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.     

Le principe de circulation et l'échec de la mythologie transeuropéenne

We have sought to identify an aspect of the repression of Enlightenment cosmopolitanism complementary to the creation of national identities in XIX^th-century Europe and the intervening war period. The idea of a common civilization would be maintained by the reciprocal capacity of translating national languages, because of their Indo-European common origins. The utopia of the language would replace the material route of the Enlightenment. It is the failure of the construction of European Indianist myth and not its success which explains the ideological diverting of the relations between language and nation. The missed promotion of the Gypsy language in the academic world illustrates this failure perfectly. After the First World War, the transformation of the principle of nationalities in ethnopolitics removed even the memory of this common ambition.     

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.     

Diffusion et Réception de la Dynamique La Correspondance Entre Leibniz et Wolff

By analysing the correspondence between Leibniz and Wolff, this article aims to present the expository modalities used by Leibniz to transmit his dynamics and the metaphysical system underpinning it. The point is here to study the ambivalence of the vocabulary of action, both as object of the conservation principle and as the essence of substance. By examining the way Wolff receives the dynamics of action, it is possible to highlight, as early as 1705, the uniqueness of his metaphysical framework. While publicizing the dynamics, he propounds a meaning of substance that is unequivocally different.     

Réalisme et mythologie de la raison d’État

Sans résumé Laurie Catteeuw, née en 1974, est actuellement attachée temporaire d’enseignement et de recherche à l’école des hautes études en sciences sociales. Elle a récemment soutenu sa thèse, Censures et raisons d’état aux origines de la modernité politique. Dialogues franco-italiens des XVI ^e et XVII ^e siècles. Ses recherches portent sur l’histoire de la pensée politique des époques moderne et contemporaine. Elle a notamment codirigé avec Fran?ois Bordes, le Cahier Kostas Papa?oannou. L’amitié, les travaux et les jours (Paris, Acedia, 2004) et publié plusieurs articles dans différentes revues. ? Censure, raison d’état et libelles diffamatoires à l’époque de Richelieu ? vient de para?tre dans les Papers on French Seventeenth Century Literature (vol. XXXVI, n^o 71, juin 2009).     

Henri Pirenne et la révolution liégeoise de 1789 contribution á l'histoire de l'historiographie des révolutions

Notre article a pour objectif, après un bref rappel historique des épisodes de la Révolution liégeoise de 1789, de souligner l'apport de l'historien belge Henri Pirenne à l'historiographie des révolutions, de mieux cerner les fondements de sa pensée sur le sujet, et de comprendre la nature des oppositions qu'il a rencontrées et de l'héritage qu'il a laissé.     

La scission et le développement dans la tradition de l’écriture féminine de Chen Ran

Le roman de Chen Ran陈染Siren shenghuo 私人生活(La vie privée) constitue la vie d’une jeune femme, Ni Niuniu, qui vivait dans une métropole chinoise dans une époque de grands changements. Chen Ran a dévoilé la propre expérience de sa vie intime pour concrétiser son image de soi et d’autrui,son style de narration de la vie avec sa volonté et sa logique, pourétablir les paroles féminines.Chen Ran est une écrivaine singulière et importante dans la littérature contemporaine, elle nous a fourni une ressource spirituelle riche pour le développement de la littérature féminine du XXesiècle par ses nombreuses écritures d’exploration des expériences psychologiques spécifiques, féminines, qui représentent le modernisme.Pendant ces dernières années, son oeuvre s’ est orientée de plus en plus vers le psychologique et le philosophique en explorant la solitude, l’amour sexuel et la vie humaine. Chen Ran exprime la solitude et la tristesse des personnages par son écriture parfaite qui rend toute la beauté de la tristesse profonde. La tristesse qu’elle a exprimée n’est pas de simples expériences ou émotions personnelles, mais de la recherche et de l’interrogation profonde vers l’identité du《je》 et de l’《autre》     

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.     

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.