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.
In ancient times, mythological and historical criminals were not always inhuman. They show us that there is nothing universal about our self-evident truths, particularly when they concern such fundamental concepts as good and evil.
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.
In this recent interview, Walzer reflects on his life of political commitment. From the creation of Dissent to the publication of the acclaimed Spheres of Justice, here is the journey of one of the most influential political theorists of the XXth century.
While public authorities currently seem to prefer to use incentives rather than constraints to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, economists are developing increasingly effective tools to measure the effectiveness of these policies.
The “Europe of the market” has dominated European social and economic policy since 1945. Yet three other models have opposed the liberal paradigm: solidarity, neomercantilism, and ultra-liberalism.
About: Francis Wolff, Le temps du monde, Fayard
About: Maxence Brischoux, Géopolitique des mers, Puf
About: Pierre-Yves Quiviger, Une philosophie du vin, Albin Michel
Michel Crozier’s work was shaped by the conviction that organizational phenomena create society. He helped pioneer the tools for analyzing groups established to carry out a common project according to a specific system of action and rules of the game.
The EU aims for net climate neutrality by 2050, utilizing the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) as its main tool. But the climate crisis demands more than market mechanisms. It requires comprehensive planning and legal frameworks that prioritize public over private interests.
Jane Mansbridge has made a major contribution to political theory. She has spent her life combining empirical research with a theoretical approach, and has played a vital role in developing the critique of rational choice and the study of democracy as a permanent process continually in flux.
In this virtual roundtable published in partnership with Public Books, four participants from France, Germany and the US re-visit the inequalities debate sparked by Thomas Piketty’s Capital, comparing perceptions of income, economic equality and political economy.
The Paris Agreement on Climate Change is three years old this week but is already under attack. In support of further necessary action to address the changing climate, Public Books & La Vie des Idées offer a collaborative series of articles examining the intersection of climate change and capitalism.
Over the past few months, Books and Ideas has been running a series of interviews with leading contemporary scholars, who took the time to discuss their particular topics of research with us. For the Christmas season, we have put together a selection of seven discussions with intellectuals across the humanities and sciences: sociology, history, comparative literature, neuro-biology, anthropology and political science.
Although now considered a pseudo-science, phrenology was tremendously successful in its Victorian heyday. Tracing the intellectual and scientific journey of George Combe, the ’science’s most prominent promoter in Great Britain, this paper addresses the phrenologists’ little-known contribution to the ’social question’ debate of the day, and the ambiguities of their social gospel.
Miguel Abensour profoundly renewed thinking about democracy. His political philosophy paid close attention to the desire for emancipation and was based on an original conception of utopia breaking with the mythology of the ‘ideal city’ or of a ‘good society’.
L’objectif « Zéro artificialisation nette », ou ZAN, suscite de nombreux débats, souvent très techniques. Pourquoi empêcher les villes de s’étendre sur les espaces naturels, les forêts et les terres agricoles ? S’agit-il comme l’affirment certains élus d’une mesure « ruralicide » ?
Bernard Manin voyait en Montesquieu un philosophe politique attentif à la pluralité des formes politiques et à la manière dont celles-ci peuvent, dans les régimes modérés, empêcher les abus de pouvoir. C’est bien pour cela qu’il fallait, expliquait-il, continuer à lire ce philosophe des Lumières.
Entre distance et proximité, l’État (colonial ou national) a toujours su maintenir une relation complexe et ambiguë avec la religion en pays musulman, comme le montre l’enquête approfondie de M. Zeghal.
À propos de : Guillaume Durieux, Faut-il en finir avec l’école ? Autonomie & justice scolaire, Éditions Eliott
À propos de : Stéphane Lacroix, Le Crépuscule des saints. Histoire et politique du salafisme en Égypte, CNRS Éditions
À propos de : Sandra Hoibian, La mosaïque française. Comment (re)faire société aujourd’hui ?, Flammarion
