The year 2010 marks the one-hundredth anniversary of the Recherches de Science Religieuse and provides an opportunity for the journal to explore its past, present, and prospects for the twenty-first century. In order to celebrate the event, this special commemorative issue calls upon authors from many different fields. "Commemoration" involves not only examining the past, however rich it may be, but also taking up the challenge of analyzing the present and reflecting upon the future. In the first section, diverse approaches (...) -- theological, sociological or historical -- are applied to an in-depth diagnosis of the present. The second part is dedicated to memory: the founding years during the modernist crisis and the major stages in the development of the journal under various directors until today, among them, Henri de Lubac and Joseph Moingt. Finally, this special issue is rounded off by a series of broad perspectives tracing out paths for the future of the disciplines at the heart of theology and religious science today, thus remaining faithful to the journal's original mission of "research in movement". (shrink)

Why are we proposing this anthology of articles drawn from Recherches de Science Religieuse in an English translation? On the eve of its centennial celebrations, the Journal, which has numerous subscribers and readers in English-speaking countries, decided to take stock of its rich heritage in the field of theology, as in that of religious science, embodied in its many past issues and their articles. Over these years and decades, the journal has built up a corpus of documents covering information and (...) thought specific to the French-language sphere of theology and religious sciences. We are also highly aware that the thought reflected in the Journal has taken paths, if inevitably diverse, that are nonetheless rich in encounters and confrontations with what was being taught and thought elsewhere. Such a rich exchange went on over the years that the question arose a decade ago of providing a bilingual, even a trilingual edition in order to facilitate access to the Journal's content. However, opinions from the English-speaking world and beyond converged at that time to encourage us to continue with renewed purpose as witnesses and actors of this French-language realm and to remain faithful to editing the journal in French. Today, it seems to us both useful and desirable to make this theological heritage accessible to a broader public. This first anthology has thus been composed around a fundamental theme, that of faith. (shrink)

« J'espère que le lecteur verra clairement que ce livre n'est pas écrit contre l'exégèse moderne » : l'étude de l'Avant-propos de son livre, désormais fameux, sur Jésus de Nazareth, pose la question du rapport personnel de Benoît XVI à ce qu'il appelle le plus souvent la « méthode historico-critique » tout en traitant des apports et limites de cette « méthode ». Par delà quatre siècles d'histoire de l'exégèse critique, qu'en est-il de ces rapports ? Les évangiles et surtout (...) la personne historique du Christ ont-ils bénéficié ou souffert de l'exégèse moderne ? Benoît XVI soulève ici un problème grave qu'il ne convient pas d'écarter une fois de plus, exégètes et théologiens campant sur leurs positions, et le lecteur des évangiles risquant l'incertitude par rapport aux difficultés que les évangiles lui présentent. Cet article s'efforce de montrer les attendus des positions complexes de Benoît XVI par rapport à l'exégèse, tout en rappelant les fondements du projet critique pour le service des croyants. “I hope that the reader will clearly see that this book is not written against modern exegesis”: study of the Preface to his now famous book on Jesus of Nazareth raises the question of Benedict XVI's personal relationship to what he most often calls the “historical-critical method”, all the while examining the contributions and limits of this “method”. After four centuries of the history of this critical exegesis, how do things now stand? Have the gospels and above all the historical person of Christ benefited or suffered from modern exegesis? Benedict XVI raises a serious problem here that should not be simply set aside once again, with exegesists and theologians holding steadfast to their positions, and the reader of the gospels left prey to uncertainty in regard to the difficulties that those gospels present for him or her. This article will endeavor to show the motives behind the complex positions of Benedict XVI in relation to exegesis, while recalling the foundations of its critical project in the service of believers. (shrink)

Depuis l'Antiquité grecque, et notamment avec Hérodote et Thucydide, une conception claire de l'histoire semble s'être imposée, quitte à exclure de son champ un certain nombre d'autres " historiographies " qui ne coïncideraient pas avec cette conception. Même si l'historiographie médiévale a été dominée par le modèle biblique et ses schémas, celui-ci s'est progressivement trouvé écarté, d'autant plus qu'à partir du XVIIe siècle l'examen critique du corpus biblique et les différentes formes que cet examen prendrait au cours des trois siècles (...) suivants tendrait à réduire sa pertinence et son importance, sinon à les nier. Il y a pourtant de l'histoire dans l'Ancien comme dans le Nouveau Testament. Si de récents travaux nous conduisent à réduire sérieusement la vérité historique de certains personnages et de certains évènements, voire de la majeure partie de la synthèse historique de l'A.T., il n'en existe pas moins un projet historien qui s'exprime dans des principes, règles, pratiques et qui révèlent une authentique conscience historienne.Since Greek antiquity, and especially with Herodotus and Thucydides, a clear conception of history seems to have become established, even at the expense of excluding from its sphere a certain number of other "historiographies" that would not have coincided with this conception. Although medieval historiography was dominated by the biblical model and its schemes, it found itself gradually dismissed, all the more so as, from the 17th century onwards, the critical examination of the biblical corpus and the different forms that this examination would take during the following three centuries tended to reduce, if not deny, its relevance and importance. Nevertheless, there is history in the Old as in the New Testament. While some recent works have led us to seriously reduce the historical truth of certain characters and events, or even most of the historical synthesis of the O.T., there still exists a historical project that expresses itself in principles, rules, and practices and reveals authentic historical awareness. (shrink)

Après quinze siècles de lecture « christique » des Ecritures, deux siècles de crises bien différentes allaient en proposer de nouvelles approches : le XVIe siècle comme Siècle des Réformes, le XVIIe comme Siècle de la critique. Après la confrontation d’Erasme et de Luther, la confrontation des Libertins et des apologètes, puis l’apparition de ce qui deviendrait l’exégèse critique avec notamment J. Meyer, Spinoza et R. Simon, allaient créer une autre sensibilité aux Ecritures, selon les perceptions de l’univers et de (...) la raison marquées par la philosophie de Descartes. Une épistémologie nouvelle se mettrait nécessairement en place. Les résistances des autorités ecclésiales ne pourraient rien contre une approche qui n’était pas seulement « scientifique » mais qui marquait désormais la lecture religieuse de ces Ecritures. Les questions que poserait cette approche dans le cadre de la réception croyante comme par rapport au dogme de l’Inspiration ont-elles reçu leur réponse ? Ce questionnement devrait être au cœur du colloque que prépare l’ensemble de ce dossier.After fifteen centuries of a “Christ-centered” reading of the Scriptures, two centuries with very different crises would propose new approaches: the 16th century as the Century of Reformation and the 17th as the century of criticism. After the confrontation of Erasmus and Luther, the confrontation of the Libertines and apologists, then the appearance of what would become critical exegesis, notably with J. Meyer, Spinoza, and R. Simon, another sensibility towards the Scriptures would be created, in keeping with perceptions of the universe and reason influenced by the philosophy of Descartes. A new epistemology would necessarily be put in place. The resistance of Church authorities was powerless against an approach that was not only ³scientific² but would influence the religious reading of these Scriptures in the future. Have the questions that this approach would raise, from the standpoint of how the believer receives the Scriptures and the dogma of inspiration, been answered? This questioning should be the core of the conference for which all these readings are a preparation. (shrink)

A magisterial mappa mundi of the terrain that Pierre Hadot has so productively worked for decades, this ambitious work revises our view of ancient philosophy- ...

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius are treasured today--as they have been over the centuries--as an inexhaustible source of wisdom. And as one of the three most important expressions of Stoicism, this is an essential text for everyone interested in ancient religion and philosophy. Yet the clarity and ease of the work's style are deceptive. Pierre Hadot, eminent historian of ancient thought, uncovers new levels of meaning and expands our understanding of its underlying philosophy. Written by the Roman emperor for (...) his own private guidance and self-admonition, the Meditations set forth principles for living a good and just life. Hadot probes Marcus Aurelius's guidelines and convictions and discerns the hitherto unperceived conceptual system that grounds them. Abundantly quoting the Meditations to illustrate his analysis, the author allows Marcus Aurelius to speak directly to the reader. And Hadot unfolds for us the philosophical context of the Meditations, commenting on the philosophers Marcus Aurelius read and giving special attention to the teachings of Epictetus, whose disciple he was. The soul, the guiding principle within us, is in Marcus Aurelius's Stoic philosophy an inviolable stronghold of freedom, the "inner citadel." This spirited and engaging study of his thought offers a fresh picture of the fascinating philosopher-emperor, a fuller understanding of the tradition and doctrines of Stoicism, and rich insight on the culture of the Roman empire in the second century. Pierre Hadot has been working on Marcus Aurelius for more than twenty years; in this book he distills his analysis and conclusions with extraordinary lucidity for the general reader. (shrink)

Through a detailed study of Spinoza's concept of 'experience', Moreau shows how Spinoza extends the power of reason to capture the singularity of individuals: their lives, languages, passions and societies.

Written by a contemporary of Marx and one of the most influential subversive critics of modern European society, this work (1840) has become a classic of political thought through its critique of private property as the essential institution of Western culture as well as the root of its problems.

The aim of this paper is to assess the relevance of somatic evolution by natural selection to our understanding of cancer development. I do so in two steps. In the first part of the paper, I ask to what extent cancer cells meet the formal requirements for evolution by natural selection, relying on Godfrey-Smith’s (2009) framework of Darwinian populations. I argue that although they meet the minimal requirements for natural selection, cancer cells are not paradigmatic Darwinian populations. In the second (...) part of the paper, I examine the most important examples of adaptation in cancer cells. I argue that they are not significant accumulations of evolutionary changes, and that as a consequence natural selection plays a lesser role in their explanation. Their explanation, I argue, is best sought in the previously existing wiring of the healthy cells. (shrink)

Drawing on various resources and requirements (as expressed by Dewey, Wittgenstein, Sellars, and Brandom), this paper proposes an externalist view of conceptual mental episodes that does not equate them, even partially, with vehicles of any sort, whether the vehicles be located in the environment or in the head. The social and pragmatic nature of the use of concepts and conceptual content makes it unnecessary and indeed impossible to locate the entities that realize conceptual mental episodes in non-personal or subpersonal contentful (...) entities (vehicles). Persons, who engage in social practices of deontic scorekeeping (Brandom), and who are thus able to produce appropriate inferential behaviour, enact conceptual mental episodes and the basis of their supervenience. (shrink)

Les études réunies ici témoignent de la découverte de la philosophie analytique par les philosophes français de l’après-guerre : dans les années 1950, Pierre Hadot fut en effet l’un des premiers à s’intéresser aux rapports entre logique et langage dans la pensée de Wittgenstein. Ces études pionnières sont suivies d’une lettre d’Elisabeth Anscombe à Pierre Hadot, et de la traduction d’un texte de Gottfried Gabriel sur la signification de la forme littéraire chez Wittgenstein.

In mass democracies, voting—in elections or referendums—is the main way in which most citizens can publicly express their political preferences. And yet this means of expression is sometimes perceived by them as highly frustrating, partly because it does not allow for much expression. Dominant voting methods lead to a reduction of options, pressure citizens to vote tactically at the cost of expressing their genuine preferences, and fail to convey what they really think about different candidates, parties, or options. Yet citizens (...) do not merely have a right to vote; they have a more fundamental right to political expression from which one can derive a right to a voting method that offers the most opportunities for expression among those satisfying other important requirements. The aim of this article is therefore to add this consideration about the importance of political expression to debates about voting methods that have mainly been conducted from the perspective of social choice theory. To illustrate what is at stake, it introduces evaluative voting methods (allowing voters to grade all of the candidates, parties, or options) as a promising way of honoring the right to political expression without jeopardizing other important properties of voting methods. (shrink)

Here we are witness to the great cultural event of the West, the emergence of a Latin philosophical language translated from the Greek. Once again, it would be necessary to make a systematic study of the formation of this technical vocabulary that, thanks to Cicero, Seneca, Tertullian, Victorinus, Calcidius, Augustine, and Boethius, would leave its mark, by way of the Middle Ages, on the birth of modern thought. Can it be hoped that one day, with current technical means, it will (...) be possible to compile a complete lexicon of the correspondences of philosophical terminology in Greek and Latin? Furthermore, lengthy commentaries would be needed, for the most interesting task would be to analyze the shifts in meaning that take place in the movement from one language to another. In the case of the ontological vocabulary the translation of ousia by substantia, for example, is justly famous and has again recently inspired some remarkable studies. This brings us once more to a phenomenon we discretely alluded to earlier with the word philosophia, and which we will encounter throughout the present discussion: the misunderstandings, shifts or losses in meaning, the reinterpretations, sometimes even to the point of misreading, that arise once tradition, translation, and exegesis coexist. So our history of the Hellenistic and Roman thought will consist above all of recognizing and analyzing the evolution of meanings and significance. Pierre Hadot holds the chair of the History of Hellenistic and Roman Thought at the Collège de France. He is the author of many books and articles on the history of ancient philosophy and theology. Among his works are Plotin et la simplicité du regard, Porphyre et Vitctorinus, Marius Victorinus: Recherches sur sa vie et ses oeuvres, and Exercises spirituels et philosophie antique. Arnold I. Davidson, executive editor of Critical Inquiry, is associate professor of philosophy and a member of the Committees on the Conceptual Foundations of Science and General Studies in the Humanities at the University of Chicago. He introduced and edited the “Symposium on Heidegger and Nazism” . He is currently working on the history of horror as it relates to the epistemology of norms and deviations. Paula Wissing, a free-lance translator and editor, has recently translated Marcel Detienne and Jean-Pierre Vernant’s The Cuisine of Sacrifice among the Greeks . She also contributed translations of articles by Maurice Blanchot, Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, and Emmanuel Levinas for the “Symposium on Heidegger and Nazism.”. (shrink)

Alvin Goldman contends that, in addition to the familiar sense or use of the term “knowledge” according to which knowledge is at least true justified belief, there is a weaker yet strict sense or use of the term “knowledge” according to which knowledge amounts to nothing more than information-possession or mere true belief. In this paper, I argue that Goldman has failed to show that there is such a weaker sense, and that, even if he had shown this, he has (...) not shown that this putative weaker sense is a strict one by his own criterion for strictness. (shrink)

On parle beaucoup dans cet ouvrage de contresens, de contresens parfois createurs, qui ont fait progresser la pensee, mais aussi de contresens qui ne produisent qu'erreur et confusion, comme ceux que commettent certains tenants de la psychologie historique. On presente dans cet ouvrage plusieurs applications a des textes philosophiques d'une methode d'interpretation qui consiste a les replacer dans le contexte de l'enseignement et de la vie des ecoles philosophiques. A cote d'etudes de details consacrees a des termes philosophiques importants, on (...) trouvera dans ce volume plusieurs contributions generales, justement celebres, consacrees aux divisions de la philosophie, a l'organisation de l'enseignement dans les ecoles philosophiques, a la repartition des disciplines ou encore a la figure du sage. Les recherches de Pierre Hadot ont porte tout d'abord sur les rapports entre hellenisme et christianisme, puis sur la mystique neoplatonicienne et la philosophie de l'epoque hellenistique, et enfin sur la description du phenomene spirituel de la philosophie. (shrink)

Compilation of the most important documents and speeches by Pierre de Coubertin on Olympism and the Olympic Games.

Criticisms and rejections of representationalism are increasingly popular in 4E cognitive science, and especially in radical enactivism. But by overfocusing our attention on the debate between radical enactivism and classical representationalism, we might miss the woods for the trees, in at least two respects: first, by neglecting the relevance of other theoretical alternatives about representationalism in cognitive science; and second by not seeing how much REC and classical representationalism are in agreement concerning basic and problematic issues dealing with mental content (...) and intentionality. In order to expand and exemplify these ideas, this paper presents two heterodox positions on intentionality and on the relations between content and representation. Special attention is paid to the way REC is rejecting these positions: I argue that this rejection reveals common assumptions with classical representationalism, but also undermines the coherence of REC’s conception of intentionality. (shrink)

Cet article commence par examiner trois justifications épistémiques de la démocratie, proposées par José Luis Martí, David Estlund et Hélène Landemore. Tous trois cherchent à montrer en quoi la démocratie possède une tendance à engendrer des décisions correctes, mais font face au risque de légitimer une organisation technocratique du politique, en contradiction avec le principe d’égalité politique. Ils estiment donc que l’argument épistémique ne peut pas suffire à justifier des institutions démocratiques. Cependant, si l’on comprend la valeur «épistémique» d’une décision (...) politique à la fois d’un point de vue factuel et normatif, c’est-à-dire qu’on considère à la fois sa rationalité et son impartialité, une justification épistémique de la démocratie beaucoup plus robuste émerge. C’est cette dernière qui est explorée et défendue dans la seconde partie de cet article. (shrink)

Un aphorisme hante la philosophie occidentale. celui d'Héraclite, qui veut que " la Nature aime à se voiler ". Près de vingt-cinq siècles durant, ces quelques petits mots ont successivement signifié: que tout ce qui naît tend à mourir; que la Nature s'enveloppe dans des formes sensibles et dans des mythes; qu'elle cache en elle des vertus occultes ; mais également que l'Etre est originellement dans un état de contraction et de non-déploiement ; ou bien encore qu'il se dévoile en (...) se voilant. Ainsi cet aphorisme aura-t-il servi à expliquer les difficultés de la science de la nature, à justifier l'exégèse allégorique des textes bibliques ou à défendre le paganisme, à critiquer la violence faite à la nature par la technique et la mécanisation du monde, à expliquer enfin l'angoisse qu'inspire à l'homme moderne son être-au-monde. La même formule, illustrée par l'image du voile d'Isis et déployée par Pierre Hadot dans l'histoire de l'Occident, aura justifié, par suite de contresens créateurs, l'attitude prométhéenne - l'homme doit se rendre maître et possesseur de la Nature - comme l'attitude orphique - nul ne peut soulever le voile des mystères de la Nature, sinon le poète et l'artiste. Elle n'aura jamais cessé de tracer des perspectives nouvelles sur la réalité et de révéler les attitudes les plus diverses à l'égard de la Nature. Par là, elle confirme le propos de Nietzsche : " Une bonne sentence est trop dure à la dent du temps et tous les millénaires n'arrivent pas à la consommer, bien qu'elle serve à tout moment de nourriture. ". (shrink)

1. Tout système juridique est production d’une histoire et d’une culture politiques déterminée, qui lui ont donné une organisation spécifique. Parler des limites de telles organisations peut s’entendre en deux sens, qui interagissent: premièrement, elles peuvent servir à différencier ces systèmes par rapport à d’autres ordres normatifs. Secondement, elles désignent ce que, par sa texture, le droit est hors d’état de réussir. 2. On comprend le concept de système comme une organisation aux structures différenciées de textes, de normes, d’acteurs. Ce (...) qui caractérise un système est son autoréférentialité et ses modes de clôture et ses modes d’ouverture. 3. Concernant la limite dans le second sens, on observera que la normativité comme mode d’action propre au droit le met souvent dans l’incapacité d’assumer pleinement les tâches de régulation qui lui sont confiées. Il s’agit d’une part d’une limite factuelle: celle de la technicité et du volume de ces tâches. D’autre part, la nécessité de plus en plus fréquente de prendre en compte les circonstances individuelles concrètes de l’application entraîne une légistique de diminution de la densité normative et, par conséquent, de déplacer une épistémologie fondée sur la répétition en direction de l’innovation. 4. Ces deux facteurs notamment font du droit un univers qui ne peut plus prétendre à une complétude cohérente: c’est un univers en constante évolution, qui exige pour sa mise en œuvre, de manière continue, l’apport d’informations provenant de son environnement. Ces apports circulent dans les modes d’ouverture du droit—la diminution de la densité normative et le recours à des expertises, des savoirs, des déontologies extérieures. Cependant, en vertu de l’autoréférentialité du droit, ces apports doivent être sélectionnés et juridicisés pour être intégrés dans le système juridique et préserver ainsi sa clôture. Il y a là une double programmation à respecter: la sélection doit d’une part respecter le cadre normatif du droit et de l’autre porter sur un choix correspondant aux attentes sociales qu’il s’agit de convaincre de son bien-fondé. Les limites du droit par rapport à d’autres ordres normatifs est ainsi définie par l’ordre juridique lui-même, dans le respect de cette double programmation. 5. Ce système a des présupposés politiques, culturels et historiques qui empêchent d’élaborer sans autre une essence du droit, valable urbi et orbi: notamment séparation des pouvoirs et liberté d’expression. Il n’est même pas certain qu’il puisse perdurer. En particulier, l’internalisation croissante du droit n’est guère conciliable avec son organisation telle que l’Occident l’a conçue. En outre, de plus en plus le droit devient l’objet d’une normativité supérieure, au nom de laquelle il est lui-même jugé: c’est le phénomène de l’économisation du droit. (shrink)

La formule célèbre d’Aristote « la nature ne fait rien en vain », telle qu’elle est utilisée dans le traité sur la Locomotion des animaux, invite à reformuler le problème général du finalisme en zoologie et de la conformité à la nature. Bien que cette formule, en première approche, semble aller dans le sens d’une téléologie cosmique ou globale, elle conduit en fait à privilégier une téléologie relative, c’est-à-dire locale, qui opère à l’échelle des êtres vivants. Elle s’applique en effet, (...) non pas de manière absolue, mais relativement aux possibilités définies par la nature de l’espèce (propriétés spécifiques et génériques). Toutefois, elle n’exprime pas seulement le rapport à la finalité organique stricto sensu, mais aussi les conditions nécessaires externes du mouvement animal, conditions qui définissent, pour les espèces et les genres, un régime commun d’organisation. (shrink)

Based on an endorsement of the hypothesis of extended cognition , this paper proposes a criticism of the representationalist assumptions that still pertain to these contemporary models of cognition. I first rehearse some basic problems akin to any representationalist model of cognition, before proposing some more specific arguments directed against the necessity, the plausibility, and the coherence of the marriage between extended cognition and contemporary representationalism . Extended and distributed models of cognition have the resources to get rid of representationalism, (...) and they should better do it. Their adherence to representationalism might be an by-product of the extended character of the scientific study of cognition. (shrink)

The ways in which other animal species can be informative about human biology are not exhausted by the traditional picture of the animal model. In this paper, I propose to distinguish two roles which laboratory organisms can have in biomedical research. In the more traditional case, organisms act as surrogates for human beings, and as such are expected to be more manageable replicas of humans. However, animal models can inform us about human biology in a much less straightforward way, by (...) being used as measuring devices—what I call their instrumental role. I first characterize this role and provide criteria for it, before illustrating it with some examples from biomedical research, especially cancer research. In such an instrumental role, phenotypes are not expected to phenocopy human phenomena, but instead have the purely instrumental value of detecting or measuring differences. I argue that the instrumental role is more prevalent than might first be suspected, and that some characteristics of contemporary biomedical research are increasingly shifting the use of laboratory organisms to the instrumental role. Finally, in light of the distinction proposed, I discuss the meaning of the expression “animal model”. (shrink)

Based on an endorsement of the hypothesis of extended cognition, this paper proposes a criticism of the representationalist assumptions that still pertain to these contemporary models of cognition. I first rehearse some basic problems akin to any representationalist model of cognition, before proposing some more specific arguments directed against the necessity, the plausibility, and the coherence of the marriage between extended cognition and contemporary representationalism. Extended and distributed models of cognition have the resources to get rid of representationalism, and they (...) should better do it. Their adherence to representationalism might be an by-product of the extended character of the scientific study of cognition. (shrink)

In the last lines of Politics VII, 3, Aristotle states that the happy city acts nobly. This implies that the city has a practical life, and that this life has its end in itself. This claim seems to contradict the famous distinction, which has been made elsewhere by Aristotle, between the practical and theoretical lives. It is argued in this paper that there is, here, neither contradiction nor inconsistency in Aristotle’s conception of human action. Some readings, according to which this (...) passage deals with the role of the philosophers in the happy city, are also ruled out. The proposed solution consists in showing that this text refers to a broader conception of action, one that is beyond the sphere of human practical activities: any genuine praxis has its goal in itself, even when it produces external effects. (shrink)

We describe an ontology of philosophy that is designed to aid navigation through philosophical literature, including literature in the form of encyclopedia articles and textbooks and in both printed and digital forms. The ontology is designed also to serve integration and structuring of data pertaining to the philosophical literature, and in the long term also to support reasoning about the provenance and contents of such literature, by providing a representation of the philosophical domain that is oriented around what philosophical literature (...) is about. (shrink)