Revue de SynthesePub Date : 2026-10-07DOI: 10.1163/19552343-14234098
Thiago Vargas
{"title":"Espinas lecteur de Rousseau : aux origines d’un antagonisme constitutif.","authors":"Thiago Vargas","doi":"10.1163/19552343-14234098","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/19552343-14234098","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cet article examine la place structurante de Rousseau dans l'itinéraire intellectuel d'Alfred Espinas. Loin de relever d'un intérêt circonstanciel, la lecture espinassienne de Rousseau constitue un « antagonisme constitutif » à partir duquel Espinas élabore une sociologie fondée sur le caractère naturel de la vie sociale et sur l'organicité des sociétés. De Des Sociétés animales aux écrits des années 1890, le contractualisme rousseauiste s'impose ainsi comme un véritable contre-modèle théorique, associé à l'artificialisme, à l'abstraction et à une « morale et une politique régressives ». Cette confrontation éclaire, en retour, les conditions de légitimation de la sociologie naissante.</p><p><p>This article examines the structuring role Rousseau occupies in Alfred Espinas’s intellectual trajectory. Far from being a mere incidental topic of interest, Espinas’s interpretation of Rousseau embodies a “constitutive antagonism”, upon which Espinas builds a sociology based on the natural character of social life and the organic nature of societies. From Des Sociétés animales to his writings of the 1890s, Rousseau’s contractualism becomes a genuine theoretical counter-model associated with artificiality, abstraction and ‘regressive morality and politics’. This confrontation, in turn, sheds light on the conditions under which nascent sociology gained legitimacy.</p>","PeriodicalId":41264,"journal":{"name":"Revue de Synthese","volume":" ","pages":"1-29"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149138569","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Revue de SynthesePub Date : 2026-10-07DOI: 10.1163/19552343-14234099
Marcos Camolezi
{"title":"Inclassable Alfred Espinas.","authors":"Marcos Camolezi","doi":"10.1163/19552343-14234099","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/19552343-14234099","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cet article propose un portrait chronologique d'Alfred Espinas, établi à partir d'une étude documentaire approfondie et de la bibliographie publiée dans ce numéro. En mobilisant des sources souvent méconnues, il montre la place centrale qu'Espinas a occupée dans la vie intellectuelle au tournant du xxe siècle. Il met en lumière des continuités et des ruptures jusqu'ici méconnues, révélant notamment la manière dont Espinas s'est positionné par rapport à la Revue philosophique, à la Revue de métaphysique et de morale, à l'agrégation, à la littérature médicale italienne, à l'hellénisme, au socialisme et au mouvement spiritualiste, non seulement à un moment de sa trajectoire, mais tout au long de son demi-siècle d'activité intellectuelle. Cette approche permet de décentrer Espinas de sa thèse Des Sociétés animales et d'envisager une nouvelle cohérence de son oeuvre et de son activité autour du problème de la technique et de la technologie.</p><p><p>This article provides a chronological portrait of Alfred Espinas based on an in-depth documentary study and the bibliography published in this issue. Drawing on often-overlooked sources, the article demonstrates the central role Espinas played in intellectual life at the turn of the 20th century. It highlights previously unrecognized continuities and discontinuities, revealing how Espinas positioned himself in relation to the Revue philosophique, the Revue de métaphysique et de morale, the agrégation examination, Italian medical literature, Hellenism, socialism, and the spiritualist movement throughout his half-century of intellectual activity, not only at a single point in his career. This approach shifts the focus away from Espinas’s thesis, Des Sociétés Animales, and envisions a new coherence in his philosophy centered on the problem of technique and technology. This unites his biological, Hellenic, and sociological studies around a common foundation.</p>","PeriodicalId":41264,"journal":{"name":"Revue de Synthese","volume":" ","pages":"1-59"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149138651","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Revue de SynthesePub Date : 2026-09-23DOI: 10.1163/19552343-14234094
François Vatin
{"title":"[Animal Societies Or Animal Colonies?]","authors":"François Vatin","doi":"10.1163/19552343-14234094","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/19552343-14234094","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In 1877, Alfred Espinas defended his PhD dissertation Animal Societies. In 1881, his former fellow student at the École normale supérieure, Edmond Perrier, meanwhile a full professor at the National Museum of Natural History, published Animal Colonies. Because of their similar views on the equivalence of social and organic structures, the two books were often equated posthumously despite the tense relationship between their authors, which received little to no scrutiny. Taking a socio-historical perspective on institutions and academic careers, this paper examines Espinas’s bitter criticism of Perrier’s book and sorts out the genuine intellectual divergences from the mere expression of despite, from an author who felt unrecognized, if not plagiarized. It proved easier for a biologist to venture into sociology, than for a sociologist to do the same with biology ….</p>","PeriodicalId":41264,"journal":{"name":"Revue de Synthese","volume":" ","pages":"1-35"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149070324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Revue de SynthesePub Date : 2026-09-04DOI: 10.1163/19552343-14234093
David Simonin
{"title":"[Representations in Alfred Espinas's sociology: genesis, status, effects].","authors":"David Simonin","doi":"10.1163/19552343-14234093","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/19552343-14234093","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Au carrefour de la philosophie, de la sociologie et de la psychologie, attentif aux conséquences pratiques de tout savoir théorique avec la pédagogie et la praxéologie, Alfred Espinas est l'un des grands acteurs de l'émergence des sciences humaines et sociales à la fin du XIXe siècle. Ce grand acquis de la sociologie, d'après lequel le cœur de la vie sociale est constitué de représentations, se trouve déjà chez lui. C'est sur cette notion de représentations collectives (et plus généralement de représentation), facteur théorico-pratique de cohésion sociale, que cet article se concentre. Après avoir retracé le rôle de la représentation dans la structure même et dans la progression des Sociétés animales, l'article se concentre plus spécifiquement sur la genèse et la nature des représentations collectives, entre psychologie individuelle et conscience sociale, avant d'interroger les effets qu'elles sont susceptibles d'exercer, à partir d'un ensemble d'écrits repré-sentatifs du sociologue.</p><p><p>Alfred Espinas was a key figure in the emergence of the human and social sciences at the end of the nineteenth century. At the crossroads of philosophy, sociology, and psychology, he also considered the practical implications of theoretical knowledge through pedagogy and praxeology. Before Durkheim, he identified an important milestone for sociology: the idea that the core of social life consists in representations. This article focuses on the notions of representation and collective representations as theoretical and practical factors of social cohesion. After examining the role of the notion of representation in the very structure and progression of Des Sociétés animales (On Animal Societies), the article more specifically addresses the genesis and nature of collective representations, between individual psychology and social consciousness. Lastly, drawing on a large set of Espinas’ writings, the paper addresses the potential effects of collective representations.</p>","PeriodicalId":41264,"journal":{"name":"Revue de Synthese","volume":" ","pages":"1-32"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2026-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148931554","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Revue de SynthesePub Date : 2025-12-19DOI: 10.1163/19552343-14234088
Valentina Vadi
{"title":"Measure for Measure: Alberico Gentili, International Law, and the Reason of State.","authors":"Valentina Vadi","doi":"10.1163/19552343-14234088","DOIUrl":"10.1163/19552343-14234088","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In humanist political theory, the concept of reason of state mostly described a course of action that did not follow the usual criteria of law (iustum), but rather what was useful (utile). Nonetheless, a broader understanding of the reason of state considered a community's core values. Such common interests (ius status or ragion di stato) could be contrasted with, and balanced against, those of the international community (ius gentium or ragione delle genti). According to the latter view the reason of state did not abolish the rule of law but laid down the conditions for its application. It was not the expression of immoral politics. Rather, it indicated good state governance in order to preserve public safety (mantenere o conservare lo Stato). The article investigates the evolution of the concept of reason of state in humanist political theory and how Alberico Gentili (1552-1608), a religious refugee and Regius Professor at the University of Oxford, transplanted it from political theory into the law of nations.</p>","PeriodicalId":41264,"journal":{"name":"Revue de Synthese","volume":"146 3-4","pages":"547-580"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145828519","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Revue de SynthesePub Date : 2025-12-19DOI: 10.1163/19552343-14234090
Gaëlle Demelemestre
{"title":"Histoire du droit des gens de la Renaissance à aujourd’hui.","authors":"Gaëlle Demelemestre","doi":"10.1163/19552343-14234090","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/19552343-14234090","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41264,"journal":{"name":"Revue de Synthese","volume":"146 3-4","pages":"333-349"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145828524","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Revue de SynthesePub Date : 2025-12-19DOI: 10.1163/19552343-14234089
Bart Wauters
{"title":"Vitoria, Soto, and Suárez on totus orbis and the Secularization of ius gentium.","authors":"Bart Wauters","doi":"10.1163/19552343-14234089","DOIUrl":"10.1163/19552343-14234089","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article presents an analysis of the doctrine produced by Spanish scholastic theologians on the relationship between ius gentium and natural law. It questions their writings to see to what extent it is possible to speak of a \"secularized\" concept of ius gentium. The article focuses on three key thinkers on this question, Francisco de Vitoria, Domingo de Soto, and Francisco Suárez, and places them within the relevant intellectual traditions of the 16th century, in particular, Thomist and Bartolist legal theories.</p>","PeriodicalId":41264,"journal":{"name":"Revue de Synthese","volume":"146 3-4","pages":"409-442"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2025-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145828505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Revue de SynthesePub Date : 2025-04-04DOI: 10.1163/19552343-14234071
Orna Harari
{"title":"Historical Versus Philosophical Context: Understanding Ancient Philosophy in Its Contexts.","authors":"Orna Harari","doi":"10.1163/19552343-14234071","DOIUrl":"10.1163/19552343-14234071","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Through an examination of Eduard Zeller's and Michael Frede's historiographical approaches, I question the assumption that by placing philosophy in its historical context we can avoid anachronism. I argue that an exegetical approach that studies texts and places the discussions found therein in their philosophical contexts can minimize anachronism and offer a historically sensitive understanding. I clarify this claim through three case studies: the relation between John Philoponus' philosophy and theology, Aristotle's account of relatives, and Alexander of Aphrodisias' notion of mixture. In so doing, I distinguish contextualization that facilitates judgment from contextualization that facilitates understanding and show how the latter furthers our understanding of philosophical views in different ways.</p>","PeriodicalId":41264,"journal":{"name":"Revue de Synthese","volume":"146 1-2","pages":"176-201"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144530224","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}