Overwhelming ideals

Abstract: Many of our motivations are wrongly considered natural. I take 3 examples: staying healthy, protecting nature, upholding equal rights. Behind them lie artificial ideals: Eternal Life, the Natural History Museum, Democratic Equality. Confused with principles truly constitutive of human nature, these ideals crush with their weight many aspects of our lives. They flatten our … Read more

The secret of the effectiveness of healers and pseudosciences

Abstract: The placebo astonishes by working even in those informed that it has no biological effect. Jane Risen, a researcher from Chicago, explains it by taking Daniel Kahneman’s 2-system model of thought: the rational system 2 detects the superstitious error of the intuitive system 1 but does not correct it. This produces acquiescence, a wobbly … Read more

The death drive fantasy

The It War Death wish and death drive are mistakenly confused. Very badly named in addition because they are neither desire nor impulse but solutions. Shockingly poor solutions, yes, but when you’re on a devastated battlefield, sometimes you liquidate the last opponent standing, which is yourself. A battle, that’s what it is. Battle between unconscious … Read more

The pain is sensational

Disclaimer: This pamphlet is not intended for chronic painful patients. Another blog is dedicated to the medical. This is a philosophical reflection on pain. Fibromyalgia is cited here as a paragon of chronic pain, but the article is aimed at pain in general. It targets philosophers and caregivers, not fibromyalgia, who can be harmed by … Read more

Microbiota, obesity and rheumatism

This medical topic should be part of the dedicated blog, but I include it here as an example of horizontal complexity, before the article on the two dimensions of complexity. The horizontal is an interactive cycle between elements capable of communication, while vertical complexity is an integration of interactive systems, one forming the elements of … Read more

The interest of pain

Pain is an exciting topic for the philosophy of mind. Its reality and meaning are redefined in this article on the frequent confusion between pain-injury and pain-repair: Abstract: Pain-repair is often confused with pain-injury. However, the attitudes to follow are very different. In search of the meaning of our feelings, let us not forget that … Read more

Feeding (5): Epistemological conclusion

Do we have to choose between contradictory analyses? A recurring problem handicaps philosophical analysis: teleological and ontological views are contradictory. They describe competing cases. If it’s genetics, it can’t be psychology. If it’s culture, it can’t be biology. Etc. The contradiction arises from an epistemology that is too horizontal: the different views are deciphered, compared, … Read more

Feeding (4): Immiscible memes

A microcosm of good size In Oceanian mythologies, the human body is the microcosm of the divine macrocosm. More representative if we give it space? The strong build is particularly appreciated by Polynesians, who engaged in ritual fattening (ha’apori). The elder children were locked in the shade in huts and fed abundantly until they made … Read more