Philosophie et sciences: voila un theme difficile, central, de notre temps, ou il est necessairement question de son sens. C'est ce sens qu'interrogent, d'une facon a la fois historique et problematique, les essais du present volume. J. Merleau-Ponty questionne les rapports entre sciences et vulgarisation scientifique. J. Ladriere pose le probleme de La normativite de la pensee scientifique. J. Lambert met en evidence le probleme du Livre de la Nature chez Galilee et Kepler. P. Kerszberg confronte les structures internes de (...) la philosophie critique kantienne et de la theorie de la relativite sur la question cosmologique. M. Richir analyse L'illusion transcendantale dans la theorie cantorienne des ensembles. B. d'Espagnat et G. Hottois evoquent le problemes des rapports difficiles, aujourd'hui, entre science et philosophie. (shrink)

Nursing as a profession has a social mandate to contribute to the good of society through knowledge-based practice. Knowledge is built upon theories, and theories, together with their philosophical bases and disciplinary goals, are the guiding frameworks for practice. This article explores a philosophical perspective of nursing's social mandate, the disciplinary goals for the good of the individual and society, and one approach for translating knowledge into practice through the use of a middle-range theory. It is anticipated that the integration (...) of the philosophical perspective and model into nursing practice will strengthen the philosophy, disciplinary goal, theory, and practice links and expand knowledge within the discipline. With the focus on humanization, we propose that nursing knowledge for social good will embrace a synthesis of the individual and the common good. This approach converges vital and agency needs described by Hamilton and the primacy of maintaining the heritage of the good within the human species as outlined by Maritain. Further, by embedding knowledge development in a changing social and health care context, nursing focuses on the goals of clinical reasoning and action. McCubbin and Patterson's Double ABCX Model of Family Adaptation was used as an example of a theory that can guide practice at the community and global level. Using the theory-practice link as a foundation, the Double ABCX model provides practising nurses with one approach to meet the needs of individuals and society. The integration of theory into nursing practice provides a guide to achieve nursing's disciplinary goals of promoting health and preventing illness across the globe. When nursing goals are directed at the synthesis of the good of the individual and society, nursing's social and moral mandate may be achieved. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to investigate the flow of MHD mixed convection nanofluid flow under nonlinear heated due to an extending surface. The transfer of heat in nanofluid subject to a magnetic field and boundary conditions of convective is studied to obtain the physical meaning of the convection phenomenon. The governing partial differential equations of the boundary layer are reduced to ordinary differential equations considering a technique of the transformation of similarity. The transformed equations are solved numerically considering (...) the technique of an efficient numerical shooting applying the Runge–Kutta technique scheme from the fourth-fifth order. The results corresponding to the dimensionless speed, temperature, concentration profiles, and the Nusselt number reduced, and the Sherwood numbers are presented by figures to display the physical meaning of the phenomena. A comparison has been made between the obtained results with the previous results obtained by others and agrees with them if the new parameters vanish. The results obtained indicate the impacts of the nondimensional governing parameters, namely, magnetic field parameter M, Soret number Sr, heat source λ, thermal buoyancy parameter λ T, and solutal buoyancy parameter λ C on the flow, temperature, and concentration profiles being discussed and presented graphically. (shrink)

Context: Seventeen years ago Francisco Varela introduced neurophenomenology. He proposed the integration of phenomenological approaches to first-person experience – in the tradition of Husserl, Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty – with a neuro-dynamical, scientific approach to the study of the situated brain and body. Problem: It is time for a re-appraisal of this field. Has neurophenomenology already contributed to the sciences of the mind? If so, how? How should it best do so in future? Additionally, can neurophenomenology really help to resolve or (...) dissolve the “hard problem” of the relation between mind and body, as Varela claimed? Method: The papers in this special issue arose out of a conference organised by the Consciousness and Experiential Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society in Bristol, UK, in September 2012. We have invited a representative sample of the speakers at that conference to present their work here. Results: Various papers argue that the first-person methods of phenomenology are distinct from, and more robust than, the failed “introspectionist” methods of early modern psychology. The “elicitation interview” emerges as a successful and widely adopted method to have emerged from this field. Phenomenological techniques are already being successfully applied to neuroscientific problems. Various specific proposals for new techniques and applications are made. Implications: It is time to take neurophenomenology seriously. It has proven its worth, and it is ripe with the potential for further immediate, successful applications. Constructivist content: Varela’s key aim was to develop a non-dualising approach to the science of consciousness. The papers in this special issue look at the philosophical and practical details of successfully putting such an approach into practice. (shrink)

En este trabajo pretendemos comparar y contrastar las concepciones explícitas e implícitas de la historicidad de Merleau-Ponty y Arendt. Comenzaremos trazando su filiación fenomenológica, que tiene como hilo conductor su común búsqueda del sentido de la experiencia incluso en el sinsentido, abriéndose a él desde sus situaciones y compromisos, adentrándose con el pensamiento en la fragilidad y en la contingencia que jamás excluyeron del filosofar. Mostraremos que el desarrollo merleau-pontiano de la fenomenología genética, particularmente su interpretación del concepto husserliano de (...) la Stiftung, posibilita una concepción de la historia que podría ser aceptada por Arendt, de la misma manera que lo fue su ontología indirecta y su interrogación filosófica. Aunque su resistencia a la reversibilidad de la chair limitará la concepción arendtiana de la acción y del pensar, la interrelación de ambos pensamientos revelará la necesidad de una nueva filosofía de la historia. (shrink)

Resumen: Este trabajo se propone examinar algunos límites de la célebre descripción merleau-pontiana del cuerpo vivido en términos de “esquema corporal” y “cuerpo habitual”, teniendo en cuenta referencias alternativas del corpus textual del filósofo a ciertas dimensiones de la experiencia corporal que desbordan tal marco. Tras analizar en primer término estas primeras definiciones que esbozan el perfil de un cuerpo hábil y competente correlativo de un entorno pragmático, consideramos seguidamente instancias de comportamientos no teleológicos ni funcionales y espacialidades no objetivas (...) ni instrumentales para concluir mostrando la relación de estos análisis con la tematización merleau-pontiana más amplia de los horizontes naturales de la experiencia. En un segundo plano evaluamos las críticas de exégetas tales como A. Lingis y J. Butler a ciertos déficits de las tesis merleau-pontianas, y relacionamos estas últimas con desarrollos filosóficos que manifiestan ciertas afinidades específicas, tales como los de E. Levinas y R. Caillois.: This paper intends to examine some of the limitations of the well-known MerleauPontian account of the lived body in terms of "body schema" and "habitual body", by taking into account some alternative references of the philosopher’s textual corpus to certain dimensions of corporeal experience that exceed such frames. After analyzing these former definitions that outline the profile of a skillful and competent body correlative of a pragmatic environment, we consider cases of non-teleological and non-functional behaviors and non-objective and non-instrumental spatialities to end up by showing the relationship between these analyses and the wider Merleau-Pontian account of the natural horizons of experience. Secondarily, we evaluate critiques such as A. Lingis’ and J. Butler’s aiming to certain deficits of Merleau-Pontian theses, and we identify certain relations that these theses hold with philosophical developments showing certain specific affinities, such as E. Levinas’ and R. Caillois’. (shrink)

O presente artigo constitui, antes de mais, uma exposição da tentativa feita por Maurice Merleau-Ponty de sistematização de um método psicológico convergente com algumas das principais metas estabelecidas pela Fenomenologia de inspiração husserliana. Constatando de que modo o autor da Fenomenologia da Percepção considera os diversos âmbitos da cultura, a começar pela arte e pela psicanálise, como indicadores da decadência do cartesianismo, o artigo analisa o estatuto da ciência justamente como uma das esferas culturais das quais é possível extrair categorias (...) que exprimam de forma mais precisa e rigorosa o real, mostrando-se de que modo as investigações científicas são indispensáveis para uma identificação dos temas a serem filosoficamente tratados, pois os dados obtidos por tais pesquisas são imprescindíveis para o trabalho filosófico enquanto tal Neste sentido, o autor propõe uma relação entre Filosofia e Ciência que não é mais uma relação de hierarquização, tal como defendia Husserl, mas sim uma de complementaridade, tal como defendia Bergson. Com efeito, postulando-se a não necessidade de fragmentar o real para que se legitime um tal acordo, ou seja, dado que a cisão entre o espiritual e o material não pode mais ser mantida, o artigo sublinha a absoluta necessidade de que Filosofia e Ciência se encontrem. Por outras palavras, a integração entre ambas não depende de que uma e outra se refiram à mesma, e justa, metade da realidade, mas tão-somente que cada uma delas remeta para a mesma camada fenomenal, seja para descrever cientificamente os organismos em seu contacto com o meio seja para expor filosoficamente a nova ontologia ali contida. Em suma, o artigo mostra até que ponto, apesar de realizar a intenção bergsoniana de integrar explicação quantitativa e descrição qualitativa e assimilar a crítica de Husserl ao objectivismo, o método fenomenoló-gico não esgota a tarefa ontológica da filosofia. /// The present article analyzes de attempt made by Maurice Merleau-Ponty in order to systematize a psychological method convergent with some of the main goals established by the phenomenological movement issued from HusserL Taking into account the way in which the author of the Phenomenology of Perception considers the different realms of the cultural sphere, beginning with art and psychoanalysis, as special indicators of cartesianisms decadence, the article analyses the statute of science inasmuch as it is one of the cultural spheres from which it is possible to extract the categories that express in a more precise and rigorous way the real, whereby it is shown in what way scientific research is indispensable for an identification of the themes to be treated philosophically. In this sense, the author proposes a relation between Philosophy and Science that is no more one of hierarchysation, as defended by Husserl, but one of complementarity, such as defended by Bergson. By postulating that there is no longer a necessity for a fragmentation of the real so that such an accord between Philosophy and Science could be reached, and this precisely since there is no longer a way of maintaining a division between the spiritual and the material, the article underlines the necessity that Philosophy and Science must come together. In other words, the integration between the Wo no longer depends of the fact that one and the other refer to the same portion of the real, but only of the capacity that each one of them has of referring to the same set of phenomena, being that in order to achieve a scientific description of organisms in contact with the environment or being that in order to advance a philosophical exploration of the new ontology in it contained. Above all, the article shows the measure in which, regardless of the fact that the methodological approach of phenomenology realizes the bergsonian intention of an integration of quantitative explanation and qualitative description, it. cannot properly be said that such method exhausts the ontological task of Philosophy. (shrink)

Este artículo pretende mostrar las líneas fundamentales de la teoría merleaupontyana acerca de la violencia, centrándonos en sus «escritos de guerra». Consta de cuatro epígrafes: una Introducción en la que describimos la situación histórica que influye en la propuesta de Merleau-Ponty, así como explicamos las expresiones «mains sales»-«mains propres». Un segundo apartado en el que caracterizamos las «manos limpias» en base al optimismo democrática el cual se apoya en una conciencia pura. En el tercer epígrafe hacemos patente la crítica merleau-pontyana (...) a los fundamentos teóricos de los «manos limpias» y señalamos su nuevo concepto de humanismo cuya figura central es Maquiavelo. Asimismo, nos detenemos en la ambigüedad existente entre la coexistencia primigenia y la violencia, de modo que una llama a la otra. Finalmente, concluimos definiendo a Merleau-Ponty como «filósofo de la Modernidad», concepto que adquiere un nuevo matiz en su obra.  . (shrink)

El concepto problemático que guía este trabajo es el que, a partir de la aparición del volumen Naturalizing Phenomenology (1999), han propuesto los defensores, así como también los detractores, del proyecto que pretende re-introducir el aporte de la fenomenología en la investigación de las ciencias ..

El propósito de este artículo es poner de manifiesto cómo la ciencia y la filosofía reflexiva son insuficientes para Merleau-Ponty, fenomenólogo que pretende dar con lo que el mundo vivido es. La ciencia no sirve a sus fines porque ha olvidado su raigambre en el universo experimentado por un sujeto y ha construido un supra-mundo susceptible de un conocimiento cierto y evidente. Por su parte, la filosofía reflexiva tampoco le resulta apropiada porque también ha olvidado su cuna en el mundo (...) vivido y, para obtener un conocimiento verdadero de aquello que estudia, se ha centrado únicamente en un "mundo-representación" depurado de cualquier elemento contaminante que imponga limites a un saber plenamente racional. Merleau-Ponty deja de lado ambos procederes y busca un método que le permita contactar con el mundo tal cusí es, en toda su riqueza y esplendor. (shrink)

Originally published in 1988, M.C. Dillon's classic study of Merleau-Ponty is now available in a revised second edition containing a new preface and a new chapter on "Truth in Art." Dillon's thesis is that Merleau-Ponty has developed the first genuine alternative to ontological dualism seen in Western philosophy. From his early work on the philosophical significance of the human body to his later ontology of flesh, Merleau-Ponty shows that the perennial problems growing out of dualistic conceptions of mind and body, (...) subject and object, immanence and transcendence can be resolved within the framework of a new way of thinking based on the exemplar of the worldly embodiment of thought. (shrink)

The French philosopher Renaud Barbaras remarked that late in Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s career, “The phenomenology of perception fulfills itself as a philosophy of expression.” In _Tracing Expression in Merleau-Ponty: Aesthetics, Philosophy of Biology, and Ontology, _Véronique M. Fóti_ _addresses the guiding yet neglected theme of expression in Merleau-Ponty’s thought. She traces Merleau-Ponty’s ideas about how individuals express creative or artistic impulses through his three essays on aesthetics, his engagement with animality and the “new biology” in the second of his lecture courses (...) on nature of 1957–58, and in his late ontology, articulated in 1964 in the fragmentary text of _Le visible et l’invisible _. With the exception of a discussion of Merleau-Ponty’s 1945 essay “Cezanne’s Doubt,” Fóti engages with Merleau-Ponty’s late and final thought, with close attention to both his scientific and philosophical interlocutors, especially the continental rationalists. Expression shows itself, in Merleau-Ponty’s thought, to be primordial, and this innate and fundamental nature of expression has implications for his understanding of artistic creation, science, and philosophy. (shrink)

O ponto de partida do presente ensaio é o entendimento de que a arte constitui um dos motivos catalisadores, se não mesmo um dos temas maiores da reflexão de Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Na interpretação do autor, o filósofo da percepção, aquele que, de todos os pensadores contemporâneos, conferiu ao corpo po um estatuto que a reflexão do século XX ainda não lhe concedera, chegou à arte por necessidade intrínseca do seu próprio caminho especulativo, vindo a reflexão sobre a expressão artística a (...) dar um contributo essencial para a constituição do seu próprio pensamento, contributo esse que se vai adensando, desde a Fenomenologia da Percepção até O Visível e o Invisível e O Olho e o Espírito, a ponto de poder dizer-se que na arte, particularmente na arte moderna, encontrou Merleau-Ponty uma filosofia à l'oeuvre, apesar da ausência do conceito, a que é, de facto, alheia a expressão artística. José Bettencourt da Câmara é professor no Departamento de Artes da Universidade de Évora.. In Editorial. (shrink)

Summary If action theory is to be relevant for the study of social phenomena, its scope has to be enlarged so as to include social structures. A hermeneutic theory of action, which draws on the thoughts of Gadamer, Merleau-Ponty, Ricoeur and Giddens, can meet this requirement. The hermeneutic concept of action, which emphasises the importance of tradition, style and rituals, demonstrates that action and structure presuppose and explain each other. The mutual relationship between action and structure is particularly clear in (...) theories of human development in the domain of psychology, psychotherapy and education. These theories can be used to construct a theory of social evolution, as has been developed by Habermas. By integrating structural, theoretical and critical points of view, a hermeneutic theory of action opens a perspective in which action theory and social theory might be successfully combined. (shrink)

This paper aims to reflect on the possibilities of approaching the phenomenon of memory in relation to space. In order to approach memory on “the side ofspace”, we will find our first decisive guidelines in M. Merleau-Ponty’s analysis of habit developed in Phenomenology of Perception. Starting from there, we will then try to show in what way memory, in a way, can be said to belong to places. The final point of the discussion is Ricœur’s investigation of architecture and urbanism’s (...) analogies with narrative, as they allow us to consider a hermeneutic approach to the spatial fabric of time. (shrink)

As análises aqui propostas enfocam, em primeira instância, a leitura do corpus merleau-pontiano, proposta por R. Barbaras em seu Introduction à une phénoménologie de la vie, segundo a qual os vaivens e ambivalências da reflexão de Merleau-Ponty acerca do corpo se explicam pela desconsideração de seu caráter primordialmente vivente. Em segundo lugar, abordamos a filosofia de Merleau-Ponty a partir do propósito de encontrar no corpo uma modalidade originária e absoluta de movimento como abertura de possibilidades, fundante em relação ao objeto (...) que se move e ao espaço, aberto pelo próprio movimento. Em terceiro lugar, pondo em relevo a noção de nascimento, propomos que esta singular modalidade de movimento buscada por Merleau-Ponty encontra sua caracterização mais apropriada no movimento natural e vital, o que permite conciliar, ao menos parcialmente, as perspectivas de ambos os filósofos. (shrink)

M. Merleau-Ponty and F. H. Jacobi’s Revelation against Kantian IntellectualismThe goal of this article is to shed light on the neglected connection between Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743-1819) and Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961). It will be shown through certain themes –I) being in the world, II) description, III) reflexion, IV) revelation and the V) primacy of perception – how Merleau-Ponty echoes Jacobi’s criticism of German Idealism during the Pantheist Quarrel, particularly towards Immanuel Kant’s intellectualist stance, two centuries prior to the Phénoménologie de (...) la perception. Through a historical and philological lens, this article aims to specifically demonstrate how Merleau-Ponty and Jacobi share a common ontology against Kantian intellectualism.La rivelazione di M. Merleau-Ponty e F. H. Jacobi contro l’intellettualismo kantianoL’obiettivo di questo articolo è chiarire la trascurata relazione tra Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743-1819) e Maurice Merlau-Ponty (1908-1961). Attraverso l’analisi di alcune tematiche – l’essere nel mondo, la descrizione, la riflessione, la rivelazione –, mostreremo come nella filosofia di Merleau-Ponty riecheggi la critica all’idealismo tedesco formulata da Jacobi all’epoca della disputa sul panteismo e diretta, in particolar modo e con due secoli di anticipo rispetto alla Fenomenologia della Percezione, alle posizioni intellettualiste di Kant. Grazie ad una lettura storica e filologica, questo articolo tenta di dimostrare come Merleau-Ponty e Jacobi condividano un’ontologia comune in opposizione all’intellettualismo kantiano. (shrink)

In our paper we aim to meditate on the concept of depth (profondeur) in the works of M. Merleau-Ponty, as it is a key notion to understand the French philosopher’s concept of space. Furthermore we will try to show that space plays a fundamental role in the development of Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy, allowing us to understand important features both of his phenomenological readings and ontological project.

The project of returning back to the original roots of the phenomenal being and of penetrating into its depths was initiated by painting, namely by Paul Cézanne and his new aesthetics of expression. Cézanne's approach was later adopted by his admirer Maurice Merleau-Ponty, who contributed to it mainly by his invisible dimension of the thought. The close relation between Cézanne's painting and Merleau-Ponty's philosophical work, which in a way transforms the paintings into the words of an elocative language, is the (...) evidence of the bonds existing between philosophy and the works of art. (shrink)

La fenomenología de Merleau-Ponty disuelve el problema del otro y se concentra en describir la coexistencia fáctica que deriva de la intersubjetividad. Ésta es primeramente, intercorporeidad en el mundo, institución de sentido y comunicación. La influencia de Ideen II de Husserl es crucial para el desarrollo de estos conceptos. En este artículo, estudiamos la ampliación de los mismos en la ontología merleau-pontiana de la carne y su reversibilidad. El esclarecimiento del verdadero sentido de ésta nos permitirá contestar a algunas de (...) sus críticas. (shrink)

The everyday experience of someone, or something, getting in one’s face reveals a depth that is the difference between a world that is intrusive and a world that is respectful. This depth, I argue, should be conceived, not in feet and inches, but in terms of violation and honor. I explore three factors that contribute to this depth’s emergence. First, I examine our body’s capacity, at the level of sense experience, for giving the world a figure/ground structure; this structure insures (...) that most of the world we are in constant contact with, nonetheless, keeps its distance as background. I demonstrate the importance of this figure/ground structure to the depth of our world by considering the experience of people with autism; for those with autism, this structure seems to be, if not entirely missing, at least substantially less robust than our own. Next, I examine our body’s ability, at the level of more personal experience, to handle the world; our handling of the world, which rests on the acquisition of specific skills, transforms things that could easily assault us into the usually motionless objects we tend to take for granted. I demonstrate the importance of these skills to the depth of our world by considering the experience of Gregg Mozgalla; until recently, Mozgalla, who has cerebral palsy, could only lurch, rather than walk, through the world. Finally, I draw on the work of the artist Mierle Ukeles to examine the maintenance work that other people, at a broader social level, perform; other’s maintenance work keeps in good condition a world that, by falling into bad condition, could easily intrude on us. (shrink)

This is a worthy addition to P. U. F.'s useful series, "Philosophes." Robinet succeeds in touching, briefly but illuminatingly, on all important aspects of Merleau-Ponty's thought, including the renewed interest in ontological questions in the posthumous Le Visible et l'Invisible. The philosopher's political writings, which have been dismissed as irrelevant by some students of Merleau-Ponty, are shown to be the product of an inquiry into our "perception of history." Of note, also, are Robinet's remarks concerning his subject's historical antecedents, among (...) whom he regards Malebranche as especially important.—W. L. M. (shrink)

This paper brings to light the significance of Merleau-Ponty’s thinking for contemporary physics. The point of departure is his 1956–57 Collège de France lectures on Nature, coupled with his reflections on the crisis in modern physics appearing in THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE. Developments in theoretical physics after his death are then explored and a deepening of the crisis is disclosed. The upshot is that physics’ intractable problems of uncertainty and subject-object interaction can only be addressed by shifting its philosophical (...) base from objectivism to phenomenology, as Merleau-Ponty suggested. Merleau-Ponty’s allusion to “topological space” in THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE provides a clue for bridging the gap between “hard science” and “soft philosophy.” This lead is pursued in the present paper by employing the paradoxical topology of the Klein bottle. The hope is that, by “softening” physics and “hardening” phenomenology, the “two cultures” (cf. C. P. Snow) can be wed and a new kind of science be born. (shrink)

[This is a commentary article on Michel Bitbol's TA: "The Tangled Dialectic of Body and Consciousness: A Metaphysical Counterpart of Radical Neurophenomenology".] -/- A summary of the major metaphysical positions reveals them to be variable enough that they do not deny experience to the researcher. Further, Merleau-Ponty’s intra-ontology and related terms are fleshed out.

The concept of "the flesh" (la chair) derives from the writings of Maurice Merleau-Ponty. This was the word he used to name the concrete realm of sentient bodies and life processes that has been eclipsed by the abstractions of science, technology, and modern culture. Topology, to conventional understanding, is the branch of mathematics that concerns itself with the properties of geometric figures that stay the same when the figures are stretched or deformed. Topologies of the Flesh blends continental thought and (...) mathematical imagination, opening up a new area of philosophical inquiry: topological phenomenology. Through its unique application of qualitative mathematics, this work extends the approaches of Merleau-Ponty and Heidegger so as to offer a detailed exploration of previously uncharted dimensions of human experience and the natural world. (shrink)

Essays exploring a rich intersection between phenomenology and idealism with contemporary relevance.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:REDISCOVERING VIRTUE* SERVAIS PINCK.AERS, 0.P. L!universite de Fribourg Fribourg, Switzerland INTRODUCTION: THE DEBATE ABOUT VIRTUE VIRTUE is back. Especially in the United States, a widespread discussion about its role in moral theology has been initiated, a discussion modeled on Aristotle's Ethics, particularly as Aristotle's thought was developed in the Middle Ages by Thomas Aquinas. Accompanying this rediscovery of virtue is a criticism of modern ethical theories. These theories, having (...) broken with Aristotelian tradition, have led to a burgeoning of contradictory systems: a morality of obligation on the Kantian model; utilitarian morality; and a radical critique of morality by Nietzsche. Because of such divergences any discussion between moralists, especially where the foundations and principles of morality are involved, has up to the present seemed doomed to failure.1 •Translated by Sr. Mary Thomas Noble, O.P. 1 The author who has contributed most to this discussion of virtue is undoubtedly Alasdair Macintyre in his three principal books: After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1981; second edition, 1984); Whose Justice? Which Rationality? (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame, 1988); Three Versions of Moral Inquiry: Encyclopedia, Genealogy, and 1radition (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame, 1990). The Italian edition of the last book, Enciclopedia, Genealogia e 1radizione (Milan, 1993), includes a special introduction on Macintyre and a biography. I should also like to mention the article by Martha Nussbaum, "Virtue Revived," Times Literary Supplement 4657 Ouly 3, 1992): 9-11. See also a recent book by Andre Comte-Sponville, Petit traite des grands vertus (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1995). This work is very interesting because it proposes to a wide readership a moral system drawn from Aristotle that is at the same time based entirely on modern philosophy. In my opinion the author unintentionally confirms the thesis of the incompatibility of modern ethical systems of obligation and the 361 362 SERVAIS PINCKAERS, O.P. In view of this ethical pluralism, certain philosophers have undertaken to set up ethical norms through reflection on justice, using the methods of discussion and decision prevalent in our democratic societies. The initiative has been designated as procedural ethics.2 In this rather chaotic situation, other writers have thought a return to Aristotelian ethics opportune-a move that would enable us to reconnect with the long tradition of virtue-based morality represented therein, while bringing it up to date. In fact, the introduction of the concept of virtue offers many opportunities for the shaping of a morality that takes the human person into account. Virtue is a dynamic human quality acquired through education and personal effort. It forms character and assures continuity in action. Furthermore, it is set within the framework of community and a strong tradition, to whose development it contributes. Teaching on virtue would seem to be a good corrective for excessive individualism. This is what the socalled "communitarian" trend has emphasized.3 The debate on virtue has also surfaced within traditional Catholic teaching. Since the first half of this century, under the inspiration of St. Thomas, several authors of moral theology textbooks have undertaken to reorganize special morality on the basis of the virtues rather than the ten commandments, as had been done since the seventeenth century.4 Admittedly, the change Aristotelian construct of the virtues held by Macintyre. With the moderns he rejects a natural foundation for morality, within man, and thus robs the virtues he treats of their deep roots. Virtue is not spontaneous; it remains voluntaristic. 2 To mention a few titles: K. 0. Apel, Transformation der Philosophie, 2 vols. (Frankfurt, 1981); Apel, Ethique de la discussion (Paris, 1994); J.M. Ferry, Philosophie de la communication (Paris, 1994); Jiirgen Habermas, Theorie des kommunikativen Handeln, 2 vols. (Frankfurt, 1981); Habermas, Moralbewusstsein und kommunikativer Handeln (Frankfurt, 1983); John Rawls, A Theory ofJustice (Harvard, 1971). 3 See, for example: J. H. Joder, Jesus et le politique: La radicalite ethique de la croix (Lausanne, 1984); S. Hauerwas, The Peacable Kingdom: A Primer in Christian Ethics (Notre Dame, 1983); W. Reese-Schafer, Was ist Kommunitarismus? (Frankfurt, 1994); Charles Taylor, The Sources ofthe Self: The Making ofthe Modern Identity (Cambridge, Mass., 1989... (shrink)