Apparue il y a une dizaine d’années dans le vocabulaire des relations internationales, la « diplomatie scientifique » reste mal connue, une erreur fréquente étant de la confondre avec la coopération scientifique internationale. Prenant appui sur des exemples puisés dans l’histoire et dans l’actualité des relations internationales, ce texte peut être lu comme une introduction générale à la diplomatie scientifique. Celle-ci appartient au champ des politiques publiques et recouvre des pratiques variées, identifiées à partir des grands objectifs poursuivis par les (...) États qui s’y engagent : attirer, coopérer, influencer. (shrink)

We study the case of two sibling species ofHippolais(Aves). Very little differences can be observed in the morphology of both species. The breeding area of these species are complementary. Roughly, one species breeds North and East of Europe (Hippolais icterina) while the other breeds South and West of Europe (Hippolais polyglotta). There exitst a narrow zone of sympatry passing through Burgundy. Since several years, it has been observed that this area of sympatry was moving in the North-East direction at a (...) European scale. This means that progressivelyH. icterina is declining and is replaced byH. polyglotta. Some assumptions can be made in order to explain this evolution, for instance competition or predation. Series of observations concerning the diets of nestlings of both species have been realized. These observations show some differences in the diet compositions. The breeding success of the two species has been studied. Numerical simulations of a competition model taking into account the observed differences between the food types eaten by the two species are presented. These simulations do not explain the regression ofH. icterina. Then, we present numerical simulations of a predation model with one predator attacking the nestlings of both species. These simulations show that with time one of the two preys must extinct. Predation rather than competition seems to be the right explanation. (shrink)

Lacan and Marx: The Invention of the Symptom provides an incisive commentary on Lacan's reading of Marx, mapping the relations between these two vastly influential thinkers. Unlike previous books, Bruno provides a detailed history of Lacan's reading of Marx and surveys his references to Marx in both his writings and seminars. Examining Lacan's key argument that Marx "invented the symptom", Bruno shows how Lacan went on to criticize Marx and contrasts Marx's concept of surplus-value with Lacan's surplus-enjoyment. Exploring (...) the division between Marxist and psychoanalytic perspectives on social and psychological need and Lacan's formalisation of the capitalist discourse, the book compares the positions of Althusser, Deleuze and Guattari, and Zizek on the relations between Lacan, Marx and capitalism, using a wide range of cultural examples, from Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to Brecht's Joan Dark and Pierpont Mauler. Through these readings, Bruno also elaborates an extended commentary on Lacan's central idea of the division of the subject. His focus is not only on showing how we can exit from capitalism but also, and just as importantly, on showing how we can make capitalism exit from us. This book will be of great interest to scholars and readers of Lacan and Marx from across the fields of psychoanalysis, philosophy and political economy, and will also appeal to Lacanian psychoanalysts in clinical practice. (shrink)

Background: Differential learning is a motor learning method characterized by high amounts of variability during practice and is claimed to provide the learner with a higher learning rate than other methods. However, some controversy surrounds DL theory, and to date, no overview exists that compares the effects of DL to other motor learning methods.Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of DL in comparison to other motor learning methods in the acquisition and retention phase.Design: Systematic review and exploratory meta-analysis.Methods: PubMed, Web of (...) Science, and Google Scholar were searched until February 3, 2020. To be included, studies had to be experiments where the DL group was compared to a control group engaged in a different motor learning method, studies had to describe the effects on one or more measures of performance in a skill or movement task, and the study report had to be published as a full paper in a journal or as a book chapter.Results: Twenty-seven studies encompassing 31 experiments were included. Overall heterogeneity for the acquisition phase as well as for the retention phase was large, and risk of bias was high. The meta-analysis showed an overall small effect size of 0.26 [0.10, 0.42] in the acquisition phase for participants in the DL group compared to other motor learning methods. In the retention phase, an overall medium effect size of 0.61 [0.30, 0.91] was observed for participants in the DL group compared to other motor learning methods.Discussion/Conclusion: Given the large amount of heterogeneity, limited number of studies, low sample sizes, low statistical power, possible publication bias, and high risk of bias in general, inferences about the effectiveness of DL would be premature. Even though DL shows potential to result in greater average improvements between pre- and post/retention test compared to non-variability-based motor learning methods, more high-quality research is needed before issuing such a statement. For robust comparisons on the relative effectiveness of DL to different variability-based motor learning methods, scarce and inconclusive evidence was found. (shrink)

We study the influence of the individual behaviour of animals on predator-prey models. Populations of preys and predators are divided into sub-populations corresponding to different activity classes. The animals are assumed to do many activities all day long such as searching for food of different types. The preys are more vulnerable when doing some activities during which they are very exposed to predators attacks rather than for others during which they are hidden. We study activity sequences of the animals and (...) also the effect of a change in the average individual behaviour of the animals on Lotka-Volterra prey-predator interactions. Numerical simulations are realized for the whole sets of equations (governing the subpopulations) and are compared to the simulations of the reduced sets of equation (governing the populations). We look for the validity of the method with respect to a scaling factor which measures the differences between the two time scales associated to the fast-varying variables and to the slow-time varying global variables. It is shown that when the two time scales differ of about two orders of magnitude, the approximation is satisfying. (shrink)

Fr. Beretta, dans l'article auquel nous réagissons ici, considérait comme étant une question encore ouverte ce qu'est la valeur doctrinale de la condamnation à l'abjuration imposée à Galilée en 1633, et soutenait une double thèse à cet égard: une censure d'hérésie a été formellement appliquée à la doctrine héliocentrique, et une telle censure, prononcée par le juge suprême de la foi, acquiert valeur d'acte de magistère - le terme 'infaillibilité' est absent, mais la problématique en est toute proche -. Dans (...) une lecture cursive de la cinquantaine de pages de l'article, nous relevons de multiples erreurs de lecture des textes originaux ou des interprétations erronées, telles qu'elles invalident entièrement la thèse de Beretta. Nous incluons également quelques remarques sur l'authenticité du precetto, qui est mise en question à plusieurs reprises. (shrink)

L'oeuvre de Pierre Bourdieu a exercé une influence profonde sur la recherche scientifique, bien au-delà de la sociologie. Du fait de sa formation de philosophe, de ses incursions en anthropologie et en linguistique, de son souci constant d'analyser la dimension historique des faits sociaux, de son regard critique sur la science politique et le droit, de ses emprunts au vocabulaire économique, ainsi que de son intérêt marqué pour l'art et la littérature, Bourdieu n'a cessé de dialoguer mais aussi parfois (...) de "ferrailler" avec différentes disciplines des sciences sociales. Cet ouvrage collectif rend compte de manière inédite de l'étendue des réceptions et appropriations des travaux de Pierre Bourdieu dans les diverses sciences sociales. Il propose un éclairage original sur les usages du travail de Bourdieu en sociologie, anthropologie, histoire, philosophie, science politique, économie, droit, études littéraires et sciences de l'information et de la communication. Il permet ainsi d'entrer dans le laboratoire des sciences sociales qui font usage de Bourdieu et donne à voir la manière dont ses concepts et ses méthodes peuvent être déplacés et employés au-delà de l'univers disciplinaire dans lequel ils ont été forgés ; les luttes autour des frontières disciplinaires ; les obstacles à la réception de Bourdieu ou au contraire les conditions qui la favorisent. Fenêtre ouverte sur le renouvellement des études bourdieusiennes, I'ouvrage fait également dialoguer plusieurs générations de chercheurs, au-delà du premier cercle des "héritiers". Il permet ainsi de mieux connaître ou de découvrir des recherches contemporaines qui, dans le sillage de celles de Pierre Bourdieu, contribuent à la construction d'une connaissance décloisonnée, réflexive et critique du monde social. (shrink)

Widespread preservation of fossilized biomolecules in many fossil animals has recently been reported in six studies, based on Raman microspectroscopy. Here, we show that the putative Raman signatures of organic compounds in these fossils are actually instrumental artefacts resulting from intense background luminescence. Raman spectroscopy is based on the detection of photons scattered inelastically by matter upon its interaction with a laser beam. For many natural materials, this interaction also generates a luminescence signal that is often orders of magnitude more (...) intense than the light produced by Raman scattering. Such luminescence, coupled with the transmission properties of the spectrometer, induced quasi‐periodic ripples in the measured spectra that have been incorrectly interpreted as Raman signatures of organic molecules. Although several analytical strategies have been developed to overcome this common issue, Raman microspectroscopy as used in the studies questioned here cannot be used to identify fossil biomolecules. (shrink)

Le débat qui partage les partisans et les détracteurs de l'humanisme n'est pas seulement dicté par l'ampleur des événements planétaires. La question de l'humanisme est d'abord l'héritière de toute l'histoire de la pensée. Qu'il ait cependant appartenu à Martin Heidegger, à peine arraché à un temps d'inhumanité radicale, de transformer, dans sa fameuse Lettre sur l'humanisme de 1947, le simple recours aux " valeurs ", de l'humanisme en l'affaire par excellence de la pensée, constitue une énigme sur laquelle il valait (...) la peine de s'arrêter. Depuis lors, le débat sur l'humanisme a occupé la pensée française à travers les contributions majeures de Sartre, Lévi-Strauss, Lacan, Althusser, Foucault ou, récemment encore, hors de France, de Sloterdijk. Des philosophes appartenant à plusieurs générations ont voulu proposer une nouvelle lecture de la lettre fondatrice de Heidegger. On trouvera dans cet ouvrage toutes les facettes du dossier, les circonstances de la publication de la lettre, sa réception européenne jusqu'à nos jours, le débat avec la pensée de la Renaissance qu'elle implique, ainsi que les différentes voies pour dialoguer avec un texte aussi ambigu que les événements auxquels il se mesure. Bruno Pinchard est professeur à l'Université jean Moulin-Lyon 3 Ont également contribué à ce volume Pierre Aubenque, Alain Boutot, Pierre Coye, Pascal David, Emmanuel Faye, Marc Foglio, Thierry Gontier, Dominique Janicoud, jeanFrançois Marquet, Jean-François Mottéi, Rita Messori, Henri Mongis, Roger Munier, Alexis Pinchard, Alexandra Roux, Luco Salzo, Alain Séguy-Dtrclot, Jean-Marie Voysse et Jean-Louis Vieillard-Baron. Themis la Titanide, née de Ciel et de Terre, incarnait chez Hésiode la figure de la Justice qui réunissait les dieux sur l'Olympe et les hommes au caeur de la cité. En un temps de dispersion du sens, "Thémis" s'ouvre à la philosophie pour recueillir ses interrogations sur notre partage commun. Au carrefour de l'éthique, de la politique, de l'art et des sciences, cette collection présente des essais originaux qui explorent les voies obscures de notre avenir à la lumiere de notre plus ancienne tradition. Repenser la philosophie à partir de ce commencement qui était, pour Hésiode, l'exigence éternelle de la justice, c'est découvrir, en un autre mode que l'éclaircie grecque, ce que donne à voir la naissance de Thémis, pF. M. (shrink)

The essay moves from the tension between society and humanity, between nationalism and cosmopolitism, in order to discuss the sociological concept of the State according to Emile Durkheim. The author criticizes Pierre Bourdieu who maintains that the Durkheimian State was only the expression of the French republican society at the end of the 19th century. The State should be instead for Durkheim the organized expression of the authority existing in every society. Unlike what happens in modern political theory, in (...) particular in Hobbes and Rousseau, the sociological State is not the sum of the forces, but rather the result of a mental process that links individuals to their state organization. Precisely for this reason the state is «the organ of social thought», which allows subsequent deliberations through the mediation between rulers and ruled, without presupposing individuals but producing continuously the environment of their action. (shrink)

One might think that the problem of the subject has been exhausted by the debate that has taken place between post-Kantians and structuralists over the past several decades. In fact, this is true enough—at least if one considers the preferred arguments, the speculative arsenal, that has been mobilized by both positions in this debate. Still, it is now widely claimed, in France and elsewhere, that this debate had been overly theoretical, leaving the real problems of contemporary society quite untouched. With (...) the works Alain Ehrenberg and Pierre-Henri Castel have devoted over the past 10 years to transformations in the self-understanding and psychopathological structures of individuals, the question of the subject.. (shrink)

La philosophie a toujours eu des problèmes avec l’histoire, qui remet en question sa prétention à accéder à un absolu universel de vérité. Elle a pendant un certain temps considéré qu’elle pouvait se débarrasser de ce problème, donc s’acquitter des obligations qu’elle a à l’égard de l’histoire, en quelque sorte sacrifier à l’histoire, en élaborant deux types de discours dont elle garde directement le contrôle : la philosophie de l’histoire (qui permet à la philosophie de se réapproprier l’his...

Ueshiba Morihei (1883-1969), créateur de l’aikidō, fonde son « budō » (voie martiale) avec Deguchi Onisaburō (1871-1948), dirigeant de l’Ōmoto-kyō, l’une des « nouvelles religions » japonaises. Ils conçoivent le budō comme « la voie de création et d’ordonnancement de l’univers » en opposition aux « budō corporels » influencés par le modèle occidental du sport. Selon eux, l’Occident, « matérialiste », a profondément modifié les pratiques japonaises de telle sorte que le vécu du corps comme shintai, comme réceptacle des (...) kami (esprits ou divinités) lors des transes de possession est en voie de se perdre, et avec lui tout un monde. Le corps de possession rend communiquant les mondes : avec sa perte, il n’y a plus de transgressions possibles des frontières ontologiques ; l’homme ne peut plus s’unir à sa racine et retrouver sa totalité ; les animaux, les plantes et les pierres ne parlent plus et le dieu originel unique devient inaccessible, caché dans « l’imperceptible de l’imperceptible ». (shrink)

Ivre de Dieu, Giordano Bruno nous offre une presentation violemment heterodoxe des dogmes chretiens, moins pour les destituer de leur autorite que pour les faire fonctionner autrement.

The article uses research carried out on three Extractivist Reserves in the Brazilian Amazon to “test” the distinction proposed by Bruno Latour (Où atterrir?) between territories of production and territories in begetting on which the social question challenges the environmental question in a context of ambientalizaçao (Leite Lopes, 2006). These analyzes are inspired by a grid proposed by Claude Lefort (Essais sur le Politique) to respond to the “challenges of the democratic revolution”.

Au cours des quatre derniers siècles, les projets de pacification permanente de l’Europe, ou du monde entier, ont constitué un véritable genre littéraire. À un premier niveau, le plus superficiel, le livre offre une vue panoramique de ces projets, depuis le « Grand Dessein » attribué à Henri IV jusqu’à la Charte de l’ONU, en passant par les propositions de William Penn, de l’abbé de Saint-Pierre, d’Emmanuel Kant, du comte de Saint-Simon et de tant d’autres, célèbres, moins connus ou (...) oubliés. De règle, ces auteurs sont qualifiés, non sans condescendance, d’utopistes : à un deuxième niveau, le livre est une critique de cet usage paresseux, et les traite comme membres de la famille des réformateurs radicaux. Ayant dressé, chacun à son époque, un réquisitoire sans indulgence contre l’état existant des rapports entre les nations, ils en proposent une réorganisation profonde. Ennemis de l’ordre international établi - un désordre intolérable à leurs yeux -, ils se font les architectes d’un monde nouveau, le meilleur des mondes possibles, dont ils précisent le mode de construction. Si différents soient-ils, leurs écrits se prêtent à être classifiés en un petit nombre de catégories : à un troisième niveau, le livre est un essai typologique. Il suggère une conceptualisation du « système international parfait » qui comporte cinq grands modèles et permet donc de répartir l’ensemble des auteurs passés en revue dans cinq traditions intellectuelles, dont la plus récente est longue de deux siècles et la plus ancienne de sept. (shrink)

Quelques indications préliminaires, pour circonscrire l'objet, l'objectif de ces pages. L'ouvrage auquel nous nous référerons, en priorité, a été publié, en Italie, sous le titre La città del lavoro : sinistra e crisi del fordismo (1ère éd., 1997, Milano, Feltrinelli, coll. « Campi del sapere », 268 p., 2ème éd., 1998, même éditeur, nouvelle éd. revue et augmentée, I. Ariemma éd., LX-260 p., Firenze, Firenze University Press, 2014). C'est la deuxième édition qui a été traduite, en France, sou...

Le décret IG IX 2, 103, qui ne nous est connu que par une transcription imprimée publiée par un érudit voliote du siècle dernier, Zosimas Esphigménitis, est, à n'en pas douter, un décret de la Confédération thessalienne et il atteste clairement qu'au moment où il a été pris, les cités de Mélitaia en Achaïe Phthiotide et d'Héracleia Trachinia, capitale des Oitaiens, appartenaient à la Confédération thessalienne. Il doit dater du IIe siècle av. J.-C, mais la disparition de la pierre (...) laisse peu de chance de préciser davantage. Ce que l'on sait de l'histoire de Mélitaia et d'Héracleia conduit à identifier deux périodes au cours desquelles ces deux cités ont pu se retrouver ensemble sous l'autorité des Thessaliens : soit pendant quelques années, entre 190 et 184 av. J.-C, soit à partir de 146 ; toutefois il paraît plus probable de placer le document dans la seconde moitié du IIe siècle, ce qui permet d'avancer l'hypothèse qu'Héracleia est devenue thessalienne bien avant l'époque d'Auguste, contrairement à l'opinion reçue. L'intégration de cette cité à l'ensemble thessalien a dû intervenir dès 146 av. J.-C. Le décret IG 103 semble indiquer qu'il a été nécessaire de régler un ou des différends qui opposaient Héracleia et Mélitaia, dans le cadre fédéral, en faisant appel à des arbitres que l'on a demandés à Démétrias, une cité non thessalienne mais assez proche pour avoir des relations avec chacune des parties et connaître leur situation. Les trois stratèges de la ville ont été chargés de constituer un tribunal et le fait d'avoir sollicité à cette occasion les citoyens les plus en vue de Démétrias dit assez l'importance qu'on attachait à cette affaire. (shrink)

Translator's introduction : At the end of July 2014 there was a week-long workshop held at the Ecole des Mines in Paris, Bruno Latour's former work-place. This was a final workshop, convened by Latour's project, An Inquiry into Modes of Existence, which was not only a book, but a website that was an experiment in interactive metaphysics that had been going on for four years. About 30 participants gathered to workshop and rewrite some key contested areas that had been (...) challenged on the site with discussions and counter-examples. One of the round tables working away during the week, occasionally with changes in personnel, was on Nature. Their job (like the other round tables on Politics, Diplomacy, Religion and Economics) was to ‘reboot’ or reinstitute a concept close to the heart of the Moderns. The assumption was that the traditional concept of nature, as developed through modern European history, would no longer be adequate to a future beset by environmental crises. The main people working on a draft were Didier Debaise, Pablo Jensen, Pierre Montebello, Nicolas Prignot, Isabelle Stengers and Aline Wiame. When they finished the draft, I translated it and it was presented, in French and English, in a final two-day public session at Science Po, to a group of seven international scholars designated as “chargés d'affaires,” or “diplomats from the future” whose job was to assess the results of our labours in terms of how they might be met by Gaia, the ur-representative of future planetary crises. The text, originally under the title of Our “Nature,” was as follows. [Stephen Muecke]. (shrink)

Tekst je posvecen dometima teorijskog opusa Bruna Latura i njegovom odnosu prema savremenom pojmu kritike. U prvom delu je prikazana teorija aktera-mreze, preko svojih kljucnih pojmova, zajedno s teorijom modernosti. U drugom delu se razmatraju razliciti aspekti Laturovog odnosa prema kritici - najpre njegov kriticki tretman drugih, potom kriticki tretman kojem je sam podvrgnut, da bi se zakljucilo politickim ambivalencijama Laturovog pokusaja razvijanja jedne "akriticne" drustvene teorije..

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:276 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY appointment as the shepherd of the sheep from Christ. Nevertheless, his successors are chosen by men. Thus they are not of divine appointment and their power, in any case limited by Scriptural precept and natural law, is strictly circumscribed. Since they are placed in their position by men, they can be judged and deposed by men if they misuse their power. Throughout his career Ockham (...) violently repudiated the Avignonese papacy because it "professed errors and manifest heresies" and practiced injustice both in Church and state. He likewise regarded the college of cardinals as a purely human administrative institution and denied that they, along with the pope, were successors of the apostles. Since the Roman Church as well as the general Council could err, Ockham held that on occasion it is necessary to defend the true faith against the Roman Church, the pope, the general Council, and all the bishops and clergy (p. 277). The chief bond of Christians is the true faith. This is found both in the Scriptures and in tradition. This faith is to be maintained in its purity by true popes and general Councils. Their fidelity to the faith is the only guarantee of their authority. Therefore, a denial of, or a deviation from, the orthodox faith is heresy which he regarded as the major crime. De Lagarde severely criticizes Ockham by claiming that he reduced the Church to an aggregate of individuals bound together by common faith alone. This was destructive of the Church considered as a hierarchical and ~cramental institution. He traces Ockham's influence upon the dominant personalities of the subsequent decades all the way to Luther. The outstanding nominalists like Pierre d'Ailly and Jean Gerson, and reformers like Dietrich of Niem, John Wyclif, and John Huss, were either his professed disciples or were deeply influenced by Ockham. It may be remarked that the two last-named thinkers can hardly be included in this category: de Lagarde was either poorly informed or biased. For although he quotes in his support the two-volume works of Dora Paul de Vooght (L'h~rgsle de Jean Huss and Huss/ana), he ignores the general characterizations and the careful distinctions de Vooght makes between the positions of these two men, and repeats the uncritical views against which de Vooght energetically protests. It may also be added that the author omits a bibliography which is essential to a work of this kind. Nevertheless, his work is a massive and enlightening contribution to the hitherto neglected study of the post-Thomistic thinkers of the fourteenth century, among whom William of Ockham occupies a dominant place. MATr~sw SPINKA Claremont Graduate School and University Center Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition. By Frances A. Yates. (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1964. Pp. xiv + 466. $7.50.) In many ways the Renaissance of western civilization is reminiscent of Graeco-Roman Hellenism. While it is true that this parallelism cannot be drawn too closely, the similarity of the cultural forces facing both eras is instructive. This parallel suggests the importance of the resurgence of Hermetic gnosticism during the period from the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries for an understanding of the religious and scientific developments taking place at this time. It is to this point that Profes~r Yates has written a major work of scholarship in the history of ideas. The importance of the Hermetic tradition in the intellectual framework of Renaissance religion and science is placed in its historical evolution from the time of the recovery of the texts and their translation into Latin by Ficino until its gradual decay in the seventeenth century after the correct dating of the texts by Isaac Casaubon. Obviously with so broad an undertaking it would be impossible to treat adequately in one volume the philosophical import of the ideas of the Hermetic texts and their development. Professor Yates wisely chooses Giordano Bruno as the focal point for her penetrating analysis of the Hermetic tradition as a philosophical movement. This has great significance for the student of Bruno, for as she remarks: "... it is only in putting him into the context of the history of Hermeticism in the Renaissance... (shrink)

SummaryDuring the 1920s and 1930s, Italian physicists established strong relationships with scientists from other European countries and the United States. The career of Bruno Rossi, a leading personality in the study of cosmic rays and an Italian pioneer of this field of research, provides a prominent example of this kind of international cooperation. Physics underwent major changes during these turbulent years, and the traditional internationalism of physics assumed a more institutionalized character. Against this backdrop, Rossi's early work was crucial (...) in transforming the study of cosmic rays into a branch of modern physics. His friendly relationships with eminent scientists — notably Enrico Fermi, Walther Bothe, Werner Heisenberg, Hans Bethe, and Homi Bhabha — were instrumental both for the exchange of knowledge about experimental practices and theoretical discussions, and for attracting the attention of physicists such as Arthur Compton, Louis Leprince-Ringuet, Pierre Auger and Patrick Blackett to the problem of cosmic rays. Relying on material from different archives in Europe and the United States, this case study aims to provide a glimpse of the intersection between national and international dimensions during the 1930s, at a time when the study of cosmic rays was still very much in its infancy, strongly interlaced with nuclear physics, and full of uncertain, contradictory, and puzzling results. Nevertheless, as a source of high-energy particles it became a proving ground for testing the validity of the laws of quantum electrodynamics, and made a fundamental contribution to the origins of particle physics. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Thomists at War:Pierre Mandonnet, Étienne Gilson, and the Contested Relationship between Aquinas's and Dante's Thought (1879-2021)*George CorbettAt the turn of 1921, the French Dominican Pierre Mandonnet (1858–1936) helped to launch a new historical institute for Thomistic Studies at the Dominican study house of Le Saulchoir in Belgium. One of the pressing purposes of the foundation of the Institut historique d'études thomistes was to provide a properly historical (...) approach to Aquinas's doctrine which would defend its integrity and authority, and refute the alarming assertations of those outside the Dominican order who were, on the view of its founders, abusing the historical method to undermine the true sense of Aquinas's thought.1 The founders singled out Étienne Gilson (1884–1978), whose Le Thomisme, introduction au système de saint Thomas [End Page 1053] was published a couple of years earlier (in 1919); according to Mandonnet, Gilson's volume distorted the very nature and pedagogy of Thomist philosophy.2 Mandonnet and Gilson would become principal antagonists in the famous debates about Aquinas's thought in the 1920s and 1930s. Less known, however, are their parallel skirmishes in the field of Dante studies. In this article, I suggest that we need to consider the battles in Thomism and Dante studies together, as part of a wider intellectual war that would question the very nature of Catholic theology and philosophy. I first survey the main battlefield—the debates about Aquinas's thought—with specific reference to the controversies in the 1920s and 1930s about Gilson's "Christian philosophy" and about Marie-Dominique Chenu (1895—1990)'s Une école de théologie. In the second part, I turn to the skirmishes in the field of Dante studies between scholars such as, on the one hand, the French Dominicans Mandonnet and Joachim Berthier (1848—1924), who presented Dante as an essentially Thomist and Catholic poet, and, on the other hand, the lay historians Gilson and Bruno Nardi (1884—1968), who deconstructed the "myth of the Thomist Dante" and saw a fundamental disharmony between Aquinas's and Dante's thought, a view which profoundly influenced post-war Dante scholarship to the present day. In light of this intellectual history, in the third part, I reappraise constructively eight alleged points of divergence between Aquinas's and Dante's thought. I demonstrate that these key points of apparent divergence—as on the natural desire for the beatific vision, on the doctrine of two final ends for man, or on the relationships between philosophy and theology and between nature and grace—have as much to do with these scholars' interpretations of Aquinas's works as with their interpretations of Dante.Mandonnet, Gilson, and a Civil War in ThomismThe Institut historique d'études thomistes: Maintaining the "Authority" and "Integrity" of Aquinas's DoctrineHaving entered the Dominican order in 1882, Mandonnet was professor of history at the University of Fribourg from 1891 to 1918; on retirement, he continued to research and teach at Le Saulchoir.3 Author of significant research on Siger of Brabant and St. Dominic, he collaborated on the critical edition of Aquinas's works commissioned by Pope Leo XIII as [End Page 1054] editor, for example, of Aquinas's commentary on the Sentences and was one of three founders of the Revue thomiste in 1893.4 At Le Saulchoir, Mandonnet was also instrumental in the founding and mission of the Institut historique d'études thomistes from its inception in 1921 to his death in early 1936.5 One of "the giants of medieval studies," and founder (also in 1921) and honorary president of the Société Thomiste (which published the Bulletin Thomiste beginning in 1924), Mandonnet's name became "synonymous with fundamental research into the thought and writings of Thomas Aquinas."6 For Mandonnet, the historical method facilitated a greater penetration into the thought of Aquinas and his contemporaries, and historical research, in this way, enriched and complemented the institutional teaching of Thomism as Scholastic theology and a perennial philosophy.7 But, like other founders of the institute, Mandonnet believed [End Page 1055] that some recent scholars were using the historical method to undermine Aquinas's doctrine, and... (shrink)

Bruno Latour and Steve Woolgar made use of Gaston Bachelard’s concept of phenomenotechnique in Laboratory Life. Stating that this use of a Bachelardian concept contrasts with the sharp criticism Latour made of Bachelard in his later work, I consider whether it belongs to an early Bachelardian stage of Latour’s study of science or whether Latour and Woolgar made, from the beginning, an original and anti-Bachelardian use of the concept of phenomenotechnique. I address this question by offering two symmetrical readings (...) of Laboratory Life: one reading adopts a Bachelardian perspective, in which Latour and Woolgar’s ethnological and sociological investigation appears as an empirical corroboration of Bachelard’s epistemological theses, whereas the other reading insists on the way in which Latour and Woolgar depart from Bachelard, as the sociological study of the way in which power relations shape scientific practice challenges the latter’s rationalist convictions. Although I contrast Bachelard’s epistemological use of the concept of phenomenotechnique with Latour and Woolgar’s sociological one, I wonder in the conclusion whether these approaches to science may be regarded as complements rather than antagonists and find in Pierre Bourdieu’s theses on the specificity of the scientific field resources to combine them. (shrink)

Bruno Latour, as part of his advocacy of science studies urges us to move beyond what he calls ‘the Modernist Settlement’ that, among other things, separated science from politics and subject from object. As part of this project he has frequently called for the abolition of epistemology, including quite specifically the historical epistemology/epistemological history of Gaston Bachelard and Georges Canguilhem. Pierre Bourdieu, on the other hand, deploys the resources of historical epistemology, to dismiss Latour’s science studies. After examining (...) the charges against historical epistemology and their rebuttal, I rule in favor of the defense. However, I also suggest that Latour raises genuine concerns about how to equip ourselves to tackle problems such as those associated with climate change; these are problems that require engagement with the politics of nature, with the politics of the sciences of nature and with the epistemological challenges associated with the need to deploy multiple disciplines in the service of complex, practical, policy-relevant problem solving. (shrink)

Alsted was a foremost encyclopedist of the early seventeenth century. He provided both a complete presentation of all the subjects of philosophy (of which encyclopedia consisted) and a method to learn them. This method was an original synthesis of the dialectic of Petrus Ramus, the combinatorial art of memory of Raimond Lull and Giordano Bruno, and the method of presentation of philosophical disciplines of Bartholomäus Keckermann. Alsted’s encyclopedism was intended as a remedy to the postlapsarian condition of man and (...) was functional to the pedagogical reform pursued at the Academy of Herborn; this was, in turn, an essential part of the Calvinist state reform of the county of Nassau-Dillenburg. In theology, the importance of Alsted consists of having introduced millenarianism in the Reformed Europe, though his early, optimistic views on the imminent end of the world would change to pessimistic as a consequence of the Thirty Years’ War. (shrink)

" Faire d'Aristote un Aufklârer serait méconnaître ce qu'il y a en lui de religiosité authentique, cette intuition de la transcendance et du chorismos, qui sont la raison profonde de sa prudence spéculative. Faire d'Aristote un tragique serait méconnaître cette confiance en l'homme, en sa recherche et en son action, qui tranche sur les lamentations du chœur de la tragédie et sur une certaine résignation socratique et, avant la lettre, stoïcienne. Mais Aristote exalte l'homme sans le diviniser ; il en (...) fait le centre de son éthique, mais il sait que l'éthique n'est pas ce qu'il y a de plus haut, que Dieu est au-delà des catégories éthiques, ou plutôt que l'éthique se constitue dans la distance qui sépare l'homme de Dieu. Livré à ses seules forces par un Dieu trop lointain, qui est suffisamment visible pour être désiré, mais se tient trop à distance pour être possédé, l'homme est en butte, dans la région du monde qu'il habite, à un hasard qu'il ne peut entièrement dominer. Ou plutôt la vie de l'homme se meut entre deux hasards : le Hasard fondamental de la naissance, qui fait que la bonne nature n'est pas également partagée ; le hasard résiduel de l'action, qui fait que les résultats ne sont jamais tout à fait prévisibles. Mais le hasard de la naissance est le hasard résiduel de l'action divine, et la grandeur de l'homme consiste, en prolongeant par la prudence l'action d'une Providence défaillante, à reculer le plus possible les limites de l'imprévisible et de l'inhumain. " Pierre Aubenque. (shrink)