La légende de Śāntideva

Sans résumé A propos de Amalia Pezzali, {Śāntideva, mystique bouddhiste des VIIe et VIIIe siècles}, Firenze, Vallecchi Editore, 1968. USA $7.80.     

L’autobiographie allemande du XVIIIe siècle,interprétée à la lumière de la sociologie de niklas Luhmann

With the help of Luhmann’s theory, this essay tries to define the connection between the boom of autobiographical writing in the late 18th century and the rise of the middle classes. Central to this, is his definition of “career”, with which he describes the individuals’ behaviour in the new functional bourgeois society. Strictly speaking, the individual gains personal and social identity, through his or her spoken or written autobiography as can be seen clearly in Jung-Stilling’s autobiography, which was published bit by bit. The individual hereby improves its prospects of social advancement. On the other hand, K. P. Moritz in hisAnton Reiser describes his hero’s life as the “career” of a failure whose hyperactive imagination interferes with the formation of his identity. Thus autobiographical writing in the 18th century shows itself as the literary autopoiesis of the authors’ concrete individuality.     

L’épistémologie Transversale D’ettore Majorana

« Il valore delle leggi statistiche nella fisica e nelle scienze sociali » is Ettore Majorana’s only work on science. It offers a critique of classical determinism, establishing an analogy between the laws of quantum mechanics and social science and arguing that both are intrinsically linked to probability. This article first studies this argument from the standpoing of metaphysics, physics, and sociology, and then assesses the significance of this transversal epistemology.     

Aspects de la Fatigue Dans L’anthropologie Médiévale

Psychosomatic sympton of the sinful human soul, progress of natural and progressive wear of the psychic or corporeal machinery, exclusive property of the world of bodies or place of the obligatory link between the intellect and the body, fatigue crosses the philosophical and theological medieval literature. The various treatments of fatigue can, in their turn, serve as symptoms to differentiate the medieval anthropologies. This article presents four of their figures: the anthropology of danger elaborated by Augustin, greek and arabe medical diagnosis which is passed on the ^{xi th} century, and the readings of Aristotle’s psychology by Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas in the xiii ^th century.     

A la recherche du “récit de l'Arche”: à la recherche de Saül. De Shilo à Gibea

ABSTRACT

Depuis l'étude fameuse de Rost, le “récit de l'Arche” est devenu une unité narrative indépendante dans le premier livre de Samuel. Les travaux successifs ont toutefois peu à peu ruiné la cohérence de cette unité en lui enlevant son aboutissement avec David à Jérusalem (2 S 6) et même en la faisant commencer dès 1 S 2. S'il apparaît opportun de faire débuter le récit avant 1 S 4, pour garder le contexte de Shilo et du prêtre Éli, on peut alors tenter de le faire dès 1 S 1. Pour cela, il importe de lire le récit de naissance de ce premier chapitre non comme étant celui de Samuel mais comme celui de Saül. En effet, les indices littéraires de ce texte montrent que le nom “Samuel” ne correspond pas au contexte narratif. Or, comme Samuel est totalement absent du “récit de l'Arche”, on peut dès lors proposer une lecture des premiers chapitres sans ce personnage, pas en délimitant des unités narratives indépendantes mais en recherchant une strate rédactionnelle ancienne. De cette manière, ce “récit de l'Arche” devient bien plus un “récit d'accession au pouvoir de Saül”, récit qui nous mène de Shilo (1 S 1; 4) à Gibea (1 S 7,1; 10; 14), en passant par Rama et son voyant anonyme (1 S 9).     

Le Débat Wolffien Sur L’Idéalisme de Leibniz Lors de la Première Diffusion de la Monadologie Latine

This paper proposes a reconstruction of the Wolffian debate on Leibniz’s idealism arising from the initial response to Leibniz’s Monadology. This reconstruction requires us to revisit some problems central to the debate: an inaccurate translation of a term in the latin Monadology («le composé» is translated as «substantia composita»); status of body as composed substance; status of elements as simple substances from which bodies result (which goes against the Cartesian conception of substance); status of Leibnizian notions of perception, force and pre-established harmony; status of experience as a holistic and systematic process (which goes against its conception and the tabula rasa in Locke) in the Wolffian response and system. A thorough examination of the founding texts of the response (Bilfinger and Wolff) allows us to reconsider the relation between Leibniz and Wolff from a new perspective.     

La fabrique de la perpétuité

TheTrésor des chartes is probably one of the best preserved single collection of archives of the ancient French monarchy. Paradoxically, however, it was never part of a central record office in the modern sense. This large and confused mass of documentation slowly emerged as a records collection during the XIII^th century. Although it seemed to follow the construction of a State administration, it was already inactive by the middle of the XIV^th century. Its records and charters, prestigious and inaccessible, were kept in the Sainte-Chapelle of Paris, close to the relics of the Passion bought by Louis the Ninth. As a record of the past it played a crucial role in the social construction of a notion of «perpetuity» suitable to the domanial and dynastic ideals of the monarchy. The ambiguities of this medieval heritage became obvious in the early modern period. Although there were a large number of inventories and classifications of theTrésor des chartes, it was never able to incorporate the other State records. The Republic inherited a majestic sanctuary which can certainly be described as a piece of shared memory, but which is unable to summarize the genesis of the Nation.     

Algérie: Les retours de la mémoire de la guerre d'indépendance

After independence, the history of national liberation in Algeria was largely managed by the single-party state. Founding figures of Algerian nationalism such as Messali Hadj and Ferhat Abbas were shrouded in silence. Since 1988 a plurality of voices has emerged and a number of historic figures have been rehabilitated. The state of quasi-civil war which has existed since 1992 between government forces and Islamic insurgents has, nevertheless, continued to inhibit discussion of human rights abuses during the war of independence. The recent resurgence in France of the debate over the use of torture during the Algerian war has been largely ignored by the Algerian government. The status of harkis , Algerian Muslims who fought on the side of the French during the war of independence, also remains acutely sensitive in official Algerian circles. Events such as the 'Berber Spring' of 2001 are continuing to press the authorities towards greater openness.     

Du ‘géant remueur de terre’ à ‘Monsieur jardine’: valorisation et dévalorisation des images de la terre à la Belle Époque

Images of the Earth in Belle Époque fiction are frequently called upon to express an author's view of what defines an individual's relationship to self, history, and society. This article focuses on two examples whose significance is highlighted by the fact that the authors have radically opposed ideologies. In Diary of a Chambermaid (1900), Octave Mirbeau uses the provincial backyard garden satirically, as a site where society's repressed, sadistic and anal impulses are let loose. By contrast, René Bazin's highly conservative Donatienne (1903) illustrates the author's Catholic belief in the biblical sanctity of the relationship between a man and his native place. How uniquely relevant to the representation of the fictional Subject these images are is further demonstrated by the fact that women are unapologetically excluded from them. As it happens, these novels' female protagonists are both domestic servants, whose defining relationship is not to the Earth where they were born, but—second in the order of Creation—to the home where they live.