Contenu du sommaire : Éthique et science sociale

S. Latouche, Ethics and the scientific mind The article is not mainly devoted to the traditional problems, namely the ethics of the applications of science and science's claims to found an ethic. Its main aim is to show that social science has ethical implications. The latter are manifested on three levels, that of the operative choices in the elaboration of the scientific corpus, that of the assumptions in the appropriation of the scientific object itself, and finally, that of the criteria of scientificity. Social science is inevitably a « moral » science. Its concepts involve values, its object can only by apprehended by cutting into the flesh of societies, its rules of validation are a form of morality — which has complex relationships with Ethics. The ethical implications of social science can contribute to moral life but also run the risk of misdirecting it.

Dr Thirion, Towards a new subject-object relationship in the therapeutic act Our experience as a doctor, allopathist by training but open to other types of médecine (in particular, acupuncture, homeopathy and osteopathy) has led us to relativise the classical subject-object relationship of XlXth century « positive » science, which is the only relationship taught at the hospital and in the faculty. Sociologists like Morin amongst others, physicians like Espagnat, mathematicians like Thom and biologists like Guillé have started an epistemological debate on the subject-object relationship. It appears to us that it is up to doctors to do something similar for the therapeutic act. Let us dissect the doctor-patient interface, establishing thereby a new therapeutic manner, let us create new frontiers, and outline new interferences between doctor and patient. It is at this price that XXIst century médecine will be moulded to be operational and efficient in consulting rooms.

G. Gosselin, The Return of the Subject and the ethics of Complexity In his Method in particular, Edgar Morin Wishes to subject Science to the ethical question and to institute fraternity as an ethics of complexity. In order to understand this approach and to grasp its scope, we propose to clarify the foundations of a return to the subject. In the first instance, we are dealing with a naturalized subject which leads Morin to adopt an anti-anthropocentric approach thus posing several questions : these relate to the enlarging of the ideas of nature and of life, to the generalization of the idea of conscience, to the situation of subjects in the universe, to the passage to the meta-point of view of the observer. We then have a hyper-complex subject, an individual or a person, which poses the question of the constitution of a science of the present. The foundations of an ethics of complexity cannot be sought in science, nor be translated directly into politics. The love of the living is fundamental here for Morin, and the consideration of any subjects as alter ego. Far from sacrificing everything to the thirst for knowledge, like scientism with eliminate the subject and brings death, the science of complexity should be subjected to the « living forces of fraternity ». However, as yet nobody knows was a policy of this type would involve, and the return of the sacred is a threat to the terrain itself. We are thus led to refer to certain * idols » based on an eclosed or sacralised fraternity. to understand this approach and to grasp its scope, we propose to clarify the foundations of a return to the subject. In the first instance, we are dealing with a naturalized subject which leads Morin to adopt an anti-anthropocentric approach thus posing several questions : these relate to the enlarging of the ideas of nature and of life, to the generalization of the idea of conscience, to the situation of subjects in the universe, to the passage to the meta-point of view of the observer. We then have a hyper-complex subject, an individual or a person, which poses the question of the constitution of a science of the present. The foundations of an ethics of complexity cannot be sought in science, nor be translated directly into politics. The love of the living is fundamental here for Morin, and the consideration of any subjects as alter ego. Far from sacrificing everything to the thirst for knowledge, like scientism which eliminates the subject and brings death, the science of complexity should be subjected to the « living forces of fraternity ». However, as yet nobody knows what a policy of this type would involve, and the return of the sacred is a threat to the terrain itself. We are thus led to refer to certain « idols » based on an eclosed or sacralised fraternity.

L. Moreau de Bellaing, The social sciences and human rights Since the granting of freedom of expression in Article II of the Declaration, all sciences and especially the social sciences are both based on and challenged by human rights. The origin of human rights is linked to the birth of Western history and the appearance of the sciences. If sociology, history, psychology etc. are to contribute to the assessment of these rights, as well as to their maintenance and their development, these disciplines must produce scientific analyses of daily life and lift the censorship on some of their objects of research.

R. Lew, Rubel and the question of ethics in Marx The relationship between ethics and marxism is a question which comes to the fore periodically. Since the Second World War, Maximilien Rubel has been defending the thesis of the importance, if not the preeminence of ethics in Marx' work. Rubel considers that two dimensions are intimately linked in Marx, on the one hand the irreducible dualism between science and ethics and on the other, the foundation of revolutionary ethics in a true movement of self-emancipation of the working class. The vision of Marx' work poses at least two problems. 1) While ethics is indeed important, its separation from « science » tends, de facto, to a challenging of the objectivity, of the historical foundation of the revolutionary project. Ethics then becomes an ethic of withdrawal and conservation. 2) Doubt as to revolutionary « knowledge » — in fact the objectivity of the revolutionary project — thus attains the theme of the historical autopraxis of the working class which constitutes the sine qua non of marxism. While the self-emancipation of the oppressed as a reality at work no longer has the strength which was once attributed to it, the ethics of refusal of an inhuman world effectively has an outstanding place, while awaiting the indispensable process of the rooting of any revolutionary project in social life.

A. Bihr, From the social positivity to the criticism of values (Elements for a critic of the social sciences) In this critical review of the social sciences, the central argument questions their supposed « axiological neutrality » which derives from the concealment of the dialectic of fact and value. This dialectic is briefly reintroduced via the concept of possibility. This restoration provides the vital lead for the criticism of the analytical method of the social sciences and the viability of their theoretical models. The whole text is a vindication of the solidarity existing between the concepts of totality, contradiction and possibility.

Jean Nadal, Psychoanalysis, Ethics and Violence The author questions the practice of the psycho-analyst as regards the rule which he imposes on his patient. He demonstrates that this practice takes into consideration one of the forms of pulsion (Eros and Thanatos), the pulsion of appropriation which, in the subconscious, is dominating and possessive of the other. By denying the patient is playing a role in relation to this pulsion of appropriation, the analyst helps him to forge himself as subject. It is therefore an ethic of liberty which is at work in psychoanalysis both in theory and in practice, acting in opposition to what are claimed to be collective and individual intra-psychical inevitabilities, for a total recovery of the individual.

L. Portis, The Politico-Ideologico Foundations of the Durkheimian Sociology The sociology of Emile Durkheim was formulated in opposition to the doctrines of liberal political economy and marxism. Politically and ideologically, the sociological research inspired by Durkheim was motivated by the need to achieve social consensus, to eliminate social conflict. Central to this objective was the effort to integrate a culturally autonomous working class into the normative structure of capitalist society. Durkheim was responding to the problems posed during a period of profound economic mutation, when sharp social conflict and the rapid progress of the tabor movement between 1884 and 1914 produced a new field of social and political action. Durkheimian sociology was, in fact, an aspect of social and political change, and it must be considered as having played a double role : that of a scientific method and that of a political ideology.