Toute la philosophie de Leibniz tend essentiellement à réconcilier la raison avec la foi. Ces deux aspects de l'intelligibilité ne doivent point être dissociés sous prétexte d'objectivité ou de révélation. Ni la nature n'est dépourvue de la grâce, ni celle-ci n'est étrangère à la phénoménalité. L'univers présente deux plans distincts mais complémentaires, inexplicables l'un sans l'autre : celui des causes finales et celui des causes efficientes ; vouloir négliger les unes au profit des autres, c'est ne pas accepter les conséquences (...) logiques de la définition de Dieu. La philosophie de Leibniz, c'est surtout la doctrine de la substance et de l'harmonie préétablie, car cet univers qui fait l'objet d'une investigation scientifique, représente une hiérarchie de substances plus ou moins complexes qui justifient, à la fois, le purement phénoménal, ou saisi comme tel, et l'exclusivement ontologique et moral."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

As support for the far right in Belgium grows, there is ongoing socio-economic change. This affects a broad spectrum of Flemish society, and we sought to canvas a cross-section of the opinions and proclivities of Flemish workers, to assess to what extent and in what regards the perceptions of changing work conditions may be indicators which help to explain concommitant the growing receptireness to the extreme right in Flanders.

Autour de la figure de Guillaume d'Auvergne, évêque de Paris de 1228 à 1249, les auteurs analysent les crises intellectuelles et institutionnelles qui ont secoué l'université à cette époque. Proche de la cour de Saint Louis et des ordres mendiants, détracteur du Talmud, l'évêque a laissé une oeuvre importante mais peu étudiée.

Si la doctrine arithmologique des nombres « parfaits », « abondants » et « déficients » est bien connue et souvent exposée depuis Nicomaque de Gérasa (iie siècle apr. J.-C.), elle reçoit une illustration nouvelle, dans laquelle la mythologie cède le pas à l’éthique et à la théologie, dans une glose médiévale du texte de Martianus Capella (livre VII des Noces de Philologie et de Mercure), où le nombre parfait est mis en correspondance avec la justice éternelle.

Jean-Yves Leloup nous propose ici deux lectures magistrales de deux géants de la culture occidentale : Nietzsche, l'athée et Maître Eckhart, le théologien-mystique. Il tente de remettre "à l'endroit" un texte de Nietzsche, Ecce Homo, souvent cité pour justifier tous les athéismes. Leloup montre que le Dieu en lequel Nietzsche voyait une "antithèse de la vie" n'a rien à voir avec le Dieu des Evangiles qui est au contraire une puissance de vie et de libération, une claire lumière par (...) laquelle le monde est vu. L'auteur, avec Maître Eckhart, nous entraîne ensuite au-delà des contraires, au-delà même de Dieu et de tous les Absolus que nous imaginons, vers notre essentielle et silencieuse liberté... Ce livre délicieux et audacieux nous montre, comme le disait Pascal, que "l'athéisme est une marque de force d'esprit, mais jusqu'à un certain degré seulement". (shrink)

This article explores the intersection between freedom-liberty and freedom-gratuity in the practices filed under the heading «free jazz ». In light of the exemplary trajectory of Ken Vandermark, it analyses the space of freedom opened up by US college radios for the dissemination of improvised music. It then sketches the socio-political model implicitly projected by this unique form of interactive invention taking place within the collective of a jazz band, an interactive invention which dissolves the very notion of authorship. Rejecting (...) the traditional binary opposition between constraint and freedom, calling for an approach conceived in terms of pressure , the utopia of jazz invites us to reflect upon the type of structures most conducive to the autoproduction of singularities. (shrink)

On the basis of the graphic convergence between the English « noise » and the French word « la noise » , this article attempts to identify a percept that would be specific to the transgeneric reality of noise music. In order to understand how noise has become a source of aesthetic enjoyment, it revisits the history of recording devices, and proposes a philosophical hypothesis on the type of affect that is nurtured and fostered by those who expose themselves to (...) the noise experience : an ontological-political exploration of « letting-be ». (shrink)

The theory of action is a centerpiece of the philosophical thought of Ralph Cudworth. It is indeed in this theory that the fundamental, twofold operation of his thinking is played out: an overturning of necessitarian materialism and, correlatively, a reestablishment of the genuine idea of an intelligible system of the universe. The problem of action in Cudworth’s thought concerns his physical doctrine as much as his moral doctrine. It thus involves the theory of being and of value.

Il s’agit de déduire le concept de cosmopolitisme à partir de la notion d’humanité et de montrer le champ considérable qui s’ouvre ainsi à la pensée : le rapport à la nature et au monde vivant, l’idée d’une justice universelle pensée à partir de l’humanité comme sujet supérieure au peuple ou à l’État comme sujet. De cette hiérarchie peut être tirée l’idée d’un droit de résistance des peuples contre l’oppression, l’équité territoriale, le droit de vivre dignement des fruits de la (...) Terre au lieu où l’on habite. (shrink)

Paris, Palais de Tokyo, dimanche 7 juillet 2002. Lieu d’exposition, récemment inauguré, entre musée et squat, où l’on peut voir les œuvres d’artistes contemporains. Qu’y voit-on? Quelques exemples. Un grand rideau de velours noir. Derrière ce rideau, une grande pièce sombre. Il est indiqué, à l’entrée : « Merci de bien vouloir vous déchausser avant d’entrer »,..

Il a également publié : Raison et déraison d’État ; Jean Bodin : nature, histoire, droit et politique ; Aspects de la pensée médiévale dans la philosophie politique moderne ; Comment..

L’État n’est plus aujourd’hui que l’ombre de lui-même. L’ombre de la figure du Léviathan dans laquelle Hobbes l’avait pensé en construisant son concept à l’aube de la modernité. Pouvoir, représentation, loi sont les trois catégories autour desquelles l’État était alors pensé. Pouvoir, parce que l’État était d’abord conçu comme la synthèse d’une puissance irrésistible..

« Le terme ‘immigration’ a donc été inventé au début des années 1880 pour désigner un dramatique ‘problème’ de société, qu’il fallait résoudre de toute urgence pour sauver la France. Mais on constate que, dès cette époque, plus le nombre de ceux qui se sont dévoués à cette noble cause a grandi et plus ‘le problème’ s’est aggravé » Gérard Noiriel L’un des...

Le virgolette che aprono e chiudono questa frase, «l’avvenire appartiene ai fantasmi» – o meglio che la aprono senza volerla chiudere – non sono delle virgolette di precauzione. non segnalano un voler mettere a distanza, bensì una citazione. Cioè il ritorno, la riapparizione, l’essere nuovamente in circolazione di una frase di Jacques Derrida – o meglio del suo fantasma – in un film di Ken McMullen girato nel 1982. L’aspetto fantasmatico emerge subito: che l’avvenire appartenga ai fantasmi, i...

Le matérialisme historique standard, évolutionniste et progressiste, faisant se succéder les modes de production envisagés à l’échelle de sociétés, simple inversion de l’hégélianisme, est aujourd’hui totalement abandonné, discrédité qu’il est par l’échec des pays du socialisme réel. Cependant, deux philosophes marxistes, Jacques Bidet et Kojin Karatani, ont récemment cherché à reconstruire des philosophies de l’histoire sur une base marxiste en puisant dans les travaux issus de l’analyse des systèmes-monde, qui avaient produit des histoires mondiales du capitalisme critiques de l’eurocentrisme et (...) du nationalisme méthodologique du marxisme développementaliste. Quels réaménagements conceptuels ont été nécessaires pour réaliser cette articulation? Dans les deux cas, l’intégration des concepts et résultats historiques de l’analyse des systèmes-monde a eu pour condition une déconstruction du dualisme de la structure/superstructure qui constituait le noyau du matérialisme historique. Pour autant lorsqu’il s’agit d’inscrire historiquement des perspectives d’incarnation au communisme, les deux auteurs divergent sur le rôle qu’y a joué l’Europe. (shrink)

This article examines the relationship between different pedagogies and the joy of teaching. It is based on several research carried out on schools practicing alternative pedagogies as well as on experiments linked to article 34 of the « Fillon » law. Several dimensions are brought to light: the break with the ill-being experienced in traditional practices, the consistency between values and practices, the place of commitment in the history of the teacher and in his personal relationships, the professional development, the (...) effects on students, the closer relations with families, the social recognition. (shrink)

Pathologizing ugliness refers to the use of disease language and medical processes to foster and support the claim that undesirable features are pathological conditions requiring medical or surgical intervention. Primarily situated in cosmetic surgery, the practice appeals to the concept of “aesthetic pathology”, which is a medical designation for features that deviate from some designated aesthetic norms. This article offers a two-pronged conceptual analysis of aesthetic pathology. First, I argue that three sets of claims, derived from normativist and naturalistic accounts (...) of disease, inform the framing of ugliness as a disease. These claims concern: (1) aesthetic harms, (2) aesthetic dysfunction, and (3) aesthetic deviation. Second, I introduce the notion of a hybridization loop in medicine, which merges the naturalist and normative understanding of the disease that potentially enables pathologizing practices. In the context of cosmetic surgery, the loop simultaneously promotes the framing of beauty ideals as normal biological attributes and the framing of normal appearance as an aesthetic ideal to legitimize the need for cosmetic interventions. The article thus offers an original discussion of the conceptual problems arising from a specific practice in cosmetic surgery that depicts ugliness as the disease. (shrink)

On pourrait croire que le thème de l’émancipation a disparu de la Théorie Critique dans sa version la plus récente, en particulier chez Habermas. Mais on devrait plutôt dire que l’intérêt à l’émancipation, notion que Habermas avait dans un premier temps reprise à Max Horkheimer, a émigré dans l’immanence de l’État de droit démocratique. Jusqu’où la reconstruction habermassienne de l’État de droit permet-elle tout à la fois de revitaliser et de conférer un sens nouveau aux visées pratiques, sociales et politiques, (...) émancipatrices? Telle est la question qui nous retiendra. (shrink)

John Locke interpreta que a luz causa mais dores do que a escuridão. A partir desta leitura, Edmund Burke realiza uma crítica ao seu antecessor para mostrar o papel da escuridão e da obscuridade no desenvolvimento das ideias de sublime. O sublime de Burke compreende a uma transformação da dor em deleite, quando a dor desaparece. Desta forma, a escuridão, sendo fonte de horror e dor, seria também uma das fontes para extrair ideias sublimes a partir da evocação de algo (...) que se esconde por trás de sua miragem da ausência. Seguindo a leitura acerca do que é o sublime em Burke, do papel da escuridão em promover o sublime, do conflito entre escuridão e luz, será feita a interpretação de uma obra fílmica – O Sétimo Selo, de Ingmar Bergman – e de uma obra literária – Ensaio sobre a cegueira, de José Saramago. Em ambos os casos serão notados o papel da obscuridade, mas a partir de imagens divergentes. (shrink)

Scheinerman (2023) proposes that at the Human Genome Editing Initiative international summit (held in March 2023) there should have been a parallel, separate Citizens’ Jury, and that the Human Geno...

L'humanisme n'est pas le propre des esprits passéistes. Faute de savoir prédire quels humains nous serons suite au déferlement technologique et scientifique en cours, l'humanisme vise à réinscrire l'homme dans son histoire. Longue quête en faveur de la nécessaire rénovation de la pensée humaniste pour s'adapter au nouveau monde en train de se structurer sous nos yeux, tout en s'opposant à la « chosification » en cours de l'humain. En réponse à ce travail d'analyse et de compréhension d'un quotidien en (...) rapide évolution, le Professeur Escande recommande dans sa préface : « à ceux qui se sentiraient une âme d'humanistes en voie de recomposition que de travailler ce qu'Yves Bannel leur a concocté de profond et précis pour remettre leurs réflexions dans le sillon du monde neuf ». Après "Les Nouvelles voies de l'Ethique"(2013) qui décode le monde contemporain à travers le prisme de l'éthique, puis "La crise Identitaire (2014) qui suit les méandres du ressenti identitaire et "La construction du sens" (2015), recherche personnelle et responsable du sens des choses, ce nouvel essai pose une question de pleine actualité : « L'Humanisme reste-t-il un concept d'actualité? » question à laquelle il essaye de répondre avec lucidité et sans excessive illusion. (shrink)

The history of the philosophical exchanges between China and the West is the history of the translations between the two traditions. On the western side, after the Jesuits, the range of translators became gradually broader. On the Chinese side, many intellectuals introduced Western classics in their language in the twentieth century. This led several historians to argue that Chinese philosophy took off with the translation-comparison of both traditions. However, not all comparisons are of equal value. Thus, translation in philosophy implies (...) comparing concepts or arguments and considering all the cultural references involved. This means taking a risk and accepting a limit. A risk is to be taken because translating interprets a “foreign thought” according to one’s context. This implies disclosing one’s presuppositions. There is a limit because transitioning from one set of references to another implies welcoming a part of “untranslatable” that always remains. According to Ricoeur’s words, “linguistic hospitality” is required here. This article first presents two interpretations of the translation-comparison processes. In the last part, it describes the necessity of linguistic hospitality in the context of Comparative Philosophy. (shrink)

This article provides a critical comparative analysis of the substantive and procedural values and ethical concepts articulated in guidelines for allocating scarce resources in the COVID-19 pandemic. We identified 21 local and national guidelines written in English, Spanish, German and French; applicable to specific and identifiable jurisdictions; and providing guidance to clinicians for decision making when allocating critical care resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. US guidelines were not included, as these had recently been reviewed elsewhere. Information was extracted from each (...) guideline on: 1) the development process; 2) the presence and nature of ethical, medical and social criteria for allocating critical care resources; and 3) the membership of and decision-making procedure of any triage committees. Results of our analysis show the majority appealed primarily to consequentialist reasoning in making allocation decisions, tempered by a largely pluralistic approach to other substantive and procedural values and ethical concepts. Medical and social criteria included medical need, co-morbidities, prognosis, age, disability and other factors, with a focus on seemingly objective medical criteria. There was little or no guidance on how to reconcile competing criteria, and little attention to internal contradictions within individual guidelines. Our analysis reveals the challenges in developing sound ethical guidance for allocating scarce medical resources, highlighting problems in operationalising ethical concepts and principles, divergence between guidelines, unresolved contradictions within the same guideline, and use of naïve objectivism in employing widely used medical criteria for allocating ICU resources. (shrink)

This article defends four claims. The first is that in the last few decades, two waves of democratic innovation based on random selection must be differentiated by their partly different concrete devices, embodying different social dynamics and pointing toward different kinds of democracy. The second claim is that the rationale of the first wave, based on randomly selected minipublics, largely differs from the dynamic of political sortition in Athens, as it points toward deliberative democracy rather than radical democracy. Conversely, empowered (...) sortition processes that have emerged during the second wave capture better the spirit of radical Athenian democratic traditions. The third claim is normative: these empowered sortition processes are more promising for a real democratization of democracy. The last claim is that any proposal of a legislature by lot must rely on this lesson when trying to defend a normatively convincing and politically realistic perspective. (shrink)

The popularity of surgical modifications of race-typical features among Asian women has generated debates on the ethical implications of the practice. Focusing on blepharoplasty as a representative racial surgery, this article frames the ethical discussion by viewing Asian cosmetic surgery as an example of medicalization, which can be interpreted in two forms: treatment versus enhancement. In the treatment form, medicalization occurs by considering cosmetic surgery as remedy for pathologized Asian features; the pathologization usually occurs in reference to western features as (...) the norm. In the enhancement form, medicalization occurs by using medical means to improve physical features to achieve a certain type of beauty or physical appearance. Each type of medicalization raises slightly different ethical concerns. The problem with treatment medicalization lies in the pathologization of Asian features, which is oppressive as it continues to reinforce racial norms of appearance and negative stereotypes. Enhancement medicalization is ethically problematic because cosmetic surgery tends to conflate beauty and health as medical goals of surgery, overemphasizing the value of appearance that can further displace women’s control over their own bodies. I conclude that in both forms of medicalization, cosmetic surgery seems to narrowly frame a complex psychosocial issue involving physical appearance as a matter that can be simply solved through surgical means. (shrink)

Yves R. Simon explores moral virtue in this piece through identifying three moral positions common in modernity that attempt to substitute the traditional concept of virtue, as well as discussing the distinction between nature and use of sources of good or evil. He also discusses the distinctions between habits and opinions, as well as the virtue and science. He gives clear examples that make this book enjoyable for readers of all levels to understand moral virtue.

Background There is a growing concern about artificial intelligence (AI) applications in healthcare that can disadvantage already under-represented and marginalised groups (eg, based on gender or race). Objectives Our objectives are to canvas the range of strategies stakeholders endorse in attempting to mitigate algorithmic bias, and to consider the ethical question of responsibility for algorithmic bias. Methodology The study involves in-depth, semistructured interviews with healthcare workers, screening programme managers, consumer health representatives, regulators, data scientists and developers. Results Findings reveal considerable (...) divergent views on three key issues. First, views on whether bias is a problem in healthcare AI varied, with most participants agreeing bias is a problem (which we call the bias-critical view), a small number believing the opposite (the bias-denial view), and some arguing that the benefits of AI outweigh any harms or wrongs arising from the bias problem (the bias-apologist view). Second, there was a disagreement on the strategies to mitigate bias, and who is responsible for such strategies. Finally, there were divergent views on whether to include or exclude sociocultural identifiers (eg, race, ethnicity or gender-diverse identities) in the development of AI as a way to mitigate bias. Conclusion/significance Based on the views of participants, we set out responses that stakeholders might pursue, including greater interdisciplinary collaboration, tailored stakeholder engagement activities, empirical studies to understand algorithmic bias and strategies to modify dominant approaches in AI development such as the use of participatory methods, and increased diversity and inclusion in research teams and research participant recruitment and selection. (shrink)