The challenges posed by chronic illness have pointed out to epidemiologists the multifactorial complex nature of disease causality. This notion has been referred to as a web of causality. This web extends theoretically beyond risk markers. It includes determinants of emergence/non-emergence of disease. This web of determinants is a form of complex system. Due to its complexity, the determinants within such system are not linked to each others in a linear, predictable manner only. Predictability is possible only on a short-term (...) basis, and unpredictability sets in over the long run. Understanding such a system of determinants calls for articulation and testing of complex models which synthesize our knowledge of multiple determinants at many scales, both biological and otherwise. Given the complexity of this web and existing knowledge about the nonlinearity of such systems, the following question is posed: Can the challenge of studying causality be adequately addressed if emphasis continues to be placed on using tools and methods that are geared towards looking at such system from a linear paradigm? Or is it time to add to the epidemiologic research agenda the notion of nonlinearity and its relevant form of analytical approaches that are being tested in other disciplines? Furthermore, the question posed here applies as well to the study of determinants of health. Addressing determinants of heath adds further complexity to our task. (shrink)
Many studies on the astrolabe were written during the period from the ninth to the eleventh century, but very few of them related to projection, i.e., to the geometrical transformation underlying the design of the instrument. Among those that did, the treatise entitled The Art of the Astrolabe, written in the tenth century by Abu Sahl al-Quhi, represents a particulary important phase in the history of geometry. This work recently appeared in a critical edition with translation and commentary by Roshdi (...) Rashed. It contains the earliest known theory of the projection of the sphere, a theory developed in a commentary written by a contemporary mathematician, Ibn Sahl. Following R. Rashed, the present article offers here a thorough mathematical analysis of al-Quhi's treatise and of the commentary by Ibn Sahl. It also presents, with commentary, an account of a contemporary treatise on the projection of the sphere, written by al-[Sdotu]agani. The latter work is concerned with the conical projection of a sphere on a plane, from a point on an axis of the sphere, other than its pole. The author consciously avoids the case of stereographic projection, but he studies all the other cases of conical projection which, if we employ the terms of al-Quhi's theory, are compatible with the movement of the instrument (i.e. the rotation of the sphere around its axis). These three texts provide clear evidence of the emergence, during the second half of the tenth century, of a new field of study, that of projective geometry. (shrink)
Institutions in France are not yet well prepared to respond to allegations of scientific misconduct. Following a serious allegation in late 1997. INSERM,* the primary organization for medical and health-related research in France, began to reflect on this subject, aided by scientists and jurists. The conclusions have resulted in establishing a procedure to be followed in cases of alleged misconduct, and also in reinforcing the application of good laboratory practices within each laboratory. Guidelines for authorship practices and scientific assessment must (...) also be considered. Even though each institution must remain responsible for responding to allegations of scientific misconduct within its doors, INSERM would like to see national, European, and international co-ordination about the methods of such response. (shrink)
Avec un titre comme Luther et la philosophie, depuis le xviiie siècle et dans les milieux « libéraux » du xixe siècle, on aurait pu s’attendre à un exposé, bien sûr complet, de la philosophie du Réformateur. On trouve l’expression, par exemple, dans les tables analytiques de L’Encyclopédie, à l’entrée « luthéranisme ». Bien que Philippe Büttgen se soit donné comme objet, pour d’autres travaux, « la confessionnalisation de la philosophie ..
The Catholic Monarchy is the short-lived dynastic union (1580-1640) between the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal. By returning on the legal, political and pragmatic foundations of this empire which cannot be called Empire (because this name belongs to the Holy Roman Empire of the cousins of Vienna), the article tries to seize better the internal functioning of this heterogeneous political set, by adopting two points of view: that of America (how the notion of Catholic Monarchy is understood in the reynos, (...) far from Madrid and Lisbon) and that of Rome (how Holy See reaches - or not - to exist in the heart of this space). It emerges from it that the pope and the Catholic King are natural allies (around the Roman Christianity) but not objectives (their purposes do not match), and that Rome and Mexico as well picture themselves not as margins of the Catholic Monarchy, but as real centers. (shrink)
Functions: selection and mechanisms is a collection of eleven original contributions to the philosophical debates surrounding functions. In the words of Philippe Huneman, editor of the volume, the aim of the book is to reflect “upon the metaphysics of function and the various problems that functional explanations raise” . This is accomplished by a diverse collection of chapters that focus on various aspects of the main topic. A collection such as this is certainly welcome. As Huneman notes in his (...) introduction, where he helpfully summarises the various contributions and introduces the reader to the philosophical debates about functions, there are several advances in recent philosophy of science that necessitate a re-evaluation of the positions regarding functions. Central among them are the rich literature on mechanisms, as well as recent developments within biology and philosophy of biology. The chapters are organised i .. (shrink)
Philippe Hamou claims that Locke played a decisive but underappreciated role in inventing the current notion of mind, and in setting the agenda for contemporary philosophy of mind. These provocative theses, even when qualified as Hamou does, strike me as strained. It is hard, for example, to imagine the convoluted route by which one might identify Locke's secondary qualities with contemporary qualia, as Hamou does ; surely, there must be qualia associated with primary qualities too.However, for most of his (...) book, Hamou is concerned to advance his own intriguing interpretation of Locke himself, rather than engaging with contemporary philosophy of mind. The first and larger half of the book deals with Locke's... (shrink)
Heidegger, Philosophy, and Politics: The Heidelberg Conference Autor: Jacques Derrida, Hans-Georg Gadamer, and Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, Edited by Mireille Calle-Gruber, Translated by Jeff Fort, Foreword by Jean-Luc Nancy, Editorial: Fordham University Press, Fecha de Publicación: 2016, Formato: Hardback $85.00, Páginas: 116, Reviewed by: Facundo Bey (Universidad Nacional de General San Martín / CONICET-Universidad de Buenos Aires).
The present article is published in Proche-Orient Chrétien, N.66, VOL.3-4, JAN. 2017, USJ: Beirut, pp. 425-430. It is a philosophical review of Philippe Capelle-Dumont and Yannick Courtel book “Religion et Liberté” that fetches the records of the First International Symposium of the Francophone Society of Philosophy of Religion about the two concepts Religion and Freedom. On one hand, religion has always been considered as a pole of practices and references contrary to freedom declining a dependence on a "binding doctrine"; (...) on the other hand, religion has undergone several political representations in the many spaces of cultural, social and international life which is urgent to re-examine. The article proposes a synthesis of the conferences of Philippe Capelle-Dumont, Jean-Luc Marion, Jean Greisch, Joseph O’Leary, François Chenet, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Francis Jacques, Pierluigi Valenza, Danielle Cohen-Levinas, Yannick Courtel and Jean Grondin who concludes with the “freedom to philosophize about religion”. (shrink)
Building on what he believed was a new ‘medico-philosophical’ method, Philippe Pinel made a bold theoretical attempt to find a place for the passions and other affective posits in psychopathology. However, his courageous attempt to steer affectivity onto the high seas of medical science ran aground on two great reefs that still threaten the scientific status of affectivity today. Epistemologically, there is the elusive nature of the signs and symptoms of affectivity. Ethically, there is the stubborn manner in which (...) fact and value are intermingled in affectivity. Both obstacles posed insuperable difficulties for Pinel, who never really managed to extricate his affective psychopathology from the confines of the Lockean intellectual paradigm. -/- . (shrink)
In Cinema II Deleuze proposes, via early film theorists, that cinema can realise the potential inherent in art to act directly on the nervous system. Cinema had the ‘sublime’ capacity to shock thought into activity, and awaken the ‘spiritual automaton’ in us through vibrations and affects, rather than representations. Deleuze finds a variant of this argument in the writings of Artaud on cinema, in which film forces the realisation of an impotence at the heart of thought. Deleuze then proposes that (...) the only response to this impotence is belief in the connection between man and the world, as expressed and realised in a corporeal cinema of gestures, the prime example of which, in his view, is the work of Philippe Garrel. I will address Garrel's film Le Révélateur in relation to these propositions, focussing also on how the film works primarily at the level of sensory and gestural dynamics, rather than narrative or representation. (shrink)
Jean-Philippe Deranty, Beyond Communication: A Critical Study of Axel Honneth's Social Philosophy Content Type Journal Article Category Book Review Pages 497-500 Authors Jørgen Pedersen, The Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities, Bergen, Norway Journal Critical Horizons: A Journal of Philosophy & Social Theory Online ISSN 1568-5160 Print ISSN 1440-9917 Journal Volume Volume 11 Journal Issue Volume 11, Number 3 / 2010.
Book reviews ROY-LYSENCOURT, Philippe. Les membres du Coetus Internationalis Patrum au Concilie Vatican II. Inventaire des interventions et souscriptions des adhérents et sympathisants. Liste des signataires d’occasion et des théologiens. Leuven: Peeters, 2014. 484 p.
In Utopies et devenirs deleuziens (Utopias and Deleuzian becomings), Philippe Mengue reflects on the complex and sometimes problematic relationship between the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze and the concept of utopia. As argued by Mengue, Deleuze’s position on utopia is distinctive and can bring interesting insights into contemporary discussions on both philosophy and utopias. While Mengue is not a specialist of utopias, he certainly presents a respectable expertise on Deleuze and his thought, making this book an original contribution to the (...) field. Mengue’s project emanates from lectures given at L’Université Populaire d’Avignon in 2008. Utopies et devenirs deleuziens targets a rather wide audience of .. (shrink)
Beginnings can be empirically described, philosophically debated, fictionally recounted or theatrically staged – each kind of discourse approaches beginnings via an examination of representation as an impossible return to source. The work of French philosopher Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe articulates the problem of beginnings by considering them as a form of subjective collapse, loss of integrity and aggravation of emotion resulting from the paradoxical logic of representation. While Lacoue-Labarthe’s position has been largely developed in his philosophical writings, this study focuses more (...) specifically on his literary production, namely his collection of short stories, L’ “Allégorie”, and his staged debate with Jean-Luc Nancy in Scène: suivi de Dialogue sur le dialogue, in which the two writers present opposing views on the theatre. The analysis of the above texts centres on the two key “locations” for beginnings, namely narrative voice and the theatrical stage. (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)
In his recent book Linguistic Justice for Europe and for the World, Philippe Van Parijs argues in favor of the dissemination of English as the lingua franca. This, however, might entail certain forms of injustice. In the first part of this contribution, the three forms of injustice that Van Parijs discusses are presented along with his three respective solutions to these problems. At the same time, some criticisms on each of these forms are mentioned which have come forth in (...) recent literature. The second part of this paper examines the claim underlying Van Parijs’s book, viz. that it is a good thing to promote English as a common language. According to Van Parijs, this is necessary for developing an egalitarian conception of global justice as well as implementing such a conception. This article scrutinizes both of these arguments which are only briefly touched on in the book. I argue that a lingua franca is not a necessary condition for developing and implementing such an egalitarian conception. I defend this position through a close study of Van Parijs’s conception of deliberative democracy, which is a very demanding one. I show that even in a system of deliberative democracy, a common language is not a necessary condition for developing an egalitarian conception of justice. With reference to the theory of constitutional patriotism, I then argue that common values, rather than a common language, are more important for developing and implementing such a conception. (shrink)
Dans cet ouvrage, Philippe Danino part d’un constat qui fut à l’origine de son questionnement : « Jamais, dans son œuvre, on ne voit Spinoza véritablement exposer ce qu’est la philosophie. Cette idée donne lieu, chez lui, à une réflexivité très rare, ne constituant quasiment jamais un objet visé pour lui-même. Aucune véritable définition, en particulier, n’en est livrée ou travaillée ». Là où nous pourrions y lire une constante de la pensée spinoziste – il n’y a ainsi pas (...) plus de défin... (shrink)
