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.
A longstanding local historiographical tradition maintains that during the French Revolution, the politics of the city of Orléans were notable for their moderation. Yet this view ignores the presence of highly politicized factions, extending well beyond the revolutionary period.
Jeanne Tsai and Batja Mesquita show how emotions are shaped by cultural logics that orient our relationships and judgments. Their conversation raises a broader question: what does it mean to understand others in culturally plural societies?
Can the defense of human rights be reconciled with guerilla warfare? David Copello offers an in-depth reinterpretation of the history of these complex struggles that have shaken Argentine society to its core.
At a time when Chinese capitalism is in search of an ethic, entrepreneurs are reinventing the old Confucian merchant.
About : Nadège Vezinat, Le service public empêché, Presses universitaires de France
About: Arnaud Orain, Le Monde confisqué. Essai sur le capitalisme de la finitude, Flammarion
About: Anne Ibos-Augé, Les femmes et la musique au Moyen Âge, éditions du Cerf
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.
In our second winter selection of reviews and essays, Books & Ideas takes a look back at a few important articles published over the last year on the current developments and trends affecting public spaces for expression and debate : from the traditional media to the world wide web, these different spaces are all under pressure from ongoing changes. Rules and practices are evolving, as the traditional public space is being radically enlarged.
How to renew the currently dwindling support for democratic governance? To the minds of theorists and historians, whether advocating going back to classical political traditions like Republicanism or drawing lots, or experimenting new approaches, increased political participation may be the best path to follow.
Disasters and the tragedies that they entail accumulate, along with human and social science research trying to grasp the significance of their repetition. The aim of the dossier launched today by Books & Ideas is to comprehend the nature of these studies.
Rorty made conversation a philosophical genre in its own right, which led him to reject any distinctions he considered futile: between analytic and continental philosophy, between the Enlightenment and postmodernity, between philosophy and literature.
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’.
Thanks to his work on Greco-Roman antiquity, his intellectual curiosity, his pronounced taste for interdisciplinarity, his sense of humor, and the freedom that informs all his research, Paul Veyne is a twentieth-century historian whose work cannot be avoided. A loose cannon at the heart of the academic establishment, a deep thinker and a dilettante, Veyne invites us, through his work, to a festival of thought.
Les lycéens mobilisés dénoncent des bâtiments délabrés et des salles invivables. Les données leur donnent raison : dans les lycées populaires d’Île-de-France, la sécurisation est devenue le premier poste de travaux aux dépens de la protection des élèves, y compris face aux vagues de chaleur.
Toute sa vie, Albert Memmi n’a cessé de scruter les tensions qui le traversaient pour penser la judéité et le judaïsme, la colonisation et la décolonisation, les situations minoritaire et majoritaire, ou encore un sionisme propalestinien.
Depuis 2020, Planetarium tient tout à la fois de la conférence, du dialogue et de la performance, en mettant en relation des chercheurs du monde des sciences et des sciences humaines et sociales, ainsi que des artistes, conviés à présenter leurs travaux et réflexions sur les enjeux contemporains.
À propos de : François Godicheau, Pierre Salmon, Mercedes Yusta, La guerre d’Espagne. 1936-1939. La démocratie assassinée, Tallandier
À propos de : Chantal Jaquet, Révolutions transclasses. Une nouvelle théorie de l’émancipation, Puf
À propos de : Stefan C. Aykut et Amy Dahan, La mutation climatique, Presses de Sciences Po
