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.
Long the subject of myth, Pius XII’s attitude towards the Holocaust and Jewish persecution can now be evaluated with the help of the archives. Nina Valbousquet makes a convincing case: the issue was not impartiality, but tepidness.
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.
Since the two World Wars, the victim has been raised to the status of a sacred and predominant figure in historical memory. The victim has become the new figure of the hero, thus setting a new and controversial example.
Why do we believe that our societies are freer, more prosperous or more democratic thanks to the institution of private property rather than in spite of it?
About: Constance Rimlinger, Féministes des champs. Du retour à la terre à l’écologie queer, Presses universitaires de France
About: Christine Détrez, Crush. Fragments du nouveau discours amoureux, Flammarion
About : Julie Pagis, Le prophète rouge, La Découverte
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.
At a time when Europe is equated with sovereign debt and political powerlessness, one should not forget that the foundations for a European citizenship have already been laid. Its potential for democracy needs to be interrogated, as do the cultural resources that it can rely on.
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.
By asserting that structuralism is a fruitful approach to kinship relations or the difference between the sexes, Françoise Héritier radically renewed anthropological methodology. Her life’s work has also shown us that scientific commitment goes hand-in-hand with societal involvement.
Ronald Dworkin’s innovative and politically ambitious work has become essential reading in political and legal theory. Taking issue with classical political liberalism, he argues that liberty and equality are not mutually exclusive, and are indeed inseparable. And against traditional interpretations of law, he argues that law must be understood by comparing it to a collective novel, a mixture of creativity and interpretation.
Rediscovering an activist thinker who was at the origins of eco-feminism, but remains unknown. Her work inspired an extremely heterogeneous movement, but has her ambition to concretely transform the social, economic and political organisation of society been pursued?
L’adoption du mode de scrutin proportionnel apparaît aujourd’hui, selon deux politistes, comme une condition nécessaire pour redonner à la démocratie française la capacité de renouer avec des gouvernements représentatifs, stables et opérationnels.
Le harem a nourri l’imaginaire occidental jusqu’à aujourd’hui, véhiculant le cliché d’un monde despotique et misogyne. L’imposante documentation réunie par J. Dakhlia offre une vision plus nuancée.
Les minorités peinent souvent à faire reconnaître les savoirs qui leur sont propres, ou même les transmettre. Aux injustices sociales et raciales s’ajoutent ainsi des injustices épistémiques, contre lesquelles il faut également lutter.
À propos de : Fabien Clouette, Des vies océaniques. Quand des animaux et des humains se rencontrent, Seuil
À propos de : Par inadvertance. La « cuillère humaine » de Fernand Deligny, L’Arachnéen
