

Presents 3 hermeneutic answers to the problem of relativism. The 1st answer is drawn from L. Wittgenstein's anthropological hermeneutics. Wittgenstein went beyond relativism by making explicit universal anthropological categories that are specified differently in different cultures. The 2nd answer lies in H.-G. Gadamer's historical hermeneutics. By introducing the concepts of tradition and fusion of horizons, Gadamer evades both absolutism and relativism. The 3rd answer is developed by J. Habermas in his critical hermeneutics. By situating communicative action in the life-world, and (...) stressing the possibility of discussion and critique, Habermas can ascertain that there is no absolute truth without having to surrender to relativism. 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

El presente artículo busca enfocar la correlación entre el uso de la energía, el espacio, el territorio y el desarrollo local, teniendo en cuenta la utilización del gas natural en las cerámicas de Mato Grosso del Sur/Brasil. La importancia de los hechos geográficos es pautada por muchos parámetros, como el paso del tiempo, los nuevos descubrimientos tecnológicos, las necesidades de materias primas, los objetivos nacionales e internacionales y la ética de las relaciones internacionales. El gas natural no es utilizado aún (...) como fuente alternativa de energía en gran escala en el Estado. Puede ser considerado como uno de los resultados de la valorización de la política socio económica, de la cultura local y del medio ambiente preservado como parte de la identidad local del ser humano al mejorar su calidad de vida. (shrink)

La philosophie de Camus a déjà été bien étudiée ; son rapport au christianisme est connu et les chrétiens se sont immédiatement intéressés à son oeuvre. Mais cette affinité restait à analyser. C'est ce que propose cet ouvrage, selon diverses perspectives : à partir de la formation que reçut Camus, de son art d'écrivain et de metteur en scène, de ses relations avec les philosophes chrétiens et, enfin, de la manière dont sa propre réflexion aborde le christianisme. Camus ne se (...) voulait pas en effet un philosophe "professionnel". Il récusait les dogmes et les systèmes en philosophie, et les combattait également sans relâche dans les religions. Sa pensée de l'absurde et de la révolte a ainsi rencontré dans le christianisme un écho à son sens de la condition humaine, irréductible à l'idéologie. Cet ouvrage est le fruit d'un colloque international, qui fut organisé à l'Institut catholique de Paris, les 15 et 16 mars 2010, avec la collaboration de la Société des études camusiennes. Ce fut la première fois que des chercheurs se réunissaient autour de cette question. (shrink)

Aristotle's zoological writings with their wealth of detailed investigations on diverse species of animals have fascinated medieval and Renaissance culture. This volume explores how these texts have been read in various traditions (Arabic, Hebrew, Latin), and how they have been incorporated in different genres (in philosophical and scientific treatises, in florilegia and encyclopedias, in theological symbolism, in moral allegories, and in manuscript illustrations). This multidisciplinary and multilinguistic approach highlights substantial aspects of Aristotle's animals.

This paper provides a reading of the opera criticism of Bernard Williams in the light of his philosophical writings. Beginning with the observations that his philosophical writing lacks engagement with musical and aesthetic issues, and his operatic writing appears to present no particular philosophy of the subject, I try to draw together certain themes by mapping Williams's operatic concerns onto his philosophical project more generally. I argue that the 'excessive' nature of the artform—the idea that opera tends to exceed its (...) musico-dramatic functions—was of particular interest to Williams, partly because it resonated with his dislike of easy theoretical solutions to thorny practical issues. More specifically, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte is related, via the way the way its emotional register exceeds its dramatic context, to the issues examined by Williams in his work on moral luck. Similarly, I discuss the way Williams's essay on Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande seems to hint at an account of the emotions which is otherwise missing from Williams's oeuvre. (shrink)

Why is social bias and its depressing effects on low-status or low-performing groups exaggerated? We show that the higher intelligence of academics has at best a very weak effect on reducing their bias, facilitates superficially justifying their biases, and may make them better at understanding the benefits of social conformity in general and competitive altruism specifically. We foresee a surge in research examining these mechanisms and recommend, meanwhile, reviving and better observing scientific ideals.

The principal argument suggested here is that we are all morally embedded selves: We have no control over the abilities that make us moral agents nor can we control the degree to which we have these abilities; in other words, we are not responsible for our good or bad qualities as moral agents. This, I believe, calls for the adoption of embedded compatibilism (EC). According to EC, people have control over their conduct; this control, however, is embedded within prerequisites, which (...) they cannot control and hence are not responsible for having or lacking. On the one hand, EC enables us to explain why a lack of control at the ultimate level does not eliminate moral judgment altogether. However on the other hand, EC ought to change our understanding of moral responsibility; interalia, it supports a hybrid notion of punishment, indicates the incomplete nature of guilt and reintroduces the problem of moral luck. (shrink)

Cette édition numérique a été réalisée à partir d'un support physique, parfois ancien, conservé au sein du dépôt légal de la Bibliothèque nationale de France, conformément à la loi n° 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative à l'exploitation des Livres indisponibles du XXe siècle. Pages de début Majesté de l'État et dignité de la personne selon Hegel La renaissance des doctrines philosophiques classiques Le droit naturel et le droit de la raison L'ordre juridique et la question de son fondement dans (...) la philosophie du droit contemporaine en France La pensée juridique et les doctrines philosophiques modernes Pensée moderne et réformes pénales Philosophie de l'ordre civil positif L'herméneutique et la philosophie du droit analytique Le personnalisme juridique Rawls en FrancePhilosophie du droit : les enjeux d'une fin de siècle Pages de fin. (shrink)

Cet article porte sur un ouvrage d'Élisabeth Badinter: "XY. De l'identité masculine". Après en avoir décrit les grandes lignes, il en propose une critique concernant tout d'abord des problèmes techniques liés à la documentation et à l'utilisation des sources; puis des problèmes de contenu, tant du point de vue formel (contradictions, définitions douteuses ou manquantes) qu'en rapport à divers problèmes: la caractérisation du champ des études sur l'homme, la terminologie de base, les concepts fondamentaux (masculinité, féminité) et le contexte social (...) d'une éventuelle transformation de l'identité masculine. La conclusion souligne que les défauts relevés peuvent découler du caractère innovateur de l'ouvrage et de l'immensité de la documentation pertinente. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage se veut "une réflexion sur le phénomène multiforme et universel des philosophies langagières" cherchant à comprendre "la hantise linguistique de la pensée contemporaine". Il s'attarde en particulier à la philosophie anglo-saxonne contemporaine et à la phénoménologie, le tout dans la nostalgie de "l'ancienne vigueur ontologique" du discours philosophique, non pour prôner le retour à la métaphysique, mais pour affronter la "cause profonde" de la "névrose ou psychose langagière": l'univers techno-scientifique.

Face à la défense aristotélicienne de l'esclavage, il faut, dit-on "sauver l'honneur des philosophes". Objectif: dévoiler le coût de cette entreprise dans un contexte où l'on préconise de plus en plus le recours à Aristote pour surmonter les impasses imputées à la pensée éthico-politique contemporaine. Au delà de sa portée historique, cet ouvrage interroge l'image actuelle du philosophe grec véhiculée par ses commentateurs francophones (1932-1999) et la pertinence attribuée à son message.

Foucault rejette la dissociation entre savoir et pouvoir, il la renverse même en insistant sur leur interaction. On examine d'abord en quoi consiste la conception foucaldienne du pouvoir. On illustre ensuite les fluctuations du philosophe français concernant les rapports entre savoir et pouvoir. Puis on propose une relecture de "L'histoire de la sexualité" comme exemple privilégié de savoir-pouvoir, un savoir-pouvoir non seulement "du" sexe, mais aussi "de" sexe, c'est-à-dire "reflétant le point de vue particulier des hommes sur la sexualité, à (...) l'exclusion de celui des femmes. Cette perspective permet de remettre en cause la conception foucaldienne du pouvoir. (shrink)

Foucault considérait l'auteur comme un principe de raréfaction des discours empêchant le livre de mener sa propre existence. Mais, à propos de son oeuvre et à partir d'une certaine époque, il adopte la posture de l'auteur. Pourquoi, donc, l'apologie de la dispersion textuelle s'efface-t-elle au profit de la maîtrise unificatrice du discours? Répondre à cette question oblige à approfondir certaines notions maîtresses de la pensée de Foucault, en particulier le sujet, la vérité et le pouvoir, ainsi que leur articulation.

When Emanuel Ringelblum was born on November 21, 1900, in Buczacz, the small, multilingual and multi-ethnic Galician town was to be found on the far northeastern part of the Austrian Empire. As a mail stamp on a Correspondenz-Karte or Karta korrespondencyja of 1890 shows, the place was officially spelled in accordance with its Polish orthography. However, it was called Butschtasch in German, Bichuch in Yiddish, and still differently in Ukranian. After World War I, it was for a short while part (...) of Ukrania, and subsequently became Polish, then Soviet, and Ukranian again in the aftermath of the end of the Soviet Union. Ringelblum's cousin, Shmuel Josef Agnon, was also born in Buczacz. But their lives were to diverge in most respects. Agnon is remembered as one of the leading authors of modern Hebrew belles-lettres who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1966. And one remembers Ringelblum as the one who, with utmost and relentless courage, organized the underground archive Oyneg Shabes in the Warsaw ghetto. Samuel D. Kassow, the expert on the history of Oyneg Shabes and the author of a brilliant monograph on this subject, asserts that “more than anyone else it was Emanuel Ringelblum who encouraged individuals to write, who organized and conceptualized the archive, and who transformed it into a powerful center of civil resistance”. (shrink)