Le Regard Libre N° 77 - Enzo Santacroce «Prejudice against philosophers» series, episode #2 If ever there was a philosopher...
Each month, Le Regard Libre presents a philosopher whose thinking differs from, or even runs counter to, the clichés that circulate about him. Historian Olivier Meuwly opens the ball by arguing that Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel did not advocate an authoritarian state. On the contrary, our guest editor locates certain theoretical foundations of liberalism at the heart of the Hegelian system. Direct democracy itself is no stranger to the German's vision, according to the historian.
Communitarian discourse, currently in vogue and carried by minorities in need of an existence rather than victims of real repression, is torpedoing the fine 19th-century idea that the freedom of minorities should be preserved and defended, by transforming it into a weapon against freedom of expression, which includes, among other things, the right to humor. It is to be feared that the controversy provoked by French-speaking comedienne Claude Inga-Barbey's sketch dramatizing the difficulties of naming gender transformations illustrates an era marked by the thought police. From a philosophical point of view, this situation conceals an opposition between two types of universalism, that of proclaiming the rights of Man versus the rights of men.
LONG FORMAT ARTICLE, Eugène Praz | A few weeks ago, many of us celebrated Easter. We often wonder where it comes from. But where is it going, and what does it mean in our time? Here's a look at the intersection of Christianity and Judaism.
We recently celebrated 50 years of women's suffrage in Switzerland, an opportunity for us to take another look at the place of women in today's world. While women occupy an increasingly important place in society, there are data that seem to indicate a stagnation in the consideration and recognition of what they actually want and should be. This ambivalence in the advancement of the female cause can become the anchor for a new reflection on the meaning of the female body. It is this conversion of gaze and point of view that we wish to present here.
With the progress of science, particularly neuroscience, the possibility of free will is increasingly called into question. Every day, we discover new determinisms, i.e. conditionings to act in a certain way in a given context. Man's capacity for self-determination, which we hold so dear, may appear to be nothing more than an illusion. But before modern science got to grips with it, the question of free will already had a long history. Let's go back to the origins of a founding idea in the history of the West.
LONG FORMAT ARTICLE, Jonas Follonier and Lauriane Pipoz | Can philosophy help us manage Covid-19? Yes, thanks in particular to John Rawls' theory of justice. This English philosopher proposes a thought experiment aimed at finding the principles of a just society. Applied to the management of the virus, it raises the question of whether the Federal Council's decisions meet the standard of impartiality, which is the only way to protect everyone's interests - including their freedoms.
Journalist and writer, with a specialization in mathematical logic, deputy director of the Association Valaisanne des Entrepreneurs (AVE), Chiara Meichtry-Gonet is at the crossroads of several paths... or rails, one might say. In autumn 2020, she published her second novel Mathilde-sous-Gare with Bernard Campiche. It was an opportunity for me to meet her and discuss her singular profile and her vivid, disturbing world, during a trip by train and elsewhere.
As we await new measures to alleviate the difficulties associated with the current health situation, a sense of consternation is growing. We wonder how long this situation will last, and above all, how long we'll be able to bear the social distances, the need to wear a mask, the distance from our loved ones, or even the renunciation of certain usual activities. From this perspective, a paradox grips us - and me first: to what extent can we preserve the health of the body while renouncing our own body? Behind this paradox lies the question: what is a human life?
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