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12Impacts agrégés et politique du risque environnementalIn Jean-Paul Harpes & Lukas K. Sosoe (eds.), La démocratie en discussion, Lit. 2001.The causal texture of environmental problems is very different from the causal aspects which are relevant in other cases of moral or legal significance. The author suggest to take account of this in environmental matters. He takes the various instruments of environmental policy Under scrutiny: regulations, taxes and labels. He argues that labels have strong advantages over the two others instruments: they somehow map the texture of environmental problems and have interesting motivational propert…Read more
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16Réalisme, critique du langage et inventivité conceptuelleIn Jean-Pierre Cotten & Benoît Hufschmitt (eds.), Repérer, formaliser, traduire les concepts philosophiques: Actes du colloque de Besançon des 23-24 juin 1999, Presses Universitaires Franc-comtoises. 2001.Platonic realism has little place for conceptual invention. The possibilities of conceptual inventivity are assessed in the paper.
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30Hast Du aufgehoert, Deinen Vater zu schlagen? (Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum II.135) - Was wir von einer Fangfrage lernen koennenIn Helmut Linneweber & Georg Mohr (eds.), Interpretation und Argument: Festschrift Gerhard Seel zum 60. Geburtstag, Koenigshausen Und Neumann. 2002.The article confronts one of the ἄποpοι λόγοι discussed in ancient Eristic-Stoic logic: the famous “cuckold” (κερατίνης), where an interrogator has his respondent to admit to have been or still be cuckolded. The source of the problem is a principle of dialectics related to the principle of the excluded-middle according to which a question admits only a positive or a negative answer. To the question “Have you ceased to be cuckolded?” both answers seem to presuppose that the respondent has been cu…Read more
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6La réhabilitation des apparences sensibles - Eléments d'un programme leibnizienIn Hans Poser (ed.), Nihil sine ratione: VII. Internationaler Leibniz-Kongress, Berlin, 10.-14. September 2001, Nachtragsband,, G.-w. Leibniz-gesellschaft. 2002.The article reconstructs Leibniz’s theory of the relation between perceptions and reality. Leibniz’s position is different both from that of Descartes, according to whom the perceptions of the senses, unlike those of the mind, are never perceptions of reality, and from that of Locke, according to whom only the perceptions of primary qualities have a resemblance to reality, whereas secondary qualities do not correspond to anything real. The author shows that, according to Leibniz, the expressive …Read more
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14Réflexions sur l'indisponibilité de la paixIn Walter Tega (ed.), La Philosophie et la Paix - Actes du XXVIIIe Congrès de l'ASPLF, Bologne, 29 août-2 septembre 2000, Vrin. 2002.Starting from the recognition of the difficulty of establishing peace and the observation that several attempts to terminate conflicts end in failure, the author puts forward the argument that peace is a state that is essentially a by-product, according to the definition given by Jon Elster in his homonymous paper of 1981. Such states are characterized by the fact that they can only be brought about by actions aimed at other ends, i.e. non-intentionally. According to the author it is in the ligh…Read more
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7Monde vécu et monde de la science : examen d'une dualité dans la philosophie analytique et dans la philosophie herméneutiqueIn Problemy religionsnoj i filosofskoj germenevtiki, Isdatel"skij Dom "nauka" (omsk). pp. 53-74. 2003.The article takes into consideration the opposition between Lifeworld and world of science in the analytic tradition (going back to Descartes and Locke) on the one hand, and in continental authors such as Bergson, Husserl and Heidegger on the other. The two approaches aim at a surpassing of the opposition between Lifeworld and world of science, by different strategies that the author eviscerates. In the last part of the article the author develops a personal theory of the relationship between Li…Read more
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21La raison pratique existe-t-elle? Examen critique de Hume, Treatise II.iii.3In Ali Benmakhlouf & Jean-François Lavigne (eds.), Avenir de la raison, Devenir des rationalités - Actes du XXXIXe Congrès de l'ASPLF, Nice, 27 août-1er septembre 2002, Vrin. 2004.The article proposes an interpretation of the role of practical reason in Hume. The starting point is the distinction between strong practical reason and weak practical reason. The distinction concerns the assignment of values to states of affairs: strong practical reason is itself involved in this assignment of values, whereas weak practical reason only deliberates on the basis of given assignments. According to the author of the article Hume, showing how our choices are produced from a mechani…Read more
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10Les obstacles à l’acceptation de normes nouvelles: l’apport du Principe responsabilité à une éthique de l’environnementContrepointphilosophique. 2004.The article considers the questions posed by environmental ethics in the light of the work of Hans Jonas, especially his work Das Prinzip Verantwortung. Jonas centers his ethic on the concept of responsibility, which finds its expression in the categorical imperative that enjoins us to take into account the future effects of our actions. The specification of this imperative generates a series of problems: 1) given that the specification rests on complex causal chains, it has an hypothetical char…Read more
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25La sémantique des déclarations concernant les items publics selon LeibnizIn Herbert Breger, Jürgen Herbst & Sven Erdner (eds.), Einheit in der Vielheit: VIII. Internationaler Leibniz-Kongress, Hannover, 24, 29 Juli 2006, G.w. Leibniz-gesellschaft. 2006.The article deals with the issue of public items (objects, processes, events) in the philosophy of Leibniz. Starting from the famous passage of the Monadology which illustrates his conception of the substance by the image of a city perceived from different perspectives, the author shows how Leibniz conceives the public character of certain items, i.e. the reality of the phenomena that express them, not only in disagreement with the causal model, according to which public items would be the causa…Read more
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13L'intentionnalité de se et le problème de l'individuationIn P. Billouet, J. Gaubert, N. Robinet & A. Stanguennec (eds.), L'Homme et la réflexion - Actes du XXXe Congrès de l'Association des Sociétés de philosophie de langue française (ASPLF), Nantes, 24-28 août 2004, Vrin. 2006.Starting from an anecdote reported by Ernst Mach in the Analysis of Sensations, the author shows how the distinction between intentionality de re and intentionality de se can contribute to solving the individuation problem, at least for those individuals who are capable of self-referentiality. Intentionality is expressed linguistically in the form of the oratio obliqua, in the context of which the subordinate can be false even when the whole is true. The analysis of the conditions of falsity of …Read more
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37L’ontologie du monde social chez Samuel Pufendorf et John R. SearleIn A. Chenoufi, T. Cherif & S. Mosbah (eds.), L’Universel et le devenir de l’humain – Actes du XXXIIe Congrès de l’Association des Sociétés de philosophie de langue française (ASPLF), Tunis-Carthage,28-1er septembre 2008, Association Tunisienne Des Etudes Philosophiques. 2010.The article proposes a comparison between certain aspects of Samuel Pufendorf's (1632-1694) conception of natural law and certain aspects of John Searle's social ontology. As in Pufendorf the entia moralia are superimposed on the entia physica, of which they constitute modes that ground systems of norms (natural or positive), so in Searle the institutional facts that are created by certain speech acts of the performative type are superimposed on the physical facts. The difference between Pufendo…Read more
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17Introduction à De l’imitation théâtrale de J.J. RousseauIn R. Trousson & F. Eigeldinger (eds.), Œuvres complètes de Jean Jacques Rousseau, t. XVI, Slatkine-champion. 2012.The text shortly introduces Rousseau’s De l’imitation théatrale (1764). Rousseau’s writing is basically a translation of the first pages of Book X of Plato’s Republic. On the one hand, Rousseau shares with Plato the ethical rigor that, in view of a certain political project, leads to the moral condemnation of theatrical practices. On the other hand, the metaphysical assumptions on which Plato’s critique relies are much heavier than those of Rousseau, whose sensualistic nominalism is incompatible…Read more
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39The article compares David Humes’ and John Searle’s positions concerning the relation between descriptive and evaluative statements. Although the two positions seem to be just opposite in that Hume denies the derivability of the ought from the is, while Seale accepts it, the author shows that Hume and Searle have many similarities, for for both obligations rely upon the institution of promising. The difference is that for Hume the speech act of promising as such does not have intrinsic evaluativ…Read more
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13Esquisse d’une critique de la raison humoristiqueBulletin de la Société Française de Philosophie 107. 2013.Among the salient aspects of laughter; I retain its aptitude to administer a kind of punishment – albeit of a relatively mild character. Henri Bergson did not hesitate to adopt for himself the traditional formula that "laughter chastises the ways of life" (Laughter, I.2). I maintain that laughter, seen under this angle, simultaneously conveys an evaluation (commonly a depreciative one) and an immediately implemented punishment. This twofold nature makes of laughter a very specific kind of behavi…Read more
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9Kierkegaard et le comiqueIn Nicole Hatem (ed.), Kierkegaard, notre contemporain paradoxal,, Editions De La Faculté Des Lettres De L'université Saint-joseph. pp. 29-41. 2013.The article deals with Kierkegaard's conception of the comic and the role it plays in his thought. The background against which the issue must be tackled is Kierkegaard's critique of modernity: according to Kierkegaard, modernity is characterized by its objectifying tendencies, to which we must oppose the rediscovery of interiority. These two registers correspond to two different linguistic regimes: objectivity to direct communication, interiority to indirect communication. The latter can expres…Read more
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11Entre ignorance et savoir : le rôle des questions dans la connaissance humaineIn M. Malaguti & W. Tega (eds.), L'Action : penser l'action, agir la pensée - Actes du XXXIIIe Congrès de l'Association des Sociétés de philosophie de langue française (ASPLF), Venise, 17-21 août 2010, Vrin. pp. 543-547. 2013.The article deals with the role of questions in the process of acquiring knowledge. Starting from the classical definition of knowledge as true and justified opinion, the author shows how the justification of our opinions is based on an epistemic practice in which questions play a fundamental role. Before knowledge we have the stages of ignorance and uncertainty. The latter shows a disjunctive structure that is similar to that of questions. In order for questions to be asked a dimension of libid…Read more
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19Humour, éthique et communication indirecte: Réflexions à partir de S. KierkegaardStudia Philosophica 73 119-131. 2014.The authors begins with the observation that jokes can have a different moral import: some may even be edifying. Is humor therefore to be integrated into an overall moral perspective? One of the leading philosophers of the 19th century, S. Kierkegaard, pleaded for such an integration. The best way to understand why he took such a stand is to articulate the edifying jokes - or rather the humor that underlies them - in terms of Kierkegaard's notion of indirect communication. However, this pushes t…Read more
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20Le Beau – Actes du XXXVIe Congrès de l’Association des Sociétés de philosophie de langue française (ASPLF), Iaşi, 23-27 août 2016 (edited book)Editura Universităţii A. I. Cuza. 2018.Conference Proceedings (ASPLF Conference “Le Beau” in Iaşi, Romania, August 23-27, 2016). Sections: 1. Le beau dans l'histoire de la philosophie; 2. Le beau à travers les cultures; 3. Beauté de la pensée et beauté du langage; 4. Ontologie et métaphysique du beau; 5. Le beau dans la nature et dans la société; 6. Beauté, éthique, politique; 7. Les catégories esthétiques; 8. L'esthétique et la vie quotidienne; 9. Renouvellement et perspectives de l'esthétique. Conference sections: 1. The Beautiful …Read more
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36Le mouvement rétrograde du vrai et du possible chez BergsonIn Jean Ferrari, Sophie Grapotte & Abdeljlil Lahjomri (eds.), Le possible et l’impossible – Actes du XXXVe Congrès de l’Association des Sociétés de philosophie de langue française (ASPLF), Rabat, 26-30 août 2014, Vrin. pp. 345-348. 2017.The article proposes a comparison between the “retrograde” conception that Bergson has of truth and his atypical interpretation of the concept of possibility. These conceptions are developed in two articles collected in La pensée et le mouvant. The “retrograde” conception of truth starts from the observation of the temporal gap between an event and the formulation of the judgment that relates it and finds its condition of truth in it. The retrograde movement consists in putting aside the tempora…Read more
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38"Ah ! comme c’est fin" : réflexions sur l’esthétique de l’humourIn Petru Bejan & Daniel Schulthess (eds.), Le Beau – Actes du XXXVIe Congrès de l’Association des Sociétés de philosophie de langue française (ASPLF), Iaşi, 23-27 août 2016, Editura Universităţii A. I. Cuza. pp. 391-397. 2018.The article deals with the aesthetic dimension of humour. The author starts with Hannah Arendt’s distinction between labour as a set of tasks necessary for the reproduction of biological life and praxis as an expression of freedom. In the same way the humour would be detached from the “working communication” of everyday life. Humour represents a “break” with ordinary modes of communication. This is done through “transpositions”, which can take the form of objectual transpositions (which play on …Read more
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25Nietzsche métaéthicienRevue de Théologie Et de Philosophie 147 45-65. 2015.The author gives an account of how a set of themes that we nowadays call metaethics contributes to shaping Nietzsche’s approach to morality. Initially, moral judgement, or value judgement, in order to be acceptable for the philosopher, should be similar to a judgement made in the field of natural sciences. The impossibility of moral judgement to satisfy such a requirement precipitates the loss of morality, at least in Nietzsche’s “first way” (in Human too Human). The position thus joined comes w…Read more
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30Modes et modalités dans le système de droit naturel de Samuel Pufendorf (1632-1694)In Julien Dutant, Davide Fassio & Anne Meylan (eds.), Liber Amicorum Pascal Engel, Université De Genève. pp. 878-891. 2014.The article deals with the question of the relationship between physical modes and moral modes in Samuel Pufendorf’s theory of natural law. By distinguishing these two kinds of modes (which are both modes of natural substances) Pufendorf anticipates the “law of Hume”, according to which the is and the ought are incommensurable. According to Pufendorf, Grotius and Hobbes’ conception of the state of nature is at fault because these authors make natural law a fact that would not be accompanied by i…Read more
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35L'école écossaise et la philosophie d'expression française: le rôle de Pierre Prevost (Genève, 1751-1839)Annales Benjamin Constant 18 97-105. 1996.The article reconstructs the diffusion of the ideas of the Scottish philosophical school (Reid, Smith, Stewart) in France in the early nineteenth century and the role played by the Geneva philosopher Pierre Prevost. Prevost emphasizes the originality of the Scottish school compared with the French and German school in his writing “Reflections after my translation of the posthumous works of Adam Smith” of 1797. From at least 1792 already Prevost had begun a correspondence with Dugald Stewart, whi…Read more
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27Amiel et l’exigence de la justesseIn Nicole Hatem (ed.), Amiel et le Journal philosophique, Publications L’université Saint-joseph-faculté Des Lettres Et Sciences Humaines. pp. 47-61. 2017.The article deals with the concept of “justness” as it is treated by the Genevan psychologist Henri-Fréderic Amiel (1821-1881) in his Journal. Justness has its seat in the domain of “doing” rather than in the domain of “saying” or “thinking”: its non-propositional nature entails that one can “do just” while having false beliefs and vice-versa. The virtue of justness concerns the sphere of interpersonal interactions and goes hand in hand with moderation as virtue concerning the sphere of personal…Read more
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30Une généalogie de l’imperfection : la situation de l’homme au physique et au moral selon Charles SecrétanIn Nicole Hatem (ed.), Charles Secrétan philosophe de la liberté, Publications L’université Saint-joseph-faculté Des Lettres Et Sciences Humaines. pp. 63-74. 2015.The article focuses on the Philosophy of Freedom of the Swiss philosopher Charles Secrétan (1815-1895) and on the attempt to reconcile freedom as the fundamental experience for the human being with the alleged necessitarianism that would result from the positive sciences. The notion of “fall” as it is found in the Christian tradition allows Secrétan to rediscover an original dimension from which we can conceive the laws of nature as contingent. It is space and time that impose their constraints …Read more
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19Adam Smith et le compte rendu (1756) du Discours sur l’inégalité parmi les hommes de RousseauIn Michel-E. Slatkine (ed.), Vitam Impendere Vero : Hommage à Raymond Trousson et Frédéric S. Eigeldinger, Slatkine-champion. pp. 263-274. 2012.The article is about Adam Smith’s short account of J. J. Rousseau’s Deuxième Discours in a Letter to the Edinburgh Review (1756). Special attention is payed to how the report deals with its subject. Smith proposes a surprising rapprochement between Rousseau and Mandeville. Both deny the natural sociability of man (while recognizing his aptitude to pity others) and show the biased nature of the principles of civil life. The difference would be only “stylistic”: whereas the “aristocrat” Mandeville…Read more
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33Maine de Biran, interprète et critique de Thomas ReidIn Elisabetta Arosio & Michel Malherbe (eds.), Philosophie française et philosophie écossaise, 1750-1850, Vrin. pp. 39-51. 2007.The article focuses on the relationship between the psychology of Maine de Biran and the work of Thomas Reid. Maine de Biran confronts especially with the Inquiry of Reid, by adopting some central aspects of it but by criticizing and radicalizing it. Continuity is to be found in the distinction, adopted by Maine de Biran, that Reid makes between sensations and perceptions, the latter being the basis of judgements of externality. But according to Maine de Biran Reid’s analysis of the notions of e…Read more
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7Rire de l'ignorance? (Platon, Philèbe 48a-50e)In Marie-Laurence Desclos (ed.), Le rire des Grecs: Anthropologie du rire en Grèce ancienne, Millon. pp. 309-318. 2000.The article deals with Plato’s analysis of the phenomenon of comedy in the Philebus (48a-50e). The laughter aroused by comic spectacles is an example of a purely psychic pleasure mixed with pain. The analysis is articulated in three stages: a) 48b-c: starting from envy (φθόνος) as a form of pain of the soul, it is shown that one can experience pleasure in the face of the ills of those whom we envy; b) 48c-49c: the ridicule (γελοῖον) of the comic characters stems from the fact that they don’t kno…Read more
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10Le bonheur et le hasardStudia Philosophica 56 115-123. 1997.The article explores the relationship between the (etymologically related) notions of haphazardness and happiness in the history of Western philosophy. Although a certain popular wisdom sees in happiness a product of the vagaries of life, philosophers have rather tried to decouple the pursuit of happiness from the haphazard. We can distinguish two ways: the way of the Ancients tries to redefine the parameters of a happy life so as to remove it from haphazardness as much as possible (Aristotle) o…Read more
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20L'impact de la philosophie écossaise sur la dialectique enseignée à Genève: un cours latin inédit (1793-1794) de Pierre PrevostIn Denis Knoepfler (ed.), Nomen latinum: Mélanges offerts à André Schneider, Neuchâtel, Faculté des lettres, Droz. pp. 383-390. 1997.The article is about a course of dialectic in Latin language that Pierre Prevost (1751-1839) had prepared for the use of the students of the Académie de Genève. This document testifies to the reception of the Scottish philosophy, especially of Reid, by Prevost. On the model of the Logique de Port-Royal the course is articulated in a part on the art of exposing truths already reached (the dialectic properly speaking: ideas, judgements, reasoning) and in a part on the discovery of new truths (the …Read more
Areas of Interest
17th/18th Century Philosophy |