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 morality be grounded in the sense of sympathy? According to Adam Smith, sympathy with the sentiments of others is precisely what allows for self-command, a cardinal virtue that enables us to act from a sense of duty.
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.
How can we move beyond the double deadlock of state socialism and market capitalism? For Lea Ypi, returning to Kant and the Enlightenment offers a perspective to provide a new ground to freedom as social responsibility, and to open up towards a cosmopolitan horizon against the authoritarianism of profit.
An unparalleled demographic catastrophe, the Black Death disrupted the economic, social, and cultural balance of medieval Europe in the 14th century. Long considered a major turning point, it now appears as an indicator of the structures, limitations, and resilience of medieval societies.
Alongside its Paris branch, the French terrorist group Action Directe also operated a Lyon branch, responsible for dozens of attacks and robberies, and marked by a crude ideology and domestic abuse within the group. We look back at far-left violence in the post-1968 era.
About: Pascal Engel, Foucault et les normes du savoir, Eliott éditions
About: Maria Cecilia d’Ercole, Silvia d’Intino, Florence Gherchanoc (dir.), Natura. Approches anciennes, enjeux contemporains, Classiques Garnier
About: Marina Touilliez, Parias. Hannah Arendt et la « tribu » en France (1933-1941), L’échappée
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.
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. Our second summer selection features portraits of prominent intellectual figures: Albert Camus, René Dumont, Ronald Dworkin, Joan W. Scott and Max Weber.
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.
Food is now a conspicuous topic, from culinary blogs to magazines, diet books, TV shows and contests. Yet unbeknownst to many, it often holds an underground, clandestine place in some of social science’s major works. This dossier assesses the current importance of such scholarly endeavors, known as “food studies” in the United States.
Though poorly known in France, the work of the anthropologist Mary Douglas is nonetheless essential for understanding the elementary forms of social organization and daily life. By shedding light on her academic career and personal life, this portrait rehabilitates the thought of a major intellectual.
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”.
What distinguishes a blank canvas from an empty frame? A simple object from a readymade? What is this mysterious gap that art digs as it separates from life? Such are the questions posed by Arthur Danto, a major figure of contemporary art theory.
En Allemagne, un moteur de recherche permet d’explorer les registres du Parti nazi. Au-delà des secrets de famille, cette initiative ravive des débats. Quelle différence entre la connaissance et la mémoire ? Que faire du nazisme à l’heure où l’extrême droite s’efforce de le réhabiliter ?
Catastrophe démographique sans équivalent, la Peste noire a bouleversé les équilibres économiques, sociaux et culturels de l’Europe au XIVe siècle. Longtemps pensée comme une césure majeure, elle apparaît désormais comme révélateur des structures, limites et résistances des sociétés médiévales.
Les machines peuvent désormais dialoguer avec nous, mais en quel sens est-ce du langage ? Loin de répéter aléatoirement des fragments de texte appris, ces nouveaux systèmes d’IA semblent se construire une représentation interne de ce dont ils parlent.
À propos de : Anne-Lyse Chabert et Gabrielle Halpern, Nos paroles empêchées, L’aube
À propos de : Aaron Reeves, Sam Friedman, Born to Rule. The Making and Remaking of the British Elite, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
À propos de : Sylvain Kahn, L’Europe : Un État qui s’ignore, CNRS éditions
