Anosognosia for visual deficits—cases where significant visual deficits go unnoticed—challenges the view that our own conscious experiences are what we know best. We review these widespread and striking failures of awareness. Anosognosia can occur with total blindness, visual abnormalities induced by brain lesions, and eye diseases. We show that anosognosia for visual deficits is surprisingly widespread. Building on previous accounts, we introduce a framework showing how apparently disparate forms of anosognosia fit together. The central idea is that, to notice a (...) deficit, individuals need to form expectations about normal vision, compare expectations and visual input, and judge any mismatch at the metacognitive level. A failure in any of these three steps may lead to unawareness of visual deficits. (shrink)

Cet article propose les éléments d’un cadre théorique permettant d’analyser des situations sociales comportant une part d’imprévisibilité. S’intéresser à des ruptures, des changements soudains, c’est en partie revenir sur de vieux tabous de la sociologie et plus généralement des sciences sociales : la contingence, l’événement, l’imprévisible. Une solution possible réside dans la définition précise de ce qui est considéré comme imprévisible et dans la prise en compte de différents niveaux de temporalité, à condition d’accepter l’idée que les temps « courts (...) » peuvent parfois influer sur les temps « longs ».In this article I propose the elements of a theoretical framework that makes it possible to analyse social situations with a part of unpredictability. Being interested in ruptures, unexpected changes, is for a part going back to some old taboos of sociology, and more generally, of social sciences : contingency, events, unpredictability. One possible solution consists in a precise definition of what is considered as unpredictable and in taking into account different levels of temporality, providing to accept the idea that « short » time can sometimes have an influence on « long » time. (shrink)

This paper investigates the topic of epistemic authority from the perspective of the ordinary people facing expert testimony. In particular, two central questions are discussed: how one should respond to expert testimony; and what should one do before expert disagreement.

This paper investigates the topic of expertise in cognitive domains from a socio-epistemological perspective. In particular, two central questions in the epistemology of expertise are discussed: what an expert is according to extant theories on the market; and how ordinary people can identify an expert in domains in which they have no competence of their own.

This book addresses central issues in the philosophy and metaphysics of science, namely the nature of scientific theories, their partial truth, and the necessity of scientific laws within a moderate realist and empiricist perspective. Accordingly, good arguments in favour of the existence of unobservable entities postulated by our best theories, such as electrons, must be inductively grounded on perceptual experience and not their explanatory power as most defenders of scientific realism claim. Similarly, belief in the reality of dispositions such as (...) causal powers which ground the natural necessity of scientific laws must be based on experience. Hence, this book offers a synthetic presentation of an original metaphysics of science, namely a metaphysics of properties, both categorical and dispositional, while at the same time opposing strong versions of necessitarism according to which laws are true in all possible worlds. The main theses and arguments are clearly presented in a non-technical way. Thus, on top of being of interest to the specialists of the topics discussed, it is also useful as a textbook in courses for third year and more advanced university students. (shrink)

Context: Varela’s neurophenomenology was conceived from the outset as a criticism and dissolution of the “hard problem” of the physical origin of consciousness. Indeed, the standard (….

The debate about the nature of the representational format of concepts seems to have reached an impasse. The debate faces two fundamental problems. Firstly, amodalists (i.e., those who argue that concepts are represented by amodal symbols) and modalists (i.e., those who see concepts as involving crucially representations including sensorimotor information) claim that the same empirical evidence is compatible with their views. Secondly, there is no shared understanding of what a modal or amodal format amounts to. Both camps recognize that the (...) two formats play essential roles in higher cognition, leading to an increasing number of hybrid proposals. In this paper, I argue that the existence of those fundamental problems should make us suspicious about a modal/amodal dichotomy. Also, I suggest that hybrid approaches, as they currently stand, do not provide suitable solutions to the impasse. Instead, we should overcome the dichotomy and treat the modal/amodal distinction as a graded phenomenon. I illustrate this hypothesis with an example of a cognitive-computational model of concepts based on the Predictive Processing framework. (shrink)

In this critical notice we argue against William Craig’s recent attempt to reconcile presentism (roughly, the view that only the present is real) with relativity theory. Craig’s defense of his position boils down to endorsing a ‘neo-Lorentzian interpretation’ of special relativity. We contend that his reconstruction of Lorentz’s theory and its historical development is fatally flawed and that his arguments for reviving this theory fail on many counts.

If through rotation of a hollow sphere one produces a Coriolis field inside of it, then a centrifugal field is produced [...] that is not the same as the one that would occur in a rotating rigid system with the same Coriolis field. One can therefore not think of rotational forces as produced by the rotation of the fixed stars ….

Annoncé à grand fracas, le décryptage do génome humain devait nous révéler le secret ultime de la vie et ouvrir la voie à de nouvelles thérapies miracles. Espoirs déçus : à l'ère de la post-génomique, les secrets du vivant sont maintenant recherchés dans les théories de la complexité, dans la convergence des efforts des biologistes, des physiciens et des mathématiciens. Comment comprendre la signification de cette succession rapide d'objectifs apparemment différents, de cette alternance d'espoirs et de désillusions? Dans ce livre (...) novateur, Michel Morange propose une clé pour rendre compte de ces difficultés, et de beaucoup d'autres analogues touchant toutes les branches de la biologie. Les annonces sensationnelles reflètent l'espoir toujours déçu qu'une explication unique pourrait suffire. Or les faits biologiques - comme ceux relevant de bien d'autres disciplines scientifiques -ne peuvent être expliqués par un principe d'intelligibilité unique. Exemples à l'appui et de façon très pédagogique, Michel Morange montre pourquoi des explications différentes doivent être articulées pour décrire le fonctionnement des macromolécules aussi bien que l'évolution humaine ou le développement des cancers. Admettre une idée aussi simple n'est pas évident, car tout scientifique a été formé à privilégier un principe d'intelligibilité particulier. L'articulation entre explications différentes est pourtant indispensable pour le progrès des connaissances ; elle est aussi une exigence éthique ; elle est requise pour que la science conserve sa place dans nos sociétés. (shrink)

This paper argues that contemporary diasporic identities provide a strong basis from which to oppose contemporary expressions of racism. Immigrant and mobile populations have been able to construct images of identity that are based neither on an assimilationist model, nor defensive strategies against assimilationism. Rather, the older, internal relation between racism and diasporization has been broken by the ability of groups to claim a diasporic status on the basis of a public and not private articulation of self-identity.

This w ork distinguishes bet w een violence used to attain a speci f ic purpose and violence intended or practice for itself. C r uelty is characterised as violence for violenc e' sa k e. Th e aim is to try to f ind an e xplanation for that c r uelty w hich can be described as absolute violence. F or that reason, reference is made to a series of books that h a v e dealt with the (...) subject that, in spite of allusions to other types of cruel t y , end b y speaking of militar y cr uelt y . An attempt to determine the 'functio n ' of c r uelty leads to an understanding of the conditions that ma k e it possi b le: impuni t y , fear and the culture of hate. F inal l y , the human being does not appear to be c r uel per se , but as someone w ho feels compelled to be so b y 'p o w er'. (shrink)

Review of Felice C. Frankel's "The visual elements—design: a handbook for communicating science and engineering.".

BackgroundClinical ethics case consultations (CECCs) provide a structured approach in situations of ethical uncertainty or conflicts. There have been increasing calls in recent years to assess the quality of CECCs by means of empirical research. This study provides detailed data of a descriptive quantitative and qualitative evaluation of a CECC service in a department of cardiology and intensive care at a German university hospital.MethodsSemi-structured document analysis of CECCs was conducted in the period of November 1, 2018, to May 31, 2020. (...) All documents were analysed by two researchers independently.ResultsTwenty-four CECCs were requested within the study period, of which most (n = 22; 92%) had been initiated by physicians of the department. The patients were an average of 79 years old (R: 43–96), and 14 (58%) patients were female. The median length of stay prior to request was 12.5 days (R: 1–65 days). The most frequent diagnoses (several diagnoses possible) were cardiology-related (n = 29), followed by sepsis (n = 11) and cancer (n = 6). Twenty patients lacked decisional capacity. The main reason for a CECC request was uncertainty about the balancing of potential benefit and harm related to the medically indicated treatment (n = 18). Further reasons included differing views regarding the best individual treatment option between health professionals and patients (n = 3) or between different team members (n = 3). Consensus between participants could be reached in 18 (75%) consultations. The implementation of a disease specific treatment intervention was recommended in five cases. Palliative care and limitation of further disease specific interventions was recommended in 12 cases.ConclusionsTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first in-depth evaluation of a CECC service set up for an academic department of cardiology and intensive medical care. Patient characteristics and the issues deliberated during CECC provide a starting point for the development and testing of more tailored clinical ethics support services and research on CECC outcomes. (shrink)

Recueil des commentaires de Michel Alexandre sur la "Critique de la raison pure" d'après des notes de cours, comme la première édition de 1961. Cependant, on y a ajouté un quatrième chapitre, intitulé "L'ordre", avec des notes sur les deux dernières critiques, "Critique de la raison pratique" et "Critique du jugement". L'ensemble couvre les vingt dernières années d'enseignement de M. Alexandre (1932-1952), dont le commentaire relève du genre "Auslegung" (qu'on pourrait traduire par "exposition") comme celui que firent de Kant (...) un Hegel ou un Heidegger, et qui se caractérise par une certaine manière de questionner les textes. Ce volume est donc aussi un hommage rendu à un maître d'u. (shrink)

On désigne ici comme « espace esthétique » la forme subjective et pure de l’intuition du sens externe, telle que la met à jour l’exposition métaphysique de l’espace. Kant l’appelle ainsi « espace métaphysique » en l’opposant rigoureusement à l’« espace géométrique », déjà conceptualisé et ne relevant plus comme tel de l’Esthétique transcendantale dans son moment originaire. L’espace esthétique doit pouvoir être atteint dans son essence pure avant et indépendamment de ce que la « mathématique de l’étendue » constitue (...) du second : il faut délier le moment propre de l’Esthétique de toute subordination à la géométrie. À l’inverse, on esquissera la genèse transcendantale des différents types d’objectivité géométrique désignés dans des « concepts d’espace » (le quantum, la figure, l’espace lui-même considéré objectivement). (shrink)

This volume is the first systematic presentation of the work of Albert Einstein, comprising fourteen essays by leading historians and philosophers of science that introduce readers to his work. Following an introduction that places Einstein's work in the context of his life and times, the book opens with essays on the papers of Einstein's 'miracle year', 1905, covering Brownian motion, light quanta, and special relativity, as well as his contributions to early quantum theory and the opposition to his light quantum (...) hypothesis. Further essays relate Einstein's path to the general theory of relativity and the beginnings of two fields it spawned, relativistic cosmology and gravitational waves. Essays on Einstein's later years examine his unified field theory program and his critique of quantum mechanics. The closing essays explore the relation between Einstein's work and twentieth-century philosophy, as well as his political writings. (shrink)

The mechanisms by which bacteria adapt to changes in their environment involve transcriptional regulation in which a transcriptional regulator responds to signal(s) from the environment and regulates (positively or negatively) the expression of several genes or operons. Some of these regulators exert a positive feedback on their own expression. This is a necessary (although not sufficient) condition for the occurrence of multistationarity. One biological consequence of multistationarity may be epigenetic modifications, a hypothesis unusual to microbiologists, in spite of some well-known (...) epigenetic modifications in bacteria. We propose here that the occurrence of mucoidy in the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is currently attributed to mutations only, may also be an epigenetic modification. A theoretical approach using a generalised logical analysis lends credit to this hypothesis and suggests experiments to ascertain it. (shrink)

This article argues that Thomas Kuhn's views on the existence of the world have undergone significant change in the course of his philosophical career. In Structure, Kuhn appears to be committed to the existence of the ordinary empirical world as well as the existence of an independent metaphysical world, but realism about the empirical world is abandoned in his later writings. Whereas in Structure the only relative worlds are the scientific worlds inhabited by the practitioners of various paradigms, the later (...) Kuhn puts the non-scientific worlds of particular groups or cultures on the same footing as the paradigm-related scientific worlds. The article shows that, on what Ian Hacking called the "new-world problem", the later Kuhn has moved to a more radical antirealist position. It is also argued that the earlier and later solutions to the "new-world problem" face insuperable difficulties, which render Kuhn's account of scientific change implausible. (shrink)

Scientists working on the wave theory of light in the 19 th century took it for granted that there had to be a medium for the propagation of light waves. This medium was called the luminiferous [= “light carrying”] ether. One of the central questions about this medium concerned its state of motion. There were two options: (1) The ether is completely undisturbed by matter moving through it (stationary or immobile ether); (2) Matter drags along the ether in its vicinity (...) and/or in its interior (dragged-along ether). Stellar aberration provided the main argument for the first option (even though a special dragging effect in the case of transparent matter had to be built into the theory to account for refraction). Polarization provided the main argument for the second option. These two options and the arguments pro and con will be explained in more detail below. (shrink)

Faire de la sociologie, un parcours d’enquête, que Claude Dubar fait paraître en 2006, est un livre précieux à de nombreux égards. Regard réflexif sur la trajectoire d’un garçon du Nord qui fait œuvre de sociologue, l’ouvrage défend aussi une position épistémologique originale. Il tranche avec les représentations habituelles qui considèrent le champ de la sociologie comme un lieu de bataille rangée entre paradigmes alternatifs. La sociologie est plurielle dans ses conceptions comme dans ses m...

"Depuis l'embryon lové dans le ventre de sa mère, jusqu'aux métropoles qui couvrent la Terre de leurs lumières permanentes, les humains ont inventé de nombreuses façons d'habiter. Mais les animaux et, plus étonnant, les végétaux avaient déjà exploré de nombreux modes d'habitat. Michel Serres nous dévoile les secrets de ces architectures séduisantes et multiples, nous en montre le sens et les mots, et esquisse ainsi le monde de demain." Présentation de l'éditeur.

Cette tentative de rapprochement entre l'auteur de la célèbre formule "Dieu est mort" et le soufisme, la gnose et l'hermétisme, trois courants mineurs issus des grandes religions monothéistes, préoccupés par la notion de connaissance, ...