The paper explores the possible contribution of Familiaris consortio to a contemporary theology of marriage. It argues that the exhortation and its author, Pope John Paul II, may be credited for two major innovations in the magisterial teaching: first, in taking its starting point from the human person and her capacity to love, the document has definitely overcome the earlier view, clearly articulated e.g. in Pius XI’s encyclical Casti connubii, which looked at marriage primarily in terms of a natural institution (...) and only in a second instance at its interpersonal value; second, it has attributed to marriage and the family a position in the mystery of salvation and consequently in the mission of the Church, which is unprecedented in previous teaching. However, by equating 'God’s plan for marriage' with the 'nuptial mystery of salvation' and by imposing onto human marital love the model of Christ’s total self-giving, the papal exhortation ultimately forfeits what it seemed to have gained in terms of a renewed theology of marriage: it ultimately fails to recognize that God’s salvific plan does not float above history but takes shape in the concrete lives of couples and families and that their lived experiences should therefore be given a place in theology and in the mission of the Church. (shrink)

The paper explores the possible contribution of Familiaris consortio to a contemporary theology of marriage. It argues that the exhortation and its author, Pope John Paul II, may be credited for two major innovations in the magisterial teaching: first, in taking its starting point from the human person and her capacity to love, the document has definitely overcome the earlier view, clearly articulated e.g. in Pius XI’s encyclical Casti connubii, which looked at marriage primarily in terms of a natural institution (...) and only in a second instance at its interpersonal value; second, it has attributed to marriage and the family a position in the mystery of salvation and consequently in the mission of the Church, which is unprecedented in previous teaching. However, by equating 'God’s plan for marriage' with the 'nuptial mystery of salvation' and by imposing onto human marital love the model of Christ’s total self-giving, the papal exhortation ultimately forfeits what it seemed to have gained in terms of a renewed theology of marriage: it ultimately fails to recognize that God’s salvific plan does not float above history but takes shape in the concrete lives of couples and families and that their lived experiences should therefore be given a place in theology and in the mission of the Church. (shrink)

Parmi les multiples énigmes de la généalogie de Jésus en Mt 1,1-17, la présence de quatre, voire de cinq femmes dans un texte où prédominent les hommes a suscité de nombreuses tentatives d’explication. Cet article part de l’observation que les quatre premières femmes sont en amont ou complices du roi David, tandis que la cinquième femme est la mère de celui qui est présenté comme Messie. Il constate par ailleurs que si l’on avait appliqué strictement les dispositions de la Torah (...) à leur égard, ni le grand roi, ni a fortiori la dynastie davidique n’auraient vu le jour. Le récit du dilemme de Joseph en 1,18-25 témoigne de son effort pour se frayer un chemin entre une certaine conformité avec la Loi et les exigences de la miséricorde en rapport avec le cas de sa femme enceinte. Ainsi, dès le début de l’évangile de Matthieu est posée la question de l’observance de la Torah face aux exigences des Prophètes et ultérieurement face à l’enseignement de Jésus. (shrink)

Nous n’avons jamais été modernes : ce livre de Bruno Latour qui, considéré d’un point de vue philosophique, fut probablement son ouvrage le plus substantiel, porte un titre aussi évocateur que succinct. La formule met d’une part l’accent sur l’ampleur de ce qui fut défini, sous des rapports historiques autant que systématiques, comme « moderne », ou encore comme « les modernes ». Elle remet d’autre part en question à qui ou à quoi – c’est-à-dire à quelles entités naturelles autant (...) qu’artifici... (shrink)

Est-il possible, par-delà l'opposition courante et parfois abusive entre philosophies continentale et anglo-saxonne, de comparer le moment où, avec Russell, naît le paradigme du langage et le moment où, avec Fichte, semble culminer le paradigme de la subjectivité ? L'analyse du concept de relation de soi à soi (référence d'une proposition à elle-même ou d'un sujet à lui-même) permet de repenser la nature de l'opposition entre les deux traditions. En effet, si, dans un cas, l'autoréférence est frappée d'interdit, alors que, (...) dans l'autre, elle est donnée comme l'une des conditions que doivent honorer les propositions philosophiques, ce n'est nullement parce que, dans le premier, on s'interrogerait sur le langage et ses mécanismes, tandis que, dans le second, on s'attarderait sur la conscience et sa « nature ». En effet, le désaccord ici porte sur la notion même de vérité. Le mode de référence ad extra est-il seul susceptible d'être pensé en termes de vrai et de faux, ou bien faut-il considérer, qu'en philosophie, la référence à renonciation est à prendre en compte dans la détermination de ce qui est vrai et de ce qui ne l'est pas ? Telle est la question à laquelle conduit la comparaison, en apparence paradoxale, entre ces deux auteurs. Is it possible, beyond the usual and sometimes excessive opposition between Anglo-Saxon and Continental philosophy, to compare the philosophical moment when Russell initiated the linguistic paradigm and this other philosophical moment when Fichte seems to have brought the paradigm of subjectivity to its peak ? One should try to reconsider the nature of the opposition between these two philosophical traditions by analyzing the concept of self-reference (be it propositional or subjective). Indeed, that self-reference should be banished in the first case and that it should be perceived as one of the conditions for philosophical propositions in the other has nothing to do with the fact that one is actually dealing either with language or with the « nature » of consciousness. The heart of the dispute is to be found in the very notion of truth. Is ad extra referentiality the only one likely to be thought of in terms of true of false, or should one consider that philosophy may refer to enunciation as an element that contributes to determine what is true or false ? Such is the question raised by the apparently paradoxical comparison between Russell and Fichte. (shrink)

La médecine joue un rôle majeur dans les sociétés contemporaines. La volonté de prévenir les maladies, l'espoir de guérir et de prolonger la vie humaine répondent à des aspirations de plus en plus profondes. Un regard médical est porté sur tous les aspects de l'existence, de la naissance, avec la procréation médicalement assistée, à la fin de vie, avec l'euthanasie. Il semble bien que l'on confie sa vie à la médecine comme on la confiait naguère à Dieu. A l'heure du (...) déclin des religions séculières, la médecine apparaît comme une religion de substitution. Mais apporte-t-elle, pourtant, des réponses à nos interrogations existentielles? Il semble, au contraire, qu'elle ne soit qu'un pis-aller incapable de donner un sens à la vie et d'apprendre à mourir. Le revers scientiste de l'obsession de la mort. Une religion chétive, dont l'échec est souvent cruel. La médecine, aussi efficace soit-elle, doit veiller à rester à sa juste place. Elle ne peut soigner en confisquant le risque de vivre, elle qui ne soigne qu'en prenant le risque d'échouer. (shrink)

Seule oeuvre de philosophie morale que Thomas Reid ait publiee, les Essais sur les pouvoirs actifs de l'homme (1788) avaient ete concus a l'origine comme une seconde partie de l'expose final de sa pensee. Ces essais viennent ainsi completer les Essais sur les pouvoirs intellectuels de l'homme (1785) et temoignent de la meme inspiration - une inspiration bien loin de se limiter a la simple philosophie du sens commun qu'on a voulu y voir. Dans ce texte d'une limpidite exemplaire, (...) le philosophe ecossais se presente comme le defenseur d'une conception de la liberte humaine traditionnelle mais solidement argumentee. Reid y developpe en effet toute une serie d'arguments contre les formes modernes de determinisme et en faveur de l'objectivite des distinctions morales. S'appuyant sur une psychologie morale naturaliste qui s'inscrit dans l'esprit des Lumieres, Reid construit ici une veritable anthropologie, que la philosophie de l'action contemporaine redecouvre avec grand interet. (shrink)

This article presents a model for regulating cognitive enhancement devices. Recently, it has become very easy for individuals to purchase devices which directly modulate brain function. For example, transcranial direct current stimulators are increasingly being produced and marketed online as devices for cognitive enhancement. Despite posing risks in a similar way to medical devices, devices that do not make any therapeutic claims do not have to meet anything more than basic product safety standards. We present the case for extending existing (...) medical device legislation to cover CEDs. Medical devices and CEDs operate by the same or similar mechanisms and pose the same or similar risks. This fact coupled with the arbitrariness of the line between treatment and enhancement count in favour of regulating these devices in the same way. In arguing for this regulatory model, the paper highlights potential challenges to its implementation, and suggests solutions. (shrink)

For this handbook, we decided to combine a first strategy that looks at different research approaches and asks for their specific contribution to the study of science communication. This is the aim of section I. A second and third strategy is to describe main topics and central aspects of internal and external science communication. This is the aim of sections II and III, respectively: In section II the authors deal with text types, media, and practices of internal science communication. Section (...) III is devoted to external science communication and the relation between science, scientists, and the public. A fourth strategy is based on an evolutionary perspective: How has science communication evolved, what are current trends, and what could or should be future developments? In sections IV and V the authors share an evolutionary perspective: they deal with the history of science communication and with current and future trends. (shrink)

Products made from animal fur and skin have been a major part of human civilization. However, in modern society, the unsustainable consumption of these products – often considered luxury goods – has many negative environmental impacts. This study explores how people’s perceptions of biodiversity affect their attitudes and behaviors toward consumption. To investigate the information process deeper, we add the moderation of beliefs about biodiversity loss. Following the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics, we use mindsponge-based reasoning for constructing conceptual models (...) and employ Bayesian analysis aided by Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms on a dataset of 535 Vietnamese urban residents. The results show that people’s preference for using products made from animal skin/fur is negatively associated with perceived consequences of biodiversity loss when they believe biodiversity loss is real and a major problem. In contrast, if urban residents believe biodiversity loss is unreal or not a significant issue, the association between perceived consequences of biodiversity loss and personal preference happens in the opposite direction. The same effects of biodiversity loss perception on people’s possession of skin/fur products was not found, indicating a more complex information process on behaviors compared to attitudes. Nevertheless, in the scenario that people believe biodiversity loss is not a significant issue, the higher the perceived consequences of biodiversity loss are, the greater number of animal-based products they likely own. Our results suggest that policymakers should not neglect the factor of personal belief besides knowledge and awareness in environmental campaigns. (shrink)

Insects use path integration (PI) to maintain a home vector, but can also store and recall vector-memories that take them from home to a food location, and even allow them to take novel shortcuts between food locations. The neural circuit of the Central Complex (a brain area that receives compass and optic flow information) forms a plausible substrate for these behaviours. A recent model, grounded in neurophysiological and neuroanatomical data, can account for PI during outbound exploratory routes and the control (...) of steering to return home. Here, we show that minor, hypothetical but neurally plausible, extensions of this model can additionally explain how insects could store and recall PI vectors to follow food-ward paths, take shortcuts, search at the feeder and re-calibrate their vector-memories with experience. In addition, a simple assumption about how one of multiple vector-memories might be chosen at any point in time can produce the development and maintenance of efficient routes between multiple locations, as observed in bees. The central complex circuitry is therefore well-suited to allow for a rich vector-based navigational repertoire. (shrink)

This article examines how chemists contributed to the technological reorganization in France at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century, how they justified using potentially harmful or polluting processes by stating that this would contribute to national prosperity, and how the idea of improvement helped to legally and rhetorically build a production regime that disqualified traditional precautionary attitudes to certain artisanal and industrial processes. This resulted in the establishment of a new environmental governance regime (...) devoted to the advancement of chemistry and of industrial production. While this shift was clearly perceptible from the 1770s with the first regulatory exceptions for strategic products, the 1810 decree, which was imagined, designed, and implemented by chemists, perpetuated chemistry’s role as an environmental regulator. (shrink)

Products made from animal fur and skin have been a major part of human civilization. However, in modern society, the unsustainable consumption of these products – often considered luxury goods – has many negative environmental impacts. This study explores how people’s perceptions of biodiversity affect their attitudes and behaviors toward consumption. To investigate the information process deeper, we add the moderation of beliefs about biodiversity loss. Following the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics, we use mindsponge-based reasoning for constructing conceptual models (...) and employ Bayesian analysis aided by Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms on a dataset of 535 Vietnamese urban residents. The results show that people’s preference for using products made from animal skin/fur is negatively associated with perceived consequences of biodiversity loss when they believe biodiversity loss is real and a major problem. In contrast, if urban residents believe biodiversity loss is unreal or not a significant issue, the association between perceived consequences of biodiversity loss and personal preference happens in the opposite direction. The same effects of biodiversity loss perception on people’s possession of skin/fur products was not found, indicating a more complex information process on behaviors compared to attitudes. Nevertheless, in the scenario that people believe biodiversity loss is not a significant issue, the higher the perceived consequences of biodiversity loss are, the greater number of animal-based products they likely own. Our results suggest that policymakers should not neglect the factor of personal belief besides knowledge and awareness in environmental campaigns. (shrink)

Dans la première partie, Une épitaphe thessalienne de Perrhèbie, nouvel examen d'une épitaphe dialectale du territoire de l'ancienne Malloia (ve s.). Établissement du texte: le défunt devait s'appeler Skythros, sobriquet rare tiré de l'adjectif σκυθρός, «grognon». Dans la seconde partie, Inscriptions de Dalmatie et noms illyriens, d'abord quelques compléments à l'article sur les inscriptions d'Issa, BCH 114 (1990), p. 504-513. Ensuite, examen d'une inscription conservée à Perast (Monténégro). Il s'agit d'une dédicace de péripolarques et de peripoloi, que l'éditeur attribuerait à (...) la région de Dyrrhachion. D'après l'onomastique (nombreux noms illyriens ou supposés tels), on envisage plutôt ici la possibilité d'une origine dalmate. Les auteurs essaient de montrer qu'un groupe important de monnaies cistophoriques, dont le classement à Apamée de Phrygie est parfois contesté, a bien été frappé dans cet atelier. Ils suggèrent d'autre part que de brèves émissions laissées parmi les incertaines appartiennent les unes aux Praipenisseis, l'autre aux Corpéni, peuples de Phrygie qui avaient été mal localisés et qu'on avait considérés à tort comme des tribus. (shrink)

The study of eye movements is a common way to non-invasively understand and analyze human behavior. However, eye-tracking techniques are very hard to scale, and require expensive equipment and extensive expertise. In the context of web browsing, these issues could be overcome by studying the link between the eye and the computer mouse. Here, we propose new analysis methods, and a more advanced characterization of this link. To this end, we recorded the eye, mouse, and scroll movements of 151 participants (...) exploring 18 dynamic web pages while performing free viewing and visual search tasks for 20 s. The data revealed significant differences of eye, mouse, and scroll parameters over time which stabilize at the end of exploration. This suggests the existence of a task-independent relationship between eye, mouse, and scroll parameters, which are characterized by two distinct patterns: one common pattern for movement parameters and a second for dwelling/fixation parameters. Within these patterns, mouse and eye movements remained consistent with each other, while the scrolling behaved the opposite way. (shrink)

Natural selection is commonly seen not just as an explanation for adaptive evolution, but as the inevitable consequence of “heritable variation in fitness among individuals”. Although it remains embedded in biological concepts, such a formalisation makes it tempting to explore whether this precondition may be met not only in life as we know it, but also in other physical systems. This would imply that these systems are subject to natural selection and may perhaps be investigated in a biological framework, where (...) properties are typically examined in light of their putative functions. Here we relate the major questions that were debated during a three-day workshop devoted to discussing whether natural selection may take place in non-living physical systems. We start this report with a brief overview of research fields dealing with “life-like” or “proto-biotic” systems, where mimicking evolution by natural selection in test tubes stands as a major objective. We contend the challenge may be as much conceptual as technical. Taking the problem from a physical angle, we then discuss the framework of dissipative structures. Although life is viewed in this context as a particular case within a larger ensemble of physical phenomena, this approach does not provide general principles from which natural selection can be derived. Turning back to evolutionary biology, we ask to what extent the most general formulations of the necessary conditions or signatures of natural selection may be applicable beyond biology. In our view, such a cross-disciplinary jump is impeded by reliance on individuality as a central yet implicit and loosely defined concept. Overall, these discussions thus lead us to conjecture that understanding, in physico-chemical terms, how individuality emerges and how it can be recognised, will be essential in the search for instances of evolution by natural selection outside of living systems. (shrink)

Biological evolution provides a creative fount of complex and subtle adaptations, often surprising the scientists who discover them. However, because evolution is an algorithmic process that transcends the substrate in which it occurs, evolution’s creativity is not limited to nature. Indeed, many researchers in the field of digital evolution have observed their evolving algorithms and organisms subverting their intentions, exposing unrecognized bugs in their code, producing unexpected adaptations, or exhibiting outcomes uncannily convergent with ones in nature. Such stories routinely reveal (...) creativity by evolution in these digital worlds, but they rarely fit into the standard scientific narrative. Instead they are often treated as mere obstacles to be overcome, rather than results that warrant study in their own right. The stories themselves are traded among researchers through oral tradition, but that mode of information transmission is inefficient and prone to error and outright loss. Moreover, the fact that these stories tend to be shared only among practitioners means that many natural scientists do not realize how interesting and lifelike digital organisms are and how natural their evolution can be. To our knowledge, no collection of such anecdotes has been published before. This paper is the crowd-sourced product of researchers in the fields of artificial life and evolutionary computation who have provided first-hand accounts of such cases. It thus serves as a written, fact-checked collection of scientifically important and even entertaining stories. In doing so we also present here substantial evidence that the existence and importance of evolutionary surprises extends beyond the natural world, and may indeed be a universal property of all complex evolving systems. (shrink)

En 1534, le grand chancelier d'Angleterre, sir Thomas More, refuse de prêter serment à l'Acte de Suprématie par lequel Henri VIII d'Angleterre, s'opposant à l'Eglise de Rome, se proclame chef de l'Eglise anglicane. Condamné par le tribunal royal à la décapitation publique, Thomas More demeure pourtant fidèle : fidèle au roi, fidèle à la foi, et fidèle à sa conscience au prix de sa vie. En effet, s'il ne reconnaît pas le roi comme chef de l'Eglise nationale, il (...) n'a jamais remis en cause son autorité temporelle. Sir Thomas More, humaniste, juriste, théologien, diplomate, homme d'Etat et finalement martyr, est devenu un modèle pour ceux qui se dévouent au bien commun. L'Europe troublée du XVIe siècle n'est pas sans rappeler notre époque soumise à la difficile gestion des affaires publiques, aux scandales financiers et à l'avidité de quelques puissants. Ce livre, qui présente la vie de Thomas More et les valeurs fondatrices de son action, peut nous aider à trouver de nouveaux repères pour devenir ferment dans la pâte du monde. Le lecteur saisira alors toute la vérité des paroles adressées par l'humaniste anglais Roger Ascham à la petite- fille de More : "Par cet homme seul, c'est toute l'Angleterre qui s'est trouvée anoblie.". (shrink)