Imagine that you are part of the editorial board of a young bioethics journal committed to publishing open access (OA) and to ensuring accessibility to high quality and innovative scholarship. To support junior and interna- tional scholars who might not otherwise find places for their work in the leading Western bioethics journals, you do not charge author fees. Imagine also that you have no financial resources to pay for a professional website, auto- mated submissions manager, or even a part-time coordina- (...) tor: Your government has cut all grants for journals, you cannot go to industry for private funding because of the evident risk of apparent conflicts of interest, and your strapped-for-cash institution cannot afford to offer you any support. If one of the major publishers were to approach you to sign a deal, the temptation would be strong to accept. However, this would likely mean putting aside your ideals: It would be impossible to stay a “Green OA” publication (i.e., free of author publication charges) or supportive of junior and international scholars (because of pressures to “increase credibility” through artificially high rejection rates, for example). (shrink)

Cross-border reproductive care (CBRC) can be defined as the movement from one jurisdiction to another for medically assisted reproduction (MAR). CBRC raises many ethical concerns that have been addressed extensively. However, the conclusions are still based on scarce evidence even considering the global scale of CBRC. Empirical ethics appears as a way to foster this ethical reflection on CBRC while attuning it with the experiences of its main actors. To better understand the ‘in and out’ situation of CBRC in Canada, (...) we conducted an ethnographic study taking a ‘critically applied ethics’ approach. This article presents a part of the findings of this research, obtained by data triangulation from qualitative analysis of pertinent literature, participant observation in two Canadian fertility clinics and 40 semidirected interviews. Based on participants’ perceptions, four themes emerged: (1) inconsistencies of the Canadian legal framework; (2) autonomy and the necessity to resort to CBRC; (3) safety and the management of CBRC individual risks; and (4) justice and solidarity. The interaction between these four themes highlights the problematic of ‘reproductive outsourcing’ that characterised the Canadian situation, a system where the controversial aspects of MAR are knowingly pushed outside the borders. (shrink)

Research Ethics, Volume 18, Issue 2, Page 126-131, April 2022. Engaging citizens and patients in research has become a truism in many fields of health research. It is now seen as a laudable—if not compulsory—activity in research for yielding more impactful and meaningful citizen/patient outcomes and steering research in the right direction. Although this research approach is increasingly common and commendable, we recently encountered a major obstacle in obtaining an ethics certificate from an institutional review board to conduct a study (...) that places citizen/patient perspectives on equal footing with those of academic/policy experts. The obstacle was the interpretation of fairness in terms of compensation for research participation. In terms of research ethics, this raised an important question: Should all types of participants be compensated equally, or should exceptions be made for citizen/patient participants? We argue that there are good reasons for exceptionalism and that clearer guidance on citizen/patient engagement in research should be embedded into research ethics doctrine. (shrink)

Engaging citizens and patients in research has become a truism in many fields of health research. It is now seen as a laudable—if not compulsory—activity in research for yielding more impactful and meaningful citizen/patient outcomes and steering research in the right direction. Although this research approach is increasingly common and commendable, we recently encountered a major obstacle in obtaining an ethics certificate from an institutional review board to conduct a study that places citizen/patient perspectives on equal footing with those of (...) academic/policy experts. The obstacle was the interpretation of fairness in terms of compensation for research participation. In terms of research ethics, this raised an important question: Should all types of participants be compensated equally, or should exceptions be made for citizen/patient participants? We argue that there are good reasons for exceptionalism and that clearer guidance on citizen/patient engagement in research should be embedded into research ethics doctrine. (shrink)

How to engage the public in a reflection on the most pressing ethical issues of our time? What if part of the solution lies in adopting an interdisciplinary and collaborative strategy to shed light on critical issues in bioethics? An example is Art + Bioéthique, an innovative project that brought together bioethicists, art historians and artists with the aim of expressing bioethics through arts in order to convey the “sensitive” aspect of many health ethics issues. The aim of this project (...) was threefold: 1) to identify and characterize mechanisms for the meeting of arts and bioethics; 2) to experiment with and co-construct a dialogue between arts and bioethics; and 3) to initiate a public discussion on bioethical issues through the blending of arts and bioethics. In connection with an exhibition held in March 2016 at the Espace Projet, a non-profit art space in Montréal, the project developed a platform that combined artworks, essays and cultural & scientific mediation activities related to the work of six duos of young bioethics researchers and emerging artists. Each duo worked on a variety of issues, such as the social inclusion of disabled people, the challenges of practical applications of nanomedicine and regenerative medicine, and a holistic approach to contemporary diseases. This project, which succeeded in stimulating an interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration between bioethics and arts, is an example of an innovative approach to knowledge transfer that can move bioethics reflection into the public space. (shrink)

It has become a truism that the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI) is necessary and must help guide technological developments. Numerous ethical guidelines have emerged from academia, industry, government and civil society in recent years. While they provide a basis for discussion on appropriate regulation of AI, it is not always clear how these ethical guidelines were developed, and by whom. Using content analysis, we surveyed a sample of the major documents (_n_ = 47) and analyzed the accessible information regarding (...) their methodology and stakeholder engagement. Surprisingly, only 38% report some form of stakeholder engagement (with 9% involving citizens) and most do not report their methodology for developing normative insights (15%). Our results show that documents with stakeholder engagement develop more comprehensive ethical guidance with greater applicability, and that the private sector is least likely to engage stakeholders. We argue that the current trend for enunciating AI ethical guidance not only poses widely discussed challenges of applicability in practice, but also of transparent development (as it rather behaves as a black box) and of active engagement of diversified, independent and trustworthy stakeholders. While most of these documents consider people and the common good as central to their telos, engagement with the general public is significantly lacking. As AI ethics moves from the initial race for enunciating general principles to more sustainable, inclusive and practical guidance, stakeholder engagement and citizen involvement will need to be embedded into the framing of ethical and societal expectations towards this technology. (shrink)

Bioethics experts played a key role in ensuring a coherent ethical response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the fields of healthcare, public health, and scientific research in Canada. In the province of Quebec, a group of academic and practicing bioethicists met periodically in the early months of the pandemic to discuss approaches and solutions to ethical dilemmas encountered during the crisis. These meetings created the opportunity for a national survey of bioethics practitioners from different fields. The survey, in which forty-five (...) Canadian bioethics practitioners (clinical ethicists, ethicist members of REBs and government health policy ethicists, or any bioethicist practicing outside of academia) participated, explored their concerns, challenges and opportunities during the first wave of the pandemic, with the objective of informing bioethics research about the difficulties experienced by bioethicists “in the field”. Participants reported increased stress levels, increased workloads, and a greater proportion of their work being devoted to public health ethics. Most of their concerns focused on groups other than themselves, such as health professionals, patients, research participants, and people in vulnerable socio-economic situations. An optimism about the future of bioethics was noted due to an increased awareness of the importance of bioethics by the public and by health and research institutions. (shrink)

How to engage the public in a reflection on the most pressing ethical issues of our time? What if part of the solution lies in adopting an interdisciplinary and collaborative strategy to shed light on critical issues in bioethics? An example is Art + Bioéthique, an innovative project that brought together bioethicists, art historians and artists with the aim of expressing bioethics through arts in order to convey the “sensitive” aspect of many health ethics issues. The aim of this project (...) was threefold: 1) to identify and characterize mechanisms for the meeting of arts and bioethics; 2) to experiment with and co-construct a dialogue between arts and bioethics; and 3) to initiate a public discussion on bioethical issues through the blending of arts and bioethics. In connection with an exhibition held in March 2016 at the Espace Projet, a non-profit art space in Montréal, the project developed a platform that combined artworks, essays and cultural & scientific mediation activities related to the work of six duos of young bioethics researchers and emerging artists. Each duo worked on a variety of issues, such as the social inclusion of disabled people, the challenges of practical applications of nanomedicine and regenerative medicine, and a holistic approach to contemporary diseases. This project, which succeeded in stimulating an interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration between bioethics and arts, is an example of an innovative approach to knowledge transfer that can move bioethics reflection into the public space. (shrink)

Depuis sa première réception en France, l’œuvre de Nietzsche n’a cessé d’y cons-tituer une référence forte, devenue centrale au cours des années soixante. S’impose alors ce que Vincent Descombes appellera d’ailleurs le moment français de Nietzsche, illustré par une généralisation de la mise à distance interprétative des catégories philosophiques, morales et politiques de la modernité. Mais d’une façon qui peut sembler paradoxale, la méthode nietzschéenne fut souvent mise au service de l’idéal émancipateur moderne. Les années quatre-vingt virent l’émergence d’une (...) réévaluation libérale et humaniste des présupposés de ce nietzschéisme français. L’analyse de Brigitte Krulic s’inscrit dans cette révision critique en appelant à une lecture tocquevillienne de Nietzsche, par quoi il faut entendre une analyse de son œuvre qui rende compte de sa situation historique et morale intermédiaire, entre l’âge aristocratique et l’âge démocratique. Référence à Tocqueville qui passe en réalité par la médiation de Louis Dumont, dont Krulic prolonge ici les thèses développées dans Homo æqualis II. L’Idéologie allemande, sur l’adaptation complexe de la pensée allemande à la modernité: l’éloge nietzschéen de la hiérarchie illustrerait à son tour un entre-deux problématique entre la sortie individualiste de la tradition et un arrière-plan holiste. (shrink)

This paper presents the main topics, arguments, and positions in the philosophy of AI at present (excluding ethics). Apart from the basic concepts of intelligence and computation, the main topics of ar-tificial cognition are perception, action, meaning, rational choice, free will, consciousness, and normativity. Through a better understanding of these topics, the philosophy of AI contributes to our understand-ing of the nature, prospects, and value of AI. Furthermore, these topics can be understood more deeply through the discussion of AI; so (...) we suggest that “AI Philosophy” provides a new method for philosophy. (shrink)

Theories of quantum gravity generically presuppose or predict that the reality underlying relativistic spacetimes they are describing is significantly non-spatiotemporal. On pain of empirical incoherence, approaches to quantum gravity must establish how relativistic spacetime emerges from their non-spatiotemporal structures. We argue that in order to secure this emergence, it is sufficient to establish that only those features of relativistic spacetimes functionally relevant in producing empirical evidence must be recovered. In order to complete this task, an account must be given of (...) how the more fundamental structures instantiate these functional roles. We illustrate the general idea in the context of causal set theory and loop quantum gravity, two prominent approaches to quantum gravity. (shrink)

Holism maintains that a phenomenon is more than the sum of its parts. Yet analysis--a mental process crucial to comprehension--involves dismantling the whole to grasp it piecemeal and relationally. Wading through such quandaries, Vincent Descombes guides readers to a deepened appreciation of the entity that enables understanding: the human mind.

Par-delà les effets de mode et les motifs politiques qui ont pu aider ou nuire à sa réception, l’œuvre de Gilles Deleuze semble plus que jamais mobilisée et retravaillée dans des domaines étonnamment divers de la pensée contemporaine. Notre ouvrage s’inscrit dans ce contexte vivant par une série d’études et de dialogues critiques centrés sur trois aspects fondamentaux : les propositions deleuziennes pour une philosophie de la nature, ses propositions sur le statut et le propre de la pensée et, enfin, (...) les horizons politiques d’une œuvre protéiforme. Trois aspects par lesquels cet esprit classique qu’était aussi Deleuze retrouvait peu ou prou la tripartition stoïcienne de la philosophie. Mais trois aspects désormais traversés par une même intuition et une même visée : l’élaboration systématique de cette pensée de la différence qui hante notre époque.--Résumé de l'éditeur. (shrink)

While it is often said that robotics should aspire to reproducible and measurable results that allow benchmarking, I argue that a focus on benchmarking can be a hindrance for progress in robotics. The reason is what I call the ‘measure-target confusion’, the confusion between a measure of progress and the target of progress. Progress on a benchmark (the measure) is not identical to scientific or technological progress (the target). In the past, several academic disciplines have been led into pursuing only (...) reproducible and measurable ‘scientific’ results – robotics should be careful to follow that line because results that can be benchmarked must be specific and context-dependent, but robotics targets whole complex systems for a broad variety of contexts. While it is extremely valuable to improve benchmarks to reduce the distance be- tween measure and target, the general problem to measure progress towards more intelligent machines (the target) will not be solved by benchmarks alone; we need a balanced approach with sophisticated benchmarks, plus real-life testing, plus qualitative judgment. (shrink)

Criminal law as public law -- Criminal law as public law -- Criminal law as public law -- Mass incarceration and the theory of punishment -- Reasons to criminalize -- Formalism and pragmatism in criminal procedure -- Responsibility without resentment.

This open access monograph offers a detailed study and a systematic defense of a key intuition we typically have, as human beings, with respect to the nature of time: the intuition that the future is open, whereas the past is fixed. For example, whereas it seems unsettled whether there will be a fourth world war, it is settled that there was a first world war. -/- The book contributes, in particular, three major and original insights. First, it provides a coherent, (...) non-metaphorical, and metaphysically illuminating elucidation of the intuition. Second, it determines which model of the temporal structure of the world is most appropriate to accommodate the intuition, and settles on a specific version of the Growing Block Theory of time (GBT). Third, it puts forward a naturalistic foundation for GBT, by exploiting recent results of our best physics (viz. General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, and Quantum Gravity). Three main challenges are addressed: the dismissal of temporal asymmetries as non-fundamental phenomena only (e.g., thermodynamic or causal phenomena), the epistemic objection against GBT, and the apparent tension between GBT and relativistic physics. It is argued that the asymmetry between the open future and the fixed past must be grounded in the temporal structure of the world, and that this is neither precluded by our epistemic device, nor by the latest approaches to Quantum Gravity (​e.g., the Causal Set Theory). -/- Aiming at reconciling time as we find it in ordinary experience and time as physics describes it, this ​innovative book ​will raise the interest of both academic researchers and ​graduate students working on the philosophy of time. More generally, it ​presents contents of interest for all metaphysicians and non-dogmatic philosophers of physics. (shrink)

Medical assistance in dying was legalized in Canada in 2016. As of July 2017, approximately 2149 patients have accessed MAID. There remains no national-level data on the perspectives of future physicians about MAID or its changing legal status. We provide evidence from a national survey of Canadian medical students about their opinions, intentions, and concerns about MAID. From October 2016 to July 2017, we distributed an anonymous online survey to all students at 15 of Canada’s 17 medical schools. The survey (...) collected data on respondent socio-demographic characteristics, features of their medical education, intentions for medical practice, and perspectives on MAID. We analyzed responses using univariate descriptive and stepwise multivariate logistic regression. In 1210 completed surveys, 71% of respondents reported being willing to provide MAID under a legal framework that permits it. Non-religious respondents reported greater willingness to participate in MAID than respondents of any religious affiliation. Frequency of religious attendance was inversely associated with willingness to provide MAID. Medical students born in Québec were more willing to provide MAID than respondents from other provinces. Age, sex, socioeconomic status, year of medical study, previous academic major, and rural/urban city of birth were not associated with willingness to provide MAID. As the current class of medical students becomes the first cohort of new physicians to enter Canada’s changing medical and legal landscape around MAID, our findings inform the public debate by examining attributes associated with support or opposition to the practice. (shrink)

In this paper, I first introduce one of the most prominent objections against the Growing Block Theory of time (GBT), the so-called ‘epistemic objection’, according to which GBT provides no way of knowing that our time is the objective present and, therefore, leads at best to absolute skepticism about our temporal location, at worst to the quasi-certainty that we are located in the objective past. Secondly, I express my dissatisfaction regarding the various traditional attempts to address this objection, especially Merricks (...) (2006), Forrest (2004) and Correia and Rosenkranz (2018). Thirdly, I show that the passage of time leads to an anti-essentialist picture of natural kinds. Finally, I develop my own solution to the epistemic objection, based on the continued existence of bare particulars. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Pluralistic Ignorance Modal Operator Epistemology Agents and Inquiry Methods Multimodal Systems Knowledge Transmissibility Knowledge Transmissibility and Public Announcement Knowledge Transmissibility and Pluralistic Ignorance References.

Western democracies experience profound conflicts that induce concerns about polarization and social cohesion. Yet although conflicts are a core feature of democracies, the forms, functions, and dynamics of democratic conflicts have rarely been subject of political theory. This paper aims at furthering our understanding of democratic conflicts. It analyzes the theory of conflict in Mouffe's agonistic pluralism, confronts it with sociological conflict theory, and presents concrete points of departure for a more comprehensive theory of democratic conflicts. The paper, thus, contributes (...) to two lines of research: (1) Regarding agonistic theories, the paper shows that agonistic pluralism fails to provide a convincing theory of conflict since it underestimates the mechanisms and effects of conflict dynamics (e.g. intergroup cohesion, intragroup conflict, domination, and escalation) and fails to account for the variety of conflict interactions. Proponents of agonistic pluralism should therefore invest more into clarifying their core concept. (2) For a general account of democratic conflicts, the paper proposes to pursue interdisciplinary research on the cognitive concepts shaping conflict interactions, the linked practices of conflict regulation, and the processual dynamics of conflicts. (shrink)

L'identité, dans les acceptions que ce terme revêt aujourd'hui, est une véritable énigme lexicale : elle désigne tout autant l'objet de contrôles sécuritaires policiers, un retour à la religion de ses parents, que, dans un guide touristique, la spécificité en voie de disparition d'un quartier. Reprenons. «Qui suis-je?», «Qui sommes-nous?», ce sont là ce qu'on appelle précisément des «questions d'identité». Nous comprenons spontanément de quoi il retourne parce que nous disposons d'un modèle : connaître l'identité de quelqu'un, c'est savoir comment (...) il s'appelle. Toutefois, lorsque la question de l'identité est posée à la première personne, mon intention n'est pas d'apprendre quels sont mes nom, prénoms et qualité, comme si je devais passer un «contrôle d'identité». Que signifie le mot dès lors qu'il est utilisé avec le possessif («mon identité», «notre identité») et qu'il ne désigne pas l'énoncé d'un état civil? Jadis le mot voulait dire exclusivement qu'il n'y a qu'une seule et même chose là où on aurait pu penser qu'il y en avait deux. Or, depuis quelques dizaines d'années, le mot a revêtu une signification autre, à savoir qu'il y a une chose ou un être qui possèdent la vertu d'être singulièrement eux-mêmes. Ainsi, que des guerres puissent éclater pour des questions qui ne relèvent pas strictement des intérêts matériels bien compris des antagonistes, nul ne saurait s'en étonner, sinon ceux qui nourrissent une conception utilitariste étriquée de l'être humain. En revanche, pourquoi est-ce le mot «identité» qui se trouve désormais chargé de signifier l'enjeu et l'objet de tels conflits? Tel est donc le point précis soulevé par Vincent Descombes : dans tout cela, que vient faire le mot «identit黠? Et que reste-t-il du concept d'identité? (shrink)

There is, in some quarters, concern about high–level machine intelligence and superintelligent AI coming up in a few decades, bringing with it significant risks for humanity. In other quarters, these issues are ignored or considered science fiction. We wanted to clarify what the distribution of opinions actually is, what probability the best experts currently assign to high–level machine intelligence coming up within a particular time–frame, which risks they see with that development, and how fast they see these developing. We thus (...) designed a brief questionnaire and distributed it to four groups of experts in 2012/2013. The median estimate of respondents was for a one in two chance that high-level machine intelligence will be developed around 2040-2050, rising to a nine in ten chance by 2075. Experts expect that systems will move on to superintelligence in less than 30 years thereafter. They estimate the chance is about one in three that this development turns out to be ‘bad’ or ‘extremely bad’ for humanity. (shrink)

L'avènement de la modernité a privé la morale de ses sources traditionnelles et l'a laissée devant une dichotomie dont les termes sont également inacceptables: d'un côté l'historicisme avec son cortège de relativisme et de scepticisme et de l'autre, la raison impérative, universelle et vide de contenu moral. Entre les certitudes des Anciens, les dilemmes de la modernité et les abîmes du postmodernisme, la philosophie morale et politique contemporaine ne serait pourtant pas condamnée à l'impotence. La conviction de Charles Larmore est (...) en effet que les diverses conceptions philosophiques qui nous ont successivement menés à pareille impasse nous offrent aussi les moyens d'en sortir. Cette conviction œcumenique est elle-même ancrée dans une ethique de la pensee qui devrait, comme l'auteur s'en explique dans l'introduction deModernité et morale, nous détourner du dogmatisme et du monisme traditionnels de la philosophie. Sur cet arrière-plan métaphilosophique, l'auteur prétend done faire, des problèmes de la morale contemporaine, l'objet d'une discussion ouverte où il convie les philosophes de toutes tendances et de tous les temps. (shrink)

Lauréat du Grand Prix de Philosophie de l'Académie française, Vincent Descombes est aujourd'hui Directeur d'études à l'EHESS et membre du Centre de recherches politiques Raymond Aron. Il est l'un des rares philosophes français à s'inscrire dans le courant de la philosophie analytique, mouvement qui place la question du langage au centre de sa réflexion. Que savoir? Comment dire? Telles sont les questions que n'aura de cesse de poser le philosophe analytique. Ces entretiens avec Philippe de Lara, maître de conférences (...) à l'université Panthéon Assas, permettront aux non-spécialistes de découvrir l'essentiel de sa pensée. Vincent Descombes revient sur son parcours aux côtés de Paul Ricoeur, sa rencontre intellectuelle avec Russell, et dégage sa méthode conceptuelle, avant d'exposer et d'approfondir les questions qu'il aborde dans ses oeuvres, celle de l'identité, les rapports entre politique et langage... (shrink)

Nous partageons, au sujet de la nature du temps, l’intuition fondamentale selon laquelle le futur est ouvert tandis que le passé est fermé. Par exemple, alors que nous pensons pouvoir influencer le cours du futur, nous savons qu’aucune de nos actions ne peut influencer le cours du passé. Cependant, bien que cette intuition soit largement partagée, identifier la nature de l’asymétrie qu’elle reflète n’est pas chose aisée. Dans cet article, j’explore différentes manières de caractériser l’asymétrie entre le ‘futur ouvert’ et (...) le ‘passé fermé’ dans le but de rendre justice à notre intuition. En particulier, je discute la question de savoir si cette asymétrie doit être caractérisée de façon sémantique, épistémique, métaphysique ou ontologique. Je conclus que, bien que plusieurs de ces caractérisations contribuent à une compréhension globale du phénomène, une caractérisation ontologique de l’asymétrie doit être préférée, car elle s’avère supérieure en termes de pouvoir explicatif, d’intelligibilité, ainsi que dans sa capacité à inclure différents sens que l’on peut prêter au concept d’ouverture. (shrink)

À partir d’une lecture intégrale de l’oeuvre d’Augustin d’Hippone (354-430), Vincent Giraud met au jour les aspects de ce qu’il appelle, dès l’introduction, une « condition herméneutique ». Il s’agit de démontrer que le « il y a », le « es gibt » propre à toute « donation » phénoménale, se situe, pour Augustin, entièrement sous condition du signe : la compréhension de l’existence humaine peut alors faire l’objet d’une reprise radicale à partir du concept de signe. Être (...) au monde, à soi, à autrui, à Dieu, c’est donc d’abord faire face à des signes. Car c’est le signe (signum) qui prévaut dès lors que la chose même (res ipsa) fait défaut. Cette tension fondamentale entre signification et manifestation peut alors être considérée comme la trame profonde qui régit toute la pensée augustinienne de l’humain. L’étude s’ordonne en deux grandes parties, qui permettent de déployer l’ensemble du spectre couvert par l’existence herméneutique telle que l’a conçue Augustin. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage propose de retracer le parcours intellectuel et spirituel de l’écrivain roumain d’expression française Emil Cioran (1911-1995). Le texte s’appuie sur une approche biographique pour saisir les enjeux philosophiques et identitaires de la vie et de l’oeuvre de Cioran. Tout d’abord son enfance imprégnée de culture allemande où liberté et insouciance cèdent vite la place à l’ennui ; sa fascination pour les thèses ultra-nationalistes pendant sa jeunesse studieuse et angoissée ; la volonté d’aveuglement que lui inspire ensuite son mépris (...) des affaires humaines ; la fuite de la Roumanie pendant la Guerre et l’affirmation de son incertitude identitaire et intellectuelle ; l’abandon finalement de son pays et de sa langue comme refus de sa propre histoire. L’ouvrage tente d’apporter un regard nouveau sur l’homme et son oeuvre pour résoudre les contradictions inhérentes à son renversement identitaire: bien que la mémoire soit au centre de sa pensée, Cioran se dirigea toujours plus vers la nécessité de l’oubli. La démarche de Vincent Piednoir démontre que cette volonté d’oubli a inscrit le philosophe dans la mémoire collective. De nombreux livres ont commenté la pensée de Cioran. L’originalité de celui-ci est de s’étendre, sans esprit de polémique mais sans tabou, sur sa jeunesse roumaine et profasciste. (shrink)

We compare two different elicitation methods for measuring risk attitudes on a sample of French farmers. We consider the lottery tasks initially proposed by Holt and Laury (Econ Rev 92:1644–1655, 2002) and by Eckel and Grossman (Evol Hum Behav 23:281–295, 2002; J Econ Behav Org 68:1–7, 2008). The main empirical result from this within-subject study is that risk preference measures are affected by the type of mechanism used. We first show that this risk preference instability can be related to non-expected (...) utility preferences of farmers. Using a risk-taking psychometric questionnaire, we then demonstrate that risk preferences of farmers are context-dependent. This may be another explanation of the observed risk preference instability. (shrink)

Rivers stopped or flowing backward -- Harmony, number, and others --Twentieth-Century measures.

A l'instantanéité doit succéder la réflexion, à la réaction incessante le recul stratégique. La stratégie naît il y a 2500 ans, à Athènes et en Chine avec Sun Tzu et son célèbre Art de la guerre. Art militaire au départ, méthode de pensée pour l'action, elle apparaît de plus en plus indispensable dans notre monde moderne. Pourtant, le sens en a été oublié. Aujourd'hui, les décideurs - entrepreneurs, politiques, militaires - sont accaparés par le court terme et la tactique. Atteints (...) de myopie décisionnelle, ils éprouvent des difficultés grandissantes à prendre du recul. Ils ont perdu l'habitude et le goût de la stratégie, qu'ils pratiquent de moins en moins alors qu'elle seule peut apporter des réponses à la complexité du monde et à l'accélération du temps. Il faut entrer en stratégie, utiliser celle-ci pour modeler le présent et bâtir l'avenir. Le but de cet ouvrage est de faciliter cette démarche, de l'éclairer et de la démythifier. Entrer en stratégie est un guide de survie et de succès. (shrink)