Sociability,Perfectibility and the Intellectual Legacy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Abstract

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the concept of sociability was used mainly to refer to the putative range of primary human qualities or capabilities that preceded—or existed independently of—the formation of political societies. This article is an examination of the impact of Rousseau's thought on this then standard usage. Its initial focus is on Rousseau's concept of perfectibility and its bearing on the thought of Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet, and Friedrich Schlegel. Its broader aim is to show how their respective responses to Rousseau were part of a more deep-seated transformation of the concept of sociability itself.     

The Debate on Economic and Social Security in the Late Eighteenth Century: Lessons ofa Road Not Taken

The laissez faire political economy of the late eighteenth century was marked by two sharply opposing views of the relation between social security or insecurity and economic growth: one associated with Adam Smith, Turgot and Condorcet; and another associated with Malthus. The latter school, with its faith in the motivating force of insecurity and fear, has been the more influential in subsequent economic thought. But, contrary to prevailing neoliberal stereotypes, Smith, Turgot and Condorcet had much to say to modern students of economics concerning the necessary and positive relationship between social security and economic development. This essay explores their vision of how to improve the life chances of the disadvantaged.     

Civiltà, Dal Singolare al Plurale

Résumé  Près de quatre-vingt ans se sont écoulés depuis que Lucien Febvre a pris part à la première Semaine de synthèse, consacrée à la Civilisation. Le mot et l’idée. Avec le succès du ? choc ? de Samuel Huntington et le 11 septembre 2001, l’attaque terroriste des Twin Towers, l’usage du terme s’est largement diffusé. On rencontre ainsi toujours plus fréquemment le couple de concepts: civilisation et barbarie. La civilisation est déclinée au singulier, selon un ethnocentrisme exclusif et chargé de tendances antagonistes. Aujourd’hui ce cadre de réfexion s’est non seulement compliqué mais il est devenu confus. Dès lors une clarification est indispensable. Il convient, par conséquent, de poser ce problème et de saisir le terme de ? civilisation ? entre singulier et pluriel.

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Civiltà, Dal Singolare al Plurale Riflessioni attuali in occasione della traduzione italiana di Civilisation. Le Mot et l’idée (1930)

Riassunto  Sono trascorsi quasi ottanta anni, da quando Lucien Febvre ha partecipato alla prima Semaine de synthèse, su Civilisation. Le mot et l’idée. Con la fortuna dello ? shock ? di Samuel Huntington e l’11 settembre 2001, l’attacco terroristico alle Twin Towers, si è diffuso l’uso del termine. Sempre più si propone la coppia di concetti: civiltà e barbarie. E declinata, la civiltà, al singolare, secondo un etnocentrismo escludente e gravido di tendenze antagonistiche. Oggi che il quadro si è non solo complicato, ma soprattutto confuso, il chiarimento è indispensabile. è perciò da quella impostazione che occorre prendere le mosse, di comprendere la voce ? civiltà ? dal singolare al plurale.

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Vittorio Dini è professore di storia del pensiero politico e direttore del dipartimento di sociologia e scienza della politica presso l’università di Salerno (via Ponte don Melillo, I-84 084 Fisciano, Salerno, dini@unisa.it). Dirige la collana ?Civiltà? presso l’editore Colonnese di Napoli e ha pubblicato, segnatamente, una edizione italiana di Condorcet, Riflessioni sulla schiavitù dei negri (Napoli, Colonnese, 2003); un saggio ?Il Mediterraneo e le civiltà. Le storie; la storia? à in corso di stampa in una miscellanea per Augusto Placanica (Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino).     

Apology of Liberty in Lettres sur les ouvrages et le caractère de J.-J. Rousseau: Mme de Staël's Contribution to the Discourse on Natural Sociability

This article analyses Mme de Staël's ideas on liberty as they were expressed in Lettres sur les ouvrages et le caractère de J.-J. Rousseau of 1788–1789. Lettres sur les ouvrages et le caractère de J.-J. Rousseau was a reaction to highly polemical debates on liberty that originated in the discourse on natural sociability and that existed in the Parisian salon society between the 1770s and 1780s. Staël combined the two opposing philosophical and economic viewpoints, by the philosophes and Rousseau on the one hand and by Necker and the economists on the other, into a set of liberal values applicable to a new political era despite some self-contradictions. As such, Staël sustained the intellectual legacy of the French enlightenment into revolutionary France.     

Liberal Education and the Study of Politics in a Catholic University

Abstract

Rousseau seems to exemplify an understanding of the philosophic life in general and the quest for self-knowledge in particular as a solitary enterprise. An examination of the Confessions, however, reveals that Rousseau holds that the most important discoveries about ourselves are made not in solitude, but with others. It is furthermore the case that, for Rousseau, the philosophic quest to truly know oneself entails the public articulation of one's self-understanding as a part of a comprehensive account of human things, a social activity fraught with political implications. Therefore, the problem of self-knowledge in Rousseau's thought should be understood as a social and political problem (albeit not a problem with a political solution). That this is so even for the famously solitary Rousseau tells us something important both about the thought of that philosopher and about the quest for self-knowledge as such.     

Les Fausses Confidences et “L'intendant de Qualité”

In Pierre Bourdieu's Les règles de l'art, Gustave Flaubert and Frédéric Moreau emerge as the ancestors of twentieth-century intellectuals, whose relative autonomy rests on a complex interplay of economic and political factors. What happens if one uses Bourdieu's discussion of L'éducation sentimentale as a model for analyzing an earlier pair of novels that also map out Parisian culture and society from the point of view of a young man who fails? Balzac's Illusions perdues and Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes offer a panorama of Parisian culture that, at least at first glance, bears a striking resemblance to the world of L'éducation sentimentale as seen through Bourdieu's lens.     

Feminism from Amsterdam to Brussels in 1891: Political Transfer as Transformation

Although the fact has been completely forgotten on both sides of the Dutch–Belgian border, careful historical reconstruction enables us to perceive the origins of organized feminism in Belgium as a case of political transfer from Amsterdam to Brussels. For it was the spectacular appearance that Dutch feminist Wilhelmina Drucker put in at the Brussels Congress of the Second Socialist International in 1891 that sparked off a first wave of feminist organizing in Belgium. However, this specific case of political transfer, with its many dissimilarities between political actors and political frames, forces us to review critically some assumptions basic to the field. Political transfer may not be so much about attribution of similarity leading to imitation, as about the certification of actors in highly volatile political situations. In that case political transfer should be conceived not as wholesale importation of ‘foreign’ political practices, but as a reinvention of all elements of a political configuration interdependently and relationally, so as to let actors, frames, political styles and the articulation of political claims emerge transformed through contention.

Résumé:?Bien que la chose soit occultée des deux cotés de la frontière Belgo–hollandaise, une analyse des origines nous permet de présenter les origines du féminisme Belge comme un cas de transfert politique d'Amsterdam à Bruxelles. La présence spectaculaire de la féministe hollandaise Wilhelmina Drucker au congrès de Bruxelles de la Seconde Internationale Socialiste de 1891 fut le point de départ d'une première vague de féminisme organisée en Belgique. Cependant ce cas de transfert politique avec ses divergences entre acteurs et cadres politiques nous oblige à remettre en question les termes du concept de transfert politique. Le pivot du transfer politique est peut-être moins la similarité ou l'imitation des acteurs que leur lutte pour reconnaissance dans des circonstances changeantes. Dans ce cas, le transfert politique est moins une importation de pratiques étrangères mais plutôt une réinvention des termes interdépendants d'une situation politique de sorte que tous les éléments, les acteurs, les cadres, les styles politiques et les revendications en sortent transformés.     

Tom Paine: The greatest exile

In this contribution, I reassess the opposition between Saint-Pierre's idealism and Rousseau's realism. Rousseau accuses Saint-Pierre of having a defect in his analysis and political judgement which, if he had been consistent, would have led to a revolutionary position in the strong sense – a position of which the author of The Social Contract himself disapproved. In short, not only was Saint-Pierre far from being a convinced absolutist; Rousseau's own writings on the Abbé do not advocate a ‘republican solution’, which he regarded as impracticable for the Europe of his time.     

The long road to religious toleration: Emeric Crucé predecessor of the enlightenment

ABSTRACT

Le Nouveau Cynée has been neglected and little cited by Anglo-American historians of political thought, and its author, Emeric Crucé, considered a secondary figure and nearly forgotten. Why is he largely ignored if his book offers the broadest notion of toleration of its time, along with new and original proposals to make peace and organize the world without distinction as to religion and race? Indeed, his peace plan compared with Sully’s, Saint-Pierre’s or Leibniz’s was the only one not addressed exclusively to Christians, but which incorporated all kinds of people, no matter what their religion was. And he did so at a time when the Turks were considered by Christian kings to be their natural enemies, since their threat to Christianity was constant. Besides, his concept of toleration goes beyond that of the so-called champions of toleration of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries such as Locke, Pierre Bayle, Voltaire, Rousseau or Kant. Thus, he can be regarded, along with Spinoza, as one of the most tolerant authors prior to Enlightenment.     

CLOSED WINDOWS, OPEN DOORS: GEOPOLITICS and POST-1949 MAINLAND CHINESE IMMIGRATION TO CANADA

Since 1949 there have been dramatic changes in the flow of migrants from Mainland China to Canada, which existing structural models of migration, emphasizing factors in the destination country, do not fully capture. Conditions in the country of origin, and geopolitical relationships between China and Canada, played a decisive role in this migration. Even though Canada in theory opened a window for family reunification in the postwar era by removing long-standing discriminatory clauses blocking Chinese immigration, in practice cold war geopolitics led the Chinese to shut that window, blocking nearly all emigation. Changing geopolitical circumstances led China to develop an open-door policy between 1973 and 1989, leading to increasing flows of migrants to Canada. The political response in Canada to the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 was to allow all Chinese students and workers in Canada to stay, if they so wished, under the om-is-399 Policy. The result was a large inflow making mcis the third-largest group of immigrants to Canada in the early 1990s. Des mutations dramatiques aux flux des immigrants de la Chine au Canada ont eu lieu depuis 1949 qui ne sontpas entierement expliqués par les modèles actuels de la structure de migration. Des circonstances dans le pays ?origine ainsi que des rapports géopolitiques entre la Chine et le Canada ont joués un role decisif dans ces fluxs. Bien que le Canada ait commencéà enlever des dispositions discriminatoires qui bloquaient ?immigra-tion de ?après-guerre aux chinois, permettant théorique-ment la réunion des families, en pratique la géopolitique de la guerre froide a persuadé la Chine de refuser cette occasion, en barrant le chemin à presque tous les émigrants. Entre 1973 et 1989 des changements aux circonstances géopolitiques en Chine ont encouragé une ouverture vers ?extérieur, qui à entraîné une augmentation des émigrants au Canada. La réponse du Canada au massacre de la Place Tiananmen en 1989 a été de per-mettre à tous les étudiants et travailleurs chinois qui se trouvaient au Canada ?y rester, s'ils le voulaient, sous la proposition om-is-399. Le résultat a éte un grand flux ?immigrants au Canada, ce qui a mis les chinois conti-nentaux au troisième rang au début des années quatre-vingt-dix. Mots-clés: migration, géopolitique, réunification de famille, la République populaire de Chine, ?incident de la place Tiananmen, la politique OM-IS-399.     

Jacob Vernet and ‘The Religious Enlightenment’: ‘Rational Calvinism’, the Pastors of Geneva and the French philosophes

Summary

In this article I react to dismissive remarks made about my Jacob Vernet, Geneva and the philosophes (1994) in a recent book by David Sorkin, The Religious Enlightenment (2008). Vernet, a distinguished Genevan pastor and theologian, who fell foul of d'Alembert, Voltaire and Rousseau, is one of six figures studied by Sorkin, who claims that the religious dimension of the Enlightenment has been much underestimated and that the philosophes were considerably less significant than has usually been thought. Reacting to the accusation that my treatment of Vernet's theology was superficial and unreliable, I reconsider the latter's major theological works (including his Traité de la vérité de la religion chrétienne, Instruction chrétienne, and Pièces fugitives sur l'eucharistie) in an attempt to validate my previous interpretation, and illustrate that Vernet refused to acknowledge ideas that he had actually published. The second part of the article draws more general conclusions, pointing out spectacular errors in Sorkin's depiction of eighteenth-century Geneva and arguing that he has a clear agenda, which, in my opinion, is wrong-headed, easy to refute and—above all—often based on gratuitous accusations and statements lacking any evidence.     

SPATIAL AUTOCORRELATION and EIGENFUNCTIONS OF THE GEOGRAPHIC WEIGHTS MATRIX ACCOMPANYING GEO-REFERENCED DATA

Gaining a better understanding of spatial data and a deeper meaning of spatial statistical results gleaned from geo-referenced data requires a more complete knowledge of properties of the underlying geometry. This paper addresses these two topics by further investigating important geometric features of spatial data. The importance of this work is expressed in the geographic information system literature regarding representations of geographic space, as well as various geographic literatures concerned with spatial statistical modelling. Answers to three questions are obtained here. One asks whether or not those eigenvectors associated with the three largest eigenvalues of a binary geographic weights matrix have natural interpretations. A second question asks whether or not the eigenvalues of a geographic weights matrix prove useful in understanding the sampling distribution for spatial autocorrelation in a given geographic landscape. A third question addresses the issue of spatial autocorrelation components of geo-refer-enced phenomena. The analysis summarized in this paper documents responses to these three questions. Empirical evidence is gleaned from both Canadian urban census tract data and the square tessellations of remotely sensed data. Afin ?obtenir une meilleure compréhension de données spatiales et un sens plus approfondi de résultats statistiques spatiaux découlant de données spatialisées, il faut une connaissance plus complète des propriétés de la géométrie sous-jacente. La présente étude porte sur ces deux sujets en étudiant plus avant des caractéristiques géométriques importantes des données spatiales. La pertinence de ce travail est confirmée par la littérature sur les systèmes ?information géographique concernant des représentations de ?espace géographique, ainsi que par divers courants de la littérature gégraphique portant sur la modélisation statistique spatiale. Des réponses À donneràtrois questions ont pu être obtenues dans ce travail. Tout ?abord ?on se demande si les vecteurs propres associe's aux trois plus grandes valeurs propres ?une matrice gégraphique binaire de pondération ont des interprétations naturelles. Une deuxième question portant sur les valeurs propres ?une matrice géographique de pondération concerne leur utilityé pour la compréhension de la distribution ?échantillonnage de ?auto-corrélation spatiale sur un paysage gégraphique données Une troisième question concerne le problème de la composition de ?autocorrélation spatiale présente dans des données spatialisées. L ‘analyse résumée dans la présente étude comporte des éléments de réponseaG ces trios questions. Une démonstration empirique est faite à partir de données du recensement urbain canadien à?échelle des secteurs, et à partir de la mosaïque carrée habituelle de données satellitaires. Mots-clés: Fonctions propres, Géometrie, données spatialisées, autocorrelation spatiale, statistique spatiale, partition de surfaces     

AN ASSESSMENT OF COPING WITH ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS IN NORTHERN ABORIGINAL COMMUNITIES

Impressions of the north, its landscape, and people are drawn largely from public images, not personal experience, making misconceptions commonplace among non-residents. The objective of this research is to improve our understanding of how communities cope with flood hazards through an assessment of the complex integration of traditional knowledge, community evolution, and modern technologies. This intersection of forces could influence vulnerability to natural hazards and affect preparedness and response. Field investigations were conducted in Aklavik, N.W.T., Attawapiskat, Ontario, and Fort Hard, N.W.T. as case studies. Central to the research design are distinctions between perceptions, attitudes, and activities at three operational levels: individual; communal; governmental - and an appreciation of how these levels interrelate in response to flood hazards. The research findings confirm the crucial value of local environmental knowledge, identify the influence of changing social structures on community vulnerability, and underline the jurisdictionally integrated character of disaster response. Le plus souvent, les impressions du nord, de son paysage et de ses peuples sont le résultat ?images percues par le grand public et non pas ?expériences vécues, et de ce fait, les impressions erronëes sont assez fréquentes chez les non-résidents. ?objet de la présente recherche est deàmieux comprendre les solutions trouvées par les com-munautés face aux inondations et ce, en analysant toute la complexité de /‘intégration des connaissances traditionnelles, de ?évolution communautaire et des technologies modernes. Ce regroupement des forces pourrait avoir une influence sur la vulnérabilité face aux dangers naturels et sur ?état de préparation et la réaction. Des études de cas, on été mencés Aklavik, T.N.O., à Attawapiskat en Ontario et à Fort Hard, T.N.O. Les recherches sont structurés en distinguant les perceptions, les attitudes et les activité‘s à trois niveaux de fonctionnement, soit individuel, communautaire etgou-vernemental. Files analysent également ?interrelation de ces trois niveaux lorsqu'il est question ?une reponse a un risque ?inondation. Les resultats de la récherche confirmed ?importance primordiale des connaissances de ?environnement local, tout en identifiant /‘influence du changement des structures sociales sur la vulnérabilité des communautés. Enfin, elles soulignent le phénoméne de /‘intégration des jurisdictions vis à vis de la réaction aux sinistres.     

Rousseau’s reception as an Epicurean: from atheism to aesthetics

ABSTRACT

What did Rousseau's readers mean when they called him an ‘Epicurean’? A seemingly simple question with complex implications. This article attempts to answer it by reconstructing Rousseau's contemporary reception as an Epicurean thinker. First, it surveys the earliest and most widely read critics of the second Discourse: Prussian Astronomer Royal Jean de Castillon, Jesuit priest Louis Bertrand Castel, and Hanoverian biblical scholar Hermann Samuel Reimarus. These readers branded Rousseau an Epicurean primarily to highlight his atheism, his anti-providential and materialist natural philosophy. Then, it discusses Genevan pastor Jacob Vernet's positive assessment of Rousseau as a critic of ‘fashionable’ Epicureanism, before reconstructing Rousseau's critique of the reception of Alexander Pope's Essay on Man as an Epicurean text. These sources elucidate Rousseau's engagement with a range of ideas and argumentative positions that would inform his later self-identification as a ‘refined’ Epicurean. In particular, they highlight his interest in how a sentimental awareness of beauty might mitigate the potentially vicious effects of hedonism. The article concludes with novelist Mme. de Genlis’ critique of Rousseau's Wise Materialism, using his thoughts on the imagination to suggest some of the ways the neglected aesthetic dimensions of Rousseau's reception of Epicureanism might be developed.     

Inscrire le pouvoir municipal dans l'espace urbain: la formation du réseau des pares à Montréal et Toronto, 1880–1940

Comment le réseau des pares urbains, ce précieux legs constitué en majeure partie entre la fin du 19e siècle et le milieu du 2CP siècle, s'est‐il forméà Montréal et Toronto? Est‐il possible de dégager un pattern d'implantation des pares et plus globalement des espaces de loisir qui nous renseignerait sur les logiques ayant présidéà leur aménagement? En reconstituant le processus de formation de tels réseaux entre 1880 et 1940, cet article met aujour certaines des caractéristiques de l'intervention des administrations montréalaise et torontoise dans le secteur des loisirs urbains et plus largement dans le développement de la ville. Autant que des espaces récréatifs, les pares peuvent être considérés comme des lieux par l'intermédiaire desquels le pouvoir municipal, en plein développement à cette époque, a cherchéà marquer le tissu urbain de sa présence, a se déployer dans l'espace. Plus qu'un travail d'aménagement physique, l'aménagement des pares représente ainsi un travail de structuration politique. Cet article presente ce double processus de structuration du territoire montréalais et torontois: d'abord sur le plan physique, en reconstituant comme les réseaux des pares se sont déployés dans l'espace urbain des deux villes; puis sur le plan politique, en examinant la manière dont les autorités locales vont considérer le problème et les modalités de leurs interventions. How was the system of urban parks, a treasured legacy of the end of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth centuries, formed in Montreal and Toronto? Is it possible to discern a pattern regarding the creation of parks and leisure spaces in general that would enlighten us on the principles of their management? By retracing the development of this network between 1880 and 1940, this article identifies certain traits characterizing Montreal and Toronto municipal governments with regard to their policies in the urban leisure sector, and more generally, the cities' growth. In addition to being recreational spaces, parks may also be seen as a medium through which emerging municipal powers sought to make their mark on the urban fabric, to increase their visibility in the city. Therefore, park management was more than a simple administrative question: it also served a broader goal of fashioning political structures. This article describes both facets of territorial development in Montreal and Toronto: on a geographical/material level, by retracing the process through which a network of parks was incorporated into the urban landscape of both cities; and on a political level, by examining way in which local authorities conceived of this process and planned their actions.     

Unsociable Sociability and the Crisis of Natural Law: Michael Hissmann (1752–1784) on the State of Nature

Summary

This article studies the impact of the debate about human sociability on the crisis of natural law in the later eighteenth century examining the Untersuchungen über den Stand der Natur of 1780 by the Göttingen scholar Michael Hissmann. It makes the case that this crisis ensued from Rousseau's Discours sur l‘inégalité and a revival of neo-Epicurean trends in moral philosophy more generally. The sociability debate revolved around the question to what extent society was natural or artificial to man. This had important implications for the problem of whether distinctions between right and wrong or just and unjust were natural and inborn, or had developed at a much later stage of mankind's history, reflecting merely the respective needs and utility of different societies and cultures. Hissmann's essay summarises this European debate concisely. His point of departure is Rousseauian premises, yet his political conclusions turn Rousseau upside down. Here, Hissmann's essay opens up several questions regarding the allegedly radical political character of one-substance theories in philosophy.     

SIG ET DÉLIMITATION RÉGIONALE DES ZONES À RISQUE DE GLISSEMENT DE TERRAIN: SECTEUR DE HULL-GATINEAU, QUÉBEC

La région de Hull-Catineau est en grande partie située sur des dépôts ?« argile » marine très sensibles. Une cartographie régionale des zones à risque de glissement de terrain y est done nécessaire pour la planification de ?aménagement du territoire. Plusieurs méthodes ont été proposées, mais elles ne sontpas adéquates parce qu'el-les sont trop laborieuses ou trop coûteuses au plan des travaux sur le terrain pour une application à?échelle régionale et qu'elles ne tiennent pas compte de marges de sécurité. La méthode propos`Ae ici est applicable sans travaux sur le terrain car on utilise uniquement des don-n`Aes multisources existantes traitées dans un système ?information géographique (sic). Cinq facteurs princi-paux, qui peuvent se combiner pour créer des situations de risque de glissement de terrain, ont été retenus et pondérés ?après leur importance. Ces facteurs sont les dépôts meubles sensibles (« argile »), la pente de surface (incluant les ruptures de pente), la pente du substratum rocheux, ?hydrographie et la présence de zones urbai-nes. La superposition de ces facteurs permet ?addition des poids de chacun des facteurs qui se chevauchent, délimitant des zones à risques élevé, moyen et faible. Les résultats montrent que près de 48 % de la région de Hull-Gatineau comporte des risques de glissement de terrain, dont 18%à risque élevé, 19%à risque moyen et 16 %à risque faible. Malgré?utilisation de marges de sécuritA, dans toutes ces zones, des précautions doivent être prises en prévision ?aménagements et des études géotechni-ques locales doivent y être faites cas par cas. The Hull-Gatineau region is largely located on very sensitive ‘clays’. A regional mapping of landslide risk areas is hence necessary for the planning of regional development. Many methods have been proposed but are not adequate because they are either too tepid in terms of security (because they do not take into account sufficient security margins) or too costly in terms of terrain surveys to be applied at the regional scale. The method proposed herein is applicable without having to rely on terrain surveys since solely existing multisource data processed within a geographical information system (as) are used. Five main factors, which can be combined for creating situations of landslide risks, were retained and weighted according to their importance. These factors are sensitive to the surficial deposits (‘clay’), the surface slope (including slope breaks), the slope of the bedrock, the hydrography, and the presence of urban areas. Areas of ancient landslides are also included. The superimposi-tion of these factors permits the addition of the weights of each of the factors that overlap each other, delimiting zones of high, moderate, and low risk. The results show that close to 48 % of the Hull-Gatineau region presents risks of landslides, 18 % of which present high risk, 19% moderate risk, and 16 % low risk. In spite of the use of security margins, in all these areas, precautions must be taken in relation to land development, and local geo-technical studies must be carried out on a case-by-case basis.     

LIBERAL AND MARXIST THEORY WITH RESPECT TO WORK AND LEISURE: A GEOGRAPHER'S ANTITHESIS TO THEIR COMMON THESIS

The special number of the Canadian Geographer devoted to West Edmonton Mall raises important questions, notably that of the relative status, as values, of work (seen historically as fundamental to our culture), and of leisure, perceived, albeit controversially, as being embodied in wem. In preparing to present my principal thesis, I review recent reinterpretations of human behaviour advanced by workers in the fields of symbolic interaction and the sociology of knowledge. These schools ha ve given rise to the concept of, though not the term, functional religion. The meaning of this concept is close to that of ideology; a comparative analysis of the two terms justifies using the former. A survey of recent work by geographers who approach religion from a functional point of view closes the second part of the paper. In the course of this review the relative status of work and leisure emerges as a significant issue. The view of leisure as a norm presented in the third part of the paper is that advocated by Pieper, Huizinga, and de Grazia. They argue that the Classical view, according to which human life finds its meaning in activities that are carried on for their own sake (e.g., games), rather than in those pursued for the material rewards they offer, is correct. Following their lead, and in opposition to both Marxists and Liberals, I argue that the adoption of leisure as a fundamental value would provide a more satisfactory foundation for our culture than work has to this point. Le numéro spécial du Géographe canadien consacréà?étude du West Edmonton Mall soulève plusieurs questions importantes, notamment celle du statut relatif, comme valeur, du travail (valeur-clé historiquement dans notre culture) et du loisir, valeurs incarnées, bien que de façon controversées, dans le WEM. Pour établir les bases de la thèse principale, on examine les réinterprétations récentes du comportement hurnain avancées, dans les sciences humaines, par des chercheurs travaillant dans les domaines de ?interaction symbolique et la sociologie du savoir. Ces écoles ont engendré le concept, sinon le terme, de la religion fonctionelle. Le sens de ce terme est proche de celui de ?idéologie; une analyse comparative des deux termes justifie ?emploi du premier. Pour conclure la deuxièrne partie de ce mémoire, on passe en revue quelques écrits récents par des géographes qui abordent la religion ?un point de vue fonctionnel. De cet examen il ressort que le statut relative du travail et du loisir est ?une importance capitale. Dans la troisième partie, on présente une perspective sur le loisir qui est proche de celle qu'avancent Pieper, Huizinga, et de Grazia. Ceux-cisupportent la position des auteurs classiques, selon qui la vie humaine trouve sa signification dans les activités entreprises pour ellesměmes (par exemple, les jeux) plutǒt que pour le gain matériel. Appuyant leur argument, et m'opposant à celui des marxistes et des libéraux, je prétends que ?adoption du loisir comme vaieur fondamentale fournirait une meilleure assise à notre culture que celle offerte jusqu'ici par le travail.     

JAPANESE REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT IN CANADIAN CITIES and REGIONS, 1985–1993

The location and type of Japanese property investments in Canada are examined as a case study of the increasing globalization of property markets and the remarkable rise of Japanese international investors in the late 1980s. Unpublished official statistics and company interviews indicate investment patterns had uneven implications for Canada's cities and regions. Even though Toronto is often seen as Canada's world city, Japanese investors as a whole overlooked the commercial potential of its property markets. The majority of their real estate investments took advantage of Japanese tourism growth in Pacific Canada and were associated with hotels and golf courses in Vancouver and its surrounding region. The author stresses the importance of Japanese perceptions, as well as local opportunities and constraints, in shaping the geography of Japanese real estate investment in Canada. L'emplacement et le type des investissements japonais au Canada sont examinés comme étude de cas sur la globalisation croissante des marchés de biens et la mon-tée remarquable des actionnaires internationaux japonais à la fin des années 80. Les statistiques officielles non-publiées montrent des implications inégales dans les villes et les régions du Canada. Bien que Toronto soit considéré souvent comme la ville mondiale du Canada, les actionnaires japonais dans ?ensemble ont négligé son potentiel commercial. La majorité des investissements sur les biens immobiliers ont pris avantage de la croissance du tourisme japonais au Canada Pacifique, et fut liee aux hotels et terrains de golf à Vancouver et dans les environs de la ville. ?auteur souligne ?importance des perceptions japonaises, aussi bien que les occasions et contraintes locales, en façonnant la géographie de leur investissement de biens au Canada. Mots-clés: investissement de biens au Canada; actionnaires japonais; investissements immobiliers