La loi, le sujet et la jouissance est un ouvrage concis qui s’essaye plus qu’honorablement à présenter les concepts lacaniens pouvant intéresser le droit, avec un souci jamais démenti de clarté et de rigueur. Il a été publié dans une collection animée par l’Institut des hautes études sur la justice (IHEJ), collection dont l’objectif avoué, selon la présentation de ses directeurs, est d’expliquer la pensée des “auteurs classiques ou contemporains dont les œuvres ouvrent des perspectives parfois inédites sur le droit” (...) aux “acteurs de la vie démocratique – élus, magistrats, travailleurs sociaux, étudiants, enseignants” (2 de couverture). Le but en est donc explicitement “pédagogique” (id.). Le petit livre de Franck Chaumon fait donc office d’introduction à la pensée de Lacan. Encore une, dira-t-on! En effet la pensée notoirement hermétique du psychiatre-psychanalyste français, célèbre pour ses mathèmes et ses néologismes comme pour son érudition et ses commentaires aigus sur le devenir de la subjectivité contemporaine, ne cesse de donner lieu à de multiples tentatives d’explication, de classification et de schématisation de qualité pour le moins inégale. En dépit de cette surabondance de textes introductifs l’ouvrage de Chaumon reste remarquable à deux égards. Tout d’abord, la qualité du travail d’exposition effectué est irréprochable. Chaumon parvient, sans être plus réducteur que la taille des volumes de la collection ne l’exige, à rendre compte de la complexité et de la pertinence des concepts évoqués, sans pour autant transiger sur la radicalité de la psychanalyse. Cette radicalité est affirmée notamment par rapport aux disciplines souvent considérées à mauvais escient comme connexes à la psychanalyse, telle la psychologie ou la psychiatrie légale. L’auteur parvient également à transmettre quelque chose de l’extrême actualité, de la pertinence de la pensée lacanienne pour interpréter, appréhender et traiter notre modernité – à savoir les effets de sujet produits par la structure du lien social contemporain (Sur la relation entre la structure du lien social et les effets de sujet, voir l’excellent texte de Miller 2003). Outre sa qualité, Lacan: La loi, le sujet et la jouissance présente également l’intérêt non négligeable de s’adresser spécifiquement aux acteurs de la justice, et d’offrir de solides bases de travail et de réflexion pour ceux que le traitement des personnes ayant maille à partir avec la justice concerne au-delà et de la simple gestion du risque incarné par le délinquant, et d’une politique visant tout uniment à normaliser les sujets considérés comme mal adaptés au lien social, ayant par conséquent besoin d’un ‘recadrage’. Le respect dû à chaque subjectivité y est donc mis à l’ordre du jour. (shrink)

Quantum mechanics is a very successful theory that has impacted on many areas of physics, from pure theory to applications. However, it is difficult to interpret, and philosophical contradictions and counterintuitive results are apparent at a fundamental level. In this book, Laloë presents our current understanding of the theory. The book explores the basic questions and difficulties that arise with the theory of quantum mechanics. It examines the various interpretations that have been proposed, describing and comparing them and discussing their (...) success and difficulties. The book is ideal for researchers in physics and mathematics who want to know more about the problems faced in quantum mechanics but who do not have specialist knowledge in the subject. It will also interest philosophers of science specializing in quantum physics. (shrink)

This book is based on Professor Franck's highly acclaimed Hague Academy General Course. In it he offers a compelling view of the future of international legal reasoning and legal theory. The author offers a critical analysis of the prescriptive norms and institutions of modern international law and argues that international law has the capacity to advance, in practice, the abstract social values shared by the community of states and persons. This book is both thought-provoking and original and as such (...) is essential reading for students of international law and legal theory. (shrink)

The impact of socially responsible corporate behavior on economic performance is a major preoccupation of managers today. This article explores the links between narrowly defined constructs: stakeholder orientation, environmental proactivity and profitability, from the perspectives of stakeholder theory and resource-based theory. We collected data on the food and beverage, and household and personal products industries. Using structural equation modeling, this paper makes two contributions. We found a negative link between companies simply having a higher stakeholder orientation and profitability. Importantly, however, (...) environmental proactivity not only had a positive impact on profitability, but also appeared to mediate the relationship between stakeholder orientation and profitability. In other words, if a company is more environmentally proactive, it will be more attentive to a broad array of stakeholders, and this will in turn contribute positively to profitability. (shrink)

This book analyses the impact computerization has had on contemporary science and explains the origins, technical nature and epistemological consequences of the current decisive interplay between technology and science: an intertwining of formalism, computation, data acquisition, data and visualization and how these factors have led to the spread of simulation models since the 1950s. -/- Using historical, comparative and interpretative case studies from a range of disciplines, with a particular emphasis on the case of plant studies, the author shows how (...) and why computers, data treatment devices and programming languages have occasioned a gradual but irresistible and massive shift from mathematical models to computer simulations. -/- . (shrink)

The abilities to attribute an action to its proper agent and to understand its meaning when it is produced by someone else are basic aspects of human social communication. Several psychiatric syndromes, such as schizophrenia, seem to lead to a dysfunction of the awareness of one’s own action as well as of recognition of actions performed by other. Such syndromes offer a framework for studying the determinants of agency, the ability to correctly attribute actions to their veridical source. Thirty normal (...) subjects and 30 schizophrenic patients with and without hallucinations and/or delusional experiences were required to execute simple finger and wrist movements, without direct visual control of their hand. The image of either their own hand or an alien hand executing the same or a different movement was presented on a TV-screen in real time. The task for the subjects was to discriminate whether the hand presented on the screen was their own or not. Hallucinating and deluded schizophrenic patients were more impaired in discriminating their own hand from the alien one than the non-hallucinating ones, and tended to misattribute the alien hand to themselves. Results are discussed according to a model of action control. A tentative description of the mechanisms leading to action consciousness is proposed. (shrink)

Où trouver la force de continuer à vivre quand des épreuves terribles privent de l'énergie ou du désir nécessaires pour perpétuer une existence devenue en apparence absurde? Les récits de résilience sont nombreux. Mais il aura fallu attendre Nietzsche pour que la philosophie s'empare avec acuité de cette question. ± [...] je fis de ma volonté de santé, de vivre, ma philosophie? : accablé d'une maladie terriblement douloureuse, l'auteur du Gai Savoir fait d'une expérience vécue un terrain d'expérimentation pour la (...) pensée. La force de vivre est exclusive chez lui de toute recherche d'un quelconque salut dans une foi ou dans une cause. Non pas fuir la maladie, mais se l'approprier en l'explorant par la pensée. En découlent une leçon et une question. Une leçon : la souffrance ne prive pas la vie de son sens, ni ne préjuge de sa valeur. Une question, celle du philosophe qui se fait ± médecin de la civilisation? : le nihilisme peut-il être surmonté? (shrink)

The many well-publicized food scandals in recent years have resulted in a general state of vulnerable trust. As a result, building consumer trust has become an important goal in agri-food policy. In their efforts to protect trust in the agricultural and food sector, governments and industries have tended to consider the problem of trust as merely a matter of informing consumers on risks. In this article, we argue that the food sector better addresses the problem of trust from the perspective (...) of the trustworthiness of the food sector itself. This broad idea for changing the focus of trust is the assumption that if you want to be trusted, you should be trustworthy. To provide a clear understanding of what being trustworthy means within the food sector, we elaborate on both the concept of trust and of responsibility. In this way we show that policy focused on enhancing transparency and providing information to consumers is crucial, but not sufficient for dealing with the problem of consumer trust in the current agri-food context. (shrink)

Intention was seen traditionally as a philosophical concept, before being debated more recently from psychological and social perspectives. Today the cognitive sciences approach intention empirically, at the level of its underlying mechanisms. This naturalization of intention makes it more concrete and graspable by empirical sciences. This volume offers an interdisciplinary integration of current research on intentional processes naturalized through action, drawing on the theoretical and empirical approaches of cognitive neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and sociology. Each chapter integrates several disciplinary perspectives. Taken (...) together, the chapters show that the reunification of the different dimensions of intentional processes may constitute an adequate basis for a general model of intentional processes and their links to action. This can be applied at various levels, from neuronal activity to self-constitution, from the expression of intentional actions at the individual level to their expression in social contexts, and to the recognition of intention in actions executed by others.ContributorsColin Allen, Mireille Bonnard, Vittorio Gallese, Jozina B. de Graaf, Franck Grammont, Patrick Haggard, Marco Iacoboni, Dorothée Legrand, Pierre Livet, Albert Ogien, Jean Pailhous, Jean-Luc Petit, Jean-Michel Roy, Jessica A. Sommerville, Manos Tsakiris, Amanda L. Woodward. (shrink)

European animal disease policy seems to find its justification in a “harm to other” principle. Limiting the freedom of animal keepers—e.g., by culling their animals—is justified by the aim to prevent harm, i.e., the spreading of the disease. The picture, however, is more complicated. Both during the control of outbreaks and in the prevention of notifiable, animal diseases the government is confronted with conflicting claims of stakeholders who anticipate running a risk to be harmed by each other, and who ask (...) for government intervention. In this paper, we first argue that in a policy that aims to prevent animal diseases, the focus shifts from limiting “harm” to weighing conflicting claims with respect to “risks of harm.” Therefore, we claim that the harm principle is no longer a sufficient justification for governmental intervention in animal disease prevention. A policy that has to deal with and distribute conflicting risks of harm needs additional value assumptions that guide this process of assessment and distribution. We show that currently, policies are based on assumptions that are mainly economic considerations. In order to show the limitations of these considerations, we use the interests and position of keepers of backyard animals as an example. Based on the problems they faced during and after the recent outbreaks, we defend the thesis that in order to develop a sustainable animal disease policy other than economic assumptions need to be taken into account. (shrink)

We present a self-organizing approach to sentence processing that sheds new light on notional plurality effects in agreement attraction, using pseudopartitive subject noun phrases. We first show that notional plurality ratings predict verb agreement choices in pseudopartitives, in line with the “Marking” component of the Marking and Morphing theory of agreement processing. However, no account to date has derived notional plurality values from independently needed principles of language processing. We argue on the basis of new experimental evidence and a dynamical (...) systems model that the theoretical black box of notional plurality can be unpacked into objectively measurable semantic features. With these semantic features driving structure formation, our model reproduces the human verb production patterns as a byproduct of normal processing. Finally, we discuss how the self-organizing approach might be extended to other agreement attraction phenomena. (shrink)

Qu'est-ce qu'un commentaire philosophique? Le cas offert par Gilles Deleuze dans son commentaire de Leibniz (Le pli) est l'occasion de saisir quelques uns des enjeux de cette pratique essentielle au travail du philosophe. En revivifiant en effet une tradition historiquement datée (Wölfflin), Gilles Deleuze s'est attaché à produire une description originale du système leibnizien. Au-delà des difficultés soulevées par la nature même de son modèle (la notion de baroque), le commentaire de Deleuze se singularise par une conception particulière de la (...) lecture philosophique comme recréation d'une pensée à partir de la description de ses conditions formelles d'existence. (shrink)

O isolamento social para a contenção da contaminação pela COVID-19 impactou o processo educacional, resultando em efeitos severos na precarização da aprendizagem escolar, principalmente em estudantes de famílias de baixa renda. E como alternativas para que a educação escolar não estagnasse, foi proposta a realização de aulas síncronas através da internet. Entretanto, essa modalidade de ensino não proporciona a universalização do ensino e muito menos o acesso por todos, uma vez que muitos estudantes não possuem acesso à internet. Nas aulas (...) síncronas, o ensino híbrido possibilita que o processo de ensino tenha continuidade no período pandêmico, por utilizar diversas estratégias pedagógicas e também mitigar a aglomeração dos estudantes nas escolas. O professor e os alunos são inseridos em um processo educacional diferente em relação ao ensino tradicional, favorecendo o protagonismo dos alunos, para que possam trabalhar em grupos e compartilhar conhecimentos, e utilizando tecnologias digitais como aliadas nesse processo. (shrink)

There are different ways to consider the movement of the part-time theater and audiovisual workers, or intermittents. A classic, distanced way, sees a professional group protecting its rights and ideologies in the face of an unemployment reform presented as a campaign against cheats. Or a more inward and forward-looking way, showing the movement’s productivity, what it is symptomatic of, how it foreshadows a deeper political transformation. Intermittence is a particular seismic zone between two tectonic plates of our values: culture and (...) labor. Questions of employment practices, subjective relations to time, discontinuity of activity and creative process, more than exchanges of opinions about high culture, are what have allowed the movement to persist, construct and propose.The many additional human and circumstantial ingredients have finally brought forth, at least in our minds, the idea of a particular emergence of law and of common things. Still fragile and relative, this emergent juncture leads us to a fresh questioning of the public debate via another process of work, elaboration and creativity around the lived substance of things, and not only of their symbolic representations. A process which is the intermittent’s daily condition, one which could unexpectedly lead to a transformation of politics, via the obligation to approach all these common things differently. These common things whose very process of emergence seems to be transforming. (shrink)

The scholarly and scientific professions are undergoing changes like any other profession, also due to the ongoing mutations of the labor market. Intermittent scholars and researchers in a situation of economic uncertainty are increasingly numerous. These individuals are not just « deprived of status » as civil servants, but are also independent «free agents », with a different point view stemming partly from the necessity of remaining mobile, of leaving the familiar path in order to progress intellectually. Their independence in (...) relation to the academic environment and the professional status of professors or researchers, can be the result of a voluntary decision, which puts them into the forefront of the transversality which does not yet fully exist between the disciplines, objects and professions of scholarship, science and research. Yet the violence of this economically precarious situation is not something one chooses; it forces us to ask new questions, which must be approached from a social and political standpoint. Tie following article tells the tale of an independent cognitive laborer: an ecosystemic mistake in the eyes of some, an obvious symptom of ongoing mutations for others. (shrink)

We give a reduction of the function field Mordell–Lang conjecture to the function field Manin–Mumford conjecture, for abelian varieties, in all characteristics, via model theory, but avoiding recourse to the dichotomy theorems for Zariski geometries. Additional ingredients include the “Theorem of the Kernel”, and a result of Wagner on commutative groups of finite Morley rank without proper infinite definable subgroups. In positive characteristic, where the main interest lies, there is one more crucial ingredient: “quantifier-elimination” for the corresponding [Formula: see text] (...) where [Formula: see text] is a saturated separably closed field. (shrink)

The essays collected in this volume are all concerned with the connection between fiction and truth. This question is of utmost importance to metaphysics, philosophy of language, philosophical logic and epistemology, raising in each of these areas and at their intersections a large number of issues related to creation, existence, reference, identity, modality, belief, assertion, imagination, pretense, etc. All these topics and many more are addressed in this collection, which brings together original essays written from various points of view by (...) philosophers of diverse trends. These essays constitute major contributions to the current debates that the connection between truth and fiction continually enlivens, and give a sense of the directions in which research on this question is heading. Contributors: Fred Adams, Frederick Kroon, Robert Howell, Brendan Murday, Terence Parsons, Graham Priest, Erich Rast, Manuel Rebuschi, Marion Renauld, R.M. Sainsbury, Grant Tavinor, Alberto Voltolini. (shrink)

BackgroundCurrent policies regulating the use of animals for scientific purposes are based on balancing between potential gain of knowledge and suffering of animals used in experimentation. The balancing process is complicated, on the one hand by plurality of views on our duties towards animals, and on the other hand by more recent discussions on uncertainty in the probability of reaching the final aim of the research and problems of translational failure.MethodsThe study combines ethical analysis based on a literature review with (...) neuropsychiatry-related preclinical research as a case study.ResultsBased on the analysis and the case study we show that neuropsychiatry-related preclinical research is an especially interesting case from an ethical perspective. The 3R principles are used to minimize the negative consequences for the animals used in research. However, neuropsychiatric research is characterized by specific challenges in assessing the probability of success of reaching the final aim, due to our limited mechanistic knowledge of human neuropsychiatric illness. Consequently, the translational value of the currently used animal models may be difficult to prove, which undermines the validity of these models and complicated the ethical assessment.ConclusionsWe conclude that a combined approach that deals with both science and the ethical dimensions is necessary to address the problems of validity and translation in neuropsychiatry-related preclinical research. We suggest this approach to comprise first, improved experimental methods, e.g. by using systematic reviews, second, a more patients-based approach that leads to models that reflect interindividual variation better, and third, more interdisciplinary cooperation. (shrink)

L’analyse du pouvoir que propose Merleau-Ponty dans sa confrontation avec le Marxisme et le bolchévisme tente de penser ce paradoxe : le phénomène du pouvoir contient deux sous-phénomènes: premièrement, le pouvoir d’une entité politique (Prince, Etat, Parti etc.) est reconnu s’il est perçu comme donné (moment de reconnaissance) ; deuxièmement, le pouvoir de cette entité dépend de ladite reconnaissance (moment d’institution). Le premier moment constate le donné alors que l’autre le conteste. L’article se propose de comprendre, premièrement, dans quelle mesure (...) le pouvoir doit être compris comme l’union de la reconnaissance et de l’institution, et deuxièmement, dans quelle mesure cette unité doit être comprise comme une matrice productrice d’histoire. La première question sera résolue par appel à la notion de foi perceptive, qui est la version ontologique d’une telle unité ; et la seconde par appel à la notion politique de représentation héritée de Machiavel et développée dans les analyses critiques du thème de la représentation du prolétariat par le Parti. Le résultat est une reconfiguration des relations entre discours de vérité (dans ce cas, l’ontologie) et action politique ; une reconfiguration de la notion de pouvoir, et une hypothèse pour rendre compte de l’unité des travaux « théoriques » et « politiques » de Merleau-Ponty.The analysis of power that Merleau-Ponty proposes in his confrontation with Marxism and Bolshevism tries to think through the following paradox. The phenomenon of power is composed of two sub-phenomena. Firstly, the power of a political entity (Prince, State, Party, etc.) is recognized if it is perceived as given (moment of recognition). Secondly, the power of that entity depends on the said recognition (moment of institution). The first moment notices the given, while the other contests it. This article aims to elucidate, firstly, to what extent power must be understood as the union of recognition and institution, and secondly, to what extent that unity must be understood as a matrix productive of history. The first question will be resolved by appealing to the notion of the perceptual faith, which is the ontological version of such a unity; and the second, by appealing to the political notion of representation inherited from Machiavelli and developed in the critical analyses of the theme of the representation of the proletariat by the Party. The result is a reconfiguration of the relations between discourses of truth (in this case, ontology) and political action. It is a reconfiguration of the notion of power and a hypothesis that wants to account for the unity of Merleau-Ponty’s “theoretical” and “political” efforts.L’analisi del potere che Merleau-Ponty propone attraverso il confronto tra marxismo e bolscevismo tenta di pensare questo paradosso: il fenomeno del potere contiene due sotto-fenomeni: in primo luogo, il potere di un’entità politica (il Principe, lo Stato, il Partito, ecc.) è riconosciuto se è percepito come dato (momento di riconoscimento); in secondo luogo, il potere di questa entità dipende dal suddetto riconoscimento (momento di istituzione). Il primo momento constata ciò che è dato, mentre l’altro lo contesta. L’articolo si propone di comprendere, in primis, in quale misura il potere deve essere inteso come unione del riconoscimento e dell’istituzione, e in seconda battuta, in quale misura quest’unità deve essere compresa come una matrice produttrice di storia. La prima questione sarà risolta tramite il riferimento alla nozione politica di rappresentazione ereditata da Machiavelli e sviluppata nelle analisi critiche del tema della rappresentazione del proletariato attraverso il Partito. Il risultato è una riconfigurazione delle relazioni tra discorso di verità (in questo caso, l’ontologia) e azione politica; una riconfigurazione della nozione di potere, e un’ipotesi che renda conto dell’unità dei lavori “teorici” e “politici” di Merleau-Ponty. (shrink)

A knowledge-how attributing sentence of the form ' S knows how to F ' may yield an 'ability-entailing' reading as well as an 'ability-neutral' reading. The present paper offers an epistemological account of the availability of both readings, based on two conceptual distinctions: first, a distinction between a 'practical' and a 'theoretical' kind of knowledge of how to do something; second, a distinction between an 'intrinsic' and an 'extrinsic' kind of ability to do something. The first part of the paper (...) presents the double distinction that constitutes the proposed account; the second part presents a number of theoretical, mainly epistemological motivations for accepting the account. (shrink)

It is usually agreed that the Revelation Thesis about experience – the idea that the knowledge we gain by having an experience somehow “reveals” the essence, or nature, of this experience – only requires that we know the essence of the experience, not that we know, of this essence, that it is the essence of the experience. I contest this agreement. In the light of what I call the “Essentiality of Essence Principle”– the principle that whatever is in the essence (...) of something is also essentially so – I argue that the Revelation Thesis does require that we know, of the essence of an experience, that it is the essence of the experience, and draw some conclusions about the plausibility of that thesis. (shrink)

Cet article vise à éclairer le contexte universitaire et éditorial qui favorisa la publication du Treatise on electricity and magnetism de James Clerk Maxwell afin de mieux cerner la nature de cette entreprise scientifique. Le projet fut formé en 1867 à l'occasion d'une réforme introduisant l'étude de l'électricité et du magnétisme dans l'enseignement délivré à Cambridge et s'inscrivait dans un mouvement plus vaste qui développait l'enseignement de ces disciplines dans les universités britanniques. L'étude des relations entre le projet de Maxwell (...) et d'autres ouvrages contemporains indique que le Treatise était en situation de devenir un ouvrage de référence en Grande-Bretagne. Ainsi, le livre de Maxwell était-il l'instrument d'une très ambitieuse tentative de transformation de l'électromagnétisme, indissociable de son contexte et conforme à sa fonction pédagogique. (shrink)

Quoi de plus inerte que les objets mathématiques. Rien ne les distingue de la pierre et pourtant, à les considérer dans leur perspective historique, ils semblent bien ne pas être aussi dénués de vie qu’il n’y paraı̂t. Conçus par l’homme, ils laissent entrevoir le souffle qui les anime. Pris dans les rets d’un langage, ils ne peuvent se séparer de la forme que les forces tensives qui les contraignent leur ont donnée. S’ils n’ont pas de vocation biologique spécifique, ils sont (...) pour autant toujours et avant tout des possibilités de vie, des objets de puissance. Bien qu’ils ne connaissent ni la douleur, ni le rire, ils ont par leur mode ou leur style d’existence une forme de vie singulière qui structure le donné ou la matière des autres entités auxquels ils participent. De ce fait, en s’immisçant dans l’armature de ces entités, ils conditionnent leur forme d’espace, les enjoignant de se plier à une charpente qu’elles n’ont pas choisie. (shrink)

Le projet de ces hétérotopies - le mot est de Michel Foucault - est de présenter les modèles mathématiques actuels de la musique. Non pas en essayant de produire une théorie englobante de la musique par les mathématiques, mais de circonscrire, pas à pas, ces "espaces autres" qui invitent à penser dans leurs formes topologiques l'intelligence des objets musicaux. Chaque chapitre apporte une synthèse et une contribution originale : sur la classification des accords et des modes, la question de la (...) diatonicité, l'atonalité, l'autosimilarité, le contrepoint, le tempérament, la justesse des sons, la classification des noeuds dodécaphoniques et sériels, ou encore sur les algèbres néo-riemanniennes. À la fois ouvrage de référence et de recherche, ces Hétérotopies musicales, préfacées par Hugues Dufourt, constituent la première grande synthèse publiée en français sur les mathématiques et la musique. Une bibliographie d'environ 900 références complète l'ouvrage."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

La philosophie contemporaine entretient avec les archives des rapports multiples. Depuis quelques décennies, des auteurs formés à la philosophie ont éprouvé le besoin de plonger dans les archives historiques pour, en quittant la pensée spéculative et purement conceptuelle, changer de perspective, de méthode et même d’objet. Ainsi Foucault accorde un droit de cité aux thèmes de la folie, de la prison et de la sexualité, sous la forme d’archéologies et de généalogies. Dans une toute autre veine, Jacques Derrida rappelle que (...) l’étymon grec arkhé place l’archive entre le commencement et le commandement. À la fois pouvoir de consignation et ouverture d’un lieu de mémoire, l’archive se situe dans un rapport de dépendance face à la mémoire et à l’institution. Pour l’utilisateur, s’intéresser à l’archive, c’est souvent cultiver l’espoir de redonner à tout événement du passé un plus haut degré d’actualité que cet événement avait au moment où il a eu lieu. C’est un fait avéré que l’histoire des minorités, l’histoire des femmes, entre autres, ont acquis de nouvelles significations par la considération des archives. Dans ce travail, des sources sont assemblées, et des dispositifs construits, pour que des arcanes du passé surgissent les preuves d’un présent renouvelé. L’archive aujourd’hui reste un amas de documents fournissant des modes de lectures propres à changer radicalement le rapport des chercheurs aux faits avec lesquels ils sont confrontés. (shrink)

Thanks to developments in genomics,dietary recommendations adapted to genetic riskprofiles of individual persons are no longerscience fiction. But what are the consequencesof these diets? An examination of possibleimpacts of genetically tailor-made diets raisesmorally relevant concerns that are analogous to(medical-ethical) considerations aboutscreening and testing. These concerns oftengive rise to applying norms for informedconsent and for the weighing of burdens andbenefits. These diets also have a broaderimpact, especially because food patterns arefull of personal, social and cultural meanings.Diets will change one's food patterns (...) and one'sattitude towards food, and this may implychanges in one's identity. We argue that suchan impact does not necessarily raise moralproblems. Moral concerns are, however, relevantif collective values and shared meanings infood practices are at issue. Therefore, thedevelopment of genetically tailor-made dietsdoes not merely require emphasis on weighingpersonal benefits and burdens and on informedconsent. It also asks for attention to andmoral reflection on the collective valuesinvolved in food practices. (shrink)

Le concept de frontières interagit avec le binôme « cybercriminalité/contrefaçon ». En particulier, ce binôme révèle une crise des frontières qui impacte à la fois le phénomène de criminalisation ou de contrefaçon. D’une manière plus générale, Internet révèle les lignes de fractures existantes entre le « réel » et le « virtuel », mais fait aussi émerger de nouvelles formes de frontières entre ces deux pôles. Se pose alors la question de l’analyse des risques liés à ces nouvelles frontières hybrides (...) où le « réel » apparaît parfois plus opaque que le « virtuel ».The concept of frontiers interacts with the paired notions of cybercriminality and counterfeiting, which reveal, in particular, a crisis in the idea of frontiers that has an impact on both criminalisation and the notion of counterfeiting. More generally, the Internet is not only revealing existing fractures between the “real” and the “virtual”, but also bringing new frontiers to light between these two poles. This raises the question of analysing the risks associated with these new hybrid frontiers, where the “real” sometimes seems more opaque than the “virtual”. (shrink)

Face à la diversité et à la complexification des modes de formalisation, une épistémologie des méthodes scientifiques doit confronter directement ses analyses à une pluralité d’études de cas comparatives. C’est l’objectif de cet ouvrage. -/- Aussi, dans une première partie, propose-t-il d’abord une classification large et raisonnée des différentes fonctions de connaissance des théories, des modèles et des simulations (de fait, cette partie constitue un panorama d’épistémologie générale particulièrement poussé). C’est ensuite à la lumière de cette classification que les deux (...) parties centrales analysent et distinguent les assises conceptuelles et épistémologiques des principaux types de formalisation en géographie avant et après l’ordinateur (théories des localisations, modèles gravitaires, loi rang-taille). En employant toujours la même méthode analytique et comparative, la dernière partie se concentre sur l’explication épistémologique des trois révolutions computationnelles récentes : l’analyse des données, la présentation des données et enfin l’analyse par simulation computationnelle. -/- Au travers de cette enquête approfondie, la géographie apparaît non seulement comme une discipline carrefour, ayant pour cela donné des exemples de presque tous les types de modèles scientifiques, mais aussi comme une science innovante en termes épistémologiques. Car ce qui a d’abord été pour elle un frein à la formalisation -– sa sensibilité au caractère multifactoriel comme à la dimension irréductiblement spatiale des phénomènes sociaux – et qui l’obligea longtemps à inféoder ses théories et modèles à des disciplines plus aisément formalisables comme la géomorphologie, l’économie, la sociologie, la démographie, ou bien encore la thermodynamique et la théorie des systèmes, devient aujourd’hui un atout dès lors que, parmi les sciences humaines et sociales, elle peut développer une épistémologie non seulement pluraliste mais aussi combinatoire et intégrative. -/- Préface de Denise Pumain (Université Paris 1). (shrink)

Food production, water management, land use, and animal and public health are all topics of extensive public debate. These themes are linked to the core activities of the agricultural sector, and more specifically to the work of farmers. Nonetheless, the ethical discussions are mostly initiated by interest groups in society rather than by farmers. At least in Europe, consumer organizations and animal welfare and environmental organizations are more present in the public debate than farmers. This is not how it should (...) be. First, because consumers often cannot but rely on agriculture. Second, because recent research shows that farmers have moral beliefs and convictions that appear to be broader than economic considerations and that are—to a certain extent—specific to their profession. This raises the question how to make input from farmers operational in the public debates on the future of farming. We discuss one option: entrusting farmers with professional autonomy concerning moral matters related to farming. We sketch the historical background of the current situation in which farmers are relatively silent on moral matters and we present some clear indications that farmers have values and moral beliefs that are relevant for the public debate. Next the concepts of professionalism and professional autonomy are discussed and applied to the practice of farming. Finally, we discuss the relevance and limits of professional moral autonomy for the agricultural profession. We close with an overview of what this moral autonomy implies for and requires from farmers in practice. We conclude that if some preconditions are met by farmers, then this type of moral autonomy can be relevant for farmers and for society, and contributes to the quality of the public debate on the future of farming. (shrink)

This paper is about disposability as a technological concern and about how to trace the related issues through the analysis of patents. It examines how moral and social concerns happened to be embedded in technology, based on the case of disposable feminine hygiene products. The focus is placed on what “disposable” means and on exploring relative notions as well as their dynamic and consequences. To conduct such analysis, the paper proposes to perform a classic and computer-assisted analysis of the patents (...) published by Johnson & Johnson over almost a century. Tracing social and moral concerns in patents challenges the existing literature in law, which tends to envision patents as legal assets deprived of moral considerations. The paper shows how hygiene products addressed women, how these products were made disposable, and how what disposability means evolved, both in the heart of technology and in the wider space of “concerned” markets. (shrink)