This article proposes an original analysis of the international debate on climate change through the use of digital methods. Its originality is twofold. First, it examines a corpus of reports covering 18 years of international climate negotiations, a dataset never explored before through digital techniques. This corpus is particularly interesting because it provides the most consistent and detailed reporting of the negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Second, in this paper we test an original approach to (...) text analysis that combines automatic extractions and manual selection of the key issue-terms. Through this mixed approach, we tried to obtain relevant findings without imposing them on our corpus. The originality of our corpus and of our approach encouraged us to question some of the habits of digital research and confront three common misunderstandings about digital methods that we discuss in the first part of the article. In addition to reflecting on methodology, however, we also wanted to offer some substantial contribution to the understanding of UN-framed climate diplomacy. In the second part of the article we will therefore introduce some of the preliminary results of our analysis. By discussing three visualizations, we will analyze the thematic articulation of the climatic negotiations, the rise and fall of these themes over time and the visibility of different countries in the debate. (shrink)

How do we find out whether someone is conscious of some information or not? A simple answer is “We just ask them”! However, things are not so simple. Here, we review recent developments in the use of subjective and objective methods in implicit learning research and discuss the highly complex methodological problems that their use raises in the domain.

Virginia Woolf, to whom university admittance had been forbidden, watched the universities open their doors. Though she was happy that her sisters could study in university libraries, she cautioned women against joining the procession of educated men and being co-opted into protecting a “civilization” with values alien to women. Now, as Woolf's disloyal daughters, who have professional positions in Belgian universities, Isabelle Stengers and Vinciane Despret, along with a collective of women scholars in Belgium and France, question their academic (...) careers and reexamine the place of women and their role in thinking, both inside and outside the university. They urge women to heed Woolf's cry—Think We Must—and to always make a fuss about injustice, cruelty, and arrogance. (shrink)

Clever Hans, the famous horse who was believed to be able to count, is generally cited as the paradigm of the influence of the observer. Psychologist Rosenthal has illustrated this phenomenon with his well-known experiment about ‘bright’ and ‘dull’ maze rats. Hans, however, achieved something much more interesting. Hecould not only read human minds through their bodies: he could also influence his questioners to produce gestures he could read as cues for finding the answer. Hans could make human bodies be (...) moved and be affected, and move and affect other beings and perform things without their owners’ knowledge. The question of ‘influence’ when we read this case becomes therefore far more complicated and interesting. It involves the question of the way bodies can attune, affect and transformeach other. We may follow carefully how scientists of ethological practices create access to the creatures they study, how they are moved by their subjects of interest, and how they give them a chance to be interesting andto articulate other responses. Doing so, we notice that the signs that define subject and object, what talks and what is talked about, subjectivity and objectivity, are redistributed in a new manner. These practices offer a new and pragmatic definition of the body, close to James’s theory of emotions: to have a body is to learn how to feel. (shrink)

Bernd Heinrich and Maine ravens are exemplars of Despret's concepts of politeness, “faire connaissance” and recruitment. He was dissuaded by his mentor from studying them due to their intelligence and their recalcitrance against reductive methods. Gaining their confidence would take years. Once he did so they allowed him to see an astonishing range of behaviors and they accepted him as a socius. This was research that took into account the interests of the ravens themselves to answer complicated questions about their (...) behavior. Ravens also practice this intermingling of interests and action with wolves. (shrink)

Some scientists who study animals have emphasized the need to focus on the “point of view” of the animals they are studying. This methodological shift has led to animals being credited with much more agency than is warranted. However, as critics suggest, on the one hand, the “perspective” of another being rests mostly upon “sympathetic projection,” and may be difficult to apply to unfamiliar beings, such as bees or even flowers. On the other hand, the very notion of agency still (...) conveys its classic understanding as intentional, rational, and premeditated, and is still embedded in humanist and Christian conceptions of human exceptionalism. This paper seeks, in the first part, to investigate the practical link between these two notions and the problems they raise. In the second part, following the work of two historians of science who have revisited Darwin's studies of orchids and their pollinators, it will observe a shift in the meaning of the concept of agency. Indeed, creatures may appear as “secret agents” as long as we adopt a conventional definition of agency based on subjective experience and autonomous intention. However, when reframed in the terms of “agencement” — an assemblage that produces “agentivity” — agency seems to be much more extensively shared in the living world. We will then explore some of the concrete situations in which these agencements are manifested, and through which creatures of different species become, one for another and one with another, companion-agents. (shrink)

The case of the Arabian babblers is a controversial and significant one in ethology that troubles standard sociobiological theories of the evolution of behaviour. In this chapter from her book Naissance d'une théorie éthologique, Vinciane Despret examines the divergent models and methods of the scientists studying the babblers, their different epistemologies and ontologies that are only truly visible and understandable if one takes into account their particular ways of comporting themselves with the birds, and the babblers’ active role in (...) writing their own scripts. In so far as it resembles the immersive participation and individual biographing of anthropological and primatological methods, and pays skilful attention to the reasons for their actions, Zahavi's way of relating to and questioning the babblers gives them the opportunity to respond. (shrink)

In submitting rats to tests such as running a maze, behaviorist researchers failed to take into account the interest and point of view of the rats. As a result, the research missed important questions and relations at hand. The critiques about experimenter effect and intuitive perception of researchers’ questions by research subjects can be more fully extended to animals as research subjects and interactants in research who perceive and interpret situations, set-ups, and questions. Taking meaning and biosemiotics into account helps (...) give a better model of animal subjectivity as exercised in the interpretation of situations and the pursuit of interest. (shrink)

The case of Clever Hans is one of the most notorious episodes in the history of animal psychology. The “Clever Hans effect” has since become the name of a cardinal scientific sin, the experimenter effect by which researchers inadvertently give their subjects the answers to their questions. Yet this discrediting accusation is often overstated, and in need of a careful differentiation. In this section from Vinciane Despret's book Hans she digs through the files to reconsider this famous horse and (...) his psychologists, and thereby, also, provokes us to rethink the legacy of this meaningful scandal in the subsequent history of scientific research on animal intelligence. (shrink)

:This selection draws from Vinciane Despret's book Beasts and Humans, a compendium to the eponymous art exhibition held in Paris's Parc de la Villette. The two selections translated here highlight the abilities of animals to teach us their forms of knowledge and intelligence. The first selection draws from the ancient Greek concept mētis to highlight a form of cunning intelligence that is shared and learned between humans and animals. It is an overlooked and often neglected form of intelligence, especially (...) in comparison to phronesis or sophia, but, as Despret notes, humans have been transformed by what they've learned, habitually and bodily, by their proximity with animals. The second selection showcases how animals continue to surprise and confound humans’ expectations. Drawing on two different cases where vultures have been reintroduced into extirpated areas of Europe, Despret shows how the success and achievement in one area is not necessarily duplicated elsewhere, and how different forms of kno.. (shrink)

:This chapter from Vinciane Despret's book Être bête underscores the methodological considerations for the work as a whole, setting out a model for further ethological studies of farm animals. Or rather, with farm animals and with their farmers, because this pragmatic sociology is conscious of elaborating its knowledges and competences as it goes along. Neither the farmers’ knowledges nor the researchers’ theories are prioritized, but are mutually adjusted in a self-reflexive manner that seeks eventually to highlight the competences of (...) animals in domestic or industrial farm settings. The fundamental question, “what is the difference between humans and animals?” does not remain a philosophical one, but becomes the basis for the more pragmatic question, often confronting for humans concerned, about to what extent the animals are willing co-workers in these industries. (shrink)

The case of the Arabian babblers is a controversial and significant one in ethology that troubles standard sociobiological theories of the evolution of behaviour. In this chapter from her book Naissance d'une théorie éthologique, Vinciane Despret examines the divergent models and methods of the scientists studying the babblers, their different epistemologies and ontologies that are only truly visible and understandable if one takes into account their particular ways of comporting themselves with the birds, and the babblers’ active role in (...) writing their own scripts. In so far as it resembles the immersive participation and individual biographing of anthropological and primatological methods, and pays skilful attention to the reasons for their actions, Zahavi's way of relating to and questioning the babblers gives them the opportunity to respond. (shrink)

In her scrutiny of the discipline of ethology, psychologist and philosopher Vinciane Despret is no respecter of disciplinary limits, species borders, nodes of prestige, impact factor, pre-existing truths and facts, or Western science's exclusive authority. Instead, she seeks out unanticipated communicatory modes and dialogic mixes – highlow, inout, natureculture. Her reach and popularity as a Belgian and French intellectual thus extend well beyond her formal citation index. The translation below surveys her five-minute segment on the radio show Bon week-end, (...) which is aired on Radio Télévision Belge Francophone. This compilation of recent programmes finds her sleuthing theory construction, legal status, taxonomic classification, research conditions, and capacities vis-àvis dogs, horses, humans, cassowary, dinosaurs, sheep, and tortoises. (shrink)

Il s’agit du troisième volume des Collected Essays de Jan N. Bremmer (J.N.B.) et il s’inscrit dans la même perspective que le deuxième volume (The World of Greek Religion and Mythology) dont j’ai rendu compte entre les pages de Kernos en 2021. Mythes et rituels sont à nouveau convoqués, et l’intention de l’A. était d’ailleurs de ne publier qu’un volume sur ce thème. Mais l’ampleur de cet ensemble l’a dissuadé d’aller en ce sens (p. xix) et c’est un ouvrage séparé, (...) davantage thématique, qu’il... (shrink)

Le Kernos nouveau apporte sa moisson d’études et de chroniques. L’objectif initial de sa composition était d’y publier le second volet des Actes du XVIe colloque international du CIERGA intitulé Des dieux, des jeux – et du hasard?, dont une dizaine d’articles avait nourri le volume de l’an dernier. Pour des raisons qui tiennent aux aléas — un terme d’autant plus pertinent sur cet arrière-plan! — de la collecte des textes et de leur évaluation, il a fallu repousser la finalisation (...) de ce doss... (shrink)

« Les morts sont des gens comme les autres ». Cette constatation m’a été faite par Philippe, médium dans le groupement spirite de la ville où j’habite, lors d’un entretien que nous avons mené avec sa mère Michèle, et lui. Je leur avais demandé de m’expliquer comment ils entraient en communication avec les défunts – qu’est-ce qu’entendre, sentir ou voir signifient dans pareil cas? Nous avons évoqué leur histoire, leurs destins peu communs, avec ces épreuves, ces mises en danger du (...) corps et ces démêlés avec la mort, ces sentiments de présence et ces surprenants rêves prémonitoires. Des destins que ces personnes ont réussi à socialiser et su transformer en destinée. Le fait que les morts soient des gens comme les autres a de multiples conséquences, et notamment celle d’une obligation à prendre soin d’eux. Et à prendre soin, en leur nom et à leur demande, de ceux qui restent. Les séances au cours desquels ils sont convoqués deviennent dès lors de véritables dispositifs thérapeutiques, dans lesquels et par lesquels, les habitants de deux mondes apprennent, les uns avec les autres et les uns pour les autres à réactiver des liens, des élans de vie et de joie. (shrink)

“I would define humor as the ability to recognize oneself as a product of that very history through which one tries to pursue the construction of history, and this conception of humor is thus distinguished in the first place from irony. Humor is an art of immanence”In her book La Vierge et le Neutrino [The Virgin and Neutrino], Isabelle Stengers uses ferocious humor to challenge the practitioners of the humanities: “We are confident that the Virgin [who appears to Medjugorje pilgrims] (...) can be reduced to a product of human subjectivity. The only question is which of the social sciences will emerge as most qualified to do the job”. The Pilgrims Stengers refers to are the ones the French sociologist... (shrink)

En 2001 paraissait le 11e supplément de Kernos sous le joli titre de Κῆποι. De la religion à la philosophie. Faisant une entorse à la règle de ne pas publier ce qu’on appelle des Mélanges, le comité éditorial de l’époque avait pris la décision d’honorer de la sorte l’un des fondateurs de Kernos et son directeur. Ce fut alors une tâche joyeuse et festive d’esquisser le parcours de celui qui était admis à la retraite, ouvrant cette nouvelle période de sa (...) vie avec large éventail de projets varié... (shrink)

Olympie est assurément l’un des sites majeurs pour quiconque s’intéresse à la religion des anciens Grecs et Judith Barringer a déjà livré nombre de travaux qui attestent son expertise en cette matière. On se réjouit de voir arriver une monographie sous sa plume, un livre dont la qualité d’écriture s’ajoute à celle de l’analyse, de ses riches fondements documentaires (dûment problématisés en regard de l’importance du texte de Pausanias pour la lecture du site) et d’une bibliographie multilingu...

L’ouvrage soigneusement édité par I. Salvo et T.S. Scheer se penche sur les diverses manières dont religion et éducation entrent en interaction dans la Méditerranée hellénophone. Il propose les actes d’un colloque organisé à Göttingen en 2017, dans le cadre d’un projet financé par la Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Comme il est souvent répété dans les introductions sur le thème, la religion grecque antique ne connaît ni clergé, ni autorité centralisée, ni révélation traduite en un référentie...

:In 2012, Despret published an abecedary entitled What Would Animals Say, If … They Were Asked the Right Questions? Covering a range of subjects, themes, authors, and animals, Despret carefully and playfully demonstrates the ability of animals to continuously force us to re-examine our most basic and arrived at human conceptions, understandings, and biases. Excerpted from this book are two chapters on art and gender. “O for Œuvres” looks at the question of animal agency and intentionality in the making of (...) a work of art. Drawing from Alfred Gell, Étienne Souriau, and bower-birds, Despret expands the notion of agency in art and questions the tendency towards human exceptionalism. In “Q for Queer,” king penguins come out of the closet to reveal and question certain preconceived human ideas about gender, sexuality, and cultures of heteronormativity within animal worlds. (shrink)

La recherche récente a régulièrement remis en cause la catégorie moderne de « lois sacrées » désignant des inscriptions grecques qui forment un ensemble mal défini. Cet article entend dépasser le corpus traditionnel des « lois sacrées » en présentant un projet de recueil alternatif de « Normes rituelles grecques » (CGRN pour l’acronyme anglais), qui s’appuie sur des critères plus sélectifs et sera publié en ligne.

Pendant 26 années, la couverture annuelle de Kernos a seulement varié par la tomaison, le millésime et la couleur. Le moment était donc venu de confier à un graphiste le toilettage de la revue… Sans renoncer à la forme du kernos qui nous suit depuis le début, fût-il minoen, nous avons choisi de rapprocher la ligne graphique de la revue de celle des suppléments. Vous avez le résultat entre les mains! Ce changement de graphisme ne modifie en rien nos ambitions (...) qui sont toujours de fournir, une... (shrink)

L’année 2020 restera certainement marquée par l’arrivée d’une pandémie qui a secoué le monde et arrêté le temps pour des pays entiers. Il nous a semblé que la meilleure manière de résister à l’incertitude du présent et de l’avenir était de poursuivre notre tâche de diffusion des recherches qui ont cours sur la religion grecque antique. Certes, le travail de nombre de chercheurs a été entravé par la fermeture des bibliothèques, l’arrêt des chantiers de fouilles et l’impossibilité d’accéder aux...

Comme vous le constatez en le prenant en main, le volume du Kernos 2021 est plus mince qu’à l’habitude. La raison principale en est assurément l’absence de la Chronique archéologique. La mise au point du site internet de cette Chronique a pris plus de temps que prévu. Or, le site est appelé à devenir la plateforme de travail des collaborateurs et à générer l’information disponible à la fois en ligne, sur l’impression papier et sur le site OpenEdition Journals quand se (...) lève la barrière mobile.... (shrink)

Une première partie montre que, dans la Théogonie d’Hésiode, le terme de « mère»s’applique surtout à des déesses dont la relation à l’enfant est dramatisée au-delà de la seule référence généalogique. Une deuxième partie analyse les raisons de l’attribution du titre de « mère » à la déesse Athéna à Élis, par comparaison avec la situation d’Athènes. Une brève conclusion revient sur le fantasme d’une « Déesse-mère » générique en contexte grec.

L’éditorial de 2021 avait été co-signé par Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge et André Motte, comme ce fut le cas pendant de très nombreuses années. Mais quand le volume de l’an dernier est sorti de presse, la revue était orpheline de l’un de ses fondateurs et de celui qui l’avait dirigée pendant plus de trente ans. André Motte est décédé le 28 novembre 2021. Les co-auteurs de l’éditorial de 2021 avaient achevé leur texte en exprimant leur espoir que le vocabulaire de l’éditorial (...) de 2022 ne compte plu... (shrink)

Ce collectif fort de 26 contributions est le fruit d’un atelier comparatiste qui s’est déroulé au fil de différentes rencontres, sous la forme de séminaires et d’un colloque, dont le livre constitue une étape ultérieure, réflexive, sur les acquis des discussions antérieures. Le point de départ de cette réflexion partagée est la question de la figuration, à travers différents temps et différents espaces. Fidèles à l’esprit dans lequel Marcel Detienne a mené naguère ce type d’atelier, les direc...

Ce volume s’inscrit dans la série qui publie les fouilles dirigées par Franz Georg Maier à Palaipaphos dans l’île de Chypre depuis les années 1950. L’ouvrage reprend de manière systématique les testimonia littéraires évoquant Paphos, depuis la période archaïque jusqu’au tout début du xxe siècle. Chaque notice comprend l’auteur et le titre de l’œuvre, sa datation et le contexte du passage, la référence complète, le texte original, une traduction allemande, quelques éléments bibliographiques et...