Esprit2013-07-16Abstracts for Esprit 7/2013Frédéric Orobon
Is libertarian paternalism an oxymoron, or the future of the welfare state ?
Libertarianism and paternalism are apparently contradictory, the former upholding individual freedom, the latter aimed at protecting people from themselves. Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler's theory of "libertarian paternalism" nevertheless associate the two terms, in the name of social welfare.Dominique Demangel
Changing drug policies
The global war on drugs is a failure, and repressive policies have shown their limits. We now need to reorient national policies towards risk management and welfare, so as to tackle the consequences of drugs on people's health and on society, as well as to fight drug trafficking. Antoine Maurice
Travel Notes on Armenia. The burden of memory
Armenia's landscapes are haunted by its memory : the 1915 genocide and the 1988 earthquake remain vivid in people's minds. So is the territorial conflict around the region of Nagorno Karabach, still unresolved. In spite of the dynamism of its diaspora and of local actors, Armenia, though independent, is still burdened by a past which is not dead.Interview with Eric Marty
Daring to say "I". Intellectuals, politics and writing
Philosophy and politics can be seen through literature, which inevitably focuses on subjectivity, on the specificities of writing. This is why Eric Marty worked on André Gide, René Char, Roland Barthes, and why he chose, in his latest book, to analyse how 1970s French intellectuals (Klossowski, Bataille, Blanchot, Lacan, Deleuze) read the works of Sade, and what their perspective on the "divin marquis" says of the way they see the XXth century.Nicolas Duruz
Healing through unlearning : François Roustang, therapist and philosopher
In his book on Socrates, François Roustang portrays the Greek philosopher as a shaman who tries to transforms people's existences rather than to search for truth. Roustang adopts the same method as a therapist, refusing the tenents of psychoanalysis and tracing a new path towards healing the mind.Raphaël Lauro
Edouard Glissant's decentering eye
Edouard Glissant theorized the notion of "all world" ; he was from the West Indies and studied philosophy in Paris. He tried to free himself from the look of the "Other" -- the western look which turns things into immovable essences -- while always preserving the possibility of relation. He spoke of the world's "creolization", of the necessity to create archipelagos of thought ; in this way, he always decentered words and perspectives, refusing the fantasy of Unity to promote a world in motion.The full table of contents of Esprit 7/2013