From Monad to man

From Monad to Man: The Concept of Progress in Evolutionary Biology. By Michael Ruse (Harvard University Press, 1997), x + 628 pp., $49.95 cloth.     

Walter Benjamin: Quel matérialisme? Quelle histoire?

Cet article est consacré à l'étude de quelques uns des aspects de la philosophie de l'histoire de Walter Benjamin qui, aujourd'hui, suscitent le plus d'intérêt. En pratique, il analyse la notion de progrès, le rôle joué par l'écoulement du temps et l'interruption messianique. Il insiste aussi sur la critique du marxisme vulgaire entreprise par W. Benjamin et met en évidence ses apports les plus personnels ; enfin, il attire l'attention sur le risque encouru par les historiens qui orientent leur travail vers le futur et se montrent aveugles en ce qui concerne le passé.     

William Penn et l’Abbé de Saint-Pierre: Le chaînon manquant

The two most famous peace projects published at the time of Louis XIV are William Penn’sEssay towards the present and future peace of Europe and Castel de Saint-Pierre’sProjet pour rendre la paix perpétuelle en Europe, which came out in English in 1693, and that of the abbé de Saint-Pierre, which was published in its completed form in several volumes dating from 1713 to 1716. A French translation of Penn’s book was issued in 1697 at the latest and was privately distributed. Our claim is that Saint-Pierre was in some way involved in that translation and that he was indebted to Penn for many of his ideas.     

Bernard Groethuysen and the Human Conversation

Philosophie et Histoire. By Bernard Groethuysen. Edited with an Introduction by Bernard Dandois.     

Explaining A Paradox: The Alberta-California Natural Gas Trade Dispute

For over 3 years the Alberta government and the California Public Utilities Commission engaged in a bitter dispute over the future of the Alberta-California natural gas trade. This article examines how both sides sought to use their regulatory authority to control the substance of gas trade restructuring. It assesses the dispute as an exercise in deregulatory policymaking and suggests the need for increased study of the role and motivations of subnational regulatory actors.     

The politics of the diarist

Peter Howson, The Life of Politics: The Howson Diaries, ed. Don Aitkin, Melbourne, The Viking Press, pp. 1013. $39.95