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.
Can mysticism be a philosophical tool? Yes, provided one understands it philosophically as an experience that leads to morality and universal love.
Sandra Ristovska examines how images shape judicial reasoning and the new uncertainties introduced by AI and deepfakes. These technologies amplify longstanding problems of evidence, interpretation, and inequality before the law.
The French government’s approach to religious pluralism cannot be easily summarized, given its diversity and complexity, as well as its dependence on the contingencies of politics.
To mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the war in East Asia, a nuanced assessment of the American occupation of Japan (1945–1952) and its lasting impact on contemporary Japanese society is now available in French for the first time.
About: Dominique Lagorgette, Pute. Histoire d’un mot et d’un stigmate, La Découverte
About: Pierre Serna, La Révolution oubliée. Orléans, 1789-1820, CNRS Éditions
About: David Copello, Les droits humains armés. Guérillas, dictatures et démocratie en Argentine, Presses universitaires de Rennes
The female silhouette – understood as the body’s visible form and socially perceived appearance – has long been shaped by social norms. In the age of social media, these norms are intensifying, prompting, in response, the rise of so-called “body-positive” movements.
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.
During the Christmas season, Books and Ideas offers a selection of reviews and essays that tackle the subject of cities and the issues they raise as complex centers of urban life: how could we live better in them? How to reduce the inequalities they create? Can they become more sustainable? The following texts cast a new light on all of these questions.
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.
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. Economic inequalities have been at the forefront of intellectual debate this year with the publication of Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Our third selection of articles brings an international perspective on the issue, with a sociological and historical outlook.
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”.
Dès les années 1970, l’historienne Anne-Marie Sohn s’est intéressée aux rôles féminins dans la vie privée. Le genre est utile si l’on prend en compte sa dimension matérielle, croisée avec les rapports sociaux de classe, ainsi que sa dimension relationnelle, en lien avec les masculinités
Le caméléon, comme de juste, a suscité des types d’écriture variés : celle des savants naturalistes, celle des moralistes et, enfin, celle des curieux qui rassemble et dépasse les deux autres.
L’essayiste Joseph Andras propose de “relever” l’idéal socialiste, mis à terre par les dérives révolutionnaires, en s’appuyant sur les grandes figures qui l’ont élaboré et défendu contre les abus du fanatisme.
À propos de : Ludovic Halbert, Félix Adisson, Francesca Artioli et Nicolas Maisetti, La ville verte au pied du mur, Presses de Sciences Po
À propos de : Alex Blanchette, Porkopolis : La vie standardisée à l’ère des fermes-usines, Editions Amsterdam
À propos de : Elara Bertho, Conakry, une utopie panafricaine. Récits et contre-récits 1958-1984, CNRS Éditions
