Maurice Merleau-Ponty is one of the few major phenomenologists to engage extensively with empirical research in the sciences, and the only one to examine child psychology with rigor and in such depth.

Mandelbaum believes that views regarding history and man and reason pose problems for philosophy, and he offers critical discussions of some of those problems at the conclusions of parts 2, 3, and 4.

Cet ouvrage est une réédition numérique d’un livre paru au XXe siècle, désormais indisponible dans son format d’origine.

The belief of Gallie, Danto, and others that history is constructing narratives is too simplistic and neglects the role of inquiry and discovery. Teleology in history - only events relevant to a known outcome find a place in a work -while similar to that in narratives is not decisive, since in any explanation the explicandum controls the explicans to some extent. History is not recounting a linear sequence of intelligible human actions but is an analysis of a complex pattern of (...) change into factors that served to make it what it was. Social backgrounds and conditions that are influences but not actually parts of the story of actions are crucial; the fundamental relationship is part to whole, not antecedent to consequent. (shrink)

We briefly describe in this paper the passage from Mendeleev’s chemistry (1869) to atomic physics (in the 1900’s), nuclear physics (in 1932) and particle physics (from 1953 to 2006). We show how the consideration of symmetries, largely used in physics since the end of the 1920’s, gave rise to a new format of the periodic table in the 1970’s. More specifically, this paper is concerned with the application of the group SO(4,2)⊗SU(2) to the periodic table of chemical elements. It is (...) shown how the Madelung rule of the atomic shell model can be used to set up a periodic table that can be further rationalized via the group SO(4,2)⊗SU(2) and some of its sub-groups. Qualitative results are obtained from this nonstandard table. (shrink)

This paper presents a reconceptualization of autonomy as the iterative realization of one’s capacity for “effective self-definition,” that is, possessing a sense of clarity and coherence in “who I am,” and exercising the decisional and volitional ownership over my life that this engenders. This process is “Relational,” wherein people’s interpersonal interactions have a deep and pervasive influence on their ability to recognize and exercise their autonomous capacities. This Relational understanding of autonomy is contextualized within the field of addiction rehabilitative practice. (...) Addiction is a pathology that progressively and insidiously undermines autonomy – producing a number of negative consequences that present themselves along a “continuum of pervasiveness.” In order to most fully foster rehabilitation, therapeutic alliances should to be attentive to facilitating autonomy’s dialogical antecedents. Here, interpersonal recognition can help clients to more fully recognize their own autonomous resources – enabling them to embark on their rehabilitative journey and achieve broader autonomous living. This paper concludes by proposing ways that practitioners can manifest their recognition of their clients’ autonomy within the therapeutic encounter. (shrink)