Cheikh Moctar Ba avait, dans un précédent traité, défini et constitué un parallèle entre les cosmogonies et les cosmologies grecques et africaines. Il entreprend ici une analyse de la fonction et de la place qu'elles occupent dans la vie des sociétés, et comment elles sont à l'origine de l'établissement d'un certain ordre. Face à ces problématiques qui regroupent en grande partie les questionnements du mouvement existentiel, il s'attèle à construire cet essai autour deux axes principaux: une étude de la (...) question de la centralité, et un examen du rapport entretenu par les cosmologies et les cosmogonies avec les différentes formes d'organisation sociale. (shrink)

I argue that political activity needs philosophical insights in order to keep pace with some exigencies of the human person, and of the nature of the body of any human community. More specifically, I argue that some ethical and moral principles should be the genuine foundations of the performed acts emanating from the political leader. Drawing mainly from philosophy, I argue that the issue of political leadership is an expressive example in which we encounter the necessity of bringing ethics into (...) the sphere of politics, in order to provide the latter with strong, unshakable, and objective foundations. This also gives me an opportunity to rise against Machiavellianism and its correlates. (shrink)

Ethical Personalism proposes to reflect on the person from at least three levels: ontology, epistemology, and ethics. Articulating the ontological and inalienable value of the human person, i.e., her dignity, from various philosophical and religious angles and traditions, the contributors show not just what it means to be a human person, but also what it takes to live accordingly. Hence, beyond the purely theoretical elaboration on ethical personalism that reposes the crucial debates between relativism and realism on the one hand, (...) and consequentialism and deontology on the other, this volume offers a range of insights useful for addressing concrete and practical matters that we, as humans, are confronted by in our everyday life. Ethical Personalism unequivocally affirms the necessity of (re)placing the person in the centre of our project of society, economic plans, political settings, and environment policies. (shrink)

_Return to the Kingdom of Childhood: Re-envisioning the Legacy and Philosophical Relevance of Negritude_ examines the philosophy of Negritude through an innovative analysis of Léopold Sédar Senghor’s oeuvre. In the first book-length study of Senghorian philosophy, Cheikh Thiam argues that Senghor’s work expresses an Afri-centered conception of the human while simultaneously offering a critique of the Western universalization of “man.” Senghor’s corrective, descriptive, and prescriptive theory of humanness is developed through a conception of race as a cultural manifestation of (...) being. Thiam contends that Senghor’s conception of race entails an innovative Afri-centered epistemology and ontology. For Senghor, races are the effects of particular groups’ relations to the world. The so-called “Negroes,” for example, are determined by their epistemology based on their fluid understanding of the ontological manifestations of being. The examination of this ontology and its ensuing epistemology, which is constitutive of the foundation of Senghor’s entire oeuvre, indicates that Negritude is a postcolonial philosophy that stands on its own. The hermeneutics of Senghor’s race theory show that the Senegalese thinker’s pioneering postcolonial philosophy remains relevant in the postcolonial era. In fact, it questions and expands the works of major contemporary African-descended scholars such as Paul Gilroy, Edouard Glissant, and Molefi Asante. Thiam’s approach is thoroughly interdisciplinary, combining perspectives from philosophy, literary analysis, anthropology, and postcolonial, African, and cultural studies. (shrink)

El propósito de este artículo es mostrar que el escrito medieval no posee el mismo estatuto ni los mismos valores que hoy en día y, a partir de ahí, reaccionar ante la oposición entre lo oral y lo escrito que se utiliza a propósito de la literatura árabe en sus comienzos. La tesis propuesta defiende que, hasta la segunda mitad, si no hasta el final del siglo III de la Hégira, los textos de adab, aunque compuestos y producidos por escrito, (...) lo habían sido en la idea de que su circulación, su comunicación y recepción se haría, en la mayor parte de los casos, oralmente. Es este fenómeno el que define el estatus del adab de sus «autores», y de la naturaleza de las obras que lo constituyen. (shrink)

Il s¿agit de poursuivre le travail de relecture du Kiláó al-Buhalá' consmencé dans larticle paru dans le Bulleíin dÉludes Orientales de Damas (LI 1999:"Avarice ou sophistique? Une lecture du Livre des ovares d'al-Gdisig"), travail qui pose que le propos du célébre polygraphe nesí pas tant la critique de lavarice, nu de la gueuserie (lmdya) dans le cas de Halib b. Yazid, que celle du détnumement des discours de leura fnnctions supposées nobles. Dans le récit "autobiographique" el le testament spirituel de (...) Ijálawayh al~MukaddI, ce qui se trouve mimé, parodié pnur étre dénigré, cesí, semble-t-il, la pratique des sermonnaires populaire> (Qu~sás), el, plus généralemení, celle des 'ulamá' qui prétendent éduquer les fonles. Larticle s'attache á analyser les procédés stylistiques et rhétoriques utilisés par al-Óálii~ pour vilipender ces usages dévoyés du discours. (shrink)

Este artículo estudia la sección de la recopilación de adab del 'Iqd al-farid de Ibn 'Abd Rabbih llamada "El Libro de Lamentaciones, Condolencias y Elegías". Se analiza la función ideológica del 'Iqd, concretamente la manera en que se organiza el género con ocasión de la muerte. Localiza lo que parece haberse «reprimido» en el texto en un intento por determinar el material que fue pasado por alto, enterrado o alterado, y estudia la organización de sus prioridades. El artículo sostiene que (...) el 'Iqd, en su función de texto ejemplar, no se limita a reflejar una ideología dominante sino que hace una contribución al discurso dominante por su manera de dar forma a la vida intelectual y social. (shrink)

We critique the distinction Byrne makes between strong causes and enabling conditions, and its implications, on both theoretical and empirical grounds. First, we believe that the difference is psychological, not logical. Second, we disagree that there is a strict Third, we disagree that it is easier for people to generate causes than counterfactuals.

Résumé Il est question de voir, à travers l’étude de certaines positions philosophiques de Marcien Towa en quoi l’activité philosophique est une expérience de liberté, une conscience active, en mouvement. En effet, chez Marcien Towa, la liberté est le résultat d’un processus de redécouverte de soi qui anime le sujet conscient de son être-là dans le monde. Le dévoilement de l’essence du moi est une nécessité voire un impératif dont l’effectivité est le résultat d’une remise en question de l’essence du (...) moi qui renaît de sa déchirure comme un moi objectif, comme une conscience de liberté. C’est en cela qu’il y a réconciliation du moi avec lui-même, l’avènement d’un sujet nouveau capable de se prendre en charge comme entité libre et autonome qui s’assume et qui prend en charge sa destinée. (shrink)

Résumé Il est question de voir, à travers l’étude de certaines positions philosophiques de Marcien Towa en quoi l’activité philosophique est une expérience de liberté, une conscience active, en mouvement. En effet, chez Marcien Towa, la liberté est le résultat d’un processus de redécouverte de soi qui anime le sujet conscient de son être-là dans le monde. Le dévoilement de l’essence du moi est une nécessité voire un impératif dont l’effectivité est le résultat d’une remise en question de l’essence du (...) moi qui renaît de sa déchirure comme un moi objectif, comme une conscience de liberté. C’est en cela qu’il y a réconciliation du moi avec lui-même, l’avènement d’un sujet nouveau capable de se prendre en charge comme entité libre et autonome qui s’assume et qui prend en charge sa destinée. (shrink)

Queens, Eunuchs and Concubines in Islamic History, 661–1257. By Taef El-Azhari. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2019. Pp. xix + 449. $140, £90.

Der Ausdruck Phänomenologie ist heute höchst vieldeutig geworden. Husserl hat seit 1905 eine immer stärkere Wendung zum Idealismus kantischer Prägung hin vollzogen, durch die er den Boden der Phänomenologie, wie er sie begründet hatte, verlassen hat. Eine ähnliche Abweichung von der ursprünglichen Idee der Phänomenologie findet sich bei vielen anderen "Phänomenologen." Die "realistische Phänomenologie", deren Vorläufer von Platon an und Klassiker von Husserl bis Schwarz in dieser ersten umfangreichen deutschsprachigen Anthologie zu Wort kommen, ist kein System, sondern eine Anwendung der (...) philosophischen Urmethoden, wie sie alle großen Philosophen tatsächlich anwandten, wenn sie ihre entscheidenden Entdeckungen machten. Mögen auch von Philosophen generell andere Methoden bewußt zugrunde gelegt werden, in dem Moment, in dem diese Einsichten gewonnen werden, liegt tatsächlich zu allen Zeiten jener letzte, fruchtbare Kontakt mit "den Sachen selbst" vor, der den Sinn der phänomenologischen Methode ausmacht, wie sie von den Meistern der realistischen Phänomenologie nur bewußter und systematischer angewandt wird als von vielen früheren Denkern. Nichts wäre darum irriger als in der phänomenologischen Betrachtungsweise eine Reduktion der Welt auf bloße "Phänomene" zu erblicken oder gar eine bloße Deskription der "Erscheinung" der Dinge. Zwischen phänomenologischer Betrachtungsweise und metaphysischer Wesensanalyse besteht kein Unterschied oder gar Gegensatz. (shrink)

Aujourd’hui, de la sentence de « l’homme est la mesure de toutes choses, pour celles qui sont, de leur existence ; pour celles qui ne sont pas, de leur non-existence » du sophiste Protagoras, on ne retient, souvent, que le jugement incendiaire de Platon qui la tient pour un relativisme selon lequel « à chacun sa vérité » de sorte qu’il serait impossible de mentir. C’est ainsi que cette phrase, qui est à inscrire dans le contexte des débats qui opposèrent (...) Protagoras aux éléates concernant les rapports entre le logos et la vérité, est brandie comme argument pour disqualifier, philosophiquement et moralement, Protagoras et l’ensemble des sophistes. Jugement à la hâte qui n’a rien de fécond pour qui veut étudier et comprendre la pensée du sophiste, principalement sa rhétorique politique. Le logos, dans la perspective de Protagoras, ne saurait être un discours sur l’être ou la vérité comme l’enseignait Parménide. Il est une sorte de démiurge qui fait advenir les choses : « Le choix intellectuel formulé par Protagoras est délibérément celui de la doxa, celui du non-être, celui du logos également qui ne dit pas ce qui est, mais qui fait être ce qu’il dit ». C’est à partir d’une étude du statut du logos que Protagoras va repenser les fondements de l’absolu et de la connaissance. Dans cette approche du statut du logos dans laquelle l’homme est considéré comme le critère des choses, l’originalité de Protagoras sera d’accorder à la parole un pouvoir absolu tout. (shrink)

We consider metabolic networks with reversible enzymatic reactions. The model is written as a system of ordinary differential equations, possibly with inputs and outputs. We prove the global stability of the equilibrium , using techniques of monotone systems and compartmental matrices. We show that the equilibrium does not always exist. Finally, we consider a metabolic system coupled with a genetic network, and we study the dependence of the metabolic equilibrium with respect to concentrations of enzymes. We give some conclusions concerning (...) the dynamical behavior of coupled genetic/metabolic systems. (shrink)

This article examines the elements of the Seventeenth Century debate about the Cartesian body-machine theory which pitted Abbé Le Moine against Arnauld. Both theologians engaged in specific discussion of the incompatibility or, to the contrary, the compatibility of this theory with the thesis of the substantial union of the body and soul, as well as the consequences of applying mechanical laws to living beings. The origin of the disagreement is first reviewed to then analyse the works of Descartes which are (...) in question and, finally, to evaluate the respective arguments of the two authors. (shrink)

The religious intolerance that nowadays feeds a number of current conflicts leads us to rethink our modern conception of toleration, which emerged from the theological and philosophical debates accompanying or thrown up by the doctrinal controversies and politico-religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries. It is defined by respect for distinct orders: that of conscience and that of the law, private and public, faith and reason. It bears the mark of religion and theology and relates to the idea of (...) human dignity which was given its ethical foundation in the 18th century by Kant’s doctrine of autonomy. Current events teach us that still today people kill and persecute in the name of faith, in the name of God, in the name of religion, because they have a different opinion or belief. If toleration, child of the Enlightenment and critical reason, has not definitively gained the upper hand in a rational, technical world, we need to ask whether it is not because we have neglected faith. To conclude from the distinction between reason and faith that they are antagonistic has not led to uprooting the human spirit’s intolerance. Might we have forgotten that peace is also the business of religion? What should we expect, what should we hope for from dialogue between religions? Could faith be the antidote to intolerance? (shrink)

L’intolérance religieuse qui alimente de nos jours de nombreux conflits contemporains nous conduit à repenser notre conception moderne de la tolérance, née des débats théologiques et philosophiques, qui ont accompagné ou qui ont été provoqués par les controverses doctrinales et les guerres politico-religieuses des XVIème et XVIIème siècles. Elle se définit par le respect des ordres distincts: celui de la conscience et celui de la loi, du privé et du public, celui de la foi et de la raison. Elle porte (...) la marque de son origine, du religieux et du théologique, et renvoie à l’idée de dignité humaine à laquelle la doctrine de l’autonomie de Kant, au XVIIIème siècle, a apporté son fondement éthique. L’actualité nous apprend qu’aujourd’hui encore on tue, on persécute au nom de la foi, au nom de Dieu, au nom de la religion, pour avoir une opinion ou une croyance différente. Si la tolérance, fille des Lumières et de la raison critique, ne s’est pas imposée définitivement dans un monde rationnel et technique, il y a lieu de se demander si ce n’est pas pour avoir négligé la foi. Il ne suffit pas de déclarer la mort de Dieu pour faire disparaître la religion. Conclure de la distinction de la raison et de la foi à leur antagonisme n’a pas conduit à déraciner l’intolérance de l’esprit humain. Aurions-nous oublié que la paix est aussi l’affaire du religieux? Que faut-il attendre, que faut-il espérer du dialogue inter-religieux? La foi serait-elle l’antidote à l’intolérance? Que peut faire la foi? (shrink)

The religious intolerance that nowadays feeds a number of current conflicts leads us to rethink our modern conception of toleration, which emerged from the theological and philosophical debates accompanying or thrown up by the doctrinal controversies and politico-religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries. It is defined by respect for distinct orders: that of conscience and that of the law, private and public, faith and reason. It bears the mark of religion and theology and relates to the idea of (...) human dignity which was given its ethical foundation in the 18th century by Kant’s doctrine of autonomy. Current events teach us that still today people kill and persecute in the name of faith, in the name of God, in the name of religion, because they have a different opinion or belief. If toleration, child of the Enlightenment and critical reason, has not definitively gained the upper hand in a rational, technical world, we need to ask whether it is not because we have neglected faith. To conclude from the distinction between reason and faith that they are antagonistic has not led to uprooting the human spirit’s intolerance. Might we have forgotten that peace is also the business of religion? What should we expect, what should we hope for from dialogue between religions? Could faith be the antidote to intolerance? (shrink)

The following article compares the notion of the absolute in the work of Georg Cantor and in Alain Badiou’s third volume of Being and Event: The Immanence of Truths and proposes an interpretation of mathematical concepts used in the book. By describing the absolute as a universe or a place in line with the mathematical theory of large cardinals, Badiou avoided some of the paradoxes related to Cantor’s notion of the “absolutely infinite” or the set of all that is thinkable (...) in mathematics W: namely the idea that W would be a potential infinity. The article provides an elucidation of the putative criticism of the statement “mathematics is ontology” which Badiou presented at the conference Thinking the Infinite in Prague. It emphasizes the role that philosophical decision plays in the construction of Badiou’s system of mathematical ontology and portrays the relationship between philosophy and mathematics on the basis of an inductive not deductive reasoning. (shrink)

In this article, I focus on Alain Badiou’s idiosyncratic interpretation of Jacques Lacan and highlight his conceptual points of divergence with the psychoanalyst. I elaborate on Badiou’s distinction between philosophy, antiphilosophy, and sophistry as well as the notions of sense, ab-sense, and non-sense that he proposed in the book There’s No Such Thing as a Sexual Relationship: Two Lessons on Lacan as well as in his seminar on Lacan. Unlike Lacan, who affirmed that philosophy is subject to the fantasy of (...) the One, Badiou claimed that the One exists merely as a result of an operation of counting. In this manner, he contested Lacan’s conviction that philosophy forecloses the real. I argue that Badiou’s main point of divergence with Lacan is centred on the notion of the subject and on the localization of the void in relation to the subject. I also touch upon philosophy’s relation to the symbolic, namely its ability to raise powerlessness to logical impossibility. (shrink)

After the seminal work of Kraus, Lehmann and Magidor (formally known as the KLM approach) on conditionals and preferential models, many aspects of defeasibility in more complex formalisms have been studied in recent years. Examples of these aspects are the notion of typicality in description logic and defeasible necessity in modal logic. We discuss a new aspect of defeasibility that can be expressed in the case of temporal logic, which is the normality in an execution. In this contribution, we take (...) Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) as case study for this defeasible aspect. LTL has found extensive applications in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, notably as a formal framework for representing and verifying computer systems that vary over time. However, some systems may presents exceptions at some innocuous time points where they can be tolerated, or conversely, exceptions at other crucial time points where they need to be addressed. In order to ensure the reliability of such systems, we study a preferential extension of LTL, called defeasible linear temporal logic (LTL ~ ). In the first part of this paper, we show how semantics of KLM's preferential models can be integrated with LTL. We also discuss the addition of non-monotonic temporal operators as a way to formalise defeasible properties of these systems. The second part of this paper is a study of the satisfiability problem of LTL ~ sentences. Based on Sistla and Clarke's work on the complexity of the classical LTL language, we show the bounded-model property of two fragments of LTL ~ language. Moreover, we provide a procedure to check the satisfiability of sentences in both of these fragments. (shrink)

The Mediterranean region is facing major challenges for soil conservation and sustainable agriculture. Conservation agriculture (CA), including reduced soil disturbance, can help conserve soils and improve soil fertility, but its adoption in the Mediterranean region is limited. Examining farmers’ perceptions of soil and underlying sociocultural factors can help shed light on adoption of soil management practices. In this paper, we conducted a survey with 590 farmers across Morocco, Spain and Tunisia to explore concepts that are cognitively associated with soil and (...) perceptions of tillage. We also evaluated differences in perceptions of innovation, community, adaptive capacity, and responsibility for soil. We found that farmers’ cognitive associations with soil show awareness of soil as a living resource, go beyond agriculture and livelihoods to reveal cultural ties, and link to multiple levels of human needs. Beliefs about the benefits of tillage for water availability and yield persist among the surveyed farmers. We found that openness towards innovation, perceived adaptive capacity and responsibility for soil were associated with minimum tillage, whereas community integration was not. Education, age and farm lifestyle were also associated with differences in these perceptions. CA promotion in the Mediterranean should emphasize the multiple values of soil, should demonstrate how sufficient yields may be achieved alongside resilience to drought, and be tailored to differing levels of environmental awareness and economic needs across north and south. (shrink)

The Rift Valley fever (RVF), which first appeared in Kenya in 1912, is an anthropozoonosis widespread in tropical areas. In Senegal, it is particularly felt in the Ferlo area where a strong presence of ponds shared by humans, cattle and vectors is noted. As part of the studies carried out on the environmental factors which favour its start and propagation, the focus of this paper is put on the decision making process to evaluate the impacts, the interactions and to make (...) RVF monitoring easier. The present paper proposes a model based on data mining techniques and dedicated to trade experts. This model integrates all the involved data and the results of the analyses made on the characteristics of the surrounding ponds. This approach presents some advantage in revealing the relationship between environmental factors and RVF transmission vectors for space–time epidemiology monitoring purpose. (shrink)

Afrosofian Knowledge and Cheikh Anta Diop wrestles with the cultural, epistemological, ethical, and geopolitical conundrums of our contemporary world. It argues that sofia is a psychological, discursive, social, and civilizational sickle constantly sharpened to weed imperial-colonial, mental, linguistic, racist, and barbaric alienation.