L'histoire des sciences et l'enseignement scientifique

In the second half of the xix^th century, Victor Duruy introduces a remarkable innovation by founding a composition on method and history of science in the three scientificagrégations (mathematics, physical sciences, natural sciences). Subjects have been collected and place allowed to history, after the suppression of this test, is analyzed. At the beginning of the xx^th century, the history of science has disappeared fromagrégation, but training teachers in history of science still appears as a necessity and requests are made to include the discipline in their curriculum. Introduction of the history of science might contribute to abolish drastic partitions between different topics and the history of scientific education would give masters distance towards matter they teach.     

L'utile de l'entendement et l'utile de l'action

In the xv^th and xvi^th centuries the Humanist movement transformed the curriculum into a form more apt to the needs of the new student population of the arts. In particular, what was the actual utility of mathematics in the new encyclopedia? It is Ramus who gave the most explicit answer: after the fall of aristotelian ontology, nobody could count anymore on the classical distinction between theory and practice, between speculation and action, but it was necessary to introduce a new order founded on the most fundamental human knowledge,mathesis. This is the first and irreplaceable utility of mathematics. The mathematical arts traditionally belonging to mathematics are reformed within this new encyclopedia and the humanist is supposed to know their principles and their utility for action.     

L'urne et le pot de chambre

Résumé  En 1931, Ludwig Wittgenstein a identifié l'architecte et le critique culturel Adolf Loos comme une des dix personnes qui ont exercé la plus grande influence sur son développement intellectuel. Dans cet article est examinée l'influence de Loos sur Wittgenstein, en particulier son importance dans le projet de Wittgenstein pour la maison de sa sœur, ainsi que celle exercée sur les idées concernant la langue et l'éthique exprimées dans leTractacus. In 1931, Ludwig Wittgenstein identified the architect and cultural critic Adolf Loos as one of the ten people who had exerted the greatest influence on his intellectual development. In this article, I examine Loos's influence on Wittgenstein's design for his sister's house and also on the ideas about language and ethics set out by Wittgenstein in theTractatus. JohnHyman, né en 1960, estfellow au Queen's College d'Oxford. Il a publié de nombreux articles concernant l'épistémologie, la philosophie de l'esprit, l'esthétique et la philosophie de Wittgenstein. Son prochain livre, intituléThe Objective Eye. Colour, form and reality in the theory of art (L'Œil objectif. La couleur, la forme et la réalité dans la théorie de l'art), sera publié par les Presses de l'université de Chicago en 2006.     

L'histoire du Consulat et de l'Empire

Barrès, M., Les Diverses Familles spirituelles de la France (Imprimerie nationale, 1997), 215 pp., 170F., ISBN 2 7433 0120 1

Bodin, L., Les Intellectuels existent‐ils? (Bayard Editions, 1997), 202 pp., 130F., ISBN 2 227 13702 9

Gide, A. and Paulhan, J., Correspondance 1918–1951. Cahiers Jean Paulhan IX (Gallimard, 1998), 356 pp., 160F., ISBN 2 07 075119 8

Hanna, M., The Mobilization of Intellect: French Scholars and Writers during the Great War (Harvard University Press, 1996), 292 pp., £25.50, ISBN 0 674 57755 8

Malaquais, J., Journal de guerre, suivi de Journal du métèque (Phébus, 1997), 333 pp., 135F., ISBN 2 85940 463 5

Pagès, A., 13 janvier 1898. J'accuse...! (Perrin, 1998), 293 pp, 119F., ISBN 2 262 012873

Verdès‐Leroux, J., Refus et violences. Politique et littérature à l'extrême droite des années trente aux retombées de la Libération (Gallimard, 1996), 514 pp., 190F., ISBN 2 07 073224 X

Winock, M., Le Siècle des intellectuels (Seuil, 1997), 695 pp., 149F., ISBN 2 02 030063 X     

Le gaullisme et la crise de l'Etat

The heritage of 1789 left French politicians and political analysts with the complex task of reconciling the two antithetical ideals of the Revolution: the desire to make the nation the sole political arbiter through its representatives with the need to maintain its unity. The history of France from 1789 to de Gaulle reflects France's fearfulness toward a strong executive as well as its fundamental mistrust in the people's capacity to maintain the cohesion of the nation and serve the general will. Here it is argued that de Gaulle overcame these contradictions by retaining French liberalism's emphasis on a dual executive, while the Bonapartist ideal of a strong executive could, erroneously, appear to be de Gaulle's deliberate choice. Finally it is argued that 'cohabitation', the debate surrounding the duration of the presidential mandate and the changing attitude toward France's relationship to the Vichy regime, reveal transformations proper to the French state in the late 20th century as much as a crisis of Gaullism and the loss of its basic meaning.     

Varii Carmen Epicum de Actis Caesaris et agrippae

The principle of alternation, according to which human happiness is unstable and subject to change, is characteristic of the archaic world-view, as represented especially in epic and tragedy. In epinician, the principle retains its pessimistic orientation, but emphasizes by contrast the value of whatever happiness humans can achieve. Bacchylides' epinicia share this background, but his odes for non-tyrants are sparing in their use of vicissitude foil. In the two major odes (3 and 5) for Hieron of Syracuse, however, the motif of alternation appears in a somewhat different guise, in that both the negative and the positive aspects are deepened. These odes are darker in their use of vicissitude foil, yet hold out stronger hopes of overcoming vicissitude than the odes for non-tyrant victors. They present Hieron with analogues, in the form of Heracles (in 5), Croesus, and Admetus (in 3), for exceptional and greater possibilities, the possibility of overcoming vicissitude in a final and positive change of fortune, a possibility sustained by sufficient reminiscences of the language of mystery cult to allow us to make a link to Hieron's attested interest in his own post-mortem existence.