The comprehension of living organisms in all their complexity poses a major challenge to the biological sciences. Recently, systems biology has been proposed as a new candidate in the development of such a comprehension. The main objective of this paper is to address what systems biology is and how it is practised. To this end, the basic tools of a systems biological approach are explored and illustrated. In addition, it is questioned whether systems biology ‘revolutionizes’ molecular biology and ‘transcends’ its (...) assumed reductionism. The strength of this claim appears to depend on how molecular and systems biology are characterised and on how reductionism is interpreted. Doing credit to molecular biology and to methodological reductionism, it is argued that the distinction between molecular and systems biology is gradual rather than sharp. As such, the classical challenge in biology to manage, interpret and integrate biological data into functional wholes is further intensified by systems biology’s use of modelling and bioinformatics, and by its scale enlargement. (shrink)

Report of the symposium 'Towards a Philosophy of Systems Biology' held at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam (VUA), the Netherlands, from 2 to 3 June 2005.

Les préoccupations religieuses sont omniprésentes dans l’œuvre de Wittgenstein bien qu’elles ne figurent pas au premier plan de ses recherches. La première partie met au jour la diversité religieuse des vues de Wittgenstein sur la religion et souligne le rôle crucial de l’expérience mystique de la guerre dans le développement de ces vues. La seconde partie propose une interprétation du rapport « harmonique » entre le « point de vue religieux » de Wittgenstein et sa philosophie du langage et de (...) l’esprit, avec une attention particulière à la relation entre les concepts de changement d’aspect et de conversion. (shrink)

In this paper we present two compatible hypotheses to explain interest in celebrity gossip. The Learning Hypothesis explains interest in celebrity gossip as a by-product of an evolved mechanism useful for acquiring fitness-relevant survival information. The Parasocial Hypothesis sees celebrity gossip as a diversion of this mechanism, which leads individuals to misperceive celebrities as people who are part of their social network. Using two preliminary studies, we tested our predictions. In a survey with 838 respondents and in-depth interviews with 103 (...) individuals, we investigated how interest in celebrity gossip was related to several dimensions of the participants’ social lives. In support of the Learning Hypothesis, age proved to be a strong predictor of interest in celebrities. In partial support of the Parasocial Hypothesis, media exposure, but not social isolation, was a strong predictor of interest in celebrities. The preliminary results support both theories, indicate that across our life span celebrities move from being teachers to being friends, and open up a list of future research opportunities. (shrink)

Food media have become a formidable part of adolescents’ food environments. This study sought to explore how and why adolescents use food media by focusing on selectivity and motives for consumption. We conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 31 Flemish adolescents aged 12 to 16. Food media were both incidentally consumed and selectively sought for education, social utility, and entertainment. The levels of selectivity and motives for consumption varied among the different food media platforms. Incidental consumption was more prevalent with TV (...) cooking shows compared to online food media. The dominant motives for TV cooking show consumption were companionship and entertainment, while online food media were used for a more diverse range of motives dominated by information/inspiration and social interaction. Some participants consumed food media to get motivation and inspiration to improve health and fitness while others consumed food media to watch appetizing and aesthetically pleasing food content. The social environment in the form of friends and family as well as existing food preferences were dominant psychosocial factors for both traditional and online food media use. Future research is warranted to explore how incidental exposure and the identified motives for use relate to food media effects. (shrink)

Parents play an important part in adolescents’ life and significantly contribute to youngsters’ academic success. However, parents’ and students’ perceptions regarding parental involvement may diff...

1. Introduction. 2. Is Tarski’s theory of truth, as Popper claims after Tarski himself, a rehabilitation of the traditional view of truth as correspondence to facts? — Yes, but not for the reasons he gives. 3. Is Tarski’s explicit definition of truth , as Popper claims after Tarski himself, purely morphological ? — No. 4. Is Tarski’s theory, as Tarski claims it to be, « epistomologically neutral » ? — This thesis is ambiguous, and Tarski can support it just as (...) Popper can dispute it as well. 5. Is Popper right for all that when he goes as far as to claim that Tarski’s theory of truth provides an argument in favour of « metaphysical realism » — No. 6. Conclusions.Résumé1. Introduction 2. La théorie de la vérité de Tarski est-elle, comme Popper l’affirme à la suite de Tarski lui-même, une réhabilitation de la conception traditionnelle de la vérité comme correspondance aux faits ? — Oui, mais pas pour la raison qu’il donne. 3. La définition explicite de la vérité de Tarski est-elle, comme Popper l’affirme à la suite de Tarski lui-même, purement morphologique ? — Non. 4. La théorie de Tarski est-elle, comme celui-ci le prétend, « épistémologiquement neutre » ? — La thèse est équivoque, et Tarski peut aussi bien la soutenir que Popper la contester. 5. Popper a-t-il raison pour autant d’aller jusqu’à prétendre que la théorie de la vérité de Tarski fournit un argument en faveur du « réalisme métaphysique » ? — Non. 6. Conclusions. (shrink)

Is IF logic the true elementary logic, as Hintikka claims? Moreover is it truly elementary, viz. first-order, in the first place? One is tempted to answer no, because of the extraordinary power of this logic in comparison with ordinary first-order logic. However impressive this objection may be, it misses its aim. A direct refutation is needed, grounded on an analysis of the notion of order.RésuméLa logique IF est-elle la véritable logique élémentaire, comme le prétend Hintikka? Mais, d’abord, est-elle véritablement élémentaire, (...) c’est-à-dire du premier ordre? Il est tentant de répondre non, en arguant du pouvoir extraordinaire de cette logique par rapport à la logique du premier ordre ordinaire. Mais, pour impressionnante que puisse être l’objection, elle n’atteint pas son but. Il faut une réfutation directe, fondée sur l’analyse de la notion d’ordre. (shrink)

A vast stream of empirical work has revealed that coach and athlete leadership are important determinants of sport teams’ functioning and performance. Although coaches have a direct impact on individual and team outcomes, they should also strive to stimulate athletes to take up leadership roles in a qualitative manner. Yet, the relation between coach leadership behavior and the extent of high-quality athlete leadership within teams remains underexposed. Based on organizational justice theory and the social identity approach, the present research tested (...) whether perceived justice of the coach positively predicts the quality of athlete leadership. Furthermore, we examined the role of group dynamic processes within this relation. Belgian volleyball and basketball players were asked to rate the justice of their coach, their team identification, the task cohesion, and the athlete leadership quality in the team. Structural equation modeling indicated that coaches’ perceived justice positively predicted the quality of athletes’ leadership, and that this relation was established through three intermediate steps. These results suggest that fair coach behavior does not only bridge the gap between leadership and followership, it also has the potential to improve the quality of athletes’ leadership within sport teams. More specifically, findings suggest that coaches’ perceived justice cultivates a shared social identity characterized by high levels of players’ identification with their team, which in turn increased their perceptions of the team’s task cohesion. Finally, this increased task cohesion encouraged the athlete leaders to demonstrate high-quality leadership. (shrink)

What determines if the first interaction between strangers will be a pleasant experience? We conducted an experiment to investigate the extent to which the perceived quality of an interaction is influenced by conversation content and context, and we document the physiological changes that are likely to play a role in establishing rapport. Females who did not know each other met in pairs and conducted a gossip- or creativity task, either face-to-face or online. The conversation content had no effect on the (...) quality of online interactions. However in the face-to-face condition gossip was associated with better interaction quality. Tonic electrodermal activity steadily declined throughout the interaction, while phasic electrodermal activity first peaked and then returned to baseline. Neither were related to perceived interaction quality. Heart rate variability dropped at first but then remained stable. A smaller drop in HRV drop corresponded to higher ratings of rapport and liking. Together these results suggest that gossip can improve the quality of a face-to-face interaction between strangers, and support the conjecture that parasympathetic activity is a marker of human openness to social engagement. (shrink)

Business Ethics: A European Review, EarlyView.

Il y a un dilemme de la philosophie scientifique, limitée ici pour simplifier à la philosophie scientifique des sciences, assez évident dans lequel Carnap se trouve pris, mais auquel ni lui ni, sauf erreur de ma part, ses successeurs et commentateurs n’ont cru devoir s’arrêter : Ou bien la philosophie en question est scientifique au même sens que les autres sciences, c’est-à-dire ici qu’elle est elle-même l’une des sciences qu’elle a pour objets. On se demande alors à quoi pourrait ressembler (...) plus précisément une telle philosophie scientifique, à supposer qu’elle fût possible. Ou bien la philosophie en question n’est pas scientifique au sens des autres sciences, c’est-à-dire ici qu’elle est la seule qui puisse les prendre toutes pour objets, mais la seule aussi qu’elle ne puisse prendre pour objet. La prétendue philosophie scientifique des sciences n’est alors pas la philosophie de toutes les sciences, c’est seulement une philo­sophie des sciences non philosophiques. Ce dilemme vaut pour la philosophie scientifique en général et pour celle de Carnap en particulier, pour laquelle il prend une forme assez tranchante pour qu’on puisse en discuter sérieusement, surtout si l’on s’en tient à la philosophie scientifique des sciences identifiée par Carnap, à l’époque de la Syntax, à l’étude syntaxique, ou syntaxe, du Langage de la science. La réponse négative, savante et incontestée qu’il conviendrait alors d’apporter à la question cruciale de la première branche est connue : non, une syntaxe adéquate du Langage de la science dans ce Langage même est impossible, à moins que celui-ci ne soit inconsistant. Dans le présent article, on propose une formulation et une esquisse de démonstration inhabituelles de cette impossibilité, ne mobilisant aucun codage, gödélien ou autre, de la syntaxe élémentaire du Langage de la science dans ce Langage même ; et l’on remet en cause le critère d’adéquation impliqué dans la démonstration de l’impossibilité en question, rouvrant ainsi la possibilité de sortir par le haut d’un dilemme dont Carnap s’est cru obligé, ou du moins s’est conduit comme s’il était obligé, de sortir par le bas. (shrink)

Is second-order quantification legitimate? For Quine, it was pure non-sense, unless construed as first-order quantification in disguise, ranging over sets. Boolos rightly maintained that it could be interpreted in terms of plural quantification, but claimed that it then ranged over the same individuals as singular, first-order quantification. I protest that plural quantification ranges over what I call multiplicities. But what is a 'multiplicity'? And does this idea itself not fall prey to something like Frege's paradox?

“No one can serve two masters.” This Bible quotation highlights an irreducible contradiction, which echoes numerous organizational settings. This article considers the under-explored ethical implications of paradoxical injunctions created by such a contradiction at the managerial level. Contradictory organizational constraints turn into paradoxant systems , where the organization structurally settles paradoxical injunctions which challenge managerial ethics in practice. We then ask what managerial responsibility means in such contexts and find that managers have then to reshape their practice as a situated (...) construction through constant mediation between different “masters” and bricolage (i.e., tinkering with concepts). An ethnographic case study of an anti-money laundering service in an investment bank illuminates this phenomenon from a practice perspective. The possibility to enact an actual ethical practice within the contradictory organization relies on a new role of the manager. This implies drawing on an approach of responsible management as an enactment of ethics in practice which is situated within the framework of a new conception of both the organization, as a structurally “paradoxant system,” and the manager as a mediator in charge of enacting coherence. (shrink)

Abstract: Economists are accustomed to distinguishing between a positive and a normative component of their work, a distinction that is peculiar to their field, having no exact counterpart in the other social sciences. The distinction has substantially changed over time, and the different ways of understanding it today are reflective of its history. Our objective is to trace the origins and initial forms of the distinction, from the English classical political economy of the first half of the 19th century to (...) the emergence of welfare economics in the first half of the 20th century. This sequential account will also serve to identify the main representative positions along with the arguments used to support them, and it thus prepares the ground for a discussion that will be less historical and more strictly conceptual. -/- Résumé : Les économistes ont coutume de distinguer entre une composante positive et une composante normative de leurs travaux, ce qui est une singularité de leur discipline, car cette distinction n'a pas de répondant exact dans les autres sciences sociales. Elle a fortement évolué au cours du temps et les différentes manières de la concevoir aujourd'hui en reflètent l'histoire. On se propose ici d'en retracer les origines et les premières formes, de l'économie politique classique anglaise de la première moitié du XIXe siècle jusqu'à l'apparition de l'économie du bien-être dans la première moitié du XXe siècle. Ce parcours séquentiel vise aussi à identifier les positions les plus représentatives et les arguments invoqués pour les soutenir, en préparant ainsi une discussion qui serait moins historique et plus strictement conceptuelle. (shrink)

We consider a situation where an individual is facing an uncertain situation, but may costly alter his knowledge of the uncertainties. We study in this context how risk aversion may modify the individual search behavior. We consider a one-armed bandit problem (where one arm is safe and the other is risky) and study how the agent risk aversion can change the sequence of arms selected. The main result is that when the utility function is more concave, the agent has more (...) chances to select the safe arm. We also discuss how search is affected by risk aversion. (shrink)

Philippe de Mézières est un de ces auteurs du XIVe siècle que l’on estime et étudie volontiers. C’est qu’il est témoin oculaire et participant de bien des hauts moments de l’histoire. Né vers 1327 dans la famille de Mézières, de petite noblesse picarde , il reçoit une formation spirituelle chez les chanoines de la cathédrale d’Amiens. En 1345 il quitte son pays natal et l’année suivante gagne ses éperons de chevalier après la croisade de Humbert II de Dauphiné en (...) Smyrne. Par la suite, il joue plusieurs rôles saillants: nommé en 1361 chancelier de Chypre sous les Lusignan ; ami de Pétrarque; familier de Grégoire XI à Avignon; apologiste des croisades; ami et conseiller de Charles V de France et précepteur du dauphin, le futur Charles VI; écrivain laïque parmi les Célestins de Paris entre 1380 et 1405. Presque octogénaire, Mézières y meurt le 29 mai 1405, et est accordé la distinction d’être enveloppé du manteau de l’ordre à son enterrement. C’est à cette période de retraite que remontent ses écrits importants, tous de caractère religieux et rédigés en latin ou en français. (shrink)