Publications
Non-exhaustive overview of publications by institute members.
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NHNAI action-research project
NHNAI - New Humanism at the time of Neurosciences and Artificial Intelligence
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Activities
Colloques
14/11/2024 | The Emergence of ConsciousnessInterdisciplinary colloquium organized by ESPHIN (UNamur's Espace Philosophique), with the collaboration of the Centre Universitaire Notre-Dame de la Paix (cUNDP), the Louvain Institute of Biomolecular Science and Technology,and Louvai4evolution (UCLouvain).This free colloquium is aimed at:Specialists, students or PhD students from various disciplines: neuroscience, biology, anthropology, medicine, psychology, philosophy, ethics, computer science, robotics, mathematics, ...People with a passion for interdisciplinarity;Humanists and the curious.Location : Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, rue Grafé 1, Local L22Learn more
Ecology of life" seminars
It's obvious to anyone paying attention to the paths taken by a growing number of 21st century thinkers: these paths lead to the living! Whether it's called "ecophilosophy", "ecoanthropology", "ecosophy" or "ecopolitics", this way of thinking about the living is occupying a growing place not only in the media and publications of all kinds, but also in concrete actions in a variety of fields.Fashion? Ephemeral trend? Collateral effect of "transitionism" tinged with ambient catastrophism? A new attempt at ecological rebellion? The seminars to which we invite you are intended to be a meeting place - an ecosystem - at the heart of which we will resonate with founding texts of this current that integrates nature, environment, milieu, human and non-human, and straddles the worn-out dualisms of our modern tradition. In other words, we propose to read together some key texts by authors who have attempted to draw lessons from their authentic encounters with other living beings.Program 2024-2025 | At the Roots of the HumanOn December 13 2024 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm (intervention, discussions and convivial moment). Quentin HIERNAUX will introduce plant philosophy and tell us about Humboldt's "Tableau physique des Andes" and his equinoctial geography of plants.On February 28, 2025 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm (intervention, discussions and convivial moment), Jean-Baptiste VUILLEROD will address the following theme: Naturphilosophie du végétal : Goethe, Schelling, Humboldt.OnApril 11, 2025from 2:00 to 4:00 pm (intervention, discussions and convivial moment), Roland CAZALIS will share his biologist's point of view on the plant world.Introducing the subjectIf we were to take stock of the history of mankind, one trend would certainly stand out: that of a utilitarian relationship with the non-human that continues to grow, and consequently that of a widening gap between the human and the rest.Humanity, however, has its roots in a living environment that cultivates many other relationships than those we currently privilege, which are dominated by instrumental rationality. Sounding out these forgotten relational universes, without which it is increasingly difficult to think about the human, is one aim of this seminar, which this year will invite you to encounter the plant.Last year we turned our attention to the communal dimension of living things, starting with the work of Aldo Leopold. In particular, the American forester challenged us with a question from which we should never stray: "just what and whom do we love?". His answer, in the middle of the last century, already confirmed the trend evoked above: "Certainly not the soils, which we allow to be scavenged towards the estuaries. Certainly not the waters, which we assume have no other function than to power turbines, carry barges and carry away garbage. Certainly not plants, whose entire communities we exterminate without batting an eyelid. Certainly not the animals, from which we have already extirpated many of the largest and most magnificent species.". In the face of this lack of consideration for what is not us, the earth ethic proposed by Leopold "modifies the role of homo sapiens, who, from conqueror of the earth-community, becomes a full member and citizen of it". It is thus an ethic that "implies respect for other members as well as for the community as such", and "man is ultimately only a member of a biotic team" ("The Ethics of the Earth", in Almanac of a Sand County).To help us rediscover this vital sense of community, this year we'll turn to plant lifestyles: those living things that maintain intimate relationships with light, air, water and everything we call "soil". How can we let ourselves be instructed by the plants without which we could not exist? "By making possible the world of which they are part and content, plants destroy the topological hierarchy that seems to reign in the cosmos. They demonstrate that life is a breaking of the asymmetry between container and content. When there is life, philosopher Emanuele Coccia continues, the container lies within the content (and is therefore contained by it) and vice versa. The paradigm of this reciprocal imbrication is what the ancients already called breath (pneuma). To blow, to breathe, means in effect to have this experience: that which contains us, the air, becomes contained within us and, conversely, that which was contained within us becomes that which contains us." (The Life of Plants).The Tableau Physique (1807) by Alexander von Humboldt:
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Members
Board members
President: Nicolas Monseu-Van CleemputVice-president: Marie d'Udekem-GeversPhilosophy department representative: Laura RizzerioScience-Philosophies-Society Department representative: Geoffroy de BrabanterAssociate member representative: Bertrand HespelSecretariat: Vénonique OroseWebsite manager: Nathanaël Laurent
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Projet MIS (FNRS) | Rethinking anti-reductionist physicalism for the 21st century
Collaborative research project (2023-2026) under the direction of Olivier Sartenaer bringing together Maxime Hilbert (PhD student), Gauvain Leconte-Chevillard (Post-doc) and Andrea Rosell (Post-doc), and whose main object is to rethink anti-reductionist physicalism in the light of a new, so-called "diachronic" theory of emergence, with forays into the physical and biological sciences.
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Press
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Olivier Sartenaer
Director
olivier.sartenaer@unamur.be
Press
presse@unamur.be
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Research centers
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Arcadie - Anthropocene, History, Utopias
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cBUN - Centre for Bioethics View content
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cUNDP - Centre Universitaire Notre-Dame de paix View content
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SPiN - Science & Philosophy in Namur
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Research at SPiN
SPiN's research activities take the form of numerous projects, including doctoral and postdoctoral projects, on philosophical or transdisciplinary aspects, research seminars and scientific publications.
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SPiN seminars
SPiN seminars generally take place on Fridays from 11am to 1pm at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters. For more information, please contact the coordinators of the seminar you wish to attend.
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SPiN members
Promoters (PIs)
Thibaut DE MEYER
Lecturer, Faculty of Philosophy and LettersFields of interest: Philosophy of ethology; History and philosophy of human and animal sciences; Perspectivism.Thibaut De Meyer in the UNamur directory Team: Dario Galvao
Juliette FERRY-DANINI
Lecturer, Faculty of InformaticsFields of interest: Philosophy and history of medicine, philosophy of biomedical sciences, bioethics and digital ethicsJuliette Ferry-Danini in the UNamur directoryJuliette Ferry-Danini online
Gaëlle PONTAROTTI
Lecturer, Faculty of Science, Department of Science, Philosophy and Society.Fields of interest: philosophy of science, philosophy of life and biomedical sciences, philosophy of the environment.Gaëlle Pontarotti in the UNamur directoryGaëlle Pontarotti online
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Olivier SARTENAER
Professor of philosophy of science, Faculty of Science, Department of Science, Philosophy and Society.Founder and director of SPiN.Areas of interest: general philosophy of science, epistemology.Fellow NARC 2023-2026Olivier Sartenaer in the UNamur directoryOlivier Sartenaer in PhilPeopleContact: olivier.sartenaer@unamur.be
Olivier Sartenaer's team
From left to right: Doan Vu Duc, Maxime Hilbert, Charly Mobers, Olivier Sartenaer, Louis Halflants, Andrea Roselli, Gauvain Leconte-Chevillard, Eve-Aline Dubois.
Researchers
Eve-Aline DUBOIS
Doctor of Mathematical Sciences and PhD Assistant - Philosophy of Science, Faculty of Science, Department of Science, Philosophy and SocietyFields of interest: History of Astronomy - Philosophy of Infinity - CosmologyEve-Aline Dubois in the UNamur directory
Jérémy Grosman
Jérémy Grosman in the UNamur directoryMore info coming soon
Geneviève Guillaume
Doctor of medicine, clinician (vascular surgeon) and PhD student in philosophy, at the cBUN CenterFields of interest: Clinical ethics, practical philosophy, medical decisionGeneviève Guillaume in the UNamur directory
Louis HALFLANTS
Assistant at the Faculty of Science, Department of Science, Philosophy and SocietyAreas of interest: general epistemology of science, philosophy of physics, history of science.Louis Halflants in the UNamur directoryLouis Halflants in PhilPeople
Maxime HILBERT
Doctor at the Faculty of Science, Department of Science, Philosophy and SocietyAreas of interest: Philosophy of Science, History of the Philosophy of Science, Metaphysics, EpistemologyMaxime Hilbert in the UNamur directoryMaxime Hilbert in PhilPeople
Nathanaël Laurent
Nathanaël Laurent in the UNamur directoryMore info coming soon
Gauvain LECONTE-CHEVILLARD
Postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Science, Department of Science, Philosophy and Society for the MIS project (FNRS) "Reconfiguring non-reductionist physicalism for the 21st century"Areas of interest: General philosophy of science, history and philosophy of physics, astronomy and cosmologyGauvain Leconte-Chevillard in the UNamur directory
Charly MOBERS
Doctor at the Faculty of Science, Department of Science, Philosophy and SocietiesFields of interest: General philosophy of science, philosophy of astronomy and cosmologyCharly Mobers in the UNamur directory
Andrea ROSELLI
Postdoctoral researcher at the SPiN research centerFields of interest: metaphysics, philosophy of science, philosophy of timeAndrea Roselli in the UNamur directory:Andrea Roselli in PhilPeople
Doan VU DUC
Doctoral fellow at the Faculty of Science, Department of Science, Philosophy and SocietyAreas of interest: philosophy of science, epistemology, naturalized epistemology, science-pseudoscience demarcation.Doan Vu Duc in the UNamur directory:Doan Vu Duc in PhilPeople
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Science & Philosophy in Namur (SPiN)
SPiN (Science & Philosophy in Namur) is a research center bringing together philosophers and scientists who question science in all its diversity, crossing epistemological, metaphysical, political and ethical approaches.Pluridisciplinary and open to major contemporary issues, SPiN explores the philosophical challenges of the various disciplines of the natural, social, human and formal sciences.Its work, both academic and engaged, aims to better understand what the sciences are, how they work, how to distinguish them from what they are not, or what roles they play in our society.
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