Books & ideas

Will Capitalism Save the World?

Dominique Guellec — 2023-03-23T08:30:00Z

Philippe Aghion, Céline Antonin and Simon Bunel believe that only technological innovation will allow humanity to meet the social and environmental challenges it faces today. However, capitalism and the “power of creative destruction” come up against the complexity of microeconomic decisions.

A French History of Transhumanism

Stanislas Deprez — 2021-03-08T08:00:00Z

Transhumanism is usually thought of as emerging out of Silicon Valley and the GAFA—but might it be French in origin? This theory, which connects the utopia of artificial intelligence and of man-machine hybridisation to pre-war eugenicist biology, is open to debate.

A Compendium on Consumption

Hubert Bonin — 2019-12-12T08:00:00Z

Mingling all kinds of historical approaches—economic, social, entrepreneurial and societal mentality—J.-C. Daumas dedicates a fresco to the immaterial perception of consumer goods.

Norbert Elias, Catherine Deneuve and Gender Equality

Florence Delmotte — 2019-03-25T07:30:00Z

Since the Weinstein affair, there has been a great deal of debate over men's sexual urges. The sociology of Norbert Elias is a precious resource to help understand that historic moment and move beyond the opposition between the “freedom to pester” and the moral duty to “rat out your pig”.

As Fragile as a Matsutake

Clotilde Riotor & Cyprien Tasset — 2018-07-02T07:00:00Z

Can a mushroom help us understand the changes and deadlocks of capitalism? Studying matsutake foraging and commerce, anthropologist Anna Tsing describes a world that has turned its back on progress and where survival depends upon fragile collaborations between humans and the world surrounding them.

The Birth of 'Race'

Vincent Vilmain — 2017-04-06T07:00:00Z

Retracing the genealogy of the idea of human ‘races', Claude-Olivier Doron returns to the role of the Enlightenment, and particularly Buffon, in the emergence of monogenistic racial thought. He examines how the idea of ‘race' and the affirmation of universalism appeared concomitantly.

A Plea for Degrowth

Céline Surprenant — 2016-10-20T07:00:00Z

That progress has negative effects is a well-worn idea. Yet, insufficient attention has been paid to the fact that they ensue from the excessiveness brought about by technological progress. Does that mean that there exists a scale favourable to the thriving of humans?

The Two Lives of Ivan Illich

Augustin Fragnière — 2011-03-18T09:51:09Z

The French literary magazine Esprit evaluates the work of Ivan Illich. It first focuses on his denouncing the perverse effects of industrial society. It also analyzes the symbolic effects of the system of modern technology. Despite the thematic and methodological eclecticism of the two periods in his life, there is one central preoccupation that runs throughout, that of man and his autonomy.

Were there any Indian Galileos?

Etienne Klein — 2008-04-11T08:22:20Z

Why, in recent centuries, has science and technology made much greater strides in Western Europe than in the Middle East, India or China? Why, in particular, have all the scientific and industrial revolutions been kindled in the West? And how is it that, for the last two centuries, the world has revolved around those rising in the West? David Cosandey sets out a vast general theory on the conditions favouring scientific progress.