In this paper, I suggest that, if we are committed to accepting a threshold approach to personhood, according to which all beings above the threshold are persons with equal moral status, there are strong reasons to also recognise a second threshold that would be reached through human pregnancy, and that would confer on pregnant women a temporary superior moral status. This proposal is not based on the moral status of the fetus, but on the moral status of the pregnant woman. (...) It is not only the fetus which is an organism sui generis: the pregnant woman, also, is a unique being. Following almost any view on the moral status of the fetus, the pregnant woman should be regarded, herself, as more than a singular individual. She is, herself, ‘more than one’. Pregnant women are also necessary for the continued survival of the human species, and there are important justice-based reasons to recognise the higher status. Furthermore, the recognition of a superior moral status for pregnant women does not imply that pregnancy should always be viewed as desirable, or imply any position on the permissibility of abortion. My proposal is not as radical as it might seem, as it does not require that pregnant women should always receive superior treatment, but only that they should to some extent. It could have a range of potential positive practical consequences. Finally, my approach does not threaten, but rather promotes, human equality. (shrink)

The most comprehensive compilation of the works of Abelard and Heloise ever presented in a single volume in English, _The Letters and Other Writings_ features an accurate and stylistically faithful new translation of both _The Calamities of Peter Abelard_ and the remarkable letters it sparked between the ill-fated twelfth-century philosopher and his brilliant former student and lover—an exchange whose intellectual passion, formal virtuosity, and psychological drama distinguish it as one of the most extraordinary correspondences in European history. Thanks to this (...) edition, Latin-less readers will be better placed than ever to see why this undisputed milestone in the intellectual life of medieval France is also a masterpiece of Western literature. In addition to the _The Calamities_ and the letters--the first complete English translation of all seven in more than eighty years--this volume includes an Introduction, a map, and a chronology, Abelard's _Confession of Faith_, letters between Heloise and Peter the Venerable, the Introduction to _The Questions of Heloise_, and selected songs and poems by Abelard, among them a previously untranslated shaped poem, Open Wide Your Eyes. Extracts of lost letters sometimes ascribed to Abelard and Heloise are given in appendixes. (shrink)

Cet article analyse la crise de la régence du dernier Habsbourg qui prend la forme d’un « conflit en légitimation ». L’auteur noue une histoire des normes et des imaginaires politiques avec une histoire des rapports de force pour montrer les limites des explications en termes d’adhésion à un discours ou un homme, qui négligent la dimension interactionniste des pratiques de légitimation. La question de l’incarnation du corps sociopolitique par le roi reste ainsi nodale dans cette crise qu’on ne saurait (...) réduire à une physique des affrontements. (shrink)

Théodule Ribot est l’un des premiers à penser les rapports entre mémoire et émotions. Au sein de ce qu’il appelle la « mémoire affective », il décèle une mémoire spécifique des émotions. Il s’ensuit un débat sur l’existence, la définition et le contenu de cette mémoire. Après les propositions initiales de Ribot, on observe l’émergence progressive d’un consensus : même s’il est possible de distinguer la mémoire affective de la mémoire intellectuelle, tout souvenir présente à des degrés variables des éléments (...) intellectuels et des éléments affectifs. Si, dans le cadre académique, ces débats sont tombés dans l’oubli, on peut établir une continuité conceptuelle avec la recherche scientifique actuelle, qui gagnerait à relire cette littérature centenaire. (shrink)

Can platforms close the governance gap in the sharing economy, and if so, how? Through an in-depth qualitative case study, we analyze the process by which new regulation and self-regulation emerge in one sector of the sharing economy, crowdfunding, through the actions of a meta-organization. We focus on the principal French sectoral meta-organization, Financement Participatif France. We show that this multi-stakeholder meta-organization not only closed the governance gap through collective legal, ethical, and utilitarian work but also preceded and shaped the (...) new market. We present a hybrid governance approach combining soft multi-agency regulation, self-regulation through a process of “partial meta-organizing”, and direct civil society participation. We expand the literature by highlighting features of platforms’ partial meta-organizing and by identifying conditions for successful joint regulation and self-regulation of the sector. (shrink)

In french and english speaking countries, the articulation between epistemological beliefs, conceptions of teaching and learning and pedagogical practices of secondary school teachers in the natural sciences and humanities has been little studied (Araújo-Oliveira, 2012 ; Bartos et Lederman, 2014 ; Wanlin et al., 2019). Yet, while teachers display predominantly constructivist beliefs about teaching and learning, their teaching practices remain rather passive (OECD, 2019). Like in Therriault et al. (2018-2023), this article explores the characteristics of epistemological beliefs, conceptions of teaching (...) and learning, and teaching practices among a population of 112 secondary school teachers (beginners, intermediate and experienced) in the humanities and natural sciences in French-speaking Belgium. In a second step, we explore the articulations between these three theoretical constructs either from statistical analyses or from a more interpretative perspective. Quantitative analysis of the data (PCA, factorial ANOVA, correlations and Chi-square) show that teachers’ epistemological beliefs are rather refined, that there is an effect of professional seniority on these beliefs and that there is a link between refined epistemological beliefs and traditional conceptions of teaching and learning. Finally, teachers’ self-reported practices appear to be insensitive to the discipline being taught. (shrink)

This article will review reasons why it is argued that the law on abortion on the grounds of disability is discriminatory, as well as recent unsuccessful attempts to address this discrimination in the law. These attempts include ones which would have moderately restricted access to abortion in certain limited cases, and another that might have opened to door to a number of different possibilities, including both to options that could have restricted access to abortion, and to other options that might (...) have increased access. Finally, this article will also examine reasons why some of the most important challenges surrounding disability equality cannot be sufficiently addressed through legal change alone. While there are strong reasons to support some form of change in the law, a more foundational change in values is necessary if we want to live in a more ethical society that is truly capable of welcoming disabled children. (shrink)

The articulation between epistemological beliefs, conceptions of teaching and learning, and teaching practices of secondary school science and humanities teachers has been little studied, particularly in the francophone world (Araújo-Oliveira, 2012, 2019 ; Bartos & Lederman, 2 014 ; Wanlin et al., 2019). Yet, while teachers display predominantly constructivist beliefs about teaching and learning, their actual teaching practices remain rather passive (TALIS international survey - OECD, 2019). After characterizing these three theoretical constructs in a sample of 215 Quebec secondary school (...) teachers (beginners, intermediate and experienced) in the humanities and social sciences and natural sciences, the article explores their articulations either through statistical analysis or by putting them into perspective in an interpretative phase of the research. The results are based on the quantitative analysis of teachers’ responses to a three-part closed online questionnaire. Statistical analyses (PCA, factorial ANOVA, correlations and Chi-square tests) show that teachers’ epistemological beliefs are rather refined, that there is an effect of seniority in the profession and an effect of the discipline taught on these beliefs, as well as a link between refined epistemological beliefs and traditional conceptions of teaching and learning. Finally, teachers’ self-reported practices appear to be insensitive to the discipline being taught. (shrink)

This article will review reasons why it is argued that the law on abortion on the grounds of disability is discriminatory, as well as recent unsuccessful attempts to address this discrimination in the law. These attempts include ones which would have moderately restricted access to abortion in certain limited cases, and another that might have opened to door to a number of different possibilities, including both to options that could have restricted access to abortion, and to other options that might (...) have increased access. Finally, this article will also examine reasons why some of the most important challenges surrounding disability equality cannot be sufficiently addressed through legal change alone. While there are strong reasons to support some form of change in the law, a more foundational change in values is necessary if we want to live in a more ethical society that is truly capable of welcoming disabled children. (shrink)

Maintes études ont été consacrées à René Descartes mais, curieusement, son existence vagabonde est très peu connue. La seule biographie qui fasse autorité reste celle du Père Baillet. Cette réédition abrégée s'imposait. On y découvre un gentilhomme qui ne craint pas de tirer l'épée, aime le voyage et les filles, s'ingénie à feinter la censure des jésuites - en se repliant en Hollande, dans ses fameux poêles, d'où il entretient une correspondance avec tous les lettrés et les savants de (...) son temps. L'épilogue est des plus romanesques : Stockholm, la cour de l'étrange Christine de Suède qui se piquait de philosophie, le froid, la mort en solitaire, l'immense gloire posthume. (shrink)

Objet d'une captation indue par une certaine extrême gauche, l'écologie a été très souvent délaissée par la droite radicale européenne, dont la phobie envers l'écologauchisme l'a poussée à oublier une part pourtant essentielle de son propre héritage. Réunissant deux essais qui abordent la même problématique sous des angles différents, cet ouvrage est donc aussi une redécouverte d'un continent englouti. Dans le sillage de l'oeuvre de Julius Evola, Giovanni Monastra rappelle le caractère empathique et holistique de l'approche traditionnelle de la nature, (...) par opposition à l'approche moderne, exclusivement tournée vers l'utile et l'exploitable, et qui finit par considérer l'homme lui-même comme un cobaye. Il réaffirme, conformément à la parole d'Héraclite ("Il faut éteindre la démesure"), que la mentalité prométhéenne ou faustienne est foncièrement incompatible avec le païen "sens de la Terre" cher à Nietzsche. En tant qu'elle respecte certaines "limites", la véritable écologie relève fondamentalement de l'esprit de conservation et d'une forme de conservatisme, ainsi que s'attache à le démontrer Philippe Baillet dans une étude qui fait une très large place aux sources allemandes de l'écologie, du romantisme au biocentrisme de Ludwig Klages et de certains nationaux-socialistes, en passant par le mouvement völkisch et ses prolongements jusqu'à nos jours. Parce qu'il lie de manière indissociable défense de l'environnement, défense des espèces animales et défense du pays natal (Heimat), l'écologisme conservateur allemand s'est voulu, dès l'origine, identitaire. Il s'est agi ici de poser les premiers jalons théoriques, dans l'espace francophone, de la redéfinition d'une écologie profonde nourrie par l'immémoriale piété indo-européenne pour le cosmos. (shrink)

Despite growing awareness around human impacts on marine ecosystems, little action is taken to reduce the negative effects of organizations on the ocean, thus increasing risks of global collapse. In this paper, I argue that organizations act as systems of ocean destruction, and I explore how to operate a shift to organizations as systems of ocean conservation and thriving, enabling human–ocean socio‐ecological coviability. To do so, I analyze the organizational affordances of the ocean: incommensurability, open access and complex property regimes, (...) structural domination by humans and land, perceived inexhaustibility, and cognitive distance. Then, based on the transdisciplinary analysis of mechanisms of ocean destruction, I discuss the constitution of ocean negative commons and the ruining of the ocean. Lastly, based on four drivers (technology and innovation, consumption, marginalization and social orders), I suggest alternative organizing principles that might allow to manage these commons and to transform organizations to achieve socio‐ecological coviability with the ocean: degrowth, total responsibility, full cost allocation, ocean equity, and adaptive, place‐based co‐management. (shrink)

In my feature article, ‘Pregnancy and superior moral status: a proposal for two thresholds of personhood’,1 I argue that there are reasons to recognise that pregnant women have a superior moral status. This is a new argument on personhood in philosophy, and I am not surprised that it has generated some discussion. While I am grateful that many authors have engaged with my ideas, I have not identified from the six commentaries any aspect in my approach that would need to (...) be revised. I will do my best here, in the space available, to address the main points raised. Gibson starts off by correctly noting that my proposal rests on a starting assumption (which I do not defend) that we follow a first threshold of personhood, but then seems to leave this aside in the rest of his critique.2 He says I have not justified why humanity’s survival is important, and that I have assumed that the existence of human persons matters. My response is that yes, I have, and that the first threshold already recognises the high moral value of human persons. If alternatively babies are harms themselves, or are harmed from being born, then perhaps we will see pregnant women as pest-making or victim-making entities. I …. (shrink)

This special issue of The New Bioethics follows on from a conference that took place at St Stephen's House, University of Oxford, in March 2022, on ‘Prenatal Testing, Disability, and the Ethical So...

There has been a significant growth in the literature on nudging and behavioural economics, since Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein published their well-known book Nudge: Improving Decisions about H...

Dating back to the late 1990s, the growing popularity of psychedelics is not a recent trend. Psychiatrists, psychologists, and neuroscientists are paying increasing attention to these hallucinogeni...

In the nearshore waters of Alaska's remote and pristine Aleutian Islands is an astoundingly diverse and beautiful undersea world that is captured here for the first time, through color photographs taken by research divers. The photographs in this book convey the awe-inspiring experience of the divers as they encountered the spectacular beauty of the underwater Aleutians ecosystems. Together with an accompanying text that provides natural history information and an overview of the geography, geology, and oceanography of the 1,200-mile archipelago, the (...) images are a powerful vehicle for science education, making apparent the need to preserve the region's natural splendor. (shrink)

L’article propose une interprétation pragmatiste des fragments de Protagoras autour de la question de la vérité. Dans un premier temps, on examinera comment la théorie de l’homme mesure, la théorie des deux discours et l’agnostisme nous renseignent sur la conception de la vérité de Protagoras. Par la suite, on constatera le rapprochement de cette conception de la vérité au pragmatisme contemporain, sur les plans du langage, de la vie sociale, du recours à l’expérience et du constructivisme. Cette interprétation permet de (...) saisir l’intérêt philosophique de l’activité rhétorique, et de mieux comprendre la profondeur du problème que les sophistes ont posé à Platon sur la question de la vérité. (shrink)

Successful surgical treatment of patients with focal drug-resistant epilepsy remains challenging, especially in cases for which it is difficult to define the area of cortex from which seizures originate, the seizure onset zone. Various diagnostic methods are needed to select surgical candidates and determine the extent of resection. Interictal magnetoencephalography with source imaging has proven to be useful for presurgical evaluation, but the use of ictal MEG data remains limited. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether pre-ictal (...) variations of spectral properties of neural activity from ictal MEG recordings are predictive of SOZ location.We performed a 4 h overnight MEG recording in an 8-year-old child with drug-resistant focal epilepsy of suspected right fronto-temporal origin and captured one ~45-s seizure. The patient underwent a right temporal resection from the anterior temporal neocortex and amygdala to the mid-posterior temporal neocortex, sparing the hippocampus proper. She remains seizure-free 21 months postoperatively. The histopathological assessment confirmed frank focal cortical dysplasia type IIa in the MEG-defined SOZ, which was based on source imaging of averaged ictal spikes at seizure onset. We investigated temporal changes together with spatial differences in spectral parameters of background brain activity, namely the aperiodic broadband offset and slope, and assessed how they confounded the interpretation of apparent variations of signal power in typical electrophysiological bands. Our data show that the SOZ was associated with a higher aperiodic offset and exponent during the seizure compared to control regions. Both parameters increased in all regions from 2 min before the seizure onwards. Regions anatomically closer to the SOZ also expressed higher values compared to contralateral regions, potentially indicating ictal spread. We also show that narrow-band power changes were caused by these fluctuations in the aperiodic component of ongoing brain activity. Our results indicate that the broadband aperiodic component of ongoing brain activity cannot be reduced to background noise of no physiological interest, and rather may be indicative of the neuropathophysiology of the SOZ. We believe these findings will inspire future studies of ictal MEG cases and confirm their significance. (shrink)

"Brilliant and innovative, Jacques Lacan's work lies at the epicenter of modern thought about otherness, subjectivity, sexual difference, the drives, the law, and enjoyment. This new translation of his complete works offers welcome, readable access to Lacan's seminal thinking on diverse subjects touched upon over the course of his inimitable intellectual career." This English edition is translated by Bruce Fink, in collaboration with Héloïse Fink and Russell Grigg.

Autour de 1100, pour les jeunes femmes de l’aristocratie éduquées dans des monastères, l’écriture de lettres d’amour fictives à leur maître de rhétorique constituait un apprentissage aussi bien littéraire qu’émotionnel. Comme le rappelle Barbara Newman, les Epistolae duorum amantium, correspondance échangée par Héloïse et Pierre Abélard durant leur liaison, doivent se comprendre dans cette lumière. Leur singularité tient largement au fait qu’Héloïse a choisi de donner corps à une figure poétique, en s’identifiant aux héroïnes tragiques d’Ovide.

Quelle est donc la lecon des faits? Qu'Abelard fut le premier homme moderne? Qu'Heloise fut la premiere femme moderne? Nous nous contenterions de bien moins: qu'au moment d'enfermer le Moyen Age ou la Renaissance dans une de ces definitions brillantes qui leur sont cheres, les historiens de la litterature se souviennent de cette folle petite Francaise, hantee par l'ideal de la grandeur romaine comme par celle de la grandeur chretienne, qui ne sut jamais au juste si elle etait l'Eustochium d'un (...) nouveau Saint Jerome ou la Cornelie d'un nouveau Pompee, et qui, prenant le voile a Argenteuil pour l'amour d'un homme, se consacra pour toujours a Dieu en recitant des vers de la Pharsale. Car enfin, ce drame passionnel est bien une histoire du XIIe siecle. On peut le lire comme une histoire chretienne et c'en est veritablement une. (shrink)

The philosophical output of Héloïse d’Argenteuil. This article attempts to deconstruct the overhyped erotic relationship between the philosopher-monk Peter Abelard and philosopher-nun Héloïse d’Argenteuil, by surveying Héloïse’s extant texts as such, isolating three themes in her philosophical output: her concept of Cicerian love, her criticism of marriage and her notion of moral and material responsibility, which includes her understanding of an ethics of attitude and intention. When Héloïse is read against the grain of the standardised Abelard-reception, (...) she is brought into perspective as an independent thinker, who deserves more intellectual respect than to be caricaturised as either Abelard’s secret young lover, or his unwilling wife. When her texts are read as independent outputs, albeit often in the form of correspondence, she steps forward as the ‘first female philosopher of the Middle Ages’. Her relationship with Abelard, important as it was for both of them, is secondary to her standing as a philosopher proper. (shrink)

Heloise and Discussion about Love. This chapter examines the significance of the early love affair of Abelard and Heloise. It argues that this relationship was not simply a matter of fornication portrayed by Abelard in the Historia calamitatum. Drawing on the Epistolae duorum amantium, which I argue is a record of an early exchange between Abelard and Heloise, I explain that Heloise wanted to apply Ciceronian ideals of friendship to love between a man and a woman. At her request, Abelard (...) did endeavor to define friendship in terms based on Cicero, but he never developed her interest in true friendship as not seeking any personal reward. His love letters are more strongly influenced by a passionate ideal of love, inspired by the poetry of Ovid. (shrink)

Heloise and the Paraclete. This chapter considers Abelard’s decision to entrust his foundation of the Paraclete to Heloise and his writing of the Historia calamitatum in 1132–33, as well as Heloise’s reaction to this autobiographical narrative. It examines the impact of Heloise’s arguments about their past relationship and about the religious life for women on Abelard’s writings for the Paraclete. It also considers Abelard’s poetic laments in the light of Heloise’s interest in the human side of the Bible.

Quelle est donc la lecon des faits? Qu'Abelard fut le premier homme moderne? Qu'Heloise fut la premiere femme moderne? Nous nous contenterions de bien moins: qu'au moment d'enfermer le Moyen Age ou la Renaissance dans une de ces definitions brillantes qui leur sont cheres, les historiens de la litterature se souviennent de cette folle petite Francaise, hantee par l'ideal de la grandeur romaine comme par celle de la grandeur chretienne, qui ne sut jamais au juste si elle etait l'Eustochium d'un (...) nouveau Saint Jerome ou la Cornelie d'un nouveau Pompee, et qui, prenant le voile a Argenteuil pour l'amour d'un homme, se consacra pour toujours a Dieu en recitant des vers de la Pharsale. Car enfin, ce drame passionnel est bien une histoire du XIIe siecle. On peut le lire comme une histoire chretienne et c'en est veritablement une. (shrink)

Recounts the most famous love story of the Middle Ages.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain (...) in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

For Abelard, the notion of “intention” (intentio, attentio) plays a central and important role in his cognitive and ethical theories. Is there any philosophical connection between its uses in these contexts? In recent publications, Constant Mews has argued that the cognitive and ethical senses of “intention” are related (namely, the cognitive sense evolves into the ethical sense), and that Abelard is repeatedly led to focus on intentions throughout his career due to the influence of Heloise. Here I evaluate Mews’s arguments (...) by examining and comparing the cognitive and ethical senses of the term. Although the basis for Mews’s claim seems to be false, I argue that there is nonetheless an important philosophical relationship between cognitive and ethical intentiones in Abelard’s thought, there cognition of which leads to a new and more precise understanding of his ethical theory of intention. (shrink)

These essays provide original reflections and new evidence for the lives and work of an outstanding medieval couple, Peter Abelard and Heloise. The main themes of David Luscombe's studies are the careers and the thought of Peter Abelard, his philosophy, theology and monastic teaching, his relationship in marriage and in religious life with Heloise and their correspondence. The essays, now brought together in a single volume, show how much is still to be learned from the presentation of new evidence and (...) the opening of new enquiries about the lives and calamities of Peter Abelard and Heloise. (shrink)