Bayle’s political doctrine: a proposal to articulate tolerance and sovereignty

ABSTRACT

For most interpreters of the philosopher from Rotterdam, his political doctrine is solely a consequence of his religious and moral doctrines, and so an image of Bayle as a political philosopher is not usually presented. To my mind, however, only by analyzing his political doctrine can the extent of his religious proposal be understood. In this article, I intend to show that both the Baylean criticism of popular sovereignty and his rejection of the right of resistance are analyses that are indissociable from the Baylean doctrine of tolerance. The protection of individual freedom of conscience and the defense of a multi-confessional state model, tolerant regarding religious minorities, can only be articulated as historical reality if they rest on the political doctrine of indivisible sovereignty and on the strictest separation between political obedience and religious membership.     

The Old and the New: Qualifying City Systems in the World with Classical Models and New Data

Zipf's rank‐size rule, lognormal distribution, and Gibrat's urban growth models are considered as summarizing fundamental properties of systems of cities. In this article, they are used as statistical benchmarks for comparing the shapes of urban hierarchies and evolutionary trends of seven systems of cities in the world including BRICS, Europe, and United States. In order to provide conclusions that avoid the pitfalls of too small samples or uncontrolled urban definitions, these models are tested on some 20,000 urban units whose geographically significant delineations were harmonized in each country over 50 years between 1960 and 2010. As a result, if the models appear not always statistically valid, their usefulness is confirmed since the observed deviations from empirical data remain limited and can often be interpreted from the geohistorical context of urbanism proper to each world region. Moreover, the article provides new free software which authorizes the reproducibility of our experiments with our data bases as well as with complementary data.     

Processes of Formation and Alteration of Archaeological Fire Structures: Complexity Viewed in the Light of Experimental Approaches

The aim of this article is to present an experimental approach for studying the formation and transformation processes of archaeological fire structures. We present a synthetic review of our experimental project, which was developed in many different natural archaeological contexts. We report the results and problems associated with experimental fires lit on different kinds of soils and in different environments, followed by the observation of natural and anthropic transformations. Finally, we analyse the nature and significance of these results for the archaeological interpretation process, while describing some general trends and showing the complexity of the approach.     

Polyphasic hydrothermal and meteoric fluid regimes during the growth of a segmented fault involving crystalline and carbonate rocks (Barcelona Plain,NE Spain)

A polyphasic tectonic‐fluid system of a fault that involves crystalline and carbonate rocks (Hospital fault, Barcelona Plain) has been inferred from regional to thin section scale observations combined with geochemical analyses. Cathodoluminescence, microprobe analyses and stable isotopy in fracture‐related cements record the circulation of successive alternations of hydrothermal and low‐temperature meteoric fluids linked with three main regional tectonic events. The first event corresponds to the Mesozoic extension, which had two rifting stages, and it is characterized by the independent tectonic activity of two fault segments, namely southern and northern Hospital fault segments. During the Late Permian‐Middle Jurassic rifting, these segments controlled the thickness and distribution of the Triassic sediments. Also, dolomitization was produced in an early stage by Triassic seawater at shallow conditions. During increasing burial, formation of fractures and their dolomite‐related cements took place. Fault activity during the Middle Jurassic–Late Cretaceous rifting was localized in the southern segment, and it was characterized by hydrothermal brines, with temperatures over 180°C, which ascended through this fault segment precipitating quartz, chlorite, and calcite. The second event corresponds to the Paleogene compression (Chattian), which produced exhumation, folding and erosion, favouring the percolation of low‐temperature meteoric fluids which produced the calcitization of the dolostones and of the dolomite cements. The third event is linked with the Neogene extension, where three stages have been identified. During the syn‐rift stage, the southern segment of the Hospital fault grew by tip propagation. In the relay zone, hydrothermal brines with temperature around 140°C upflowed. During the late postrift, the Hospital fault acted as a unique segment and deformation occurred at shallow conditions and under a low‐temperature meteoric regime. Finally, and possibly during the Messinian compression, NW‐SE strike‐slip faults offset the Hospital fault to its current configuration.     

Highly qualified rural youth: why do young graduates return to their home region?

This paper addresses the motivations underlying migration decision-making in the case of young university graduates returning to their rural home region in Switzerland. Empirical results show the joint role of social ties, living environment, and job opportunities, although the weight given to each of these factors varies between graduates. Some strategies used by the graduates to cope with a limited labour market are furthermore identified. I argue that internal migrations are far from being the sole consequence of labour market conditions and that a greater appreciation of non-economic issues is needed.     

Les revues médicales depuis 1800

French medical journals take the lead among the 1 385 titles of the statistical survey (15.4%). Efficient tool in communication, with an important publishing market, linked to the rise of medicine in the 19^th century, prosperity of medical journals do not only mean rise of specialties. Monthly periodicals dominate quickly the publishing market which is also characterized by complex links between generalist and highly specialized medicine, public health and professional training.     

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.     

The Occupy Movement and the Top 1% in Canada

The Occupy movement catalyzed public debate on the issue of growing income inequality. This paper examines recent patterns of inequality in Canada, paying particular attention to changes in the characteristics of the top 1% of income earners. At the national level, the gap between the top percentile and the other 99% has widened considerably: in 2006, 11% of the nation's income was concentrated in the hands of top earners (whose mean income of $344,000 is 11 times that of the average Canadian) compared with 7.7% just 15 years earlier. Beneath such national‐level figures lie important geographical differences in the income hierarchy: the thresholds, average incomes and socio‐economic characteristics of the top 1% vary widely across provinces and cities. Among the most important spatial shifts observed is the growing concentration of high‐income groups in energy‐rich Western Canada, where Calgary has become the most unequal city in the country.