De l'Italie à Manosque: Aspects des migrations italiennes en Provence à la fin du moyen âge

Cette micro‐analyse des migrations italiennes vers Manosque permet de remettre en question l'historiographie traditionnelle de l'immigration qui postule un déracinement, la solitude et la marginalité des migrants. Cette article montre au contraire un processus d'inclusion dont la rupture eventuelle avec les communautés d'origine démontre le succès. Une migration de rupture ne signifie pas que les relations avec la patrie d'origine se distende totalement. Des liens subsistent comme le démontrent les legs et les testaments. Sur deux siècles il y a une continuité migratoire et des réseaux persistant d'intégration.     

Histoire et théorie du hasard à l'âge classique selon cournot

In a decisive article about the birth of the calculus of probabilities (1970), Ernest Coumet recalled Cournot's formula: the delay concerning the birth of the theory of chance is «a pure effect of chance». We suggest here submitting this judgement to the critical examination not of history but of Cournot's very thought; his philosophy of history and his representation of the history of science in the xvii^th century seems, at first, to denounce beforehand such a decisive judgement. To render an account of what can then appear on his part to be an inconsistency or even a blindness, we formulate the hypothesis that this statement constitutes an artefact of his internal conception of the history of science and scientific revolutions. In that sense, the article constitutes an illustration of theoretical necessity and of the difficulties of mathematical history as well.     

Gerbert et la pédagogie des arts libéraux à la fin du dixième siècle

The pedagogy of the liberal arts in France at the close of the tenth century is studied here on the basis of the testimony of the monk Richer about the teaching of his master Gerbert. The equipment and methods employed by Gerbert in his teaching of the trivium and quadrivium are analysed. The pedagogic innovations of this master are closely examined, especially in astronomy with the construction of various spheres, and in arithmetic with the use of the abacus and the introduction of characters made of horn. This approach to education, as conceived by Gerbert when he was scholaster of the archbishopric of Rheims, permits us to conclude that he did not fail to associate teaching with research.     

Gerbert et la pédagogie des arts libéraux à la fin du dixième siècle

The pedagogy of the liberal arts in France at the close of the tenth century is studied here on the basis of the testimony of the monk Richer about the teaching of his master Gerbert. The equipment and methods employed by Gerbert in his teaching of the trivium and quadrivium are analysed. The pedagogic innovations of this master are closely examined, especially in astronomy with the construction of various spheres, and in arithmetic with the use of the abacus and the introduction of characters made of horn.This approach to education, as conceived by Gerbert when he was scholaster of the archbishopric of Rheims, permits us to conclude that he did not fail to associate teaching with research.     

Les lois de la nature à l'âge classique la question terminologique

Four propositions relative to the laws of nature in the classical period must be noted. 1. Certain regularities in phenomena had been discovered. 2. A concept of law had emerged. 3. Classical science is characterized by the introduction of the notion of the legality of nature. 4. New uses of the word «law» had appeared in scientific texts. This article is devoted to the analysis of only this last proposition, that is to say to a terminological problem. First we will describe the semantic uses of the word «law» that may have contributed to the constitution of its classical meaning: its specific usage, disciplinary usage, usage in physics, in mathematics, in metaphysics. Second we will analyze the various moments of the diffusion of the word in the sciences in the xvii^th century. The general thesis defended in the end is that if the term «law» had indeed been used in science with no reference to a law-giving God prior to the xvii^th century, only this reference, that is, the coming together of its physical and its metaphysical usage, allowed its generalization in the period between the xvii^th and xviii^th centuries.     

Le temporel des archevêques de Rouen aux derniers siècles du moyen-âge

Doubtless put together in Merovingian times, the temporal possessions of the archbishops of Rouen were enlarged in the twelfth century, thanks to restitutions and, above all, to royal donations. A rapid transformation took place in the thirteenth century: substantial growth and diversification — due to exchanges with the king, purchases of lordships, of houses, or of rents in direct ownership, and reclamations and other improvements — of a patrimony which had become an instrument of spiritual administration. Reaching their maximum revenue around 1330, these temporalities were scarcely modified thereafter as regards their composition, but difficulties in the first half of the fifteenth century, which halved the revenue, affected above all the rural elements, so that the proportion of urban revenues — especially dues on commerce — increased. At once vast and varied, these temporalities take on a somewhat original aspect by comparison with many other ecclesiastical temporalities based on the ownership of rural domains or urban properties.     

Nature Humaine et Complexion du Corps Chez les Médecins Italiens de la Fin du Moyen Âge

Is it possible to apprehend man from a medical standpoint without offering a purely materialistic definition ? Such was the question raised by Italian physicians at the end of the Middle Ages when they developed a full scale theory of the idea of complexion, which they saw as a “substantial quality” specific to man, but one that also depended on hereditary traits, food, age, or even climate and mores. Practicing their art, some of these physicians could thus contemplate improving not simply the health, but also the well being of each individual.     

Le rire et le théâtre dans la Lettre à M. d’Alembert

Often interpreted as a field of contradictions and fragmentation, the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau presents an inner unity. This inner unity, though, is structured around regulated contradictions. I will examine here the distribution of those regulated contradictions by focusing on the preface to the Lettre à M. d’Alembert sur les spectacles and the relations between the Lettre and the Essai sur l’origine des langues. What Rousseau rejects as agents of corruption—theater and laughter—constitute at the same time the principles of his argument. The values of representation and technique implied by theater and laughter come to compose with those of presence and nature. Taking as a point of departure the work of Jacques Derrida on Rousseau, but also engaging it polemically, I will show in the analysis of the preface to the Lettre the distribution of regulated contradictions as well as the essential difference between language and theater in Rousseau throughout his reflection on the origin of theater and language.     

Les « Causes Secrètes » Causalité et Déterminisme à L’âge Classique

The notion of the “secret cause”, which appears in many classical texts is tied to a particular practice of science and a conception of its methods where the “law” finds itself at the center of the nexus. If certain phenomena appear to escape the law, one is obliged to amend the law through the introduction of a series of “small equations.” If the calculation of probabilities is deployed, this is to precisely reveal causes which are, at their origin, secret, but which will gradually become less so and eventually conform to laws.