Henry Delmar, Jean-François Mattéi

Philosophy of Aesthetic Surgery Surgery as Desire

What are the visible and hidden forces that drive personal transformation?

Philippe Pédrot

Judging What Cannot Be Decided The Body Seized by the Law

This is a careful study of the cataclysm that biomedical technology has wreaked on procreation, gestation, life and death.

Raymond Boudon

Why intellectual peoples don't like liberalism

Given the intellectual force of liberalism, its political appeal, its economic effectiveness and its historical significance, why is it so unpopular among French intellectuals? Why does it elicit so little serious discussion? And why is it the object of so much confusion, so many clichés and misunderstandings? Is it simply out of resentment, because intellectuals feel that the market does not afford them the material and symbolic rewards that they believe they deserve? Is it just because they prefer to play a critical role in a society where capitalism is triumphant? Perhaps, but these reasons do not explain everything — and they certainly don’t explain the systematic rejection of liberal thought in France. A sociologist of knowledge rather than of social determinism, and a specialist in belief systems, Raymond Boudon ruthlessly analyses the cognitive mechanisms that make liberalism so hateful in the eyes of French intellectuals. The result is a keen, detailed review of the clichés that have encumbered discussions for more than thirty years. Raymond Boudon, a professor at the University of Paris-IV, is a member of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques. He us the author of numerous works, most notably L’Inégalité des chances, La logique du social, L’Idéologie ou l’origine des idées reçues, L’Art de se persuader, Le Sens des valeurs and Déclin de la morale? Déclin des valeurs. He is the co-author, with R. Leroux, of Y a-t-il encore une sociologie?

Philippe Taquet

The Imprint of Dinosaurs

"In 1964, my steps encountered the prints of dinosaurs and, ever since, my shoes have travelled extensively, from the Tenere desert to the Brazilian Sertao, from the Laos forest to the steppes of Mongolia; I was lucky to discover several dinosaurs and happy to share the life of many inhabitants of this planet, Tuaregs in Niger, Berbers from the Moroccan High-Atlas or winemakers from Corbières in France. By recounting these journeys in search of dinosaurs, I wish to draw the reader in a world that owes nothing to fiction but a lot to science." Philippe Tacquet

Laurent Wauquiez

The struggle of the middle class

In the run-up to the French presidential elections, here are a series of proposals that offer the middle classes the future perspectives they deserve

Alain Bentolila

Putting Our Schools First

Claude Fischler

Of Wine

The true wine lover is a rare breed. He doesn’t pontificate, instead he asks questions and reflects. When faced with a pompous connoisseur he shuts his eyes so he can sip and taste undisturbed. Which of the two categories do you belong to, reader? Are you a true lover of Bordeaux or a connoisseur of burgundy? What is it that you like about wine? Is it the knowledge that surrounds it or the pleasure it affords? Is it the prestige of a label or the authenticity of its origin? What do all these categories really stand for? The mythology of wine is examined and deciphered in loving detail. Claude Fischler is a sociologist and researcher at France’s Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

Matthieu Boissavy, Thomas Clay

Reconstructing the Legal System