This book argues that the extraordinary force of the image in contemporary life--the contemporary imaginary--can be traced back to the Byzantine iconoclastic controversy of the eighth and ninth centuries.

Marie-José Mondzain, philosophe, est directrice de recherche au CNRS. Elle a publié des livres sur l’image, entre autres, Image, icône, économie (Seuil, 1996), L’image peut-elle tuer? (Bayard, 2002), Le Commerce des regards (Seuil, 2003) ; des livres sur la peinture : Van Gogh ou la Peinture comme tauromachie (Éd. de l’Épure, 1996), Henri Cueco, vol. 2 (Cercle d’Art, 1997), L’Arche et l’Arc-en-ciel, Michel-Ange – la voûte de la chapelle Sixtine (Le Passage, 2006). Sa réflexion sur l’image l’a (...) conduite à collaborer avec des gens de théâtre et de cinéma, et à participer à des ouvrages collectifs : L’Assemblée théâtrale, 1 (Éd. de l’Amandier, 2002) et 2 ( La Représentation, Éd. de l’Amandier, 2004), Voir ensemble. Autour de Jean-Toussaint Desanti (Gallimard, 2003, coll. « Réfléchir le cinéma »), Le Cinéma et la Shoah. Un art à l’épreuve de la tragédie du xx e siècle (sous la dir. de J.-M. Frodon, Cahiers du Cinéma, 2007). Elle vient de publier Homo spectator (Bayard, 2007). (shrink)

: In the following extract, Mondzain examines the way in which the spiritual hegemony of the Early Christian and Byzantine church was transformed into political power. The primary tool used in this endeavor was the icon. The representation of the holy figures of Christianity as space-occupying physical beings puts into play a series of spatial operations which aided in the exercise of temporal, imperial authority.

In the following extract, Mondzain examines the way in which the spiritual hegemony of the Early Christian and Byzantine church was transformed into political power. The primary tool used in this endeavor was the icon. The representation of the holy figures of Christianity as space-occupying physical beings puts into play a series of spatial operations which aided in the exercise of temporal, imperial authority.

In the following extract, Mondzain examines the way in which the spiritual hegemony of the Early Christian and Byzantine church was transformed into political power. The primary tool used in this endeavor was the icon. The representation of the holy figures of Christianity as space-occupying physical beings puts into play a series of spatial operations which aided in the exercise of temporal, imperial authority.

In the following extract, Mondzain examines the way in which the spiritual hegemony of the Early Christian and Byzantine church was transformed into political power. The primary tool used in this endeavor was the icon. The representation of the holy figures of Christianity as space-occupying physical beings puts into play a series of spatial operations which aided in the exercise of temporal, imperial authority.

De la Première Guerre mondiale aux attentats du 11 septembre 2001, la manipulation des émotions par le biais des images existe et limite l'esprit critique. L'auteure révèle que les images ont un pouvoir humanisant, et la distance qu'elles créent entre l'homme et ses émotions offre à celui-ci les conditions de sa liberté, à lui de ne pas subir les images, de les refuser.

This article seeks to highlight the relevance of Marie-José Mondzain's trailblazing writings on Byzantine image theory and its modern legacy, with particular reference to Image, icône, économie (Im...

In the context of academic research, a diversity of ethical issues, conditioned by the different roles of members within these institutions, arise. Previous studies on this topic addressed mainly the perceptions of researchers. However, to our knowledge, no studies have explored the transversal ethical issues from a wider spectrum, including other members of academic institutions as the research ethics board (REB) members, and the research ethics experts. The present study used a descriptive phenomenological approach to document the ethical issues experienced (...) by a heterogeneous group of Canadian researchers, REB members, and research ethics experts. Data collection involved socio-demographic questionnaires and individual semi-structured interviews. Following the triangulation of different perspectives (researchers, REB members and ethics experts), emerging ethical issues were synthesized in ten units of meaning: (1) research integrity, (2) conflicts of interest, (3) respect for research participants, (4) lack of supervision and power imbalances, (5) individualism and performance, (6) inadequate ethical guidance, (7) social injustices, (8) distributive injustices, (9) epistemic injustices, and (10) ethical distress. This study highlighted several problematic elements that can support the identification of future solutions to resolve transversal ethical issues in research that affect the heterogeneous members of the academic community. (shrink)

In the past, several researchers in the field of physiotherapy have asserted that physiotherapy clinicians rarely use ethical knowledge to solve ethical issues raised by their practice. Does this assertion still hold true? Do the theoretical frameworks used by researchers and clinicians allow them to analyze thoroughly the ethical issues they encounter in their everyday practice? In our quest for answers, we conducted a literature review and analyzed the ethical theoretical frameworks used by physiotherapy researchers and clinicians to discuss the (...) ethical issues raised by private physiotherapy practice. Our final analysis corpus consisted of thirty-nine texts. Our main finding is that researchers and clinicians in physiotherapy rarely use ethical knowledge to analyze the ethical issues raised in their practice and that gaps exist in the theoretical frameworks currently used to analyze these issues. Consequently, we developed, for ethical analysis, a four-part prism which we have called the Quadripartite Ethical Tool (QET). This tool can be incorporated into existing theoretical frameworks to enable professionals to integrate ethical knowledge into their ethical analyses. The innovative particularity of the QET is that it encompasses three ethical theories (utilitarism, deontologism, and virtue ethics) and axiological ontology (professional values) and also draws on both deductive and inductive approaches. It is our hope that this new tool will help researchers and clinicians integrate ethical knowledge into their analysis of ethical issues and contribute to fostering ethical analyses that are grounded in relevant philosophical and axiological foundations. (shrink)

ABSTRACT: The concept of the “banality of evil,” put forward by Hannah Arendt to describe the psychological profile of the Nazi criminal in Eichmann in Jerusalem, is intimately tied to her reading of Plato. In Arendt’s examination of the question of evil, she found some support in Kant’s philosophy. However, the problem of guilt under Nazism ultimately goes back to an inability to think. The two-in-one, a concept which describes the activity of thinking, is based on Plato’s dialogues. An examination (...) of these philosophical sources contributes to the understanding of the possibilities and the limits of Arendt’s reflection on evil. RÉSUMÉ : Le concept de banalité du mal, proposé par Hannah Arendt pour décrire le profil psychologique du criminel nazi dans Eichmann in Jerusalem, est intimement lié à ses lectures de Platon. Pour aborder la question du mal, elle a découvert des appuis chez Kant, mais le problème de la culpabilité sous le régime nazi renvoie ultimement au défaut de penser. Le deux-en-un, concept qui décrit la pensée, a été défini sur la base de l’oeuvre platonicienne. L’examen de ces sources philosophiques permet de mieux comprendre les possibilités et les limites de la réflexion arendtienne sur le mal. (shrink)

Dante, au Paradis, demande à son élue : " Pourquoi tu fus toi seule prédestinée? ". En guise de réponse, il n'aura qu'un cri résonnant comme le tonnerre qui le dissuadera de questionner plus avant... Nietzsche et Schopenhauer, eux, n'auront pas peur de cette question qui met en jeu indissociablement leur identité singulière et leur statut de philosophe. Le premier, au péril de sa raison, gère l'héritage de la mort de Dieu, en assumant la disparition du Père. Nous devons à (...) l'un et à l'autre la considération de la valeur de la singularité, valeur ineffable, accessible seulement à l'amour électif, divin ou humain. Le classement des hommes en genres, espèces, races, n'en est que la caricature ; l'individualisme contemporain en est sans doute la décomposition. (shrink)

Comment comprendre les mondes dans lesquels nous vivons? Peut-on ne pas se sentir démuni devant tant de complexité ressentie? Comment agir de manière responsable quand on a conscience de sa liberté de façonner le futur par ses actions d'aujourd'hui? Cinquante professionnels d'horizons variés témoignent de leur manière de répondre à ces questions dans leurs pratiques quotidiennes. Ces témoignages de responsables d'entreprises ou d'associations, médecins, formateurs, consultants, pompiers, enseignants-chercheurs dans de nombreux domaines différents, ont en commun de mettre en actes des (...) concepts développés par Jean-Louis Le Moigne. A travers la narration d'expériences vécues sur des sujets très divers, ce livre offre des pistes de réflexion et d'action précieuses pour toute personne soucieuse du sens de son action, quel que soit son champ de pratique : recherche, enseignement, formation, management, conseil, sport, santé, sécurité, travail social, économie sociale et solidaire, agronomie. (shrink)

This article discusses the process of restructuring experience during the first year of teaching in elementary school. Inspired by interactionism, the study espouses a theory of experiential learning and adapts the principles of continuity and transaction to the field of teaching. The methodology relies on mentoring to serve both development support and research in accordance with a collaborative approach. The results of a grounded theory analysis are illustrated starting from an «experiential frame» rebuilt with one of the participants transacting the (...) experience through three transactional ways of understanding. An examination of this restructuration process suggests a dual identity development where both an operative and a unified self come into play. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the centrality of permaculture design courses as the principal sociopolitical strategy of the permaculture community in Canada to transform local food production practices. Building on the work of Antonio Gramsci and political agroecology as a framework of analysis, we argue that permaculture instruction remains deeply embedded within market and colonial relations, which orients the pedagogy of permaculture trainings in such a way as to reproduce the basic elements of the colonial capitalist economy among its practitioners. In (...) the specific case of eastern Ontario, this embeddedness had the effect of diluting the transformative capacity of permaculture practitioners who were unable to create its own social movement organization. The paper then highlights key elements of the agroecological pedagogy used by the Brazilian Landless Rural Workers Movement and the Escola Latinoamericana de Agroecología in Paraná, Brazil. The objective is to draw lessons from these inspiring experiences, in a rather unique context of struggles that can help to critically assess the pedagogical practices and principles presently informing permaculture communities in Canada and in advanced industrialized countries more generally. We then conclude by reiterating the key arguments and lessons drawn from the Brazilian pedagogical experiences, pointing out the importance of engagement and coalition-building with established rural and urban movements, as well as progressive farmer, Indigenous, and rural associations to foster a just and sustainable transformation of agri-food systems, starting at the local and regional levels. It also emphasizes the need for the most marginalized sectors to lead the way towards an agroecological transition. (shrink)

Les auteurs cherchent à rendre compte d’un résultat particulier obtenu dans le cadre d’une recherche sur l’implication subjective des magistrats dans la construction de leur intime conviction. Comment comprendre la relation entre l’intime conviction de culpabilité et la prise en compte des liens familiaux et intersubjectifs? La méthode de recherche est centrée sur l’étude de la narrativité. La situation judiciaire proposée aux magistrats est une plainte pour inceste. L’intime conviction abordée dans ses fondements juridiques est envisagée du point de vue (...) du travail psychique qu’elle est susceptible de mobiliser. L’analyse des identités narratives permet de distinguer trois rapports au « conflit psychique induit ». Les magistrats qui prennent en compte les liens intersubjectifs seraient ceux qui appliquent le travail du doute d’une part, qui cherchent à penser la subjectivité de l’auteur et la relation entre cet homme et sa fille d’autre part. (shrink)

Les auteurs cherchent à rendre compte d’un résultat particulier obtenu dans le cadre d’une recherche sur l’implication subjective des magistrats dans la construction de leur intime conviction. Comment comprendre la relation entre l’intime conviction de culpabilité et la prise en compte des liens familiaux et intersubjectifs? La méthode de recherche est centrée sur l’étude de la narrativité. La situation judiciaire proposée aux magistrats est une plainte pour inceste. L’intime conviction abordée dans ses fondements juridiques est envisagée du point de vue (...) du travail psychique qu’elle est susceptible de mobiliser. L’analyse des identités narratives permet de distinguer trois rapports au « conflit psychique induit ». Les magistrats qui prennent en compte les liens intersubjectifs seraient ceux qui appliquent le travail du doute d’une part, qui cherchent à penser la subjectivité de l’auteur et la relation entre cet homme et sa fille d’autre part. (shrink)

Les violences sexuelles peuvent durer des années dans un couple avant que la femme victime n’en parle. Comment comprendre ce silence? Une analyse critique de deux discours courants est faite à partir de la clinique analytique individuelle et de couple. Les éléments essentiels sont alors situés dans le lien intersubjectif du couple. Sont étudiés les effets de réel de la violence sur la parole et ceux de la honte que le clinicien peut saisir au moyen du transfert pour en favoriser (...) la nomination. Constats et hypothèses cliniques sur l’amour ou la passion de ces femmes, leur masochisme et leur besoin de punition permettent d’aborder d’autres motifs de silence. Dans la dynamique du lien, le rôle des pulsions de mort chez la victime apparaît central. La violence subie masque une violence interne liée à un sentiment d’existence menacé dans le lien à la mère, à des traumas de l’enfance, à la honte et à un défaut d’investissement narcissique. (shrink)

Research on research ethics—regarding both the governance and practice of the ethical review of human subjects research—has a tumultuous history in North America and Europe. Much of the academic literature focuses on issues to do with regulating the conduct and quality of ethics review of research protocols by ethics committees (research ethics boards (REBs) in Canada and institutional review boards (IRBs) in the United States). In addition, some of the literature attends to issues particular to the review of qualitative research, (...) and still other literature addresses the challenges posed by and the need for research on REBs/IRBs. It is this third group of literature within which our article is situated. (shrink)

The passage from a posture of clinician to that of clinician–bioethicist poses significant challenges for health professionals, most notably with regards to theoretical or epistemological views of complex ethical impasses encountered in clinical settings. Apprehending these situations from the only clinical perspective of the nurse or the doctor, for example, can be very unproductive to help solve this kind of situation and certainly poses great limits to the role of the clinician–bioethicist. Drawing on my own experience as a former nurse (...) who, following graduate studies in bioethics has begun providing ethics consultation services, I argue that clinicians must undergo an epistemological transformation in order to become clinician–bioethicists. A source of inspiration or framework for would-be clinician–bioethicists is, I suggest, the Petite éthique developed by the contemporary French philosopher Paul Ricoeur. Specifically, clinician–bioethicists should develop specific core ethical competencies (in line with the conclusions of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (Core competencies for health care ethics consultation, 1998); namely: savoir or knowing, savoir faire or knowing how to do, and savoir être or knowing how to be. (shrink)

La critique féministe a dénoncé très tôt le « bonheur parfait » que la techno-science est censée apporter à nos sociétés occidentales. Mais c'est la tendance écoféministe qui a poussé le plus à fond cette critique. Nous voulons mettre en évidence les principaux enjeux identifiés par ce courant, ainsi que les types de praxis qu'il veut mettre en oeuvre pour nous libérer de l'idéologie du « progrès » et nous permettre d'accéder à une société plus humaine.The feminist critique very early (...) on denounced the "bonheur parfait" that techno-science is expected to yield in our Western societies. This line of criticism was insisted upon by ecofeminists. We would like to underscore the main issues identified by eco-feminists, together with the type of praxis it implies in order to liberate us from a progress-based ideology and to allow us accès to a more human society. (shrink)

: This introduction highlights two of Mondzain's contributions in the chapter reproduced here, "Iconic Space and the Rule of Lands." The first is her discussion of a link between images and power, which stresses the formal characteristics of paintings rather than their narratives. The second is her examination of the specific task which representation is called on to perform in religious as opposed to secular contexts, where spiritual, otherworldly figures are given physical shape and form.

This introduction highlights two of Mondzain's contributions in the chapter reproduced here, "Iconic Space and the Rule of Lands." The first is her discussion of a link between images and power, which stresses the formal characteristics of paintings rather than their narratives. The second is her examination of the specific task which representation is called on to perform in religious as opposed to secular contexts, where spiritual, otherworldly figures are given physical shape and form.