On Marx et Marxisms. In response to the questions addressed by Jacques Bidet and Bruno Tinel, Gérard Duménil, Michael Löwy and Emmanuel Renault here outline the approach they adopted in their two recently published books on Marx, and on Marxisms . The questions raised here mainly hinge on the articulation between the political, the philosophical and the economic dimension of Marx’s writings, and the way these can be mobilised within contemporary debates.

In their debate here Jacques Bidet, Gérard Duménil and Urs Lindner confront their interpretations of Marx’s Capital, discussing the usages to be made of it today. Questions addressed here include the place of the philosophy, economics, and social sciences, in the critique of political economy. They examine the points where Marx’s analysis has been reformulated or completed, to what extent it has been rendered obsolete by historical evolutions, and in what respect it still retains its pertinence. These are the (...) principal questions addressed in the discussion. (shrink)

Près d'une trentaine d'articles sur les idées politiques de Gérard Bergeron et sur la politique en général.

Autumnal spring. Semiotic analysis in the context of the developments of the Parisian school. Both verbal and non-verbal exhortations are usually much more complex than we can ascertain in one quick overview. The semiotic ‘instrument’ as developed by the Parisian school is geared towards helping us readers to discover the hidden meaning of expressions and to pursue the levels of meaning of the object, which are not immediately obvious. In this article, which consists of two parts, we will gradually expound (...) and make operational the most important semiotic notions. In this context we will work in such a manner as to also elucidate the developments in semiotics of the Parisian school. In this first part of our article, we will expound the ‘classical’ semiotic approach, and its operational workings in analysis. As object of the analysis we have chosen the discourse ‘Not only the spring is disconsolate’ by pastor Monique de Bree. This discourse is analysed on the discursive level with its syntactic component and its semantic component . After this, the narrative syntax and semantics will be discussed, and finally the syntax and semantics of the level of depth. Characteristic for the initial period of this type of semiotics is that discursiveness was seen especially as a further addition to the deeper levels. The transition of the semiotic narrative level to the discursive level was seen as a concretisation of the elements of the surface and depth levels. In the recent development in Greimassian semiotics however, this classical notion of the generative trajectory is criticised. The discursive level has its own autonomy and semiotics has developed further within this context. These recent developments in semiotic meta-language and making it operational will be the focus of the second article. (shrink)

We generalize the concept of a cooperative non-transferable utility game by introducing a socially structured game. In a socially structured game every coalition of players can organize themselves according to one or more internal organizations to generate payoffs. Each admissible internal organization on a coalition yields a set of payoffs attainable by the members of this coalition. The strengths of the players within an internal organization depend on the structure of the internal organization and are represented by an exogenously given (...) power vector. More powerful players have the power to take away payoffs of the less powerful players as long as those latter players are not able to guarantee their payoffs by forming a different internal organization within some coalition in which they have more power.We introduce the socially stable core as a solution concept that contains those payoffs that are both stable in an economic sense, i.e., belong to the core of the underlying cooperative game, and stable in a social sense, i.e., payoffs are sustained by a collection of internal organizations of coalitions for which power is distributed over all players in a balanced way. The socially stable core is a subset and therefore a refinement of the core. We show by means of examples that in many cases the socially stable core is a very small subset of the core.We will state conditions for which the socially stable core is non-empty. In order to derive this result, we formulate a new intersection theorem that generalizes the KKMS intersection theorem. We also discuss the relationship between social stability and the wellknown concept of balancedness for NTU-games, a sufficient condition for non-emptiness of the core. In particular we give an example of a socially structured game that satisfies social stability and therefore has a non-empty core, but whose induced NTU-game does not satisfy balancedness in the general sense of Billera. (shrink)

Devant un film de Jean Cocteau ou de Pasolini, devant un scénario de Jacques Prévert ; devant les photos de Georges Azenstarck, celles des prêtres-ouvriers par Joël Peyroux, celles des albums de familles en banlieue ; devant les toiles de Patrice Giorda ou d'Ernest Pignon-Ernest mais aussi devant une page des Cantos d'Ezra Pound ou d'un texte d'Antonin Artaud, qui ne s'est posé la question : qu'est-ce qu'on y voit? Et plus interrogateur encore : qu'est-ce qu'on y lit? Les (...) sources d'inspiration, d'enthousiasmes ou de fureur de Gérard Mordillat sont nombreuses. Et c'est bien l'oeil qui toujours a nourri sa littérature. Ce recueil prend les ouvres à bras-le-corps, les dissèque, les malmène, pour en livrer toute la profondeur. Homme de lettres et homme d'images, Gérard Mordillat nous livre ici son regard de critique, au sens le plus noble du terme, avec la force et la fougue que l'on trouve dans ses romans. Au regard de textes écrits séparément mais tous gouvernés par cette même question : le mot et l'image seraient-ils frères de sang de l'écriture? Gérard Mordillat interroge les ouvres picturales, photographiques, littéraires ou cinématographiques qui, depuis toujours, sous-tendent et ses films et ses livres. (shrink)

“This book will certainly prove to be a useful resource and reference point … a good addition to anyone’s bookshelf.” Network "This is a superb collection, expertly presented. The overall conception seems splendid, giving an excellent sense of the issues... The selection and length of the readings is admirably judged, with both the classic texts and the few unpublished pieces making just the right points." William Outhwaite, Professor of Sociology, University of Sussex "... an indispensable book for all of us (...) in philosophy and the social sciences who teach and care about the shape of social knowledge in the future." Steven Seidman, Professor of Sociology, State University of New York Albany "For a comprehensive account of the ways in which world transformations affect claims to social scientific knowledge, one need look no further than Gerard Delanty and Piet Strydom's Philosophies of Social Science . ...this collection captures nicely the increasingly engaged political nature of the philosophy of social science. Debates about pragmatism, feminism and postmodernism are particularly well represented" The Australian What is social science? How does it differ from the other sciences? What is the meaning of method in social science? What is the nature and limits of scientific knowledge? This collection of over sixty extracts from classic works on the philosophy of social science provides an essential textbook and a landmark reference in the field. It highlights the work of some of the most influential authors who have shaped social science. The texts explore the question of truth, the meaning of scientific knowledge, the nature of methodology and the relation of science to society, including edited extracts from both classic and contemporary works by authors such as Emile Durkheim, Georg Simmel, Max Weber, Alfred Schutz, Max Horkheimer, Jurgen Habermas, Alvin Gouldner, Karl-Otto Apel, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, Anthony Giddens, Dorothy Smith, Donna Haraway, Sigmund Freud, Jacques Derrida and Claude Levi-Strauss. The readings are representative of the major schools of thought, including European and American trends in particular as well as approaches that are often excluded from mainstream traditions. From a teaching and learning perspective the volume is strengthened by extensive introductions to each of the six sections, as well as a general introduction to the reader as a whole. These introductions contextualise the readings and offer succinct summaries of them. This volume is the definitive companion to the study of the philosophy of social science, taught within undergraduate or postgraduate courses in sociology and the social sciences. (shrink)

Depuis le XIX e siècle, les psychiatres et psychothérapeutes de langue française ont travaillé les souffrances et les « contagions psychiques » induites par les liens. De la folie à deux de Lassègue et Falret en passant par la folie gémellaire de Benjamin Ball, au travail en reprise du concept de folie à deux par Jacques Lacan dans le « double crime des sœurs Papin, nous arrivons aux complexes familiaux écrits deux ans plus tard, premier écrit sur le groupe (...) fratrie. Zazzo à partir du travail sur le couple de jumeau a inspiré l’auteur de l’article qui reprend trente ans plus tard un travail initié sur le lien gémellaire qui induira son choix de devenir psychanalyste familial. (shrink)

" L'état social n'est avantageux aux hommes qu'autant qu'ils ont tous quelque chose et qu'aucun d'eux n'a rien de trop " écrit Rousseau. Une certaine redistribution des richesses est donc le préalable obligé d'une vie politique qui ne tourne pas à la domination des uns sur les autres. Le présent essai retrace la genèse de l'inégalité telle que Rousseau la conçoit et en analyse les conséquences. Rousseau ou la révolution impossible constitue ainsi une introduction à la lecture du Discours sur (...) l'origine de l'inégalité et du Contrat social. Mais, par delà l'éclairage apporté à des textes parfois difficiles, tous ceux qui ne se satisfont pas du cours pris par la vie politique dans les démocraties contemporaines devraient y trouver de quoi nourrir leur réflexion critique. (shrink)

Censures au XVIIIe siecle, les ecrivains-philosophes des Lumieres demeurent controverses ou singes de nos jours. Cette etude privilegie leurs idees-forces sans negliger les porte-parole. Celebres (Bayle, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Helvetius, d'Holbach...) ou reconnus (d'Argens, Mably, Mirabeau, d'Alembert, Volney, Mme de Stael...) ils n'enferment point leur oeuvre dans le moule d'une pensee unique. Ne parlant jamais d'une seule voix, tous associent l'invention de la liberte et l'idee neuve de bonheur. La Mettrie, materialiste medecin des ames, ecrit en precurseur de Freud. (...) Immoraliste visionnaire, Sade anticipe les derives d'une philosophie deshumanisee. Les debats seculaires avec les apologistes (Abbadie, Barruel, Bergier, Gerard, Holland, Vernes...) elaborent les fondements universels d'une morale non confessionnelle. Du refus des dogmes et de tout esprit de systeme nait une ethique transcendant les revelations. (shrink)

La pensée de Jean-Jacques Rousseau est essentiellement une pensée politique, qui oscille entre un pôle transpolitique, que le citoyen de Genève incarne, par exemple, dans les personnages du législateur, du pédagogue et du sage, et un pôle prépolitique, où figurent l'homme naturel, le marginal et l'homme sensible. C'est en examinant quelques pages de trois grandes oeuvres de Rousseau: l'« Emile », « Du contrat social » et « Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloïse », que je tenterai d'éclaircir brièvement ces (...) points. Ainsi sera manifestée l'actualité des paradoxes rousseauistes.Rousseau's thought is essentially a political thought that swings from a transpolitical pole, presented through the figures of the legislator, the pedagogue and the wise man, and a prepolitical pole, where we meet natural man, the outsider and the man of exquisite sensibility. This theme is brought to light through a partial analysis of three of Rousseau's major works : " Emile ", " Du contrat social " and the "Nouvelle Héloïse". In this way, it is hoped that Rousseau's paradoxes will be shown to have meaning for our contemporaries. (shrink)

The subjective Bayesian interpretation of quantum mechanics and Rovelli’s relational interpretation of quantum mechanics are both notable for embracing the radical idea that measurement outcomes correspond to events whose occurrence is relative to an observer. Here we provide a detailed study of their similarities and especially their differences.

One effect of information technology is the increasing need to present information visually. The trend raises intriguing questions. What is the logical status of reasoning that employs visualization? What are the cognitive advantages and pitfalls of this reasoning? What kinds of tools can be developed to aid in the use of visual representation? This newest volume on the Studies in Logic and Computation series addresses the logical aspects of the visualization of information. The authors of these specially commissioned papers explore (...) the properties of diagrams, charts, and maps, and their use in problem solving and teaching basic reasoning skills. As computers make visual representations more commonplace, it is important for professionals, researchers and students in computer science, philosophy, and logic to develop an understanding of these tools; this book can clarify the relationship between visuals and information. (shrink)

La nomination des phénomènes sociaux par les spécialistes cherche à les débarrasser des contenus moraux ou idéologiques que véhiculent les termes courants et vise leur objectivation. L’exercice est difficile, car, bien souvent, les nouveaux termes proposés peuvent générer des interprétations qui trahissent les intentions de leurs auteurs. Les glissements sont encore plus importants lorsque ces termes sont repris et légitimés par les institutions. L’auteur prend pour exemple deux termes, celui de familles monoparentales et celui d’hébergement alterné. Il analyse les connotations (...) et les dénégations symboliques dont ces deux termes sont porteurs et montre l’importance du pouvoir des mots. (shrink)

Written by one of the most important founding figures of Western philosophy, Aristotle’s _Nicomachean Ethics_ represents a critical point in the study of ethics which has influenced the direction of modern philosophy. The _Routledge Guidebook to Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics_ introduces the major themes in Aristotle’s great book and acts as a companion for reading this key work, examining: The context of Aristotle’s work and the background to his writing Each separate part of the text in relation to its goals, meanings (...) and impact The reception the book received when first seen by the world The relevance of Aristotle’s work to modern philosophy, its legacy and influence. With further reading included throughout, this text is essential reading for all students of philosophy, and all those wishing to get to grips with this classic work. (shrink)

After providing a novel taxonomy of lottery procedures for fairly distributing scarce goods, I defend a new weighted lottery theory. This taxonomy is necessary because the debate between unweighted and weighted lottery theorists overlooks a range of cases, overlap cases, in which conducting an unweighted lottery is impossible or implausible. Therefore, to account for all such cases, lottery theorists must adopt a weighted lottery. However, while no extant weighted lottery is adequate in overlap cases, my new weighted lottery theory is. (...) I conclude by discussing my theory’s practical implications. (shrink)

Scientific breakthroughs rarely yield the potential to engage a foundational ethical question. Recent studies on direct reprogramming of human skin cells reported by the Yamanaka lab in Japan and the Thomson lab in Wisconsin suggest that scientists may have crossed both a scientific and an ethical threshold. The fascinating science of direct nuclear reprogramming highlights empirical data that may clarify the ontological status of cellular activity in the early stages of what could become a human fetus and justify ethical options (...) for research in this controversial field. The ontological and ethical implications that accrue here are connected with the biological or natural potentiality of these cells. (shrink)

We apply Benacerraf’s distinction between mathematical ontology and mathematical practice to examine contrasting interpretations of infinitesimal mathematics of the seventeenth and eighteenth century, in the work of Bos, Ferraro, Laugwitz, and others. We detect Weierstrass’s ghost behind some of the received historiography on Euler’s infinitesimal mathematics, as when Ferraro proposes to understand Euler in terms of a Weierstrassian notion of limit and Fraser declares classical analysis to be a “primary point of reference for understanding the eighteenth-century theories.” Meanwhile, scholars like (...) Bos and Laugwitz seek to explore Eulerian methodology, practice, and procedures in a way more faithful to Euler’s own. Euler’s use of infinite integers and the associated infinite products are analyzed in the context of his infinite product decomposition for the sine function. Euler’s principle of cancellation is compared to the Leibnizian transcendental law of homogeneity. The Leibnizian law of continuity similarly finds echoes in Euler. We argue that Ferraro’s assumption that Euler worked with a classical notion of quantity is symptomatic of a post-Weierstrassian placement of Euler in the Archimedean track for the development of analysis, as well as a blurring of the distinction between the dual tracks noted by Bos. Interpreting Euler in an Archimedean conceptual framework obscures important aspects of Euler’s work. Such a framework is profitably replaced by a syntactically more versatile modern infinitesimal framework that provides better proxies for his inferential moves. (shrink)