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 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.
How can we move beyond abstract architecture, where buildings are constructed without their audiences? Peter Ferretto’s method is based on observation, engagement, and the osmosis between teaching, practice, research, and social impact.
We talk about the Earth without truly understanding it. An overview of recent knowledge about the “Earth system” and its concerning state invites us to promote a new way of looking at the environment and the political approaches required.
According to Frédéric Monferrand, Marx considers capitalism as a vast effort to put nature to work. This includes human bodies, as well as non-human environments. Monferrand outlines a “historical naturalism,” demonstrating its political and ecological relevance.
About: Charles Serfaty, Histoire économique de la France, Passés composés
About: Paulin Ismard, Le Miroir d’Œdipe. Penser l’esclavage, Seuil
About : Emmanuel Renault, Abolir l’exploitation, La Découverte
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.
Michel Crozier’s work was shaped by the conviction that organizational phenomena create society. He helped pioneer the tools for analyzing groups established to carry out a common project according to a specific system of action and rules of the game.
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.
Books & Ideas is going on holiday for the summer, and will resume its publication schedule in September. In the meantime, we present to you a weekly roundup of our most recent essays and reviews. Our first summer selection features compelling interviews on subjects as varied as food and media studies, African-American history, quantum physics, Russian political culture, and Muslim-Jewish relations.
Books & Ideas is slowing down for the summer and will resume its publication schedule on August 26. In the meantime, we present to you a weekly selection of essays and reviews published over the past year.
In an innovative study that returns Albert Camus’ early works to their rightful place in the canon, Laurent Bove suggests we should view Camus as a philosopher of immanence and of acquiescence to the joy of the world. This reading is enlightening as far as Camus’ thoughts on history are concerned, but tends to gloss over the ruptures that run though his work, which is driven with multiple tensions.
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”.
Now a well-known Chinese lawyer of the democratic dissidence in China, Zhang Sizhi was once a young nationalist, a high-ranking official in the court of Beijing and a victim of anti-rightist repression. In his memoirs, he provides a detailed and fascinating description of the profession and China in the second half of the 20th century.
Lev Vygotski mérite d’être redécouvert au-delà de sa réputation pédagogique. Il a vécu la période tragique du stalinisme en travaillant jusqu’au dernier moment de sa courte vie à une psychologie de la liberté.
Peut-on philosopher en féministe, alors même que l’histoire de la philosophie est fortement genrée ? Oui, mais cela implique de prêter attention à tous les parti-pris qui la traversent et souvent la constituent.
Investi depuis les années 1950 contre la misère, le mouvement ATD Quart Monde a su conjuguer action de terrain, recherche et plaidoyer, jusqu’à influencer durablement les politiques sociales en France et à l’échelle internationale.
À propos de : Maria Cecilia d’Ercole, Silvia d’Intino, Florence Gherchanoc (dir.), Natura. Approches anciennes, enjeux contemporains, Garnier
À propos de : Corinne Grenouillet (dir.), L’Instant critique du contemporain, Presses universitaires de Strasbourg, 2024, 240 p., 25 €
À propos de : Richard Schittly, Les Oubliés d’Action directe. De l’ultra-gauche au terrorisme, La Manufacture des livres
