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.     

Leibniz, Wolff et la Métaphysique Traitée Selon la Méthode Scientifique

Wolff’s philosophy is often defined by commentators as « dogmatic leibnizism ». However, if we try to read the expression in a positive light, we discover what exactly distinguishes Wolff’s metaphysics from that of Leibniz, thereby establishing Wolff’s real contribution to the history of thought. First of all, the notion of « dogma » presented in Wolff’s philosophy is analyzed. This notion recalls the demonstrative model provided by mathematics and especially, Euclid’s Elements. According to axiomatic patterns, ontology is thought of as the « first philosophy ». This aspect cannot be separated from the function of a posteriori knowledge in Wolff’s thinking. This permits us to comprehend the function of ontology, Wolff’s cosmology, and his invention of the notion of « teleology ».     

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.     

Poteries anciennes décorées à la roulette dans la Région des Grands Lacs

Résumé L'article propose une classification générale de la poterie ancienne décorée à la roulette, dans la Région des Grands Lacs et en Afrique de l'Est. Un premier groupe de poterie, appelé ici W, caractérisé principalement par la roulette torsadée, est produit vraisemblablement dèsca 800 AD; cette poterie pourrait avoir été diffusée de la région Est vers la zone interlacustre par le sud du Lac Victoria. L'hypothèse que le groupe W est associé à des populations de langues sud-nilotiques permet de reconsidérer les débuts du Deuxième Age du fer en Afrique interlacustre. Cet article suggère l'installation de groupes de pasteurs sud-nilotes dans la zone interlacustre; leurs rapports avec les autochtones sont examinés, en particulier le cas du Rwanda.Le groupe X (roulette nouée) apparaît en Ouganda dans les premiers siècles du second millénaire, suivi du groupe Y (roulette torsadée fine); à partir de 1500 AD, ils remplacent le groupe W dans la région interlacustre. Dans cet ensemble céramique, que l'on sait associé à des groupes de langues ouest-nilotiques venus du nord, une distinction est suggérée entre trois styles régionaux, qui sont mis en relation avec l'histoire des migrations de leurs producteurs.

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This article offers a general classification of the ancient roulette-decorated pottery from the Great Lakes Region and from East Africa. A first pottery group, here named W, mainly characterised by twisted string roulette, appears as early asca 800 AD; this pottery might have been introduced to the interlacustrine area from the east and south of Lake Victoria. The hypothesis that the W group was associated with speakers of Southern-Nilotic languages is relevant to our view of the beginning of the Late Iron Age in interlacustrine Africa. This article suggests the establishment of pastoralist groups of Southern-Nilotic speakers in the interlacustrine zone and also examines their contacts with local populations, giving special attention to Rwanda.The X group (knotted string roulette) appears in Uganda in the first centuries of the second millennium, followed by the Y group (thin twisted string roulette). Fromca 1500 AD these groups replaced the W group in the interlacustrine area. In these last groups, which are associated with Western-Nilotes coming from the north, a distinction is made between three regional styles which are further correlated with the history of their makers.

     

L'éternel retour de la transcendance

This article reflects on the feminist potential of a contemporary form of French female cinema stardom that John Orr (2004) names ‘free-fall’. According to Orr, free-fall is a genre of female stardom that has come to prominence in French cinema at the end of the twentieth century and the start of the twenty-first. The free-fall star embarks on a journey of ‘ontological descent’, self-destruction and Kristevan abjection, but we cannot know her reasons for such actions. This article considers the gendered implications of the free-fall star with reference to her portrayal and modification of past French literary heroines in the genre of heritage cinema. It considers her presence in two film adaptations of Gustave Flaubert's literary ?uvre: Madame Bovary (Chabrol, 1991) with Isabelle Huppert, and Un C?ur simple (Laine, 2008) with Sandrine Bonnaire. The mystique of the free-fall star-text potentially challenges a modernist construction of femininity as the lowbrow Other of highbrow pioneering, but its feminist credentials cannot simply be taken for granted.     

Diversité des réactions réformées à la révocation

Starting from the analysis of the reactions of the Protestant groups to the Fontainebleau edict, this paper examines the development of two main concepts that are at the origin of political modernity, i.e. the distinction between religious and political domains on the one hand, and the popular sovereignty on the other. These two concepts emerged separately as a result of crossed and apparently paradoxal thoughts, whose coherence is to be sought in the anthropological positions underlying them. Therefore the study of the theological debates in the XVII^th century is a way by which the modern political concepts arose.     

La tolérance et la crainte

La tolérance, telle que l'entend l'édit de Nantes, est un pis-aller. Les partis catholiques et réformés s'accordent sur l'idée que la tolérance est provisoire, car la restauration de l'unité religieuse doit demeurer la visée. Mais les réformés, minoritaires, sont en position défensive. Beaucoup parmi eux pensent que la tolérance ne tiendra que s'ils continuent de se faire craindre des catholiques. D'où la promotion, par Agrippa d'Aubigné, de l'esprit de résistance. Mais les forces armées protestantes sont réduites en 1629. En fonction de ce nouveau contexte, Moyse Amyraut, tout en professant un parfait loyalisme à l'égard du monarque catholique, sera amené à formuler les linéaments d'une nouvelle théorie de la tolérance, selon laquelle la tolérance n'est plus une grace temporaire, mais un droit.     

Droit et Théologie Dans la Pensée Scolastique

What place is made for the right of men in a christian society? We will first study the entry of right in exegesis, with Hugues de Saint-Cher, than the case, privileged, of the oath and lie, analyzed here in the work of Jean Olivi (ca 1280). We will see emerging the notions of engagement and obligation — toward our neighbor and toward God. The obligation is realized through the pronunciation of words which take precedence over all other circumstance of the act. It rests upon the recognition of a norm which refers back not only to expressed propositions, but also to implications implicit in a community.     

Questions ethnographiques et mathématiques de la préhistoire

The study of the mathematics of prehistory cannot be founded on bare archeological data alone; it may be useful to set the archeological documents in context, with the help of comparative ethnography, according to which our own contemporaray or near-contemporary primitive societies can help us understand our prehistoric ancestors. Although once used spontaneously by several historians of mathematics, this approach has been rejected on principle by the recent school of ethnomathematicians. This paper sets out to show, by means of a certain number of examples, that the method can nonetheless yield rewards: on the one hand because it demolishes the fantastic theories so fondly constructed by certain mathematicians, and on the other because it opens up a vast field of research which has so far been vitually unexplored.     

L'impérialisme institutionnel et la question de la race chez Aristote

In the wake of the current revival of the historiography of racism, this article focuses on the claim that Aristotle is the progenitor of the concept in the West. If a purely textual analysis of Aristotelian political writings can lead to such a conclusion, the historicising of these writings leads to a different result. Rejecting the idea that the normative function of the work of Aristotle is limited to the Athenian polis, this article demonstrates that the imperial context should serve as an ‘available light’ by which the meaning of certain Aristotelian key concepts, including nature, the ‘divine man’ and the natural slave. In doing so, the central role of prohairesis in Aristotle's conception of human nature is highlighted.