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Ann Premack, David Premack
The Baby, the Ape and Man
The issue of the differences and similarities between humans and their cousins the chimpanzees governs the definition of human identity. How can this difference be explained? By studying the learning process of chimpanzees and comparing it to that of children, Ann and David Premack were gradually able to discover a series of differences, none of which were radical but when put together showed a yawning gap between the two species. The results they obtained enabled them to reconstruct little by little the sum of the differences that make up human identity. Ann and David Premack are specialists in the study of primates.
Jean-Pierre Petit
The Stock Exchange Renewal and Rupture
The current stock market crisis followed the period of fastest growth in world markets in history. How can this be explained? And what does it indicate for the future? While the bullish market that preceded the crisis was hyper-inflationist, we are now experiencing a period of deflation, a drop following on the heels of a vertiginous rise. In this respect, Petits interpretation is that of the regulationists: the crisis is one of confidence. He also describes how the crisis has revealed structural weaknesses in various countries. Jean-Pierre Petit is head of economic research for the investment company Exane.
Roger-Pol Droit
Recent News of Ordinary Objects
"Can you learn anything from ordinary objects the things you use in your daily life? The answer is: yes, more than you can imagine. During the course of one year, I assigned myself a sort of adventure: I kept a diary of my encounter with objects, and I suggest you do the same. Briefly, my goal was to try to find the words that are hidden inside objects, to discover the questions that lie at the heart of things. My journey took place in four stages: surprise, groping, panicking, feeling soothed. This experience, touched with humour and a hint of folly, also follows the itinerary of an unexpected spiritual journey," Roger-Pol Droit is a research fellow at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
François Ladame
Eternal Adolescents How to Become an Adult
Problems of identity also concern fully developed adults or, more accurately, those apparently developed adults who have failed to leave their childhood behind and have been unable to become autonomous. In an age which prefers to break down rather than uphold limits between genders, generations, even between life and death how can the construction of ones personal identity be enhanced? What can be done to develop a powerful sense of existing in ones own right, independently of inner changes and circumstances? How can children be helped to find their place in the world and to remain themselves in the midst of others? François Ladame is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst