Books & Ideas is the English-language mirror website of La Vie des Idées, a free online journal which has gained a large readership and established itself in France as a major place for intellectual debate since 2007.
As multilateral cooperation is increasingly under attack, Katerina Linos challenges certain misperceptions about the role of international institutions, particularly the European Union, and emphasizes their capacity for action in times of multiple crises.
While we have entered the age of generative AI, it is worth having a look at how computers can help literature scholars and intellectual historians to explain the life of concepts, aesthetics and genres.
The “ardor of pillagers” refers to the momentum driving the depletion of life, which is outlined by Hicham-Stéphane Afeissa in his new book, drawing on the entire field of ecological thought.
Ecological politics have struggled to ward off environmental disaster. To impose itself as a transformative force, Jean-Baptiste Comby shows that ecological politics must become the strategic tool and compass of a genuine class struggle.
About: Maud Gelly, Les Politiques du tri. D’une épidémie à l’autre (SIDA, COVID), Le Croquant
About: Laura Tatoueix, Défaire son fruit. Une histoire sociale de l’avortement en France à l’époque moderne, éditions de l’EHESS
About: Isabelle Jonveaux, Une culture de la satiété. Enquête sociologique sur le jeûne comme expérience spirituelle, Presses Universitaires de Rennes
A rumour is circulating in some African countries: the French state is organising penis thefts to offset declining fertility. The rumour, spread by Russian propaganda, has become fake news.
The American sociologist Harrison White made a vital contribution to the development of social network analysis. Besides his work in this field, his theoretical synthesis and his understanding of social formations have influenced a variety of fields such as the sociology of art and economic sociology.
Ukraine’s water networks have been mobilized since the start of the war in 2014. Infrastructure workers are some of the last to leave settlements attacked by the Russian army. Water systems and people are resisting but are reaching the limits of their capacity to adapt to violence and disruptions.
How can we define democracy today? What role does or should the people play in the democratic process ? Through its summer selection, Books&Ideas offers to rediscover a group of four interviews and reviews, published in 2015 and 2016, which have tackled these questions through the prism of history, philosophy and political sciences.
Is it really the case, as is often alleged, that money decides everything about elections? As the US presidential election is looming, La Vie des idées/Books & Ideas and Public Books team up to examine the influence of money in today’s electoral democracies.
Summer is here; Books&Ideas is off on holiday. We will be back with new publications starting August 30. In the meantime, here is a selection of essays, interviews and reviews published over the past year.
Leading 19th century statesman, political economist, architect of the 1860 commercial treaty between France and the United Kingdom, and campaigner for peace between European nations, Michel Chevalier had also been a dominant voice in the Romantic socialism of Saint-Simonianism: the eclectic nature of his thought would lend itself to a particular vision of Europe, forerunner of today’s European Union.
André Gorz’s multiform thought is entirely centred on liberation: from work, which prevents individuals from thriving; from consumption, which grows ever higher; and from the social system, which reduces individuals to mere pawns in a “megamachine”.
Books & Ideas is going on holiday for the summer, and will resume its publication schedule in September. In the meantime, we present you with a weekly roundup of our most recent essays and reviews. Our second summer selection features portraits of prominent intellectual figures: Albert Camus, René Dumont, Ronald Dworkin, Joan W. Scott and Max Weber.
Alors que la coopération multilatérale est de plus en plus remise en cause, Katerina Linos déconstruit certaines idées reçues sur le rôle des institutions internationales — en particulier européennes — et montre leur capacité d’action dans un contexte de crises multiples.
Traditionnellement fixée à 476, la fin de l’Antiquité se laisse difficilement marquer par une date unique pour une histoire « en tranches ». Sylvain Destephen propose l’an 542, marqué par guerres, peste et mutations impériales. Un travail de contextualisation qui met en avant la période mal connue de l’Antiquité tardive.
Statut social, ordre, qualité, vertu, les critères pour définir la noblesse sous l’Ancien Régime ne manquent pas. Pourtant, en se penchant sur ce groupe social, force est de constater sa diversité, l’évolution de ses contours et de la définition qui en est faite par les contemporains au fil du temps.
À propos de : Sébastien Gandon, Russell global. Pour une histoire des réceptions de la philosophie analytique, Classiques Garnier
À propos de : Clémence Cardon-Quint, L’argent de l’école. Histoire du budget de l’Éducation nationale depuis 1945, Presses de Sciences Po
À propos de : Tony Molho, La gentillesse des autres. Un enfant juif dans la Grèce occupée, EHESS
