Human Sciences All books
Jean-Michel Blanquer
The School of Life
To surmount the on-going fruitless discussions on education, the author proposes a series of guidelines for an open, humanistic school system.
Serge Tisseron
The Benefits of the Image
Should sex and violence be banned on our television screens ? Is there a danger that their presence can lead to them becoming common-place, or to delinquency ? In light of this current debate, Serge Tisseron argues that as soon as we become accustomed to a type of image, and it ceases to upset us, we invent another type which will once more allow us to confuse image and reality, and thus to shiver again with fear and anxiety. In a society which is flooded with images, it is thus essential to use them as best we can, and to avoid the dangers that are inherent in them. This book aims to contribute to this end. Serge Tisseron is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, doctor of psychology and research fellow at the University of Paris-X. For the past fifteen years, he has worked on the relations that viewers have with different types of images.
Alexis Rosenbaum
Dominant and Dominated Animals
A fascinating journey into the heart of the animal kingdom, in the light of the latest findings in ethology
Sébastien Soriano
The Future of Public Service
A decisive contribution to thinking about the sovereignty of society in the face of the era of networks and the digital world.
George W. Bush
By the Grace of God
George W. Bush is the new President of the United States. Who is the real man behind the publicity ? What are his values ? What are his ideas for the future of America and the world in general ? This book not only represents a true reflection of the man himself, it is also an invaluable source of information on modern day America.
David Guilbaud
The Meritocratic Illusion
David Guilbaud forcefully and with great talent dismantles the meritocratic illusion that enables a justification of an increasingly selective and unequitable educational system.
Jean-François Deniau
The Office of Lost Secrets
La Rochefoucauld once wrote that "neither the sun nor death can be stared at. " The French moralist could have added that truth also can be blinding. Deniau examines several particularly spectacular cases throughout history and under a variety of political regimes, where leaders in the upper echelons of civil and military power have refused to face the truth. He studies major cases in the fields of espionage and international relations, proposing new interpretations of some of these cases, including of the Dreyfus affair. Jean-François Deniau is the author of numerous best-sellers, and a member of the Académie Française.
Yves Coppens
The Past of the Present A Prehistorian’s Chronicles
Will Homo sapiens know how to adapt too? What lessons can we learn from the creatures that preceded us on Earth, and from what they were capable of doing? Who better than Yves Coppens can make us aware of the amazing relevance of the past from which we have all sprung?
Michel Godet
Freeing the Job Market
Unemployment in France can be brought down to 5%. Michel Godet’s method shows how to ‘free the job market’
Pierre-Henri Tavoillot
Better and better and worse and worse Understanding our world better, and using it with optimism
An antidote to the pessimistic discourse on decline, it shows that the only lucid and worthwhile attitude is to accept the limits of progress without renouncing confidence in the future. A book which reconnects with the idea of progress without falling either into naïvete or into demagogy.
André Miquel
The Event The Koran: Surate LVI
Translation and commentary of one of the most famous surates of the Koran, the fundamental book of Islam, that of The Event or "the key to the door of riches" which teaches of the gifts given to man by God. André Miquel is a professor at the Collège de France.
Daniel C. Dennett
Evolutionist theory of freedom
Billions of years ago, there was no freedom on earth, for the simple reason that there was no life. What forms of freedom have evolved since the first stirrings of life? Can freedom and free will exist in a deterministic universe? If we are free, are we responsible for our freedom, or is it governed by chance? Drawing on evolutionary biology and the cognitive sciences, Daniel Dennett provides a series of unorthodox replies to these traditional philosophical questions. It is generally held that what is determined is inevitable and that freedom can only exist in a non-deterministic universe. This is untrue, says Dennett. It is also held that in a pre-determined universe, we have no real choices: all we have is the illusion that we can choose. This too is false, argues Dennett. He then goes on to explain how, some day, we will be able to create robots endowed with free will. In this groundbreaking book, written in a striking, lively style, Dennett interweaves philosophical creativity with the latest scientific developments, and challenges a series of philosophical orthodoxies. Daniel C. Dennett is University Professor and Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University, Mass., U.S.A. He is the author of Consciousness Explained and Darwin's Dangerous Idea.
Maurice Tubiana
Education and Life
This book is a reflection on the alarming fact that France has the highest level of violent deaths (from suicide, drugs, and road accidents) in all Europe among young people between 18 and 22 years old. Tubiana analyses the pleasure principle which runs through our culture and our values, the Freudian principle that demands the immediate satisfaction of our impulses. This brings him to denounce postmodern individualism which does not make any room for the collective interest. Maurice Tubiana is a world-reknowned oncologist and member of the French Academy of Science and the Academy of Medicine.
Louis Crocq, Sophie Huberson, Benoît Vraie
Managing Crises
In the existence of any group, business or nation, a crisis is a serious, uncommon event that suddenly imposes an emergency situation and the management of the vital issues at stake.
Mario Bettati
The Right of Interference Transformation of International Order
Inventor of the "right of interference", Mario Bettati, a professor of International Law, explains in this book the precise political circumstances and the legal context under which the right of humanitarian interference came about. This book is divided into four parts which follow both a chronological and a logical order. Beginning with interference as verbal denunciation, following with interference as medical assistance, he speaks of forced interference (Yugoslavia, Somalia and Rwanda) and finishes by dissuasive interference (courts for crimes against humanity and conflicts observatories). A thorough presentation of an important subject.