During the Algerian struggle, Fanon warned us about the influence on politics of ‘the few European colonialists, powerful, intractable, those who have at all times instigated repressions, broken the French democrats, blocked every endeavor within the colonial framework to introduce a modicum of democracy into Algeria’. Is this remark still pertinent? How does Frantz Fanon help us understand current reactionary politics in France? Is his analysis of the French Left still pertinent? How does colonial discourse weigh on the postcolonial present? (...) In this article, I explore current expressions of French postcolonial reactionary politics focusing on an event in Reunion Island, a French postcolonial territory. I argue that it is important to observe what is happening in French postcolonial territories because they remain laboratories for repressive policies and discourses. What I call the discourse of ‘French Algeria’, a mix of revisionist history, resentment, wounded narcissism and racism, embodies a political trend that seeks to counter the small progress made in rewriting history from the point of view of the colony in France. (shrink)

Le SMSI a affiché et promu une démarche de multipartenariat entre gouvernements, monde économique et société civile. Nous avons étudié la liste de diffusion électronique de l'un des caucus, « Civil Society - Internet Governance », au long d'une période clé de l'initiative onusienne. En analysant les modalités des échanges, nous nous sommes demandé quels types de tactiques et de stratégies émergent de ce dispositif, et dans quelle mesure il participe du débat public. Enfin, nous nous sommes interrogés sur (...) les limites du rôle effectif de la « société civile » dans un contexte international particulier.WSIS posted and promoted a multi-stakeholder approach between governments, civil society and business world. We studied the electronic mailing list of one of the caucus, "Civil Society - Internet Governance" during a key period of the UN initiative. By analyzing the terms of trade, we asked what kind of tactics and strategies emerge from this device, and how it participates in the public debate. Finally, we asked about the limits of the actual role of "civil society" in a particular international context. (shrink)

Nothing was more important to Tolstoy than character development. For him, the purpose of life is to grow morally. The purpose of literature — as all art — is to aid that growth. Abstract philosophy and pedantic scholarship are therefore redundant. Indeed, even the psychological novel is a distraction. Moral truths are self-evident. They are always simple. They are expressed by the humble. They are known by the meek. To become good, all we need to do is peel back the (...) layers of hypocrisy and deceit that have overwrought us. Moral truths are known all over the world, but they are forgotten or covered up. There is nothing like a folktale, a pithy aphorism, or the words of a farm laborer or child to point this out. We may be surprised by what we already know and how deceived we were. All Tolstoy's varied endeavors, his literature, pedagogic theory and philosophy, center on moral conversion and its only legitimate motivation: love. Tolstoy's affront on modern civilization, documented vehemently in his later works sought to teach this lesson. This was a view of character development that had wide ranging impact all over the world, influencing many of the most famous thinkers, educators, and activists of the twentieth century. Tolstoy's stories continue to enthrall and inspire moral transformation. In this article Daniel Moulin explains why. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:At the Beginning, There was the MaskFrançoise Vergès (bio)There is a long history to be told about the links between the economy of extractivism and exhaustion, between colonialism, race, capitalism, imperialism, and breathing, which could be summarized as the "struggle against suffocation and for life." Colonialism (slavery and post-slavery), race, and capitalism are all about un-breathing, about the toxicity of social, cultural, sexual and "natural" environments, about silencing, erasing (...) voices, cutting tongues, forbidding speech, fabricating a deadly form of quietude, requiring mute consent to injustices and inequalities. They play on restricting human lungs and on colonizing the lungs of the planet. In their world, one no longer breathes freely, one can no longer finds her voice, one learns to whisper. It is not the whisper of underground resistance, of words circulating from mouth to mouth to signal where is the next refuge, the next sanctuary, the cache for arms, the false papers, the hidden routes of escape and marooning. It is the murmur of someone beaten and tortured until mad with pain, when breathing has become an ordeal.When we say, "We are suffocating" or "The air has become unbreathable!" we are not just talking of polluted air but of the feeling of living in a deleterious and asphyxiating political regime, which involves social censorship and self-censorship. Fear sets in, we only speak in hushed tones. Under such a regime, political order demands civilized speech, disciplined expression; the authorized music is "national," "military," patriarchal, or of a reinvented tradition. The joy must be measured and the words of the songs and public speech be neutral or to the glory of the regime. The authoritarian regime may even appropriate a song of freedom as its hymn, a bitter paradox where the words of freedom are confiscated to justify oppression. The body is corseted, the voice muzzled, the lungs function faintly, they transcribe our feelings in their rhythm, accelerating or slowing down. When songs and cries of freedom nonetheless arise, defying the regime of silencing and un-breathing, they sharply shatter the feeling of physical and psychic suffocation, the feeling that words remain in our throat, that our voice cannot come out. Suddenly, we catch our breath. We respire, inhale, exhale, fill our lungs. And we reconnect [End Page 54] ourselves with the etymological meaning of respire: from Latin re (again) and spirare itself from Latin spiritus "a breathing (respiration, and of the wind), breath; breath of a god," hence "inspiration; breath of life," hence "life," also "disposition, character; high spirit, vigor, courage" (Harper). Life, vigor, and courage, the breathing of the oppressed break down the politics of suffocation."I can't breathe" were the last words of George Floyd, not long before exhaling his last breath. When across the world, during 2020, people were shouting in many languages, "I can't breathe" using all their breath, they were, by the thousands, making their voices heard, rupturing the silencing of racism. "I can't breathe" became a breathing cry. Breathing became resistance. Singing collectively was breathing together. The song soars from thousands of breasts. The human voice, alone or collective carries an emotional force within it, vibrates sensually. But one may say, this has been, and can still be, the expression of fascism, of toxic masculinity and lynching mobs. When is breathing a revolutionary practice then? When we retrace the racial history of suffocation and breathing, of the colonial/ imperialist military noise vs. songs of freedom, of breathing as a politics toward humanizing the world. In other words, when we show how polluted air and noise are central elements in racial and gendered exploitation and how the antiracist struggle against pollution and suffocation is a struggle against racial capitalism. When we learn that recent medical research links air pollution to delayed cognitive development, stunted growth, and reduced lung capacity in children, we understand that the pretense of the universal right to childhood is a lie. Racism condemns Black, Indigenous and Brown children to premature death. According to the World Health Organization, more people are dying every year of polluted air than of any other cause. The role of air pollution in neurodegenerative diseases such as... (shrink)

Le livre refermé on ne peut s’empêcher de ressentir une sorte d’accablement. Car l’histoire est terrible. Cette « étrange défaite » que Christine Bard constate, reprenant le titre du livre écrit par Marc Bloch dans la clandestinité, est celle de notre société et d’abord la nôtre, celle des féministes. Défaite des féministes qui se sont dépensées dans cet entre-deux-guerres et n’ont remporté que de maigres succès dans leur lutte pour l’égalité civile et civique. Défaite de l’histoire aussi, si...

Le livre refermé on ne peut s’empêcher de ressentir une sorte d’accablement. Car l’histoire est terrible. Cette « étrange défaite » que Christine Bard constate, reprenant le titre du livre écrit par Marc Bloch dans la clandestinité, est celle de notre société et d’abord la nôtre, celle des féministes. Défaite des féministes qui se sont dépensées dans cet entre-deux-guerres et n’ont remporté que de maigres succès dans leur lutte pour l’égalité civile et civique. Défaite de l’histoire aussi, si...

Quelle place les ordres juridiques romanistes et de common law réservent-ils au sentiment d'équité du juge? Confronté à la rigueur du droit strict, le juge belge, français ou québécois jouit-il de la même latitude que ses confrères anglais ou canadiens pour imposer malgré tout la décision qu'il estime la plus juste? Afin de prendre la mesure de ces diverses "équités judiciaires", l'originalité de la démarche comparative adoptée par l'auteur consiste à prendre appui sur un microphénomène appelant une analyse juridique multidimensionnelle: (...) l'empiétement immobilier, entendu très largement comme l'atteinte au droit réel d'autrui par une construction quelconque. Autour de ce noyau factuel gravite une double démonstration de portée très générale. La première se concentre sur la comparaison approfondie des manifestations du sentiment d'équité des juges romanistes et de common law dans les arcanes du droit positif, au moyen d'instruments aussi divers que l'injonction, l'estoppel, l'abus de droit... Telle était bien l'interrogation de départ. Mais cette première démonstration en appelle une autre, à l'effet que la logique caractérisant le droit des biens décline au profit de logiques propres à des domaines juridiques concurrents. Parmi ceux-ci figurent au premier chef le droit des obligations et plus particulièrement, le droit de la responsabilité civile quasi-délictuelle. Ainsi, sous l'éclairage de la comparaison, l'examen des manifestations de l'équité judiciaire face à la problématique de l'emprise immobilière permet d'aborder sous un angle neuf des thèmes plus vastes comme la théorie des sources du droit, le rapport du juge à la norme ou encore l'antagonisme entre souci de prévisibilité et pouvoir judiciaire discrétionnaire. (shrink)

Trente et un penseurs, parmi lesquels Jacques Derrida, Françoise Héritier, Edgar Morin, Jean-Luc Nancy, Michel Onfray ou encore Jacques Rancière, pour comprendre les errements et les raisons d'espérer d'une planète convulsée. Dix-neuf entretiens et débats avec les intellectuels les plus engagés dans la réflexion sur le temps présent dressent un état des lieux des questions qui taraudent notre modernité. Issu du Théâtre des idées, cycle de rencontres intellectuelles du Festival d'Avignon (2004-2012), ces dialogues singuliers s'attachent à faire vivre l'esprit (...) critique, cette faculté de juger, de soumettre la réalité sociale, artistique ou politique au tamis du jugement argumenté, qu'il soit sérieux ou ironique, virulent ou tempéré. De très actuelles "résistances intellectuelles" qui esquissent ce que pourrait être un service public des idées, c'est-à-dire un accès direct, libre et partagé à l'intellectualité. (shrink)

In this article, we critically examine some of the ethical challenges and interpretive difficulties with possible future non-clinical applications of pediatric fMRI with a particular focus on applications in the classroom and the courtroom - two domains in which children come directly in contact with the state. We begin with a general overview of anticipated clinical and non-clinical applications of pediatric fMRI. This is followed by a detailed analysis of a range of ethical challenges and interpretive difficulties that trouble the (...) use of fMRI and are likely to be especially acute with non-clinical uses of the technology. We conclude that knowledge of these challenges and difficulties should influence policy decisions regarding the non-clinical uses of fMRI. Our aim is to encourage the development of future policies prescribing the responsible use of this neuroimaging technology as it develops both within and outside the clinical setting. (shrink)

This editorial introduces the Journal of Consciousness Studies special issue on "Animal Consciousness". The 15 contributors and co-editors answer the question "How should we study animal consciousness scientifically?" in 500 words or fewer.

In "Implementing Expanded Prenatal Genetic Testing: Should Parents Have Access to Any and All Fetal Genetic Information?," Bayefsky and Berkman argue in favor of establishing three categorie...

Résumé – Nous nous intéressons à l’enseignement et l’apprentissage de l’infini en classe de mathématiques en considérant les différences et les relations entre infini potentiel et infini actuel. Nous présentons les principaux éléments de notre étude philosophique, épistémologique et didactique, ainsi que trois situations visant à conduire un travail explicite avec les élèves sur ces questions en début de lycée. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------- Abstract – We are interested in the teaching and learning of infinite in mathematics class, taking into account the relations (...) between potential infinite and actual infinite. We report the main elements of our current philosophical, epistemological and didactical study; we also present three mathematical situations that we consider relevant for this purpose and to be explored with 10 and 11 grade students. (shrink)

Both the physiological and the pathological morphogenetic processes that we can meet in embryogenesis, neogenesis and degenerative dysgenesis present common features: they are ruled by three different kinds of mechanisms, one related to cell migration, the second to cell differentiation and the third to cell proliferation. We deal here with an application to the cambial growth which essentially involves the third type of mechanism.Woody plants produce secondary tissue (secondary xylem and phloem) from a meristematic tissue called vascular cambium, responsible for (...) the radial growth of a tree. This paper focuses on the formation of secondary xylem, considered in two dimensions in a cross-section framework. A new discrete modelling approach is used, based on the cellular scale, in order to attain a more accurate understanding of how the elementary microscopic behaviour of each cell takes part in the macroscopic morphogenesis. The mathematical model essentially uses an occurrence method simulating the main features of radial growth with simple geometric rules, such as Thom's division rule (Thom,1972)to account for the cell proliferation. The study applies to concrete instances in which the changes made in the geometrical cellular patterns of the vascular cambium clearly affect the shape of the tree, as in Pinus radiata (D. Don.). (shrink)

Eugénie Cotton est, à l’exception peut-être des ancien·nes communistes, une figure peu connue des historien·nes et du grand public, même si une modeste rue du 19e arrondissement de Paris porte son nom depuis la fin des années 1970 et lui rend hommage en la qualifiant de « docteur ès sciences, promotrice des droits de la femme ». La biographie que lui consacre Loukia Efthymiou, professeure de langue et littérature françaises à l’Université d’Athènes, et spécialiste d’histoire des femmes et du...

Harvey and Gurvir’s Law is a bill proposed to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario (Canada) to reduce stigma and bias associated with Down syndrome, by developing and disseminating quality information about Down syndrome in the context of prenatal testing.

Dans les débats contemporains sur la justice, la vulnérabilité est porteuse d’un puissant contenu normatif et pratique. Elle offre des descriptions riches des expériences humaines prenant en considération des relations complexes et ambivalentes qui sont tues sous la seule norme de l’individualisme libéral. Il ne s’agit pas de rejeter l’importance d’une vie autonome, mais de repenser les cadres normatifs qui lui donnent un sens et de revoir les moyens de l’atteindre. La vulnérabilité, bien qu’elle se manifeste comme un idéal normatif (...) fort, révélateur de changements conceptuels et pratiques, n’est toutefois pas un concept univoque. Les chapitres qui composent cet ouvrage illustrent la diversité des significations et des contextes de vie auxquels renvoie la vulnérabilité. Faut-il s’en surprendre? Non, si l’on prend en compte que son usage comme idée phare de la théorie politique est encore récent, et qu’à ce titre sa signification et sa pratique sont encore l’objet de débats. (shrink)

Appuyé sur un document, cet article esquisse l’histoire d’une organisation mal connue et éphémère : « le Bureau de liaison issu de la rencontre internationale des femmes 1960 », rencontre dont l’initiative revient à la Fédération démocratique internationale des femmes. Il explicite également le rôle qu’y a joué la militante française Marguerite Thibert, animé de l’espoir de dépasser la guerre froide. Mais la neutralité et l’équilibre politiques souhaités pour parler au nom de toutes les femmes se heurtent aux tensions internationales (...) qui alimentent, d’un côté, l’anticommunisme et, de l’autre, des stratégies d’instrumentalisation des solidarités. (shrink)

These essays define three significant “periods” in Derrida’s writing: his early, seemingly revolutionary phase; a middle stage, often autobiographical, that included spirited defense of his work; and his late period, when his persona ...

WHO II low grade glioma evolves inevitably to anaplastic transformation. Magnetic resonance imaging is a good non-invasive way to watch it, by hemodynamic and metabolic modifications, thanks to multinuclear spectroscopy 1H/31P. In this work we study a multi-scale minimal model of hemodynamics and metabolism applied to the study of gliomas. This mathematical analysis leads us to a fast-slow system. The control of the position of the stationary point brings to the concept of domain of viability. Starting from this system, the (...) equations bring to light the parameters that push glioma cells out of their domain of viability. Four fundamental factors are highlighted. The first two are cerebral blood flow and the rate of lactate transport through monocarboxylate transporters, which must be reduced in order to push glioma out of its domain of viability. Another factor is the intra arterial lactate, which must be increased. The last factor is pH, indeed a decrease of intra cellular pH could interfere with glioma growth. These reflections suggest that these four parameters could lead to new therapeutic strategies for the management of low grade gliomas. (shrink)

The diversity of bone proteoglycan (PG) structure and localisation (pericellular, extracellular in the organic bone matrix) reflects a broad spectrum of biological functions within a unique tissue. PGs play important roles in organizing the bone extracellular matrix, taking part in the structuring of the tissue itself as active regulators of collagen fibrillogenesis. PGs also display selective patterns of reactivity with several constituents including cytokines and growth factors, such as transforming growth factor‐β or osteoprotegerin thereby modulating their bio‐availability and biological activity (...) in the bone tissue. In this review, the complex PG composition in bone will be addressed together with the specific role played by PGs (or their GAGs chains) in bone biology, as regulatory molecules for bone resorption and their involvement in bone tumor development. These roles have been determined after modulation of PG expression or mutations in their corresponding genes, which revealed specific roles for these compounds in bone pathologies (e.g. perlecan or glypican‐3 mutations observed respectively in chondrodysplasia or dysmorphic syndrome). Finally, the potential therapeutic interest of PGs is discussed based on recent data, more particularly on bone tumor‐associated osteolysis as these molecules are involved both in bone resorption and tumor development. BioEssays 29:758–771, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

We give a general method for producing various effective Null and Positivstellensätze, and getting new Positivstellensätze in algebraically closed valued fields and ordered groups. These various effective Nullstellensätze produce algebraic identities certifying that some geometric conditions cannot be simultaneously satisfied. We produce also constructive versions of abstract classical results of algebra based on Zorn's lemma in several cases where such constructive version did not exist. For example, the fact that a real field can be totally ordered, or the fact that (...) a field can be embedded in an algebraically closed field. Our results are based on the concepts we develop of dynamical proofs and simultaneous collapse. (shrink)

When the benefits of surgery do not outweigh the harms or where they do not clearly do so, surgical interventions become morally contested. Cutting to the Core examines a number of such surgeries, including infant male circumcision and cutting the genitals of female children, the separation of conjoined twins, surgical sex assignment of intersex children and the surgical re-assignment of transsexuals, limb and face transplantation, cosmetic surgery, and placebo surgery.

: Françoise Dastur describes her efforts to practice history of philosophy in a (paradoxically) non-historical fashion. She discusses her concept of the historical, and argues that the only true way to be of one's time is to be against one's time.

Françoise Dastur describes her efforts to practice history of philosophy in a (paradoxically) non-historical fashion. She discusses her concept of the historical, and argues that the only true way to be of one's time is to be against one's time.

Françoise Dastur describes her efforts to practice history of philosophy in a non-historical fashion. She discusses her concept of the historical, and argues that the only true way to be of one's time is to be against one's time.

Françoise Dastur describes her efforts to practice history of philosophy in a non-historical fashion. She discusses her concept of the historical, and argues that the only true way to be of one's time is to be against one's time.

Beyond simple verbal or technical strategies aimed at extending man’s physical capacities and range of action, our modern times provide unusual means of emancipating ourselves from the limitations and imperfections of the body. Science and the arts inspire each other when they discuss the new possibilities offered by chemistry, genetics, devices, cybertechnologies (A.I.), scientific achievements in the field of transsexuality, developments in digital imaging and immersive 3D virtual experiences, and speculation on the potential of so-called quantum therapies, which most scientists (...) scoff at—while other therapeutic avenues based on the use of certain frequencies are being opened up by neuroscience. Some performances are veritable medical experiments, turning the strangely metamorphosed body into an object of art, another mutant. Recent discoveries are multiplying ordinary capacities tenfold, sometimes raising the question of the unity of mind and body, undermined by the cybernetic development of the human being. The arts seek to be pioneers in addressing these issues, as does speculative science fiction, which attempts to anticipate the risks created by these innovations. (shrink)

BackgroundExtremely violent events such as terrorist attacks and mass shootings form a severe risk for the health and wellbeing of affected individuals. In this study based on a public health monitor, we focus on the health impact of the Utrecht tram shooting, which took place in the morning of March 18th 2019. A lone gunman opened fire on passengers within a moving tram. Four people died, and six people were injured in this attack. The attack resulted in nationwide commotion and (...) drew much media attention. Aim of this study was to increase insight into the health effects for the survivors, and whether they received the needed care and support.MethodsSemi-structured interviews with accompanying questionnaires were conducted at six and 18 months post-attack. Overall, 21 survivors participated in the first series of interviews, 15 in the second series. Qualitative data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, quantitative data was only described because of the low sample size.ResultsAt both six and 18 months after the attack many survivors had been able to resume daily life, and most rated their overall health as good or excellent. At the same time, a substantial portion suffered from health problems such as posttraumatic stress symptoms and other complaints, and needed professional care. Furthermore, those in need did not always find their own way to appropriate care through the existing health system: half of the survivors still needed support in finding the right care 18 months later.ConclusionAlthough the design and implementation of this public health monitor were accompanied by multiple challenges, it was possible to track a portion of the survivors and gain insight in the considerable health burden of the attack. Also, it is clear in this study that the health impact of terrorism affects survivors in the long run and requires attention from health authorities and professionals, as survivors were not able to find the right care by themselves. (shrink)