The Letter

N ° 1 A c a d e m i c y e a r 2 0 0 5 - 2 0 0 6

1 of the Collège de France

The Collège de France is a unique Institution in manyways. Founded in 1530, its initial goal was – and stillis – to promote learning at the cutting edge of research,to teach new areas of knowledge, to favorinterdisciplinary exchanges. This is accomplished byacademic courses, seminars and symposia held in theCollège de France. Every year, each Professor’s coursesdiffer from those given in previous years, therebyensuring innovative teaching. There is no strictequivalent of the Collège de France in the Anglo-Saxonworld. In fact, it is easier to define the Collège de Franceby saying what it is not rather than what it is! TheCollège de France does not belong to the Universitysystem as it does not enrol students and it does notdeliver diplomas. Everyone is free to attend any course,at any time in the year. Neither is it an Academy asthere is very active research going on in the Collège deFrance itself. There are basic science researchlaboratories in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology,etc… as well as strong research in humanities and socialsciences. Because of its long expertise and tradition inhumanities, the Collège de France has accumulated anexceptional collection of libraries, especially in

Egyptology, Byzantium, the Middle and Far Easternworlds. The laboratory of Social Anthropology, one ofthe very first created in the world, possesses one of themost important libraries of general anthropology.

The Collège de France has many interactions withcountries outside of France. The Professors of theCollège de France have the possibility of giving part oftheir courses abroad. Reciprocally, temporaryprofessorship positions are offered to foreign colleaguesto lecture and participate in the Collège’s life. Inaddition, two one-year revolving chairs (an“International” and “European” Chair) are open toforeign Professors for teaching any discipline. Post-doctoral positions and full facilities are provided bythe Collège de France for foreign Fellows who wish towork in its laboratories or libraries.

The courses, colloquiums and seminars of the Collègede France are broadcast by the means of severalcommunication media: website (www.college-de-france.fr), podcast, radio and webradio, etc.Publications, bibliography, research activities of thedifferent laboratories are available through the website. An English web site has just been opened. A Letterof the Collège de France relating some of the researchperformed in the Collège was launched in 2001. Thepresent Letter is the first one of a yearly series ofEnglish Letters of the Collège de France. It assemblessome of the papers published in the French-languageLetters and highlights various aspects of theInstitution’s life. Its goal is to make everyone morefamiliarized with the Collège de France and with therole it plays, in terms of learning, teaching and research,throughout the world.

EDITORIAL

by Pierre CorvolAdministrator of theCollège de FranceProfessor, holder of theChair of ExperimentalMedicine

Teaching “Science in the Making”

Since the 16th century, the Collège de France haspursued a dual vocation: to be both a research centreat the forefront of knowledge and a place for theteaching of this new knowledge. The 52 chairs covera vast array of disciplines, including mathematics, thestudy of great civilizations, physics, chemistry,biology, medicine, philosophy, literature, socialsciences, economics, prehistory, archeology, historyand linguistics.

Courses are mainly given in Paris. However, eachprofessor is free to teach a part of his or her course in

another major French city or abroad. Foreign scholarsreceive a particularly enthusiastic welcome. Morethan fifty of these are invited to give lecture serieseach year.

The Collège de France also owns rare books andspecialized library collections recognized as amongthe foremost in Europe. They are working tools forthe Collège’s professors and researchers and are alsoaccessible to outside specialists.

Courses are free and open to all, without enrolmentrequirements, as long as space is available.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

YVES COPPENS’S CLOSING LECTURE (Letter 15) 6

CHRISTIAN DE PORTZAMPARC’S INAUGURAL LECTURE (Letter 16) 9

NEWS OF THE CHAIRS

- PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE SCIENCE (Letter 16) 10- EXPERIMENTAL COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY (Letter 17) 11- COMPARATIVE LEGAL STUDIES AND INTERNATIONALIZATION OF LAW (Letter 17) 13

RESEARCHERS AND RESEARCH TEAMS

- CHRISTIAN GIAUME (Letter 17) 14

THE BUDÉ COMMITTEE (Letter 17) 15

REOPENING COLLOQUIUM 2005: BELIEF, REASON AND UNREASON (Letter 15) 17

FIRST COLLÈGE DE FRANCE SYMPOSIUM ABROAD (Letter 17) 21

SEMINAR: GOETHE’S THEORY OF COLOURS (Letter 16) 25

LECTURES: COLLÈGE DE FRANCE/AUBERVILLIERS TOWN COUNCIL (Letter 17) 27

REORGANIZATION OF THE COLLÈGE DE FRANCE LIBRARIES (Letter 15) 28

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (Letter 17) 34

THE GLOBE OF ÉLIE DE BEAUMONT AT THE COLLÈGE DE FRANCE (Letter 16) 35

PHILATELY AND THE COLLÈGE DE FRANCE (Letter 15) 40

Selected papers

Institutional Data

The papers published in this issue of the Letter of the Collège de France in English were originally published in theLetters n° 15, 16 and 17 (academic year 2005-2006).

COLLÈGE DE FRANCE ORGANIZATION CHART 44

LECTURES GIVEN BY THE PROFESSORS IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE AND ABROAD 46

LECTURES AND LECTURE SERIES BY FOREIGN PROFESSORS 51

EVENTS AT THE COLLÈGE DE FRANCE – 2005-2006 53

PRIZES AND DECORATIONS 54

RESEARCH TEAMS RECEIVED 54

MAÎTRES DE CONFÉRENCES AND ATER AT THE COLLÈGE DE FRANCE – 2005-2006 55

PUBLICATIONS – 2005-2006 57

COLLÈGE DE FRANCE COLLOQUIUMS – 2006-2007 58

pages

SELECTED

PAPERS

THE LETTER- N° 16

I am telling you nothing new whenI say that the history of Man is partof the history of life, which is part ofthe history of the Earth, which ispart of the history of the universe.And this projects us into a historygoing back 12 to 13 billion years,the limit of our knowledge.Astrophysicists have noted that,over the years, matter spread andcooled, but that it also organizeditself into complex structures. […]

And this situation was repeatedwhen the history of life began.Living matter, over the 4 billionyears of its existence, continued, forone part of itself, to organize itselfinto complex structures […]Thinking matter, of which we arethe receptacle, thus appears in itsturn to be the most complex andbest organized state of mattercurrently in existence, and it wasnot by chance that this stateappeared only 3 million years ago,after 4 billion years of existence forliving matter, and 12 or 13 for inertmatter.

But let’s turn our attention tomankind.

Man is obviously a living being andhe appears as such at the end of oneof the many branches of the

immense phyletic tree of the livingworld. When beings are classified,which all naturalists do in order totry and make sense of nature’sastonishing creativity, humans areplaced in the following categories:Eucaryotes, Metazoans, Chordata,Vertebrates, Gnathostomulida,Sarcopterygii, Tetrapods, Amniotes,Synapsids, Mammals and Primates.

In the tree just mentioned, one branchappears to me to be essential in ourhistory, it is obviously the one thatseparates prehumans and humansfrom chimpanzees and theirpredecessors, our closest relatives: inother words, the fork occupied by ourlast common ancestor. As all primateshave tropical origins, this branchingoff most likely happened in thetropics; as our chimpanzee relativesare definitely African, it must haveoccurred in the tropics of Africa.Study of the degrees of evolution offossils discovered up to now,attributable consequently to one ofthe two branches or their commonstem, and study of the molecular orcytogenetic clocks both agree that thisfundamental branching off dates backno more than ten million years. So,here we have our birth certificate: thebranch of prehumans and humans,our own, was born 10,000,000 yearsago in tropical Africa.

[…] Here we are in possession of asuperb collection of prehumans, alltropical and African, all standing,bipeds and climbers first of all, afterthat simply biped, and whose brainslowly grew. Some of them evolvedinto vegetarian and macrodontcreatures, others into frugivores,and finally others into theomnivorous, microdont ancestors ofthe genus Homo.

As for the genus Homo, it appearedbetween 3,000,000 and 2,500,000years ago, also in tropical Africa.The first humans were thuscontemporaries and compatriots ofthe last prehumans, but weredifferent from them as they wereexclusively biped in spite of somevestiges of arboricolism, theirencephalon was considerably larger(510 to 775 cm3), more complexand better irrigated, they had a setof teeth suitable for an omnivorewith front teeth that were strongercompared to the smaller side teeth,and their faces were much lessprotuberant.

[…] It seems clear that humans, likehorses, elephants or wart hogs, reactto changes in their environment bytrying to adapt; the hominid, inchanging his diet and increasing thesize of his brain was only doing the

CLOSING LECTURE

Professor Yves Coppensgave his closing lectureon 21st June 2005.

Y. Coppens has held the Chairof Paleoanthropology andprehistory since 1983.

7N° 1 - THE LETTER

same as the Equidae who increasedthe size of their teeth and reducedthe number of toes on each hoof toone. The prehuman, Australopi-thecus or Kenyanthropus evolvedinto the Homo, as the Hipparionevolved into the Equus. This meansthat at that time, the hominid wasan integral part of his ecosystemand that he was affected by climateor environmental fluctuations justlike any of his neighbours. It alsomeans that it was the environmentthat made Man and that, withoutthis event, the genus Homo wouldhave had no reason to appear, atleast there and at that particulartime.

So, finally we appear to be, at thattime and place, at the criticalmoment when the state of matterchanged again, while waiting forthe next change. This time, it wasone part of living matter that, withthe aid of the central nervoussystem, became thinking matter.For a naturalist, Man remains aprimate, and this is not false.However, misplaced statements ofthe type “Man is a monkey” or“the monkey is human” areobviously only partly true, to saythe least; again, it is just a questionof common sense. Conscious lifeappears with Man, whom I willcall, for want of anything better,philosophical, for the term perhapsdoes not cover only the genusHomo. Conscious life is defined asbest we can by “knowing that oneknows”, it is revealed to us inpractical terms by the first objectsto be made. For the very first timein nature, stones were cut; acreature dared to change the shapeof an object to use it for his ownbenefit. No other species has, forthe time being, shared thisaudacity. After 12 or13 billionyears of natural history it was trulythe first sign of a cultural history,the term “culture” covering for aprehistorian anything that is notnature, i.e. technology of course,but also the intellectual, spiritual,

moral, aesthetic, ethical facets etc.of the creature endowed with them.

The most ancient cut stones havebeen found on formations that are3,300,000 to 3,200,000 years old(layer B2 of the Shungura formationin the lower Omo valley); we stillhave to find them in (and not on)these formations to be certain oftheir age. There is no dispute aboutother tools that have beendiscovered inside other formations,Ethiopian - Hadar - and Kenyan -Turkana -, dating back 2,600,000years. If we accept this as proof ofconscious life, which is fairlyreasonable, we can date theemergence of a degree ofcorresponding reflection to between3,500,000 and 2,500,000 years ago.

So, here we have a second birthcertificate: conscious life was born3,000,000 years ago in tropicalAfrica.

And Man immediately got moving.It was obviously not a decision onhis part but, as his ecological nichewas then getting bigger for climaticreasons, he spread with it. […]

So, let’s imagine that this veryancient form of humanity alreadyinhabited, 2 million years ago, thewhole of the Ancient World, Africaand Eurasia, as far as a certainlatitude obviously. Vicissitudes ofclimate were once again about tointervene in his history. […]

It has always been known that, forreasons of a decrease in territory,predation limitation and reductionin biodiversity, once they areestablished on certain islands,certain orders of Vertebratesundergo hormonal changes thattransform them, over tens ofthousands of years into dwarves orgiants.

[…] Well! Man has surprised us byadding the family of hominids to thelist of families affected by this

strange phenomenon. Peter Brown,an Australian colleague, extractedlast year from the Liang Bua site,west of Flores, an individual 1m to1m20 tall, with a skull resemblingthat of a Homo erectus, and thathad an endocranial capacity of380 cm3 (like Sahelanthropus) to530 cm3 (like the smallest of theHomo habilis), associated with alithic industry and with a geologicalage of 12 to 18,000 years.

Thirty years ago, I proposed that welink the new anatomy of the genusHomo, from which we originate, tothe climate change that wascontemporary to it, and that weexplain one by the other. Thisproposal was treated in acondescending manner and wasregarded as deterministic. And herewe have, two and a half millionyears after the emergence of the(H)omo, the demonstration of therole the environment played on theanatomy of the genus Homo whenthe culture was not strong enoughto resist it. We have to admit thateven in the age of Lascaux and thefirst domestications, Man was still,in some places in the world,powerless in the face of what theenvironment wanted to do withhim!

Let’s turn our attention to Africaand continental Asia combined.Homo erectus lived there, even if hewas more ergaster in tropical Africa,mauritanicus in North-West Africaand erectus sensu stricto in Asia. Asin Europe, Java or Flores, Homoerectus evolved there, and he wastransformed into a shape bearing askull with a round high vault andlarge cerebral volume, a short facewith a big reduction in teeth andsuperstructures: and this form iscalled sapiens.

The majority of authors believe thatHomo sapiens first appeared inAfrica and then spread throughoutthe world following the route ofHomo habilis, two million years

THE LETTER- N° 18

after him. A few others, includingmyself, believe that Homo erectussapientized in the place where hewas. […]

In any case, one thing is certain,between some hundreds ofthousands and tens of thousands ofyears ago, 4 forms of humanity,conscious, intelligent, cultivated,coexisted on our planet, Homosapiens, Homo neandertalensis,Homo soloensis and Homofloresiensis.

And then one fine day fiftythousand years ago, a convenientnumber but one that is of courseapproximate, for reasons ofaccessibility to territory but perhapsalso for reasons of demographic orenvironmental pressure, Homosapiens got moving again, if he everreally stopped moving. And hearrived in America on foot, withoutrealizing like Christopher Columbusthat he was discovering it. He endedup in Australia, arriving there on araft. He went to Europe, to Javaand probably later on to Flores. InAmerica and Australia, there wasnobody. In Europe, in Java, and inFlores, Sapiens, who was calledCro-magnon in the first case andWadjak in the other two, met hispredecessors. […]

Man’s cultures, in other wordsPrehistory, has of course also taughtus a lot during the 3 million yearsmankind has existed.

We have seen them emerge such along time ago and withcharacteristics that were then sodiversified that some people havewondered whether several hominidsdid not invent at the same time toolsof the second degree. And then thesetools, at first only present from timeto time, became a permanent andalmost compulsory presence. It wasa couple, Man-and-tools as they sayin mechanics, which thenestablished itself and which hasnever been separated since then.

[…] So, this is approximately whatis known about Man and hishistory, or at least what we believewe know about it.

Man is linked in a simple andcontinuous manner to thebiosphere, to his planet and to hisuniverse. He is the cousin of allliving things that exist or haveexisted. To be more precise, it isobvious that he comes from theanimal world. His closest relatives,in today’s nature, are thechimpanzees (including theBonobos). He represents the mostcomplex and the best organizedstate of matter known, being ableto reflect on his own thinking. Manwas born in the tropics of Africasome 3 million years ago, fromefforts to adapt to a heatwave. Allmankind on Earth has the sameorigin, the same ancestors. At thattime, mankind consisted of aboutone hundred thousand individualswho barely lived beyond the age oftwenty. Since then there have been100 billion, and man, nowdomesticated, has multiplied his lifeexpectancy by three or four. For3 million years, like a child inschool, Man has made progress ineverything, and it is the increase inhis knowledge that has made him afree Man, who is becoming freer

and freer without ceasing to beresponsible, including for his ownliberty. It is obviously these strangecharacteristics that have conferredon him his dignity.

Extracts from the closing lecture

9N° 1 - THE LETTER

INAUGURAL LECTURE

Christian de Portzamparc

gave his inaugural lecture on2nd February 2006.His course, entitled “Figures of theworld, figures of time”, began on24th February 2006.

Extract from the inaugural lecture:

“Can we teach creation?

We can testify to an experience. What hasenriched mine is the fact of constructing,drawing, writing, thinking, even painting, tobuild or allow others to build, with a leadingquestion: What meaning does architecturehave? Architecture concretises time. To evokeit, we are in the habit of presenting themasterpieces, the heroic proofs of theexistence of the discipline, the models. But totalk about creation, about what we candream and calculate today, this would involvetaking a very academic way. The world is nolonger the same. Unlike the scientific methodthat defines its corpus within a locatedgeneral system, we have here to considerablywiden the viewpoint in order to perceive ourtime and create.

Seeking to express the meaning ofarchitecture, what it transforms, and lookingto encircle the territory of the thought that it

raises, I would like to evoke all this vast fieldthat is accessible to us and that opens to ourviewpoint on the surface of the ground…where we appeared, walk, breathe and work.This field that makes all things visible, those

that were already there and those that weproduce, our environments, our objects, ourmillion objects spread on plains in the middleof trees and rivers. All this space that weconstantly model, this sensitive environment,transformed and produced by man on theplanet, is an artefact, an artificial copy ofnature, made to serve us. It also drifts awayfrom us little by little. [...] For me, it is indeedthis production, this ceaseless dialogue of manwith his environment that would define ourinterest in architecture. [...]

The commitment in production characterisesarchitecture and distinguishes it from science.However, it is above all our relation to thetruth that is fundamentally different fromone case to another. [...]

Thinking about what architecture teaches ustoday, in both its effects and its production,is striking. It is a figure of the world.

“I would never want to stop being amazed bywatching a locomotive” said GuillaumeApollinaire. I believe that astonishment is theheuristic initiative in any creation, and thisastonishment is similar to that of the scholarin the sense of: the discovery, and it is similarto that of the philosopher in the sense of: theexistential question. With architecture, incities and buildings, I am curious andamazed; they are like books I would say, butno, it is not enough to say it, it puts me insituation, my body is other. I am amazed atPeking, and at the banks of the Seine, atManhattan, at the sky cut all the way to theground by the prospect of its vertical streets,and by Sao Paulo and its endless plain ofsmall towers and its streets that resemblenarrative frescoes of shop windows andhouses. I am amazed that symmetry was asort of unstated dogma during centuries ofarchitecture, that the idea of architecturesurvives, and I am amazed to see cities turninto countries.

I do not consider architecture as thoughtwithout including this urban conditionwidened in its totality...”

CHAIR OF ARTISTIC CREATION 2005-2006

First holder of theChair of

Artistic Creation,Architect.

Pritzker Prize1994,

Major Award forurbanism, 2004.

The Inaugural Lecture isavailable to the Fayard

editions and on video (co-production of the Collège

de France/CNED)

THE LETTER- N° 110

NEWS OF THE CHAIRS

As a young man Patrick Suppes served in themeteorological department of the AmericanArmed Forces during the Second World War,in Asia. His training in Physics andMathematics had enabled him to dospecialised military training in hydrodynamics.The manner in which meteorologistssummarise complex empirical data with theaid of mathematical tools remains one of hisscientific reference models. After the war, hestudied for a Doctor of Philosophy degree atthe university of Columbia, New York. Hisdirector of research was Ernest Nagel. He hasbeen teaching Philosophy of Science at theUniversity of Stanford in California for fiftyyears. He is one of the rare contemporaryphilosophers to have produced valuablescientific work, as well as philosophical work.His articles published on the theory ofmeasurement, on the processing of hiddenvariables in quantum mechanics and on thelinear training models used by psychologistshave been widely influential. He believes thatthe role of a philosopher is not to competewith scientists on their own ground, but ratherto clarify the presuppositions inherent inscientific work. In this way, he participated inthe great debate of the seventies concerning the“foundations” of mathematical set theory andin reflections on the “axioms” of rationaldecision-making that were proposed in orderto give formal descriptions of the behaviour ofactors in economic life. He became interestedearly in the use of computers in education andhad set up a research laboratory on theStanford University campus to elaboratesoftware for the learning of logic andlanguages. This same laboratory is todayinvolved in a programme of research in thearea of neurological science to study thecerebral correlates of mental representations,through the methods of recording andstatistical analysis. In parallel, for several yearsPatrick Suppes has been reflecting, as aphilosopher, upon the ancient problem of“free will” and on the manner in which thisproblem is radically modified by the fact thattoday it is possible to define empirical

situations in which it is impossible to decidebetween the deterministic hypothesis and thatof random behaviour.

Prof. Suppes has been invited to the Collège deFrance several times. Some of us will rememberhis lectures in 1979, at the invitation ofProfessor Vuillemin, which gave rise to thepublication of the book Logique du probable(Flammarion, 1981). In November 2005, thistime at the invitation of Prof. Fagot-Largeault,he gave a public lecture entitled“Neuropsychological foundations ofphilosophy”. In the wake of this lecture, theChair of Philosophy of Life Science organisedtwo seminars with the teams of Prof. OlivierDulac (Necker Hospital) and Dr CatherineChiron (Inserm U663, “Child Epilepsy andCerebral Plasticity”), working on the cognitiverepercussions of certains kinds of epilepsies onthe developing brain. Prof. Patrick Suppespresented a few elements of the research carriedout in his laboratory on the structuralisomorphisms between words and theircerebral representations. Dr Lucie Hertz-Pannier (Inserm U663 and Necker Hospital),Dr Christine Bulteau (Inserm U663 andRothschild Foundation), Dr Mathieu Milh(Inserm U29) and Dr Isabelle Jambaquë(Boulogne Institute of Psychology – Universityof Paris 5) gave presentations respectively onthe contribution of imagery to visualisation innormal and pathological neural networksduring the development of language in children,cognitive development after hemispherectomy,the development of sensimotor networks andthe development of memory. The followingparticipated in the ensuing lively discussion:Professors Henri Korn, Pierre Buser, RobertNaguet (Academy of Science) and Prof. AlainLeplège (University of Paris 7). Finally, as hehad already done informally during one of hisvisits to Paris in 2002, Prof. Suppes again helda question and answer session with doctoralstudents in the Working Group on Ethics andthe Philosophy of Science (GTEPS). During thislatest visit, Prof. Suppes was presented with theCollège de France medal.

PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE SCIENCE

Lecture by Patrick Suppes on: The Neuropsychological Foundations of Philosophy

Prof. Patrick Suppes

Prof. Anne Fagot-Largeault,holder of the Chair ofPhilosophy of Life Science

11N° 1 - THE LETTER

EXPERIMENTAL COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

A seminar on comatose states and related clinical syndromes

On March 22nd of this year, the Collègede France held a seminar on coma andrelated syndromes. This workshop wasorganised by Dr Lionel Naccache,neurologist at Pitié-Salpêtrière (AP-HP)and member of the unit directed by Prof.Stanislas Dehaene (Chair of ExperimentalCognitive Psychology), assisted by Prof.Jean-Pierre Changeux (Chair of CellularCommunications).

The day’s primary objective was toconfront a small group of European expertsin the medical care provided to patientssuffering from comas or similar syndromes(vegetative state, akinetic dumbness, stateof minimal consciousness) with specialistsof the neurosciences of consciousness, forthe purpose of opening exchanges betweenthese two domains which usually remaindisjoint.

Coma and related syndromes presentobvious human and medical challenges,but they also constitute a source ofessential information for the elaborationof a theory of the cerebral bases and thephysiological mechanisms that underlieconscious experience. Nowadays, theprogress of medical imaging allows for theinvestigation of the cognitive residualprocesses of non-conscious patients, eitherby recording neurophysiological signalsby means of the electro-encephalogramand evoked potentials, or by measuringregional cerebral variations ofhemodynamics with the help of positronemission tomography or functionalmagnetic resonance imaging. Thesemethods, combined with more or lesscomplex sensory stimulations, can revealcognitive unconscious processing such asthe detection of an auditive change, thereaction to one’s own name, or even theanalysis of sentences. In a few years, ourknowledge of these residual processes hasprogressed to the point that theirmeasurement sometimes allows one topredict, with a strong rate of success, theprobability of an imminent return ofconsciousness in certain patients.

During the morning, several presentationsallowed one to approach these varioussubjects. Lionel Naccache first exposedthe theoretical foundations as well as theneurological applications of aneuroscientific model of consciousness,the model of the global consciousworkspace (“Conscious NeuronalWorkspace Model”) developed for severalyears by Stanislas Dehaene, Jean-PierreChangeux and their colleagues. Dr StevenLaureys (Liège) then addressed the stateof the art of the functional cerebralimaging of patients affected by comas orby vegetative syndromes, a domain whichhe pioneered. Dr Catherine Fischer (Lyon)proceeded to a comparable synthesis ofelectrophysiological methods derived fromthe analysis of the EEG, which she hasused and developed for several years inthe civil Hospice of Lyon. Dr DamienGalanaud, neuroradiologist in Pitié-Salpêtrière presented a new estimatemethod for the prognosis of comapatients’ return to consciousness, basedon the exploitation of a variety of MRIsequences (including water diffusionsequences and MRI spectroscopy).

Early afternoon was dedicated to clinicalcases of pharmacological interest. StevenLaureys presented a patient in a minimalstate of consciousness, paradoxicallyimproved by a gabaergic agonist that isusually prescribed as a hypnotic. LionelNaccache described a coma patient whoseneurophysiological investigation revealedthe appearance of a rich cognitiveintegration of the auditive environment asa result of an injection by anexate, amolecule used to fight the effect ofbenzodiazepines.

Prof. Jean-Pierre Changeux showedafterwards all the interest that can stemfrom the study of the “fundamentalbricks” of consciousness by means ofanimal models, notably that of the mouse.These models allow one to investigateminutely the causal role of specificneurotransmission pathways, notably the

Prof. Stanislas Dehaeneholder of the Chair ofExperimental CognitivePsychology

THE LETTER- N° 112

cholinergic nicotinic system, by means ofgenetic engineering and of behaviouraland pharmacological studies. They raisehowever the difficult question of theminimal behavioural criteria which wouldallow one to impute a conscious state toanimals and humans alike. To try toanswer this question, Dr TristanBeckinstein (Buenos Aires) presented anew behavioural approach aimed atmeasuring the patients’ ability to activelymaintain a mental representation. Thismethod, based on conditioning across atemporal delay (“delay versus traceconditioning”), opens originalperspectives. Prof. Stanislas Dehaene thendescribed a tentative taxonomy of thevarious types of non-conscious cognitiveprocesses, recently published, and whichderives directly from the theoretical modelof the conscious workspace. Thistaxonomy allows one to resolve theapparent conflicts between experimentalstudies and clarifies the different reasonsfor which a mental unconsciousrepresentation can remain inaccessible tothe conscience.

In relation to this theoretical framework,Dr Nicolas Chausson (Pitié-Salpêtrière)was able to present, in a critical way, thebehavioural clinical tools presently usedto appreciate the patients’ degree ofconsciousness. A variety of scales andscores are available, each presentingadvantages and weaknesses. Thepossibility of developing new criteria,

based on the cognitive neuroscientificapproach, was the subject of muchdiscussion. Prof. Louis Puybasset (Pitié-Salpêtrière) then presented the project of avast study of clinical research, coordinatedthrough several hospitals in France, anddedicated to the evaluation of MRIsequences in the prognosis of the patientsthat became comatose following a cranialtrauma. Finally, three other collaborativeresearch projects were evoked, whichwould involve Paris, Lyon and Liège,without excluding it other groups that aremotivated by the same questions.

At the conclusion of this stimulating day,the theme of the cerebral bases ofconsciousness and its changes in coma andrelated syndromes seemed ready for newexchanges, and all participants agreed tomeet again next year in either Paris, Liègeor Lyon.

Predicting the recovery from coma by means of evoked cognitive poten-tials. The figure shows the auditory evoked potentials respectivelyevoked by frequent sounds (green curve) and by rare sounds (red curve)in a coma patient (L. Naccache and coll., work in process). The diffe-rence of these two curves (in dotted lines) reveals an unconscious detec-tion of the auditive novelty at about 200 milliseconds after thebeginning of the stimulus (MMN for Mismatch Negativity). Thepresence of a MMN predicts a return to consciousness with a positivepredictive value of 90% (Fischer and coll., Neurology, 2004, 63, 669-673). Seven days later, this patient regained consciousness.

13N° 1 - THE LETTER

COMPARATIVE LEGAL STUDIES AND INTERNATIONALIZATION OF LAW

The “ID” Network: The Franco-American Meeting*

The Internationalization of Law is an ancientphenomenon that is being repeated asinternational tribunals, commissions andregulatory agencies spring up at different levelsof jurisdiction (regional and global), each onecompetent in a different sector (commerce,competition, but also human rights,environmental, health and employment law).The consequently increased juridical nature ofdiplomatic relationships and recourse tonational and international judges have disruptedthe balance between law and politics ininternational relationships, all the more so asthe legislative power of national legislatures isthus progressively reduced.

This is why, as a logical followup to the lecture given last yearat the Collège de France byStephen Breyer, AssociateJustice of the Supreme Court ofthe United States, a Franco-American network on theinternationalization of law(“Réseau ID”) has been createdto bring together, once a year, asmall number of universityprofessors and judges from thehighest courts to criticallyanalyze the situation. Given thecomposition of the network,the theme of the first meeting,held at the Collège de Franceon 10-11 April 2006, could benone other than “The Role ofNational Judges in theInternationalization of Law”.

On the basis of cases presentedin areas as varied ascompetition law, separation ofchurch and state, and thedeath penalty, the debates haveshown that in spite ofincreased exchanges andcertain similarities, judicialcultures remain different, and

structural conceptions of the relationshipbetween politics and law are almost atopposites. While in France and, on a widerscale, across Europe, the direct applicability ofinternational norms leads to the emancipationof national judges, or even to emulationstemming from the competition created by thedevelopment of international tribunals, thesituation is developing somewhat in theopposite direction in the United States. Despitethe oft-cited judicial reminder that“international law is part of our law” and thecommitment of the nation’s founding fathers tointernational law, contemporary concepts donot favour the direct applicability ofinternational law. As a result of the strictseparation of power, judges do not possess thedemocratic legitimacy to apply internationallaw if Congress has not specifically provided forits integration into American law.

Comparatists and internationalists thereforeneed to work together, first to examine theways in which national legal systems haveconstructed their relationships both witheach other and with international law, andsecond, to elucidate the evolution in theserelationships and propose models for thefuture. While a rapprochement on the basisof a common, pluralist law might still seemutopian given the absence of a trueinternational community, it is nonethelesstrue that, as the American professor MichelRosenfeld put it, pluralism seems to be “boththe problem and the solution”.

In any case, the “réseau ID”, which has alsocome to mean “Imagination and Law”, hasprovided a framework that is sufficiently newand fertile for all of the participants to haveasked for a second meeting in 2006-2007.Complemented by the creation of two othernetworks (Franco-Brazilian and Franco-Chinese), the project might, during a thirdphase, lead to an international, interdisciplinaryseminar covering law, international relations,and economics.

Prof. Mireille Delmas-Martyholder of the Chair ofComparative Legal Studiesand Internationalization ofLaw

* With the support of the Paris UMR of Comparative Law and the national Ministries of Education, HigherEducation and Research (Directorate for International Relations and Co-operation) and Foreign Affairs(Directorate for the Americas and the Caribbean). The French name “Réseau ID” (Internationalisationdu Droit) has been maintained to keep the connection between “ID” and the word “idée” (idea).

Participants

Diane AMANN, Prof. University of California atDavis, King Hall School of LawRobert BADINTER, SenatorStephen BREYER, Associate Justice, SupremeCourt of the United StatesGuy CANIVET, Chief Justice, Cour de CassationVivian CURRAN, Prof. University of PittsburghSchool of LawMireille DELMAS-MARTY, Prof. Collège deFranceOlivier DUTHEILLET DE LAMOTHE, Memberof the Conseil ConstitutionnelAntoine GARAPON, MagistrateBruno GENEVOIS, Chairman, Litigation Section,Conseil d’EtatEmmanuelle JOUANNET, Prof. University ofParis 1Pierre MOREL, former French Ambassador toChinaHoratia MUIR WATT, Prof. University of Paris INaomi NORBERG, Coordinator, French-American “Réseau ID”Michel ROSENFELD, Prof. Benjamin CardozoSchool of LawHélène RUIZ FABRI, Prof. University of Paris 1Frédéric JENNY, Advisor, Cour de Cassation,former Vice-Chairman, Competition Council.

Prof. Michel Zink and Stephen Breyer

THE LETTER- N° 114

Christian GiaumeChair of Neuropharmacology (holder: Prof. J. GLowinski)

Research Director at the CNRS

The team “Junctional communicationand interactions between neuronal andglia networks” led by Dr C. Giaume,originates from the Chair ofNeuropharmacology, led by Prof.J. Glowinski. This research group is atpresent associated with the unit InsermU587 led by Prof. C. Petit at the PasteurInstitute and will start as anindependent Inserm unit in January2007. For several years, this team hasstudied the interactions betweenneuroglia and neuron. Neuroglia cells,the astrocytes in particular, beinghenceforth considered as active andregulating elements of the cerebralactivity in normal and pathologicalsituations, it is this context that unitesthe projects of the team, which consistsof 12 people. The researches that itleads mainly concern a particular modeof direct communication between cellsthat is assured by communicatingjunctions permeable in small-sizemolecules (ions, second messengers,energetic metabolites, amino acids).These connections confer to astrocytesan organization in networks allowingthem to interact with neurons andcontribute to the cerebral functions, notas independent elements but as groupsof coupled cells.

It is now well established that theastrocytes bring a structural, metabolicand trophic support to the neurones.Furthermore in numerous pathologicalsituations, they undergo complex anddurable modifications leading to theappearance of a reactive phenotype andto changes in their functions, disruptingtheir interactions with neurones.Generally, astrocytes have aneuroprotective action, particularlyagainst excitotoxines and oxidizersimplied in the neuronal death. On theother hand, they release substances,which either favour the survival ofneurones or release potentially deleterious

signals. Hence, astrocytes play a centralrole in the neuronal viability by insuringa balance between protective and toxiceffects. Although, unlike neurones,astrocytes are not nervous cells capable oftransmitting nerve impulses, these cellsare characterized by an elaboratedcalcium signaling and are capable ofpropagating in the shape of intercellularcalcium “waves”. In so far as it has beendemonstrated that increases ofintracellular calcium are capable ofinducing neuronal responses and ofmodifying the synaptic activity, thiscalcium inter-astrocyte signaling, in whichthe junctional communication plays arole, is henceforth considered a keyelement in the neuron-neurogliainteractions.

At present, this team’s projects concernseveral aspects of the astrocytic networkssuch as their role in the control of theneuronal activity and survival, studied bya multidisciplinary approach ofmolecular biology to calcium imagingusing diverse preparations (in vitro to invivo). It is particularly a question ofanalysing the regulation and the spatialorganization of these networks in severalareas of the brain, notably thehippocampus and the cortex, in additionto determining the role of these astrocytenetworks on the neuronal activity andthe synaptic plasticity during protocolsof long or short term potentiation. Onthe other hand, the team is interested indefining the level of junctionalcommunication and the contribution ofastrocytar networks in psychopathologicalsituations (inflammation, neurotoxicity,neurodegenerative diseases). In fact, animportant imbalance to the balancebetween protective and toxic effects ofastrocytes could result from a change inthe organisation and the range ofastrocyte networks. It is already knownthat the expression pattern of connexins,the molecular constituents of the

communicating junctions, is modifiedduring experimental lesions and cerebralpathologies. Moreover, this team suggestsstudying the regulation of thecommunicating junctions by factorsproduced in these situations (pro-inflammatory cytokines, peptides,phospholipides, neurotransmitters),which will allow identifying themolecular mechanisms leading to aninhibition of the astrocyte networks. Tothis end, the team plans to determine if ajunctional communication blockage byinvalidation of the genes encoding theastrocyte connexins is involved in therelease and/or the progress of cerebraldamages induced by an excitotoxicityand/or an inflammation. In fact, in thecentral nervous system the inflammatoryanswer is characterized by a glial reaction,notably a microglial and astrocyteactivation. This step is for exampledetected during the progress of aneurodegenerative disease such asAlzheimer’s disease. Consequently, oneof the team’s objectives is to determinehow the junctional communication andthe expression of junctional proteins inastrocytes are modified in genetic models,thus developing certain symptoms of thisneurodegenerative disease.

Glial cells henceforth consideredimportant actors in the cerebralfunctioning, could eventually representnew therapeutic targets in the treatmentof cerebral pathologies.

Dr C. Giaume presenting the projects of hisresearch team during a meeting on 29thMarch 2006 at the Collège de France.

RESEARCHERS AND RESEARCH TEAMS

15N° 1 - THE LETTER

In support of the development of their work, ChristianGiaume and his team received a 45 000 euros subsidy fromthe CRPCEN – Caisse de Retraite et de Prévoyance desClercs et Employés de Notaires (the Retirement andPrevention Plan for Solicitors ‘Clerks and Notaries’Employees). Mrs Liebert-Champagne, Public Adviser andPresident of the Board of Directors of the CRPCEN handedan initial payment during a ceremony that reunited themembers of this young team, the two vice-presidents of theCRPCEN, as well as the Collège de France Administrator,Jacques Glowinski. The CRPCEN would like to invest itselfconcretely in projects of public interest and develop, withinthe framework of its Social Welfare, and for several years,a program of patronage that is open to fundamentalmedical research.

From left to right: Norbert Sentier, Prof. Jacques Glowinski, ChristianLefebvre, Monique Liébert-Champagne, Christian Giaume.

THE BUDÉ COMMITTEE

In his talk on Tuesday 18th April2006 in front of fifteen members ofthe Budé Committee, ProfessorPhilippe Kourilsky presented themain points of a report that washanded in at the end of March tothe Ministers of Foreign Affairs,Health and Research. The reportwas entitled: “Action by France toimprove world health. Monitoringand studying infectious diseases”.

The report is based on a worryingfact: during the last century, Frenchmedicine and research, militarymedicine, the Pasteur Institutediaspora, the State’s efforts at co-operation, the emergence of dynamicNGOs, all these gave our country apre-eminent place in the global fightagainst diseases, especially infectiousones, particularly in developingcountries where they are a major

cause of mortality and morbiditywith 14 million deaths per year andhundreds of millions of people of allages severely handicapped. Not longago, the French were almostundoubtedly the best. This is nolonger the case. France no longerplays a role equal to its history, itstradition, its values, and the hugehumanitarian needs that have to bemet.

There are several explanations forthis decline. Overall, our efforts areinsufficient. Health only accounts for4 % of our spending on aid (APD –Public Aid for Development), againstan average of 11 % for the countriesof the OECD (Organization forEconomic Cooperation andDevelopment) and 18 % for theUnited Kingdom. In addition,France’s policies lack clarity andeffectiveness. Too dispersed andloosely coordinated, they are theresult of a strategy that has beenpoorly defined by a large number ofpeople who do not oufficientlycommunicate with each other.

There is thus a blatant discrepancybetween what politicians say at thehighest levels of the State, when

health is rightly one of the keypriorities in their speeches, and thereality of the means put at ourdisposal. If this situation continues,France will not be able to fulfil itscommitments at a time when othercountries are increasing their efforts,when our country could make apowerful contribution to whatEurope is doing and when healthdiplomacy is becoming more andmore important throughout theworld. Furthermore, we must notdisappoint the many French-speaking countries that expect oursupport. Finally, the subject ofinfectious diseases is a particularlytopical one, and our own healthsecurity is involved. There areinternational and security issues atstake here, with potentiallydestabilizing effects on economicand political life.

To redress the situation, the reportrecommends in particular that we:

– Define an overall strategy toimprove coordination between allthose involved and France’s policiesand influence in health diplomacywhile increasing the percentage ofour aid budget (APD) allotted to

Prof. Philippe Kourilsky

THE LETTER- N° 116

The Budé Committee

A willingness to enter into dialogue with those in charge of the economy.

The Collège de France’s policy of openness also requires it to have a privileged relationship withthe managers of firms in the public and private sectors. The confrontation of ideas and thesynergetic efforts of people working in different but complementary fields often lead to innovation.

The Collège’s professors would like to have a better understanding of what preoccupies managersin the economic sector and the major developments they envisage in the future. Direct exchangeswith people such as these can only enrich their reflections on subjects like the training and guidanceof students and researchers, the relationship between fundamental and applied research,technological innovation, enhancing the prestige of research, the general organization of researchin France and in Europe, and more widely, the evolution of our society in the political, economicand social sectors. They feel that it is indispensable to have a more precise vision of what is at stakefor civil society in order to face up to the challenge presented by the speed at which American orJapanese research policies are developing and the numerous repercussions this will have. It was inthis context, and in order to create a favourable framework for these reflections, that the Collègede France’s Assembly of Professors decided to found the “Budé Committee”, a club of companydirectors associated with the Collège de France. Mr Bertrand Collomb, President of Lafarge andof the AFEP (French Association of Private Enterprises), who took part in drawing up proposalsfor this project, agreed to be President of the Committee.

Based on excellence and independence, the Budé Committee is a privileged place where people canmeet each other. The Budé Committee has organized in the Collège de France a series of breakfasttalks on major topical issues of the day.

health to bring it up to the averageof OECD countries.

– Make the monitoring of infectiousdiseases and research that is directlylinked to this monitoring anabsolute priority.

– Increase local support for healthpolicies and local human resourcesthrough appropriate trainingschemes.

– Rationalize the network of localfacilities that depend onmetropolitan France and structureit on a regional basis.

– Look again at the role,involvement and coordination ofacademic bodies as actors in thefield and improve the conditions ofexpatriation.

– Do not create a new agency. Set upa “French Alliance for world health”,a public-private partnership bringingtogether all those involved to redefinestrategy, to adjust means andobjectives that are a priority, and tooversee the institutional changes thatare necessary.

The report and its summary can beconsulted on the Collège de France

website, Chair of MolecularImmunology (www.college-de-france.fr).

17N° 1 - THE LETTER

Gerard Fussman introduced the colloquium byrecalling that rational thinking is not obvious: “anyscientific discovery collides with the successfulopinions or with the collectively admitted beliefs”.The GMO (Genetically Modified Organism), theresearches on the human embryo, the AIDSprevention methods meet very intense oppositions.In the United States, where there is neverthelesscutting edge scientific research, the teaching of theevolutionary theory is still disputed. Also, thecollisions between old beliefs and modernity, oftenlikened to scientific progress and for that reason,are sometimes gory. Just as we die from terrorism,we die from beliefs that forbid blood transfusions.

However, “it would be too simple to summarisethe conflict between reason and belief as anopposition between science and religion.Copernicus, Galileo, Pascal, Newton and theArabic and Indian astronomers before them wereprofound believers. There are rational beliefs,scientific hypotheses for example. On the otherhand, scientific practice does not protect againstthe attachment to received opinions”.

Today, we can raise the old question of belief andreason using new definitions. First, because it is nolonger certain that, as professed by westernthinking, following the teaching of the creationistreligions, belief and reason separate radically theman from the animal. Then, because the progress

of the neurosciences brings new evidence to thebelief and reasoning processes. Finally, because thehuman sciences also bring new elementsconcerning the conflicts between belief and reason.

In his lecture, Philippe Descola highlightedcontrasts between various representations of theworld, putting in evidence the anthropologicaldimension of the issue. “Questioning some of theattributes that give man his peculiarity requiresfirst admitting that his own appropriate identitycan only be defined by agreement”. We emphasizethe genome, “but it is only the last one of thenumerous criteria that the West has advanced fromAntiquity in its ambition to single out humanity.[…] The most commonly evoked today are alreadypresent among Plato, Aristotle, Xenophon orLucretius”. Nevertheless, the conviction that thehuman being can be characterised as a being ofbelief and reason is far from being hegemonic, evenin western tradition. In the animistic cultures, “thehuman condition exceeds many limits of thehuman race. Animals, plants, spirits, elements ofthe environment and even artefacts are reputed topossess an inwardness of the same nature ashumans, a reflexive and intentional capacity”.Nevertheless, endowed with a similar inwardnessas humans, “these sorts of disguised humans,namely the animals and plants, distinguishthemselves from men through their clothing offeathers, hairs, scales or bark”. What distinguishes

BELIEF, REASON AND UNREASON

REOPENING COLLOQUIUM OF THE COLLÈGE DE FRANCE

13TH AND 14TH OCTOBRE 2005

Philippe Descola

Svante Pääbo

Jean Decety

Scott Atran

Harvey Whitehouse

Bernard Roques

The autumn colloquium of the Collège de France is the expression of the institution’s real collegiality:it is the only colloquium whose subject is determined by the Assembly of the Professors, which alsomonitors the preparation. It illustrates the specificities of the Collège de France: multi-disciplinary,practising research at the highest level – the quality of the speakers shows it – and making it accessible,at the same time, to the largest public, because admission is unrestricted and free of charge, “withinthe limits of the available seats”: The proviso is an apt one, since this year two lecture halls were notenough to welcome auditors who moved in numerous numbers, and among whom many people hadto hear the conferences via video projections transmitted live in several rooms at the Collège de France.

These colloquiums have considerably renewed the public of the Collège, which is younger and verydiversified. In addition, and thanks to the partnership with France Culture, the live audio broadcastingon the Internet site of the Collège de France, and the publication of Proceedings by the publishers OdileJacob, these colloquiums are no longer strictly reserved for the Parisians: They are virtually accessibleto almost everyone. They constitute an essential part of the plan through which the institution performsits mission of knowledge spreading.

The review that we provide here proposes an inevitably partial and subjective course, which workshard toward reliably restoring the spirit, if not the letter, of the few interventions on which it lingers.

THE LETTER- N° 118

between creatures, in this animistic anthropology,is the body, “a kind of envelope that is removablefrom the inwardness” – the body, its usages and itstechnical appendages.

The astonishment that seizes us when faced with avery foreign ontology comes from the fact that thespontaneous representation that has been commonto us, in the West, for at least two centuries, isexactly the opposite: “contrary to the animisticpeoples, we reserve the privilege of inwardness onlyto humans, […] while we do not hesitate to alsorecognize that the physical aspect of our humanitysituates us in a material continuum” within whichnothing distinguishes us.

Since Darwin, we admit “that the physicaldifference between us and the other world entitiesis degree and not nature, while the moraldifference, that distinguishes us from animals andeven from other superior primates, is perceived asabsolute.” Besides these naturalist and animisticontologies, P. Descola defines totemic as well asanalogical ontologies where the division linebetween the body and the spirit is a lot less clear.

“A question then can come to mind, stemmingfrom the realization that the naturalist cosmologyis not only the only one in which true anthropologysaw the light of day, but that it is also the only oneto have allowed within a tremendous explosion ofscientific activity. It is true that a world in whichnature and human nature had become independentfrom each other offered probably the mostfavourable environment for the origin and thedevelopment of the scientific revolution that marksthe advent of the modern era. But, can we inferfor that reason, from the rationality of scientificactivity, a rationality of the representation of theworld that has favoured its development? […] Itwould be to set up a system of beliefs about theworld, that is so effective and plausible, as anuniversal and indisputable model”.

The question relative to the specificities of humanthinking and reasoning and its links to the brain,its functioning and its evolution was approachedunder the angle of the neurosciences and thecognitive sciences, that are in the heart of the worksof Svante Pääbo, Jean Decety, Harvey Whitehouse,Bernard Roques, Olivier Houdé and Jean-PierreChangeux. They provided an insight into newcognitions that could allow renewing the conflictquestion between reason and irrational beliefs, firstat the level of individuals, but also at the level ofsocieties, notably by the intermediary of education,

or other relational phenomena. Pascal Malletreturned to certain prejudices, as regards thetendency of teenagers to succumb to sometimesextremist beliefs. It will be interesting here to returnto the lectures and to the works of the speakers,involving materials whose interpretation presumesconditions of precision that the summary can onlybetray.

Religious beliefs were present in numerous papers.To explain their growing presence around theworld – including the United States –, Scott Atranadvances that science, which handles human beingsand intentions as simple fortuitous elements of theuniverse, is hardly capable of relieving theexistential anguish of people, their fear of death, oflies, of catastrophes or of loneliness, nor their thirstfor love and justice. It does not state what we haveto do, but only what we can do. Instead, religionprospers “because it takes charge of people’s mostprofound emotional aspiration and of the moralneeds on which society relies.” Religions cost timeand sacrifices, the mythical stories that they arebased on are contra-intuitive, derogating from theregulations dictated by our innate cognitions ofcertain natural laws. Nevertheless, “after all is saidand done, emotion is stronger and moreconvincing than reason”. Explaining religion thusconstitutes a serious problem for any evolutionistapproach of human thinking and society.

To explain this phenomenon, S. Atran proposes anevolutionist hypothesis: the supernatural agentsare easily evoked, “insofar as the natural selectionhas programmed the cognitive schemas for thedetection of agency faced with uncertainty” torespond automatically to uncertainty, which isomnipresent. He suggests the existence ofpsychological mechanisms based on modularprocesses, capable of lasting and being transmittedthrough learning more easily than a kind ofinformation which is difficult to process, such asscientific theories. “They are then more susceptibleto become durable aspects of human cultures, suchas the belief in the supernatural”.

As in an echo, G. Fussman recalled that “the life ofBuddha, however legendary it is, is the best witnessof this opposition between rational, deductiveperception of the truths, and vision which we canconsider as mystic […] of these truths”.

According to him, “The Buddhist rationalism isonly a fiction of Westerners”. In fact, “the perfectintuitive knowledge which Buddhism promises isonly accessible to completely exceptional beings.

Olivier Houdé

Jean-Pierre Changeux

Pascal Mallet

Jean Delumeau

Gérard Fussman

Michel-Louis Rouquette

Marcel Froissart

19N° 1 - THE LETTER

[…] As ordinary beings, we have no chance inquickly accessing this truth, hence this liberation,except through trusting the word of the great man:The faith (Sraddha), blind trust in the teaching ofthe master, is the first step along the path ofliberation”. For the majority of the people, theBuddhist way towards the truth is thus that offaith without criticism, and Buddha has all thecharacteristics of a god, except the creative power.

In the context of a more western history, NathanWachtel analysed the rational practices of theIberian Inquisitions and Jean-Claude Pecker putinto perspective Copernicus’s conflict with dogmaand criticised the discontinuist conceptions of thehistory of sciences for the benefit of a cumulativeconception. Other statements shed light ondifferent sides of the conflict between science andreligion. We have notably seen two aspects of theintervention of religion in the scientific field: theone aspect in the United States, with the newoffensives of creationism under the form of theintelligent design doctrine, the new shape of theopposition to the Darwinian evolutionism, whoseideological and political positions were recalled byDominique Lecourt; while the other aspect is inthe Balkans, where certain Moslem groupsclaiming to Islamise the sciences, have gone as faras proposing a “scientific” exegesis of the Koran,which reflects a more general attempt toward therationalisation of religion whose stakes wereexposed by Nathalie Clayer.

But the debate was never reduced to an oppositionbetween belief and reason, or between religion andscience. In the big fear of the plague, of which JeanDelumeau has made himself the chronicler, theirrational is not the privilege of the religious: it iseverywhere and it contaminates the spirits as theplague spreads through cities, for the misfortune ofthose that are executed as “door greasers” and“plague spreaders”. Religion is also not the onlything that seeks to get involved in scientific speech.Political ideology seized it in a similarlyindefensible way, in the case of the Lyssenko affair:Armand de Ricqlès pointed out its progress andits effects on French science.

Claude Singer, retracing itineraries ofcollaborationist scientists under the Germanoccupation of France, has also shown thatscientists were not shielded from going adrift andfrom doubtful usages of rationality.

Michel-Louis Rouquette exlained these phenomenaof “social thinking”, that are inherent to all

societies, and the mass ceremonies that accompanythem. “Celebration of the link, of its usages and itseffects, the ceremony works to convert sociabilityinto cognition: I ‘believe’ what is thus publicly madejustifiable and what appears in some respect associally necessary”. I am confronted with a plan ofevidence that implicates me in a way that gives mea shared identity, a status of recognition, and all inall, a reason. “Reason is in the ceremony muchmore than in the thinking. Being together in anorganised way amounts to knowing on goodauthority”. The social thinking builds a sort ofcommon sense, which is a shared rational fate. Wecan act without believing, follow without beingconvinced: “it is sufficient not to have an accessibleor conceivable road: ‘through which it happens,writes Montaigne, that what is outside the hingesof custom, we believe it to be outside the hinges ofthe reason’”.

As one sees, the question of rationality extendswidely beyond the opposition between science andreligion. In the scientific field itself, the question isnot so simple, and the history of the sciences is fullof very vivid controversies. Anne Fagot-Largeaultreported irrational behaviour, in the medical field,whether it concerns the patient or the doctor. Sheshowed how medicine had had to get rid of certainestablished dogmas, and recalled the watchword ofmedicine based on evidence (EBM, Evidence BasedMedicine): challenge the dogmas. She put back intoperspective the question of the evaluation ofpsychotherapies, by underlining that the role ofmedicine is not to cure people – with a constant riskof coercion: we saw it in the totalitarian regimes –,but to treat diseases, with respect for people.

On a different note, Marcel Froissart brought tomind some “epistemological ruptures” in thehistory of physics, which appears then, not as abeautiful straight line, but as continuous detours ofreason. He summarises them as follows.

“The Greeks did not conceive the continuous. Thechemistry of the XIXth century introduced integersinto reactions. The dimension of atoms wasamazing (1865). The load of the electronconfirmed it (1910). Atoms were formed ofelectron-retaining nuclei (1909). We dismemberedthe nucleus into nucleons: proton (1919), neutron(1932). The β disintegrations do not preserveenergy: the neutrino was missing (1930), the basisof weak interaction, which would only be seen in1956. Electrodynamics and weak interaction werecombined in electroweak theory (1967), andverified in 1983.

Jean-Claude Pecker

Dominique Lecourt

Anne Fagot-Largeault

Nathan Wachtel

Claude Singer

Armand de Ricqlès

Nathalie Clayer

THE LETTER- N° 120

The nucleus holds together thanks to a meson. In 1937,we wrongly believed that we observed it. The Π mesonappeared in 1947. The nuclear force followed an isotopicsymmetry that arranges nuclei in multiplets. New strangeparticles appeared: the strangeness is a novelty. Theisotopic multiplets of the strange particles are spaced out,as by symmetry in 3 dimensions, SU (3): dimensionsassociated with 3 quarks. The discovery of the Ω-reinforces the theory of quarks. Electrons are diverted onquarks (1970). Quarks have another characteristic,colour, and Quantum Chromodynamics explains theirinteraction (1973).

The purpose of physics is to unify different phenomena.What about chromodynamics and gravitation?Chromodynamics and electroweak conjoin when theenergy grows, with a possible unification, a supersymmetry. The unification with gravity is moredistant”.

M.K.

The Hugot Foundation of the Collège de France funded thiscolloquium.

13th October 2005

Reason and belief at the origin of mankind The frontiers of humanityPhilippe Descola, Professor at the Collège de France Molecular investigations of the uniqueness of the human brainSvante Pääbo, Professor at Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie, Leipzig The representation of others in the neurosciencesJean Decety, Professor at the University of Washington, Seattle The cognitive origin of religionsScott Atran, Professor at Michigan University Cognition and religious transmissionHarvey Whitehouse, Professor at Queen’s University, Belfast

Reason breaks free from belief or it does not Dream, drug and consciousnessBernard Roques, Professor at the University of Paris V The first cognitive learning of the childOlivier Houdé, Professor at the University of Paris V The neural bases of the habitusJean-Pierre Changeux, Professor at the Collège deFrance Wisdom and fanaticism during adolescencePascal Mallet, Professor at the University of Paris X-Nanterre Reason breaks free from belief in antique GreeceJean-Pierre Vernant, Professor at the Collège de France

14th October 2005

Rational and irrational The big fears: Fear of the plagueJean Delumeau, Professor at the Collège de France Belief, rationalism and mysticism in Indian BuddhismGérard Fussman, Professor at the Collège de France Social thinking and mass ceremoniesMichel-Louis Rouquette, Professor at the University of Paris V

Epistemological ruptures and the oppositions that theyevoke

Epistemological ruptures in physicsMarcel Froissart, Professor at the Collège deFrance Copernicus : Reason, intuition and dogmaJean-Claude Pecker, Professor at the Collège deFrance The American “scientific creationism”: an endless history?Dominique Lecourt, Professor at the University of Paris VII Medical uncertaintyAnne Fagot-Largeault, Professor at the Collègede France

The drifts of reason and belief The logic of stakes: the rational practices of the Iberian InquisitionsNathan Wachtel, Professor at the Collège de France French science adrift: itineraries of the collaborationist scientists under the German occupationClaude Singer, School Director of the Centre of the Contemporary Jewish Documentation The Lyssenko affair in FranceArmand de Ricqlès, Professor at the Collège de France The current Balkan Islam, between science and consequentive researchNathalie Clayer, research Director at the CNRS (national center for scientific research)

Programme

21N° 1 - THE LETTER

FIRST COLLÈGE DE FRANCE SYMPOSIUM ABROAD

«A BETTER WORLD FOR EVERYONE :REALIST IC PROJECT OR CRAZY DREAM ?»

The first symposium held by theCollège de France abroad took placeon 8th and 9th March 2006 in thepremises of the Royal Academy ofBelgium in Brussels. The symposium,co-presided by Jean-Pierre Changeux(Collège de France) and JacquesReisse (Free University of Brussels),was organized with the RoyalAcademy of Belgium, the CatholicUniversity of Louvain and the Free

University of Brussels. A largenumber of people attended what theBelgian media, both spoken andwritten, described as a major eventin the cultural life of Brussels. At theopening session, Mrs Joëlle Bourgois,French ambassador to Belgium, MrLéo Houziaux, Permanent Secretaryof the Royal Academy of Belgium,Mr Jacques Glowinski, administratorof the Collège de France and MrPierre de Maret, Rector of the FreeUniversity of Brussels underlined theimportance of the event. The Collègede France as an educationalinstitution wishes to play a role inconstructing a Europe of science andculture and this voluntarist approachis very welcome given the difficultiesthat the construction of Europe is

experiencing today. The Europe ofscience and education is already areality and any action that canstrengthen and cement this edifice hasto be encouraged. Moreover, thetheme of the symposium “A betterworld for everyone: realistic projector crazy dream?”, which J. Reisseexplained in the prelude to thesymposium, could not leave anyoneindifferent. During the two days, thetwenty speakers who addressed thesymposium endeavoured to deal withthe questions asked and, for certainof them, to suggest answers. Thesymposium’s programme wasdesigned in such a manner as to giveequal prominence to Human Sciencesand Natural Sciences, and this aimwas achieved in full.

Jean-Pierre Changeux Jacques Reisse Joëlle Bourgois Léo Houziaux Jacques Glowinski Pierre de Maret

© O

mer

Fab

re

We will mention briefly here some ofthe subjects that were broached duringthe symposium, and we will group thepresentations together into themeswhereas, during the symposium, andthis was quite deliberate, thepresentations alternated betweenthose dealing with Human Sciencesand those dealing with NaturalSciences. A collective book containingthe different contributions will bepublished in a few months time by thepublisher Odile Jacob (Paris).

E. Zaccai (Brussels) dealt withsustainable development from amainly historical perspective,explaining when this notion was first

introduced and how it has evolvedduring the last twenty years.P. Rosanvallon examined someutopian systems for organizing societythat were established in past centuries.The speaker showed that many ofthese systems, despite being based ongenerous or egalitarian notions, wereassociated with practices or ideas thatimposed constraints. None of theseUtopias whose aim was to create abetter world really succeeded.P. Guesnerie and M. Delmas-Martydealt with the economic policy aspectsand legal aspects of globalization.Both of them mentioned those bodieswhose role it is today to define andapply supranational policies in

economic matters (examples: theWTO and IMF) or in legal matters(example: the International Court ofthe Hague), but both of them showedhow limited the power of thesestructures is. Good governance atworld level requires bodies of this typeand others yet to be created to play aregulatory role and be endowed withthe power to have their decisionsenforced. Nevertheless, the differencesbetween political regimes and scalesof values in the large number ofindependent States that make up theUNO, create major obstacles to theestablishment of such bodies.C. Tahon (Solvay, Brussels) spokeabout the profound changes that have

THE LETTER- N° 122

been affecting industry for half acentury. Industry is obviously one ofthe main actors in globalization; itproduces wealth and has to beprofitable. Industry is also often seenas a major source of pollution thataffects our environment. C. Tahontackled these questions and did notavoid dealing with sensitive issues. Shepointed out that any cost-benefitanalysis or even cause-consequenceanalysis has to be in-depth before anyconclusions can be drawn about theadvantages or disadvantages ofindustrial policies and about theresponsibility of industry compared tothat of each one of us. P. Smets(Brussels) also examined theresponsibility of industries in theconstruction of the better world thatwe all aspire to. He described theevolution of the standards thatindustry must abide by and whichhave reduced the risks of majoraccidents. The speaker also showedhow practices and mentalities withinindustry have evolved, and which, atleast in our countries, has led to betteracceptance of the notion of socialresponsibility. Having said this, thereis still some way to go, all the more sonow that the economy has beenglobalized. In the same context,T. Pairault (Paris) gave a presentationon China and its recent development,which produced very usefulcomparisons between different modelsof society, between a Westerncapitalist democracy and a countrywith a capitalist economy but understrong State control. The speakerindicated that China’s economicgrowth might seem big whencompared to that of WesternEuropean countries, but that it wasnothing exceptional when comparedto other Asian countries. He also

pointed out certain weaknesses in theChinese model of economicdevelopment and the uncertaintysurrounding the future. P. de Maret(Brussels) spoke about Africa and itsfuture, insisting on the extraordinarydiversity of this huge continent andthe difficulty of dealing with such acomplex situation in a global manner.For the speaker, there is real cause tobe concerned about the future of thepopulations of Africa, and particularlytheir health. Some of the NGO’spolicies are far from being optimaland many African regimes do nothave the moral, and consequently thepolitical authority, to apply thecourageous policies that are requiredin such a serious situation.

The better world to be constructedwill have to be very different from theone we know now, if only because theEarth’s population will have increasedto 9 or 10 billion people by 2050.F. Bartiaux (Louvain la Neuve)discussed the problems associatedwith this growing population, whichwill affect the various regions of theworld in very different ways. Therecould be a serious problem with bothfood and natural resources, whichwould make the better worldmentioned in the title of thesymposium somewhat hypothetical.Demographic problems are raisingmajor questions about the future oftowns and cities and J. Barthélemy(Mons) devoted his presentation tothis issue. How can the town plannerdesign the more human cities oftomorrow, given that a growingproportion of the world’s populationwill live in urban conglomerations?These demographic and urbanproblems must also be studied withinthe context of climate changes that

can already be observed andpredicted. The presentation given byA. Berger (Louvain la Neuve) focusedon the influence of human activity onthe evolution of the climate. Today, itis more or less accepted that theincrease in greenhouse gases in theatmosphere, and particularly carbondioxide, is having a serious effect onthe Earth’s climate. This globalwarming, which is particularlyapparent in the northern hemisphere,is already having importantconsequences for sea levels, agricultureand supplies of fresh water. Theseeffects are bound to get worse, even ifinternational agreements are enforced.These profound climate changesshould be taken into account nowwhen medium- and long-term policiesare being defined. In this context, it isimportant to rethink our energy policyand the presentation given byE. Brézin (Paris) provided someavenues of thought in this direction.The use of wind turbines and solarenergy is obviously one alternative tothe use of fossil fuels but it is not hardto see that these alternative sourceswill never be able to totally replace thesources of energy used today. Incountries like France, Belgium,Sweden and the USA, where politicalstability in the medium term wouldappear to be assured, nuclear energyremains the most realistic solution.However, there is a fundamental issuehere of the risk and the perception ofthis risk and this creates a problem ingetting people to accept nuclearenergy. There has to be a dialoguebetween experts and ordinary citizens.The same comment could be madeabout genetically modified organismsand M. Van Montagu (Gand) spokeabout this issue during thesymposium. The speaker gave his

Edwin Zaccai, Pierre Rosanvallon, Roger Guesnerie, Mireille Delmas-Marty, Christine Tahon, Paul-F. Smets, Thierry Pairault, Françoise Bartiaux, Jean Barthélemy

© O

mer

Fab

re

23N° 1 - THE LETTER

presentation an unambiguous title“Of the necessity for transgenicplants”, and he defended his point ofview with conviction. It is certain thatthe optimization of plants no doubtbegan ten thousand years ago, whenman became a farmer. All the plantsthat are used in our food aregenetically modified organisms, andthere is a paradox in the fact that whatour ancestors practised blindlythrough trial and error is considered tobe safe, whereas better-controlledgenetic manipulations unleash feelingsof fear. According to the speaker, thecountries of the South that are alreadyexperiencing food problems will onlyfind an eventual solution if they growgenetically modified plants. Havingplants that need less water or are moreresistant is becoming an urgentnecessity. Among the modificationsthat man has involuntarily brought tonature are the assaults on itsbiodiversity. In his presentation,G. Bœuf (Paris and Banyuls) showedhow human activity is affecting thebiosphere. It is not a newphenomenon, but it has acquiredworrying proportions. The talk wasillustrated by a large number ofexamples taken from the marineworld in particular, and they leave nodoubt as to the seriousness of theproblem and its often irreversiblenature.

In the field of medicine, recentadvances in human genetics havearoused great hopes with thedeciphering of the human genome.Nevertheless, and as J-L. Mandel(Collège de France and Illkirch) clearlypointed out, knowledge of thecomplete sequence of the nucleotidesin the human genome will not leadimmediately to therapeutic

applications. Nor will it enable us toclassify individuals according to theirgenetic inheritance and thepathological risks that might beassociated with it. We are far fromhaving a perfect understanding andmastery of the regulation andexpression of the genes and theavailability of common curative orpreventive medicines based on geneticanalysis is a long way off. Animalexperiments are a necessity for thosewho wish to develop new medicines.However, as A. Burny (Gembloux andBrussels) showed, experiments usinganimals have many advantages, butthey also have some shortcomings.Consequently, experimenting onhumans cannot be rejected outrightand the speaker outlined thepossibilities but also the limitations ofexperimenting on humans themselves.It is certain that experimenting onanimals, and even more so onhumans, raises serious ethicalproblems. These were broached in thepresentation given by G. Hottois(Brussels) who demonstrated thatthere is a close link between ethics andphilosophy by referring to the writingsof specialists in this field (Jonas,Habermas and Engelhardt) and byshowing how dependent ethical viewsare on the modernist or postmodernistapproach of the person who holdsthese views.

The world in future will depend moreand more on scientific advances andthe presentations given by J. Livageand J-M. Lehn, both from the Collègede France, illustrated what chemistrycontributes and will contribute in theway of new tools. J. Livagedemonstrated that biochemicalprocesses that have not yet been totallyelucidated enable micro organisms to

synthesize sophisticated materials atambient temperatures, whereasindustry generally synthesizes thesesame materials at high temperatures.The particular case of silica is oneexample of this. J. Livage showed thattoday’s chemist is able to make silicacasings in mild conditions and possiblyinclude in these casings living microorganisms that will retain usablemetabolic properties. J-M. Lehnoutlined what molecular self-assemblywill enable us to do from todayonwards and described veryconvincingly the future of thissupramolecular chemistry of which heis a co-founder. Once again, in thiscase, the living world containsremarkable examples that can inspireus to live differently and in an evenbetter manner.

It was a very rich symposium, but itdid not provide an unequivocalanswer to the question “A betterworld for everyone: realistic project orcrazy dream?” Who could havebelieved that it might be otherwise?Nevertheless, and as J-P Changeuxunderlined in the conclusion, thesymposium clearly demonstrated thattomorrow’s world is going to be verydifferent from the world we know.There will be many formidablechallenges ahead and only truesolidarity and genuine organization ona worldwide scale will perhaps allowthe children and grandchildren ofthose who currently inhabit the Earthto live in acceptable conditions, andcertainly better ones than those thatwould exist if humanity was topostpone once again the action that isnecessary in many areas.

J. Reisse and J.-P. Changeux

© O

mer

Fab

re

André Berger, Édouard Brézin, Marc Van Montagu, Gilles Bœuf, Jean-Louis Mandel, Arsène Burny, Gilbert Hottois, Jacques Livage, Jean-Marie Lehn

THE LETTER- N° 124

8th March 2006

Jacques Reisse, Université Libre de BruxellesWhy such a colloquium on such a subject?

Edwin Zaccai, Université Libre de BruxellesDurable development: a project and its resonance

Jacques Livage, Collège de FranceMaterials: from ceramics to soft chemistry

Marc Van Montagu, Ghent University Of the necessity of transgenic plants

Roger Guesnerie, Collège de FranceGovernance in a globalized market

Christine Tahon, Solvay S.A. BelgiumDevelopment and industrial impacts

Jean-Marie Lehn, Collège de France and UniversitéLouis Pasteur, StrasbourgChemistry and auto-organisation; information, intention, selection

Paul-F. Smets, Université Libre de BruxellesGendarmes and values, or how to promote thesocial responsibility and the durable developmentof companies

Édouard Brézin, École Normale Supérieure,ParisFreedom is the power of democracy and itselectrification

Pierre de Maret, Université Libre de BruxellesThe African challenge

Jean-Louis Mandel, Collège de France, IGBMC,IllkirchIndividuality of the human genome and predictivemedicine: Are they applications to expect or to fear?

9th March 2006

André Berger, Université catholique de LouvainThe climate of the XXIst century under the influenceof human activities

Jean Barthélemy, Faculté Polytechnique de MonsAn urbanism in the service of cultural diversity anddurable development

Pierre Rosanvallon, Collège de FranceThe metamorphoses of the notion of utopia

Françoise Bartiaux, Université catholique de LouvainPopulation, societies and environment: what arethe relations and what are the myths?

Arsène Burny, Agricultural University, GemblouxMice and men

Thierry PAIRAULT, École des Hautes Études enSciences Sociales, ParisThe red shoes of the Chinese economy

Gilbert Hottois, Université Libre de BruxellesBioethics at the test of philosophy

Gilles Bœuf, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, ParisWhat does the future hold for biodiversity?

Mireille Delmas-Marty, Collège de FranceLegal humanism and globalization

Programme

The decision to organize symposiumsabroad is the result of a suggestionmade by the international scientificand strategic orientation committee(COSS, Comité d’orientationscientifique et stratégique) created bythe Collège de France in 2002. TheCOSS consists of twelve key figuresfrom abroad who are not connectedto the institution. They are chosen bythe Assembly of the Professors. ThePresident and Vice-President are alsochosen by the Collège de France’sAssembly. The Secretary general isappointed by the members of theCOSS.

The members of the COSS areappointed for a period of four yearsand, at the end of the period, half ofthe members are replaced.

The role of the COSS is to analyzethe Collège de France’s scientific andstrategic orientations and theconditions for fulfilling its missions,so that it can put forwardrecommendations on how thesemight evolve or be enhanced. TheCOSS also undertakes to examinethe coherence of the institution’sstrategy, the significance andexploitation of the multidisciplinarity

of the chairs, the international policy,the adequacy of research means inrelation to the objectives that havebeen fixed and the optimization ofadministrative structures. Finally, itshould be pointed out that it is notthe COSS’s role to examineindividually the scientific activities ofeach chair, which are alreadyevaluated by research bodies and theMinistry of National Education,Higher Education and Research.

THE COLLÈGE DE FRANCE’S INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC ANDSTRATEGIC ORIENTATION COMMITTEE (COSS)

25N° 1 - THE LETTER

Goethe’s Theory of Colours(Farbenlehre), published by him in1810 and which he stated in thetwilight of his life to be, along withFaust, his most important work, hada paradoxical fate. Although it wasconceived by its author as a scientifictheory, alternative to that of Newton(which he considered purely andsimply erroneous), scholars not onlydecided against approving it, but they(quasi) unanimously considered it tobe alien to the experimental methodsand conceptual framework ofmodern Physics. In contrast, it hasconsistently enjoyed unrivalledprestige and authority with painters,artists in general and numerousphilosophers and art theorists alike.The neo-impressionists, but also Itten,Kandinsky or Klee, to name but afew, openly identified with it.

This dichotomy (too) well establishedfor two centuries, seems to have been

challenged recently. On the one hand,certain commentators, like DennisSepper (Goethe contra Newton,1988) consider that “even if theexplanation of colour given byGoethe is far from satisfactory”,recent progress in the domain ofoptics and the wave theory of lightare “compatible with Goethe’sproject of a chromatic, a physical (i.e.natural) science of colour.” On theother hand, recent art historyresearch has tended to give a vision ofGoethe’s theory no longer as an“erratic block” but rather as the“fruit of a long tradition” ofreflection on the “coloris”(R. Rosenberg)(1) by theorists ofpainting and painters themselves;which leads one to ask whether theinfluence of his work on the ideasand particularly on the practices ofthe latter was as real as has beenstated.

And so it seems that the time hascome to re-open the case. This timewe should no longer set the differentapproaches of historians of art,science and philosophy against eachother, but rather build on what theyhave in common. This is whatJacques Bouveresse and RolandRecht – who teach the Philosophy ofLanguage and Knowledge and theHistory of European Medieval andModern Art at the Collège de France– are setting out to do this year bycombining their seminars under ajoint heading: Goethe’s Theory ofColours, Origins and Influences,Problems and Controversies. Thefirst day(2) of this event took placeon 25th November 2005.

In his detailed study of Goethe’scorrespondence, particularly withSchiller, the first reader of the draftsof his work and also of some of hisautobiographical writings, such asthe Confession of the Author, whichconcludes the work, Roland Rechthas brought out the decisive roleplayed by the trip to Italy (1786-8)in the genesis of the latter. ForGoethe, the discovery of the Italiancountryside and Italian paintingswas the revelation that led him toexplore the mysteries of colour.Since no work and no treatyprovided him with the solution thathe was looking for, he sought it inthe study of natural phenomena,that is, in Physics. But experiencingcolours means experiencing thevisible. In order to remain faithfulto natural phenomena, the physicsof colour may not be based onexperiments drawing onmathematical hypotheses that inturn refer to hidden processes, suchas that of Newton’s prism. Its sourceand its criterion should be foundonly in the experience of looking.Goethe wrote “Every act of looking[naturally] turns into observation,every act of observation intoreflection, every act of reflection

GOETHE’S THEORY OF COLOURS

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN SCIENCE, ART AND PHILOSOPHY

Joint Seminar by the Chair ofHistory of European Medieval andModern Art and the Chair ofPhilosophy of Language andKnowledgeCollège de France25th November 2005

Prof. Roland Recht Prof. Jacques Bouveresse

1. A distinction is traditionally made between the colours which an artist has at his disposal in order to paint on his canvas (the colours inhis palette) and the colour (‘coloris’) which is the visual effect resulting from choice and from the mixture and use of colours in the pain-ting: the light-dark relationship, for example, falls within the realm of the “science of colours”.2. The other day events will take place on 15th and 16th June 2006.

THE LETTER- N° 126

into the making of associations:thus it is that we theorize every timewe look carefully at the world.”

Focussing his attention on Newton’scelebrated prism experiment,Michel Blay (CNRS, Paris),endeavoured to show why Goetheand numerous XVIIIth Centuryauthors, such as Marat and FatherCastel, were unable to understandit and thus found themselvescondemned to failure in theirattempts at reproducing it. In hisLetter to Henry Oldenburg,secretary of the Royal Society,which in fact constitutes the officialreport of his experiment (1672),Newton conforms to the empiricaldogma of Bacon’s induction theory,as though his theory resulted fromobservation. A study of his Workingnotes shows that this was not thecase. The prism experiment isconstructed in a very specificmanner with the aim of developinga hypothesis previously formulated.The general fact highlighted byNewton (the multiple nature ofhomogeneous or monochromaticlight) is not demonstrated by simpleobservation. Recognition of this factpresupposes the adoption of a newway of looking at light. Criticismsof Goethe were founded on “a naïvereflection and a poor understandingof Newton’s prism experiment.They demonstrate a contrario, froman epistemological point of view,the specific nature of a fact in therealm of physical science: there is nosuch thing as pure empiricism.”

If Goethe’s conception of what atheory of colour should be turns itsback on what science had becomeduring his era, it is, however, asJacqueline Lichtenstein (UniversityParis IV) has stated, caught up in an“illusion which consists in believingthat there exists no other form ofrationality apart from scientificrationality, thus denying that art isan intrinsically cognitive capacity.”In the Theory of Colours, she drawsour attention to the fact that the

painters’ analyses and those ofauthors who, like Roger de Piles,drew their reflections directly fromworkshop practices, have their placein the part dedicated to the historyof colours, but are not present in thechapters dedicated to the theories ofcolour in the strictest sense. “Theanalyses of the painters are excludedfrom the theoretical area ofknowledge. [...] In the light of theepistemological criteria thatdetermine the modern idea oftheory, these often piece-mealcollections of thoughts andanalyses, which we collectively termtheories of art are, in fact, realmonsters, because they are“practical theories”. She specifies,however, “to a certain extent,Goethe’s analysis is, in a strangeway, a continuation of that of thecolour theorists.”

It is this continuity that RaphaëlRosenberg (University of Heidelberg)brought to light by bringing forthtwo figures who are almost forgottentoday – Louis Bertrand Castel, a veryfamous Jesuit of his time and designerin 1725 of a “Clavecin pour lesyeux” (Ocular Harpsichord) capableof transforming every piece of musicby “playing” it in colours and MaryGartside, author of a manual forlearning to paint flowers: Essay onLight and Shade, on Colours and onComposition in general (1805). Eachof them is first and foremostinterested in the effects of colour.Father Castel’s invention was notbased, as are the traditional theorieson harmony, on the principles ofPythagoras, but rather on “a realphenomenology of effect” – the effectproduced by certain colours on thespectator may be the same as thatproduced by certain notes on thehearer. As for Mary Gartside, she waswithout a doubt (although wemistakenly attribute this to Goethe)the first to have observed that“luminous colours move towards theeye and cold colours move awayfrom it”. In order to support herexplanations on contrast and

harmony between colours, sheincluded in the book an astonishingseries of eight completely abstractwatercolours.

Jacques Bouveresse undertook theevaluation of the status of Goethe’stheory on the basis of contemporaryscientific and philosophical works,successively examining fivepossibilities: “(1) that it is adefendable theory (practically noscientist has ever consented to this);(2) that it is a scientific theory thathas been refuted (which a minorityof the most charitable scientistsprobably believe); (3) that it is not afalse scientific theory but rather apseudo-scientific theory (which anoverwhelming majority of scientistshave always believed); (4) that it doesnot belong to the realm of science,not because it is pseudoscientific butbecause, in reality, it falls within thecategory of poetry or art, even ifGoethe himself did not consider it inthis light; (5) that it is not scientific,not because it is not connected withmetaphysical speculation or art, butbecause (as Wittgenstein maintained),it is, after all, more closely connectedto philosophy, understood as anundertaking of conceptual analysisand clarification, rather than toscience as such.”

Jean-Jacques Rosat

27N° 1 - THE LETTER

As part of our commitment to teachin other places, it frequently happensthat we travel far and wide to meetcolleagues and teach within researchcontexts that are familiar to us – interms of work methods, theframework of references and theperception of scientific subjects. On theother hand, very rarely are we in directcontact with or do we serve realitiesthat, although physically close to us,culturally are far removed. Yet, in ourParisian suburbs, almost everymunicipal authority houses as manynationalities as those we might visit inseveral years of travelling and teaching.

At an international symposium inStresa in October 2004, devoted tothe new poverties of the 21st century,the former Secretary General of theUN, M. Boutros-Boutros Ghali, drewthe participants’ attention to the factthat around 2020 more than 60% ofthe world’s population will live inmegalopolises surrounded by hugesuburbs, whose quality of life will be

very precarious. During the samesymposium, the senator forAubervilliers, M. Jack Ralite,presented some impressive statisticsconcerning the communes of thenorthern and eastern suburbs of Paris.

In order to reflect further on thissubject, we met M. Ralite, in thepresence of M. Jacques Glowinski,administrator and M. André Miquel,emeritus administrator of the Collègede France, and we worked out a planto establish an agreement between theCollège de France and theAubervilliers Town Council toorganize a series of lectures (one permonth for seven months) on themesof universal significance capable of

getting civilizations to engage indialogue with each other.

The Assembly of the Professors of theCollège de France approved thescheme, and a series of lectures willtake place, in Aubervilliers, during theacademic year 2006-2007. The themewill be: Classics of human memory.

Professor André Miquel inauguratedthis series on 5th June last at theAubervilliers municipal theatre, witha lecture on the Thousand and OneNights. This was followed by aconcert of the works of Bach, Mozart,Ravel and Schumann, interpreted byAmandine Beyer on the violin andLaurence Beyer on piano.

Carlo Ossola

LECTURES

COLLÈGE DE FRANCE / AUBERVILL IERS TOWN COUNCIL

Didier Bezace, director of the MunicipalTheatre, André Miquel and Jack Ralite

Joint project of theCollège de France and theAubervilliers Town Council

A series of lectureson themes of universal

significance capable of gettingcivilizations to engage indialogue with each other.

Projected programmefor the academic year 2006 - 2007

1. L’OdysséeJean-Pierre Vernant, emeritus professor at the Collège de France

2. La Divine ComédieCarlo Ossola, professor at the Collège de France

3. Don QuichotteFrancisco Jarauta, professor at the University of Murcia (Espagne)

4. Notre besoin de RimbaudYves Bonnefoy, emeritus professor at the Collège de France

5. Une parole universelle: Victor HugoMax Milner, emeritus professor at the University of Paris III-Sorbonne

6. L’autre Europe: Ivo AndricPredrag Matvejevic, professor at the University of Roma - La Sapienza (Italia)

Jacques Glowinski, former administrator ofthe Collège de France, André Miquel andJack Ralite

Jack Ralite, honorary mayor ofAubervilliers, former government minister,senator, and Carlo Ossola

THE LETTER- N° 128

On 26th June 2005 the Assembly of the Professors of theCollège de France adopted proposals for reorganizing thelibraries, both general and specialist, of the Collège deFrance and the Instituts d’Orient (Oriental Institutes).These changes have come into effect from 1st January2006. The aim was to reaffirm the uniqueness of theservices provided by the Collège de France’s libraries. Theyare open to the outside, integrated into the network ofuniversity and research libraries, and a partner of theBULAC (University Library of Languages andCivilizations).

Building up a priceless patrimony

To understand the impact of this reorganization, it isnecessary to recall how, over time, this exceptionaldocumentary patrimony was built up. By its nature andthrough its missions, the Collège de France hasoccupied, since 1530, an original position in the fieldsof teaching and research. It was here that, in France,Greek, Arabic, Sanskrit, Chinese, Assyrian and ofcourse, with Champollion, ancient Egyptian were firstofficially taught. The professors who taught thesesubjects were often among the best in the world in theirsubjects. The documents they used were for a long timetheir own personal property, the fruit of acquisitions,exchanges or of tributes from French and foreigncolleagues. Many were bequeathed to the Collège deFrance. Thus a very rich collection was built up, but itwas split up among the different chairs, and sometimeskept in specialized institutes.

In 1936, these collections were organized for the firsttime into a general library. From the end of the 1970s,the number of acquisitions made by the Collège deFrance has increased considerably, making some of itsspecialized collections equal to anything found in thebest libraries in the world. At the same time, we started

to computerize the catalogues, which did present somedifficulty given the specificity of the collections. It is ahighly complex task to catalogue books written inChinese, Indian, Tibetan, Arabic, etc. both in theiroriginal language and in Latin transcription with all thecross-referencing and indexing that this entails.

REORGANIZATION OF THE COLLÈGE DEFRANCE LIBRARIES

A few examples

The library of the Egyptology Institute isprobably the best in the world; given the factthat Egyptology has been, since its beginnings,a major discipline of the Collège de France.

The library of the Institute of the ChineseSuperior Studies hosts a unique collectionof local monographs.

The library of the Institute of Indian Studieshas a complete cartographic coverage of theIndian sub-continent as well as a compute-rised photographic library of 20 000 slides.

The library of the Institute of ByzantineStudies, in the process of reorganisation, isalready the best in Europe in its field.

An agreement is currently in the process ofnegotiation with the Asian Society toimprove the availability of its library’s extre-mely rich resources to researchers.

The library of the laboratory of socialAnthropology, created since its introductionto the Collège de France by Claude Levi-Strauss, is one of the most important libra-ries of general anthropology in France. Its originality is to work in close associationwith the CNRS (national centre for scientificresearch), where it hosts a very importantresearch team, and the École des Hautes Étudesen Sciences Sociales. It thus benefits from thescientific contribution and the talents of manyhighly ranked researchers.

29N° 1 - THE LETTER

The reorganization project

Today the reorganization of the libraries has become anecessity.

The lack of space is a chronic problem for libraries.The reinstallation of the general library in premises that have been entirely renovated, but which do nothave the capacity to hold the 120,000 volumes in the collection, means that the library’s missions must beredefined now, so that we can separate those worksthat need to be present in our main building at Place Marcelin Berthelot from those that can be kept else-where.

In a general context of a shortage of funds and librarystaff – and of increased competition between theinstitutions concerned –, it has become essential tohighlight the specificity and usefulness of the Collègede France’s collections, and to make them more visible.The lack of staff limits the number of readers thelibraries can accept: these libraries will therefore bereserved for researchers – which complies with theCollège de France’s vocation. It also limits the opening hours, which will have to be adjusted in accordancewith the availability of staff.

The reorganization project will enable us to create onesingle archive for printed, sound and photographiccollections that represent a large share of France’s andthe world’s intellectual memory. Certain tasks will becentralized, particularly those concerning themanagement of staff and the libraries’ technicaloperations: cataloguing, interconnecting computerizedcatalogues, coordinating acquisitions, the storage oflarge instruments, bringing together and putting in asafe place old publications of great bibliophilic andpatrimonial value, etc. The aim is to rationalize andmodernize the Collège de France’s library system.

ÉGYPTO-LOGY

ANCIENT

MIDDLE

EAST

BYZANTIUM ARABIAN,TURKISH

AND ISLAMIC

STUDIES

FAR

EAST

INDIA TIBET CHINA KOREA JAPAN

GENERALLIBRARY

ORIENTALISTINSTITUTES

SOCIALANTHROPOLOGY

ADMINISTRATOROF THE COLLÈGE

DE FRANCE

LIBRARIES CENTRALDEPARTMENT

HUMANITIESAND

SOCIALSSCIENCES

SCIENCES

Organization chart

THE LETTER- N° 130

Reorganized and modernized spaces

The general library will soon be installed in premisesthat are being built anew in the East wing of theChalgrin building, Place Marcelin Berthelot (Paris). Asfor the premises in Cardinal Lemoine Street, whichhouse the specialized libraries, they will be redesigned.The structure will be changed to reinforce theselibraries’ vocation to provide excellence.

The photographic and sound documents as well as thefilms need special precautions and computerizedinventories. The Collège de France library system hasbeen rethought to ensure its development, to make thelibraries more accessible to researchers while preservingtheir patrimonial value and respecting the constraintsimposed by conservation requirements.

A rationalized organization

The reforms approved by the Assembly pf the Professorswill see the implementation of the following principles:

All of the Collège de France’s documentary collectionswill be held in one single department.

This will consist of:

1. A general library, which will be located in the newpremises under construction at Place Marcelin Berthelot.It is not intended to be exhaustive, except with regard tothe history of the Collège de France and its Professors.Some specialized collections will be kept nearer thelaboratories.

2. Two specialized libraries: the Oriental libraries and thelibrary of the Laboratory of Social Anthropology, which arelocated at Cardinal Lemoine Street. Some of them contain

exceptional collections that complement those of theBULAC, and will remain reference libraries on a nationaland European scale. Partnerships with the CNRS (Frenchnational research centre) and the BULAC have been signed.

These three elements are from now on regarded as asingle body with its own unique budget; it is managedby the head librarian of the Collège de France, assistedby a deputy and a scientific council.

This department is now part of the French network ofuniversity and research libraries. It is open to all the staffof the Collège de France as well as to researchers outsidethe Collège de France, and particularly those institutionsthat have signed agreements with the Collège.

General policy directions concerning documentary mate-rials will be decided by the Assembly of the Professorsrepresented by its Administrator, who presides over thelibraries’ Scientific Council. This council, now set up, isopen to representatives of other institutions, viz. the headof the sub-department of libraries and documentation atthe Ministry of Research, a representative of the directorgeneral of the CNRS, the director of the BULAC, etc.

A prime place on a French and European scale

This reorganization now enables us to affirm the unityof the system; promote collaboration with other Parisianand foreign libraries; allow many researchers outside theCollège de France access to scientific documentation thattheir research depends on and retain, for certaincollections, original management procedures that haveproved their worth.

The General Library’s mission is to provide its users,irrespective of their discipline, with services that allow

Cross section of the future library

31N° 1 - THE LETTER

them to find the works and periodicals they need; toadvise them how to use these resources, particularlydigitized resources available on CD-Rom or on theInternet; to assemble a collection of books andperiodicals. Its task is also to bring together and keep allwritten materials relating to the history of the Collègede France and its Professors.

Some of its collections are of exceptional importance(history of Spain and of Latin America, Caucasian languagesetc). The Oriental Institutes, located in Cardinal LemoineStreet, house under one management specialized librariesthat, in their fields, are the best in France and often inEurope. This structure by Institutes is historical: the core ofthese libraries is made up of the former libraries of differentchairs. The new organization guarantees the continuedexistence of libraries that might have been threatened by avacancy in a chair in the scientific field concerned. Thepermanent participation of researchers not belonging to theCollège de France in the management of these libraries is aguarantee of continuity. It is also a guarantee of adaptability:indeed, researchers are best placed to manage theacquisitions policy and to spot useful new titles.

These libraries are visited by many foreign researchers.Even if donations and bequests of works are numerous,maintaining these collections at the highest level willrequire more and more money and space: theproduction of books in China, Japan and India isincreasing exponentially, as is the scientific outputconcerning these countries.

The group of Institutes located in Cardinal LemoineStreet forms a place of intense, interdisciplinary and veryfree intellectual life.

In its desire to enhance the status of this exceptionalpatrimony and to make it available to the scientificcommunity, the Collège de France has undertaken awide-ranging reform, with the assistance of institutionsdevoted to safeguarding and exploiting cultural riches,to the transmission of knowledge and the evolution ofthe sciences.

M.K.adapted from documents presented by Professor Gérard

Fussman to the Assembly of the Professors ofthe Collège de France

Our libraries have always been carefully looked after bysuccessive administrators and the professors in charge of thescientific side of their activity. During the last ten years,they have undergone a delicate transformation supervisedby the administrator, Jacques Glowinski. Work is wellunder way on the future General Library and reinstallationwill soon take place. The current team is at the momentplanning the return of collections that have been storedtemporarily at Fleury-Mérogis. New arrangements,outlined in the present issue of the Letter, will also be inplace when the library reopens.

It would not be fair to think that the General Library andits staff have been leading an easy life during this periodof apparent latency. Since l997, the collections (around120,000 works) have been moved around a great dealfrom illustrious surroundings to places that are lesscommendable, between the erudite rue des Écoles, the

bare plains of the Val de Marne, the hospitable basementsat Chatenay-Malabry, the orchards of Meudon, the pipedreams of Nogent to finally end up at Fleury-Mérogis.However, there is now light at the end of the tunnel afterall these long tribulations…

During this time, the staff have been involved in a raceagainst time and have planted the first seeds of their futurestrategy for providing services so that everything will bein place when the library reopens: they have drawn up theoutlines of a charter, redefined the nature ofdocumentation, “weeded out” obsolete or unsuitablecollections and produced a plan for developing electronicdocumentary sources.

The reduction of space and means has had a negative effecton subscriptions and acquisitions. On the other hand, as wewere unable to use our own collections, inter-librarylending and the sourcing of documents from distant placeshave grown considerably.

To ensure bibliographical coordination between theCollège’s different specialist libraries, the first step was tocreate a catalogue. This catalogue was first created in thespecialist libraries, starting with the IEOs (Institutes ofthe Far East) and the library of Arabic and Islamic Studies(with texts using non-Latin characters included), then inthe General Library. It is at present a central element ofour policy of cooperation with the libraries department,which supervises or coordinates the cataloguing of

The Collège de France Library or should we say libraries?

THE LETTER- N° 132

acquisitions made by the libraries of Assyriology andHistory of Eastern Christianities. Today, at this addresshttp://quinet.college-de-france.fr, six of the Collège deFrance’s bibliographical databases can be consulted onthe Internet. Apart from the General Library and theLibrary of Egyptology, which were the first ones, it ispossible to consult simultaneously or selectively in onesingle search the databases of the Byzantine Library, theLibrary of Semitic Studies, the Library of Assyriology andthe Library of the History of Eastern Christianities.Catalogues in non-Latin characters, in view of theirdistinctive feature, will be included subsequently. TheIEOs can access them at the following addresshttp://quinet.college-de-france.fr:81.

For 2 years now, we have been part of the system of highereducation documentation - the SUDOC (Systèmeuniversitaire de documentation de l’enseignementsupérieur), which has a register of several million references.For a long time, it has enabled our own teachers andresearchers to find references and source from outside ourinstitution the documents they need. It also enables us toshow outside researchers how extensive our specific, andin some cases unique, collections of works are. The GeneralLibrary uses the SUDOC as a tool in its retrospectivecataloguing, profiting from the work done by otherresearch libraries that possess the same works. In the nottoo distant future we hope that the specialist collections ofthe libraries of the Instituts d’Orient (Eastern Institutes)will also be included in this immense national catalogue,and we will thus be able to see the complementary natureof the collections belonging to the Collège de France andto its partners, the Biliothèque Universitaire des Langues etCivilisations (University Library for Languages andCivilisations) and the École Normale Supérieure.

At the same time, following the initiative of the library ofthe Institut de Biologie (Institute of Biology), the librariesof the Collège de France have joined together to presenton one site the online reviews to which they have takenout subscriptions. It is possible, from any workstationconnected to the Collège de France network, to accessthe unabridged version of around one hundred reviews(exact sciences and human sciences) by logging on to thesite http://doc-ib.college-de-france.fr/ejournalsCdF/. Inaddition, certain laboratories have access tobibliographical or textual databases that are subject tosubscriptions like JSTOR (Journal Storage), and whichcontain the archives of digital publications.

The installation of the General Library in its new premiseswill bring it back to the heart of the Collège de France, andwill ensure better coordination with the Scientific Council.This will also be accompanied by the implementation ofnew services using the facilities offered by the IT networks:discussions about acquisitions, creation of bibliographies,training in how to search databases, the sourcing ofdocuments from distant places, the monitoring of newdevelopments in documentation.

Marie-Renée Cazabon

The Asiatic Society and the Collège de France*

The Asiatic Society’s first meeting was held on 1st April1822, a French manifestation of European countries’fascination with Orientalism at the beginning of the

19th century. The Collège de France had indeed justcreated in 1814 the Chairs of Chinese and Sanskrit. TheRoyal Asiatic Society was established in London in1824, the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft andthe American Oriental Society in 1842.

The first president of the Society was quite naturallySylvestre de Sacy (1758-1838), professor of Persian at theCollège, and its honorary president was the Duke of Orléanswho, when he became King Louis-Philippe, still continuedhis patronage of the Society. There were then 37 foreignassociate members and 111 subscribers, with famous nameslike Chateaubriand among them by 1823. Its regulationsthen were more or less similar to today’s. The Societyacquired personal civil status by royal edict on 15th April1829, which entitled it to receive donations and bequests.Its statutes were revised by decree on 16th June 1910.

33N° 1 - THE LETTER

In its early years the Council included several members ofthe government: the Duke of Richelieu, minister of ForeignAffairs, then president of the Council; the Marquis ofClermont-Tonnerre, Navy, then War minister, etc. Theother members of the Council were Orientalists only byprofession, but they were very famous (Rémusat, Chézy,Champollion the younger, etc.).

The society was very open: its main centre of interestwas initially intended to be literature and history, but itsoon came to include knowledge of the geography,economies and contemporary politics of the countries ofthe Orient in its fields of study. Aristocrats took aninterest in it, mainly those who had come back fromabroad and who had experience of countries other thanFrance (the Duke of Richelieu had commanded Russiantroops against the Turks). It also aroused the interest ofintellectuals who were curious about a world that hadbeen hidden up to then and where discoveries revealedunsuspected connections with the West. These commonroots came to light as a result of different events: theEgyptian expedition (the letter to M. Dacier dates from1822), the discovery by Bopp in 1816 of the commonparentage of languages known as “Indo-European”,which he noted in his book entitled “On the ConjugationSystem of Sanskrit in comparison with that of Greek,Latin, Persian and Germanic”, or the publication of“Chinese Grammar” by A. Rémusat (1822).

The departure of a lot of society people in 1830 meantthat the Asiatic Society no longer hesitated betweenbeing a “literary salon” or an “institution of learning”.From that moment, it brought together those who wereto make 19th-century Orientalism famous in its manyforms, most of whom were Collège de Franceprofessors: A. Rémusat and S. Julien (China),E. Burnouf (Persia and India), J.F. Champollion andG. Maspéro (Egypt), J. Oppert (cuneiforms, which he

was an expert at deciphering), E. Renan (Bible); frommore modern times were S. Lévy, P. Pelliot,P. Demiéville, L. Renou, J. Filliozat, É. Benveniste,A. Caquot.

The Society publishes a journal called the “Journalasiatique” (JA) and, up to now, 292 issues haveappeared. It publishes the minutes of meetings, but,more importantly, scientific articles or reviews of worksrelating to Orientalism. It also has a library of 100,000printed works in every field of Orientalism, mostlycomprising bequests from the scientific libraries of itsmembers: E. Chavannes, P. Demiéville (China),E. Sénart (India), J. Bacot (Tibet) J. Filliozat (Indianmedicine); it is current practice for its members todonate their works.

Among the library’s many treasures are engravings, thearchives of the Kingdom of Campa and different typesof manuscripts written in the various Asian languages(parchments, Asian papers, palm leaves). Finally, itpossesses the scientific archives of several scholars, likethe collection of glass photographic plates fromA. Foucher’s missions to Afghanistan.

19th century Orientalism has to be seen as part of thecontinual growth in the number of fields of study.Today, the growing number of documents available andthe difficulty in exploiting them often make itimpossible for experts to access fields related to theirown speciality. Creating a forum in which experts cancome together is a necessity and the Society has retainedits original function as a link and a coordinator. Thelength of time it has been in existence is proof of theinterest it has aroused; its fellow organizations aroundthe world, older in the Orient, younger in the West,have built up a network that has enabled Westernresearch to study the many civilizations and culturesthat are exterior to it, but which are often the source ofmany of its questions and the responses to them.

Prof. Jean-Marie DurandVice-President of the Asiatic Society

* This presentation of mine has drawn its inspiration from a memorandum containing a wealth of information on the Asiatic Society written byPierre-Sylvain Filliozat, member of the Institute, son of Jean Filliozat who was a professor at the Collège de France from 1952 to 1978, and servingvice-president of the Asiatic Society. The illustrations in this article come from works in the Asiatic Society’s library.

THE LETTER- N° 134

The Collège de France’sinternational relations are basedprimarily on the professors’ ownnetwork of personal contactsthroughout the world. This is aninformal network with a largenumber of contacts, and it formsthe basis for the Collège’sinternational reputation.

One of the Collège de France’smissions as an institution is to contribute to France’sinternational influence. Therefore, the Collège hasdeveloped an international policy whose aim is to makeit better known and to develop its relations andexchanges with equivalent institutions in othercountries. The College has an international committeeon scientific and strategic orientation (COSS) whoserecommendations reinforce this policy direction.

This international policy is supported by thoseinstitutions that represent France in the countriesconcerned, and it has different components.

The Collège de France’s courses abroad

They are an integral part of the Collège’s courses andappear in the official programme. The inviting institutions,university or partner institution, choose their guests andtake care of accommodation and living expenses. TheCollège is responsible for travelling expenses – helped bythe Ministry of Foreign Affairs in some cases.

Emeritus Professors may also be invited to give coursesabroad, as well as certain professors from the ÉcoleNormale Supérieure.

About fifteen agreements havebeen signed or are currently beingnegotiated with universities andfoundations in twelve countries:Germany, Brazil, Canada, Egypt,Spain, USA, Italy, Lebanon,Mexico, UK, Singapore andSweden. The agreements alsoaim to favour the arrival of post-doctorals at the Collège deFrance.

Guest professors

On the recommendations of its members, the Assembly of theProfessors invites around forty key figures to give lectures atthe Collège de France every year. These lectures are filmedand broadcast on an internet site that was created inpartnership with the École Normale Supérieure(http://www.diffusion.ens.fr/college/). The Collège publishessummaries of the lectures in its Yearbook (Annuaire¸ Courset travaux du Collège de France) and in the Letter of theCollège de France, and supports their wider publication inpartnership with the publisher Odile Jacob. Its aim is to createan active network of exchanges with the guest professors.

Lecturers and post-doctorals at the Collège

The College has about sixty lecturer positions, as lecturer,PRAG (University teachers) or ATER (temporary teacher andresearcher), a large percentage of which are for young foreignresearchers who come for one or two years. The HugotFoundation organizes a reception for these researchers everyyear. It also awards the Hugot prize every year to a youngforeign researcher, and for the prizewinner there is also aposition as lecturer for one year.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Number of hours teaching abroad by permanent professors

HC (horsconvention):over and aboveagreementC (convention):in accordancewith agreement

35N° 1 - THE LETTER

The Collège de France possesses a magnificent map ofthe world, a masterpiece of nineteenth centurycartography. It consists of a globe with a diameter ofover one metre on a solid wooden base. The base mapis in German and Alexander von Humboldtimmediately springs to mind. Over and above its highlydetailed physical geography, including, in particular, allof the world’s mountain ranges, one can see on it theroutes taken by the great discoverers, from Magellanto Captain Cook. A complex mass of large circles invarious colours (black, red, green, blue) that have beentraced by a steady hand is especially noticeable. Noparticular indications are given, apart from severalletters (D,t) at certain intersection nodes. Few geologiststoday could guess that it is in fact a representation,without doubt the most complete ever made, of the“réseau pentagonal” (pentagonal network) of Léonce

Elie de Beaumont, professor at the Collège de Franceand holder of the Chair of Natural History of Inorganicbodies from 1832 up till his death in 1874. From theoutset, the theory of Elie de Beaumont was the object oflively controversy. Only specialists in the history ofscience remain familiar with it today. However, it isnonetheless true that this model, as we would name ittoday, represented a major school of thought in thenineteenth century and was, especially, the first attemptat a global tectonic theory, a century before Xavier LePichon and several others discovered the plates.

Jean Baptiste Armand Louis Léonce Elie deBeaumont, the great figure of nineteenth centuryFrench geology.

At the very least we may say that Jean Baptiste ArmandLéonce Elie de Beaumont (1798-1814) held all the mostprestigious positions during his long career. Professor(1827), then Director of the École des Mines, ChiefEngineer of the Mines (1832), Professor at the Collègede France (on the death of Cuvier in 1832), InspectorGeneral in 1845, member of the Institute (1835), thenpermanent secretary of the Academy of Science from1853 onwards and, finally, to top it all, Senator in 1852.Majoring from the Polytechnique and the École desMines, he entered the Corps des Mines in 1820, where,after a short trip to England, he was given theresponsibility, along with Armand Dufrénoy, of creatinga geological map of our country based on the Englishmodel. He thus engaged upon a course of untiringactivity, covering thousands of kilometres on foot oron horseback, and making the numerous fieldobservations that were to make him one of the most

THE GLOBE OF ÉLIE DE BEAUMONT (1798-1874)AT THE COLLÈGE DE FRANCE

By Jacques TouretProfessor Emeritus (Petrography-Mineralogy)Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (the Netherlands)Member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Artsand Science

Mineralogy MuseumÉcole des Mines60 Boulevard Saint-Michel, Paris 75006

Bust of Élie de Beaumontat the École des Mines

THE LETTER- N° 136

experienced geologists of his time. The result of thiswork was the publication in 1841 of the six sheets of the“Geological Map of France, under the direction ofMr Brochant de Villiers, General Inspector of theMines, by Messrs Dufrénoy and Élie de Beaumont,inspectors of the Mines”. This was work of a singularlymodern nature, whose general outline – in particularthe structure of the sedimentary layers of the ParisBasin – are still of current relevance. It was during thesesurveys that Élie de Beaumont was to develop an ideathat affected all his later activities: The relief structuresat the surface of the globe, in particular volcanoes andmountain ranges, are due to the deep thrust of magmaliquids that tend to raise a thin but solid shell (crust).The typical form of volcanoes is thus a single ‘upheavalcrater’ whilst mountain ranges correspond to a linearupheaval along the great cracks distributedhomogeneously over the surface of the terrestrial globe.In any case, the fundamental causes are identical: theyare linked to the cooling down and thus to the ancientcontraction of the earth during the geological periods.The basic hypothesis is that the terrestrial globe coolsdown and contracts, creating protuberances at thesurface “similar to those of a wrinkled apple”

On the basis of this brief summary, today it is easy tounderline the errors of an explanation that is incontradiction with immediate observation, in particularwhere upheaval craters are concerned. From the verybeginning, Élie Beaumont’s ideas were criticised, inparticular by Charles Lyell and those who held to thetenets of the “actual causes” hypothesis. He valiantlydefended his position, supported by several disciplesfrom the Collège de France and the École des Mines.

The authority that his official functions gave himenabled his ideas to have considerable repercussions.Well after the First World War, many geological mapsstill mentioned the main directions of the “mountainranges” and it was only at the beginning of the secondhalf of the Twentieth Century that the name of Élie deBeaumont and his pentagonal system became forgottenhistory. This was as undeserved as the adulation of thecentury before since, as Celal Sengör so masterfullydemonstrated in 2005 during his lectures as holder ofthe International Chair of the Collège de France, all wasnot erroneous in the complex way of thinking patientlyelaborated by the Parisian group. This was the case inparticular for the notion of the geo-syncline, which wasto dominate geological thinking until the advent of platetectonics. There was two Americans, James Hall andJames Dwight Dana , who coined the name and becameknown as the fathers of the concept – especially in theEnglish-speaking world –, but the definition that hegave (in the preface of a paper on the subject ofpalaeontology!) existed already in Élie de Beaumont’sworks.

The Pentagonal Network

As a Polytechnician, Élie de Beaumont was verymathematically minded. Mathematics, he believed,should govern the order of the natural world (AugusteComte is not far away). He therefore believed that thecracks resulting from the earth’s contracting over theages should be positioned in a rational way and coverthe whole of its surface. All mountains are notcontemporaneous, so the appearance of cracks occursin successive waves, but “the logic of events means that”two immediately successive cracks are orthogonal. Thesource of this statement is pure intuition, as is the wayof dividing up the sphere of reference into a certainnumber of identical sectors, which must divide itssurface in a continuous and homogeneous manner. Theanalogy with the crystallographic school of thought isobvious – and underlined by Élie de Beaumont himself.

He begins by envisaging the simplest system: 8 sphericaltriangles cut out on the sphere by a tri-rectangular axissystem. The planes tangential to each of these trianglesdefine a regular bounded octahedron and it is possibleto project onto them every point of the spherical surfaceby gnomonic projection (intersection of the plan withthe radius of the sphere passing through the point underconsideration).

This octahedral system was quickly abandoned, as itwas too simple. Élie de Beaumont then proceeded bysuccessive complications, observing that a networkconsisting of 15 large circles, termed “primitive”,

Geometrical elements of the pentagonal network(according to A. Vézian, 1863, p. 32).Continuous lines: primitive circles, long dashedlines: octahedrons, dotted lines: regular dodeca-hedra, short dashed lines: rhombic dodecahedra,double lines Remda meridian

37N° 1 - THE LETTER

intersecting in such as way as to form 12 regularspherical pentagons, makes it possible to draw a gridwhose complexity was entirely satisfactory to him.Other figures are derived through permutation on thesummits or the middle of the ridges (octahedrons andregular or rhombic dodecahedra). In all, a total of 61large circles, which constitute, as a whole, the“pentagonal network”.

This definition is purely theoretical and mathematical.If Beaumont’s intuition is exact, the directions of thesystem must coincide with the directions of the different“mountain ranges”, measured during field observations.The approach of Élie de Beaumont results from his ownfield observations or his cartographical analyses. Thefirst observations, presented verbally to the Academyof Science in 1829, concern 4 systems, which do in factpossess a certain temporal and directional homogeneity,at least on a European scale (Ardennes, Cornwall, Alps,Pyrenees). The Pyrenees range in particular is, indeed,in a very straight line and we can be sure that itsexample played an important part in confirming ÉlieBeaumont’s certainty that his theories were correct.After publication (Annals of Natural Sciences, Paris,1830), the number of characteristic directions grewrapidly to 12 (1833), then to 15, and reached 96 in1852, in his Notice on mountain ranges (“and I’m along way off finishing”, he added).

The need remained to make the directions of themountain ranges coincide with those of the pentagonalnetwork. Élie de Beaumont gave the followingexplanation on this key point in his structure: “I thoughtthat, if the large primitive circles of the pentagonalnetwork represented what we may call the primitive formof the external configuration of the globe, it would sufficeto place the network formed by these 15 circles on theterrestrial globe to make it possible to see the position inwhich it should be placed so as to be in harmony with allof the geographical configurations, and that, if such aposition existed, and was taken, the very principle of mywork would be corroborated ipso facto and thepossibility of its establishment confirmed.” As a result, Iplaced onto a globe with a diameter of 50 cm, a movablenet formed by a part of the principal circles of thenetwork and composed in such a way as to be appliedexactly to this sphere, embracing it with rigorousprecision. Several preliminary trial and error proceduresled me to simply install this network on the tri-rectangular triangle resulting from the cross-over of thelarge comparative circles of the “Tenare” and “Andes”ranges and the “Mediterranean Volcanic Line”. Otherwritings mention other direction references, in particularthe “Remda Meridian” in Saxe, which Élie de Beaumont,perhaps making a distant reference to Werner, seems toconsider as a sort of original meridian for all of his

system. Whatever the case may be, the result has beenobtained: there is a correlation between the theoreticalnetwork and the facts observed on the ground, which asa whole must be exact.

The Globe at the Collège de France

In the light of the preceding information, it is clear thatthe representation of the earth’s relief and of thepentagonal network in three dimensions constitutes anessential element of the school of thought and thedemonstration. Playing on his double membership ofthe École des Mines and the Collège de France, Élie deBeaumont distributed work meticulously, giving eachone clear and precise objectives. His numerous activitiesprevented him from fulfilling all his roles personally,and so he found a colleague to second him in eachinstitution. At the École des Mines, Alphonse Béguyerde Chancourtois, firstly professor in topography, thenassistant in teaching geology, assumed this function.Élie de Beaumont simply gave an inaugural lecture everyyear, on the cooling of the planet. Then de Chancourtoiswould give all further lectures. At the Collège de France,this task was undertaken by Charles Sainte ClaireDeville, a replacement lecturer re-appointed forseventeen consecutive years. Deville, of Caribbeanorigin, was made responsible after several years for theorganisation of world meteorological stations andsometimes needed to find a replacement for himself...These colleagues would have the honour of becomingofficial holders of their positions on the death of Élie deBeaumont, but, in each case, this would only be for ashort time: three years for Béguyer de Chancourtois andbarely eighteen months for Sainte Claire Deville, duringwhich time the latter was able to give only one lesson,fortunately faithfully recorded and published by hissuccessor at the Collège, F. Fouqué.

© J

.-P.

Mar

tin,

Col

lège

de

Fran

ce

THE LETTER- N° 138

At the École des Mines, Béguyer de Chancourtois hada whole series of small sized globes made (around 20 to50 cm in diameter), of which four have been preserved(Library of the École des Mines). These are workingmodels, of which the smallest give indicationsconcerning elements of the pentagonal network on awhite background or, particularly in the case of thelargest of them (50 cm), giving material form to

elements of the network, using pins linked by threads ona topographical background.

However, for the Collège de France, he wished to createa spectacular globe, the most complete representation ofhis model. On 28th January 1850, he requestedpermission to do this from the Administrator (see letter).

We have looked in vain for other information on this“Grinum Globe” mentioned in Élie de Beaumont’sletter. These events took place during the period whengreat discoveries were made on the planet and severalGerman firms were manufacturing globes, in particularin Berlin and Dresden, launched by the momentum ofAlexander von Humboldt’s work. The most famousmanufacturer is Carlo Adami, whom Hans Kiepertsucceeded in 1844. He was to work from 1852 in C.Reimer’s firm. The Globe at the Collège de France wasprobably created in 1850 or 1851. It is likely that itwas made by H. Kiepert before he began working forReimer. It was, doubtless, a special order, which mayexplain the fact that the constructor is not mentioned.Whatever the case may be, the administrator acquiescedto Élie de Beaumont’s wishes, and an administrativeCustoms note for the year 1851 exempts the globe fromentry payments. It was at this time that it must havearrived in Paris. It was adapted there and Élie deBeaumont had the large circles of the pentagonalnetwork traced onto it; work of exemplary graphicperfection that was probably done at the Collège. As isthe case on the globes of the École des Mines, certainletters indicate the nature of the large circles. A colourcode probably corresponds to the different types ofcircles. The lines are very regular, even though they wereobviously drawn by hand, doubtless with the help ofspherical rulers. Few specialists were capable of carryingout such work, and it is more than likely that the artistsmentioned by Béguyer de Chancourtois were calledupon: Bertaut and especially E. Picart, the expertdesigner who in 1868 would enter the Service de laCarte géologique détaillée de France (The DetailedGeological Map of France).

A nostalgic conclusion

What happened to this masterpiece, once it had beencreated? The working globes of the École des Minesbear the traces of intensive work and have been used forthe drawing up of gnomonic maps – the great system ofwhich Béguyer de Chancourtois had dreamed, inembryonic form. On the contrary, the Collège de Franceglobe remained in its original condition. It does notseem to have been used much. Doubtless, it never leftthe Collège, unlike the globes of the École des Mines,exhibited in particular at universal Exhibitions. After

To Barthélémy Saint Hilaire,Administrator of the Collège de France

Dear Administrator,

For the demonstrations that I did during my geology lectures at theCollège de France, almost every year I used a terrestrial globe. Up till nowI have been able to use a medium sized globe belonging to myself for thispurpose, but since I have had to use this globe for special work, this yearI need to borrow another, but it can only be borrowed on a temporarybasis.

This circumstance causes me to think, dear Administrator, that theexpense involved in acquiring the globe for the Cours d’HistoireNaturelle Inorganique (Inorganic Natural History Lectures) at theCollège de France would be adequately justified, but at the same time italso seems to me that the Collège de France can only acquire a globe thatis very finely made.

According to the information that I have obtained, I believe that the“Grinum Globe”, of about one metre in diameter, publicised in Berlin afew years ago, would correspond very well to the object I had in mind.The price of this globe, with the transport and customs costs, would be460 Francs. Some additional expense would be incurred in order tofacilitate its handling. Total spending would thus amount to around500 francs.

I would not be able to raise the money for this expenditure from onesingle year of teaching costs and even if I were to spread it over two yearsit would drain them heavily. I am therefore taking the liberty of askingyou if it would not be possible to grant an extraordinary credit of500 francs to the Cours d’Histoire Naturelle des Corps Inorganiques(Natural History Lectures on Inorganic Bodies) for this special object.

I am honoured to be your most humble servant and devoted colleague,

Your obedient servant,Léonce Élie de Beaumont.

The 50 cm globe at the École des Mines

39N° 1 - THE LETTER

1852, Élie de Beaumont’s lectures were not directlyrelated to the pentagonal network: volcanic and metal-bearing emanations (1853-4); rocks of igneous originfrom the three-fold point of view of their composition,classification and seam (1854-55); and volcanicphenomena in general (1855-56). He then asked SainteClaire Deville to stand in for him, until his death, andthe latter’s lectures reflected his own areas of interest (inparticular, volcanology). He paid tribute to his masteronly during the single lesson that he gave as officialholder of the post (1875-76), giving, in particular, avery complete description of the pentagonal network.But his lectures, published at a later date by hissuccessor, François Fouqué, featured not one singlefigure and certainly not one word about the globe.Fouqué would himself become a Professor at theCollège de France in 1877, but was first and foremosta mineralogist and specialist in petrography, as was hisdisciple and successor, August Michel Lévy. It appears

that nobody found a reason to use the globe. It wasonly during the period immediately before the SecondWorld War that a holder of the tectonics theory, PaulFallot, would again occupy the Chair. In his inaugurallecture, the latter certainly paid a vibrant tribute to Éliede Beaumont, but he never mentioned the existence ofthe globe, with which, however, he must have beenfamiliar because he inherited it in his department.

Élie de Beaumont was doubtless keeping this teachingglobe in reserve for the day when he would haveprovided irrefutable and obvious proof of the perfectcoincidence between the directions of the mountainranges and the theoretical systems. As François Fouquésaid, having been well acquainted with him during hisstudies: “When I went to see him, he was always at hiswork desk, at one end of a line of small parts, in frontof a table loaded with maps, busy tracing newalignments.” This long awaited day never arrived, andÉlie de Beaumont, more and more isolated within theremaining faithful few, died one morning in 1874 in hiscastle in Carnon, alone with his certainties.

Handwritten letter from Élie de Beaumont to Barthélémy Sainte Hilaire, 28th January 1850. (Archives of the Collège de France).Text duplicated on page 38.

THE LETTER- N° 140

André Marie AMPÈRE(1775-1836)General and Experimental Physics1824 - 1836Issued: 1936

Raymond ARON(1905-1983)Sociology of Modern Civilization1942 - 1945Issued: 2005

Henri BERGSON(1859-1941)Greck and Latin Philosophy1900 - 1904 Modern Philosophy 1904 - 1921Issued: 1959

Claude BERNARD(1813-1878)Medicine1855 - 1878Issued: 1978

Marcelin BERTHELOT(1827-1907)Organic Chemistry1865 - 1907Issued: 1927

Abbé Henri BREUIL(1877-1961)Prehistory1929 - 1947Issued: 1977

Since 1927, many stamps havebeen issued bearing the effigiesof Collège professors. To datetwenty-eight professors can be“collected” by philatelists.

The founder of the Collège deFrance, François I, and the manwho inspired him, GuillaumeBudé, have appeared on

envelopes since 1956. A stamp showingthe Collège de France building was issuedin 1997.

Stamps issued bearing the effigies of Collège de France professors

Maurice de BROGLIE(1875-1960)

General and Experimental Physics1942 - 1945 Issued: 1970

Jean-François CHAMPOLLION(1790-1832)Archeology

1831 - 1832Issued: 1972

Jean Nicolas CORVISART(1755-1821)

Medicine1796 - 1804Issued: 1964

Georges CUVIER(1769-1832)

Natural History1800 - 1832Issued: 1969

Bernard HALPERN(1904-1978)

Experimental Medicine1961 - 1975Issued: 1987

Frédéric JOLIOT(1900-1958)

Nuclear Chemistry1937 - 1958Issued: 1982

PHILATELY AND THE COLLÈGE DE FRANCE

41N° 1 - THE LETTER

René LAENNEC(1781-1826)Medicine1822 - 1826Issued: 1952

Paul LANGEVIN(1872-1946)General and Experimental Physics1909 - 1946Issued: 1948

René LERICHE(1879-1955)Medicine1937 - 1950Issued: 1958

Jules MICHELET(1798-1874)History and Morals1838 - 1852Issued: 1953

Jacques MONOD(1910-1976)Molecular Biology1967 - 1973Issued: 1987

Charles NICOLLE(1866-1936)Medicine1932 - 1936Issued: 1958

Étienne OEHMICHEN(1884-1955)Mechanical and BiologicalAerolocomotion1939 - 1955Issued: 1957

Antoine PORTAL(1775-1836)General and Experimental Physics1824 - 1836Issued: 1971

Guillaume POSTEL(1510-1581)

Oriental Language1538 - 1543Issued: 1982

Ernest RENAN(1823-1892)

Hebraïc, Chaldaïc and SyriacLanguages

1862 - 1892Issued: 1973

Charles Augustinde SAINTE BEUVE

(1804-1869)Latin Poetry1854 - 1869Issued: 1969

André SIEGFRIED(1875-1959)

Economic and Political Geography1933 - 1946Issued: 1975

Louis Jacques THÉNARD(1777-1857)

Chemistry 1804 - 1845Issued: 1957

Paul VALÉRY(1871-1945)

Poetics1937 - 1945Issued: 1954

Nicolas Louis VAUQUELIN(1763-1829)

Chemistry1801 - 1804Issued: 1963

Hyacinthe VINCENT(1862-1950)

Epidemiology1925 - 1936Issued: 1962

INSTITUTIONAL

DATA

THE LETTER- N° 144

COLLÈGE DE FRANCE ORGANIZATION CHART

Administrator of the Collège de France: Pierre CORVOLThe Administrator of the Collège de France is a Collège de France professor, elected by his/her colleagues to directthe institution for a period of 3 years, renewable twice.

Professors of the Collège de France

I – MATHEMATICAL, PHYSICAL AND NATURAL SCIENCES

Analysis and Geometry — Alain CONNES Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems — Jean-Christophe YOCCOZ Partial Differential Equations and Applications — Pierre-Louis LIONS Number Theory — Don ZAGIER Quantum Physics — Serge HAROCHE Elementary Particles, Gravitation and Cosmology — Gabriele VENEZIANO Geodynamics — Xavier LE PICHON Climate and Ocean Evolution — Edouard BARD Observational Astrophysics — Antoine LABEYRIE Chemistry of Molecular Interactions — Jean-Marie LEHN Chemistry of Condensed Matter — Jacques LIVAGE Human Genetics — Jean-Louis MANDEL Genetics and Cellular Physiology — Christine PETIT Biology and Genetics of Development — Spyros ARTAVANIS-TSAKONAS Morphogenetic Processes — (not appointed yet) Molecular Immunology — Philippe KOURILSKY Experimental Cognitive Psychology — Stanislas DEHAENE Physiology of Perception and Action — Alain BERTHOZ Experimental Medicine — Pierre CORVOL Historical Biology and Evolutionism — Armand de RICQLÈS

II PHILOSOPHICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Philosophy of Language and Knowledge — Jacques BOUVERESSE Philosophy of Life Science — Anne FAGOT-LARGEAULT History of Syncretisms in Late Antiquity — Michel TARDIEU Anthropology of Nature — Philippe DESCOLA Economic Theory and Social Organization — Roger GUESNERIE Modern and Contemporary History of Politics — Pierre ROSANVALLON Contemporary Arab History — Henry LAURENS Rationality and Social Science — Jon ELSTER Comparative Legal Studies and Internationalization of Law — Mireille DELMAS-MARTY

III – HISTORICAL, PHILOLOGICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE

Neolithic and Bronze Age European Civilizations — Jean GUILAINE Pharaonic Civilization: Archaeology, Philology, History — Nicolas GRIMAL Assyriology — Jean-Marie DURAND History and Civilization of the Achaemenid World and of the Empire of Alexander — Pierre BRIANT Epigraphy and History of the Ancient Greek Cities — Denis KNOEPFLER Religion, Institutions and Society in Ancient Rome — John SCHEID Indo-Iranian Languages and Religions — Jean KELLENS History of India and Greater India — Gérard FUSSMAN History of Modern China — Pierre-Étienne WILL

45N° 1 - THE LETTER

National Antiquities — Christian GOUDINEAU Turkish and Ottoman History — Gilles VEINSTEIN French Mediaeval Literature — Michel ZINK Modern and Contemporary French Literature: History, Criticism, Theory — Antoine COMPAGNON Modern Literatures of Neo-Latin Europe — Carlo OSSOLA Literary Creation in English — Michael EDWARDS History of European Medieval and Modern Art — Roland RECHT

Annual Chairs

Chair of Artistic Creation — Pascal DUSAPIN European Chair — Guy ORBAN International Chair — Daniele VITALI Chair of Technological Innovation - Liliane Bettencourt — (not appointed yet)

Administration

Director of Cultural Affairs and External Relations: Florence TERRASSE-RIOU Director of Administrative and Financial Affairs: Jean-François RIGONI

THE LETTER- N° 146

LECTURES GIVEN BY THE PROFESSORS

IN PROVINCIAL FRANCE AND ABROAD

IN FRANCE

ÉCOLE DES HAUTES ÉTUDES EN SCIENCES SOCIALES - ANTENNE DE TOULOUSE Jean GUILAINE (holder of the Chair of Neolithic and Bronze Age European Civilizations)

Cities, villages and the countryside during the Bronze Age

UNIVERSITÉ PAUL CÉZANNE – AIX-MARSEILLE III Édouard BARD (holder of the Chair of Climate and Ocean Evolution)

Solar activity and climate Xavier LE PICHON (holder of the Chair of Geodynamics)

The risk of tsunamis in the Western Mediterranean

UNIVERSITÉ DE BORDEAUX III MICHEL-DE-MONTAIGNE Pierre BRIANT (holder of the Chair of History and Civilization of the Achaemenid World and of the Empire ofAlexander)

1. The Virtual Interactive Achaemenid Museum: status of questions2. Montesquieu and the Historiography of Alexander the Great during the XVIIIth Century

UNIVERSITÉ DE BRETAGNE OCCIDENTALE, BREST Jean-Marie LEHN (holder of the Chair of Chemistry of Molecular Interactions)

Recent Progress in Supra-molecular Chemistry

UNIVERSITÉ PIERRE-MENDÈS-FRANCE DE GRENOBLE Anne FAGOT-LARGEAULT (holder of the Chair of Philosophy of Life Science)

Biomedical Anthropology

UNIVERSITÉ CLAUDE BERNARD DE LYON I Jean-Louis MANDEL (holder of the Chair of Human Genetics)

Fragile X Syndrome Mental Handicap: diagnostic aspects and pathophysiological mechanisms

UNIVERSITÉ DE NICE – FACULTÉ DES LETTRES, ARTS ET SCIENCES HUMAINES Jean GUILAINE (holder of the Chair of Neolithic and Bronze Age European Civilizations)

The Pre-History of Cyprus

UNIVERSITÉ DE POITIERS Philippe DESCOLA (holder of the Chair of Anthropology of Nature)

Four ways to make a world

UNIVERSITÉ DE RENNES Jacques LIVAGE (holder of the Chair of Chemistry of Condensed Matter)

Biomineralization and Soft Chemistry

Thomas PAVEL (Professor of French Literature at the University of Chicago, USA, and holder of the InternationalChair 2005-2006)

How to listen to literature

UNIVERSITÉ MARC BLOCH DE STRASBOURG Pierre BRIANT (holder of the Chair of History and Civilization of the Achaemenid World and of the Empire ofAlexander)

The Biography and Historiography of Alexander: report and method

47N° 1 - THE LETTER

Christian GOUDINEAU (holder of the Chair of National Antiquities)Celts, Gauls and Galatians: problems of History and HistoriographyVercingetorix, Myth and Reality

Roland RECHT (holder of the Chair of History of European Medieval and Modern Art)Perception and description

Gilles VEINSTEIN (holder of the Chair of Turkish and Ottoman History)The Succession Question during the Ottoman Dynasty.Ottoman diplomacy and palaeography

UNIVERSITÉ LOUIS PASTEUR DE STRASBOURG Jean-Marie LEHN (holder of the Chair of Chemistry of Molecular Interactions)

Principles and Illustrations of Supra-molecular auto-organisation

Pierre CORVOL (holder of the Chair of Experimental Medicine)1. Research into new genes in the area of Cardiovascular Patho-physiology2. New Factors in Angiogenesis

UNIVERSITÉ DE TOURS Thomas PAVEL (Professor of French Literature at the University of Chicago, USA, and holder of the InternationalChair 2005-2006)

How should we listen to literature? Receiving literary work

LECTURES ABROAD

ALGERIA Faculté des Sciences Biologiques de l’USTHB (Université des Sciences et de la Technologie Houari Boumédienne)and Institut Pasteur d’Alger

Philippe KOURILSKY (holder of the Chair of Molecular Immunology)The notion of specificity in the immune system

BELGIUM Université de Charleroi

Jean KELLENS (holder of the Chair of Indo-Iranian Languages and Religions)Apocalypses and ends of the world

CANADA University of British Columbia, Vancouver

Pierre-Étienne WILL (holder of the Chair of History of Modern China)Democracy, Human Rights and the Traditional Chinese Political OrderReading Chinese Judicial Cases of the Late Imperial Period

Université du Québec à Montréal (in accordance with agreement) Édouard BARD (holder of the Chair of Climate and Ocean Evolution)Millenial Climate Variation during warm periods of history: External cause or internal oscillation?

CHINA Shanghai Second Medical University (SSMU)

Philippe KOURILSKY (holder of the Chair of Molecular Immunology)The Concept of System in the Immune System

EGYPT Université Senghor, Alexandria (in accordance with agreement*)

Spyros ARTAVANIS-TSAKONAS (holder of the Chair of Biology and Genetics of Development)The Paradigms and Challenges of the Biology of Development

THE LETTER- N° 148

Nicolas GRIMAL (holder of the Chair of Pharaonic Civilization: Archaeology, Philology and History)The Geopolitics of the Middle East during the Second Century AD. according to Egyptian Sources

Cairo University Henry LAURENS (holder of the Chair of Contemporary Arab History)Autobiography – Arab Politics

GERMANY Freie Universität, Berlin

Gérard FUSSMAN (holder of the Chair of History of India and Greater India)Buddhism at the frontiers of India around our time

GREECE Aristotle University, Thessalonika

Jean-Marie LEHN (holder of the Chair of Chemistry of Molecular Interactions)Supra-molecular Chemistry-Concepts and Perspectives

ITALY National Centre for Research (CNR), Rome

Michel ZINK (holder of the Chair of French Mediaeval Literature)Poetry and Narrative: The Power of the Fable

École française de Rome John SCHEID (holder of the Chair of Religion, Institutions and Society of Ancient Rome)Ad Deam Dia. L’esplorazione di un bosco sacro nel suburbio di Roma (La Magliana)The General Topography of the Ad Deam Dia site (La Magliana)The Commentaries of the Arval Brothers: Inscriptions and Architecture in the sacred wood of Deam Dia(La Magliana)

Florence University, LENS - European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy Serge HAROCHE (holder of the Chair of Quantum Physics)Information on Quantum Physics

University of Pisa (Scuola Sant’Anna) Alain BERTHOZ (holder of the Chair of Physiology of Perception and Action)Common Principles in the Control of Movement and Locomotion

University La Sapienza, Roma Alain BERTHOZ (holder of the Chair of Physiology of Perception and Action)The Basic Cognitive Principles of Interaction with Others

JAPAN University of Tokyo – Graduate Schools for Law and Politics

Mireille DELMAS-MARTY (holder of the Chair of Comparative Legal Studies andInternationalization of Law)Comparative Law and International Law

LEBANON Université Saint-Joseph, Beyrouth (in accordance with agreement*)

Henry LAURENS (holder of the Chair of Contemporary Arab History)Europe and the Muslim World in the XIXth and XXth Centuries

POLAND Jagellone University, Cracow – Institute of Archeology

Jean GUILAINE (holder of the Chair of Neolithic and Bronze Age European Civilizations)From East to West: The Ancient Neolithic Period in the Mediterranean

49N° 1 - THE LETTER

UNITED STATES University of Pennsylvania

Michel ZINK (holder of the Chair of French Mediaeval Literature)Narrative Poetry: The Medieval Example?

Wesleyan University Michel ZINK (holder of the Chair of French Mediaeval Literature)Poetry and Narrative: The Example of Rutebeuf

SPAIN Real Academia Sevillana de Ciencias and Instituto de Investigaciones Químicas, Seville

Jean-Marie LEHN (holder of the Chair of Interactive Molecular Chemistry)Supra-molecular Chemistry-Molecular Recognition and Self-Organization

Pablo de Olavide University, Seville Philippe DESCOLA (holder of the Chair of Anthropology of Nature)Recent research into the Anthropology of the Environment

Marcelino Botín Foundation - University of Madrid (in accordance with agreement*) Édouard BARD (holder of the Chair of Climate and Ocean Evolution)Time scales of climatic changes

SWEDEN University of Uppsala (in accordance with agreement*)

Jean-Pierre CHANGEUX (holder of the Chair of Cellular Communications)1. The theory of allostery 40 years later: from regulatory enzymes to transcription factors;2. Isolation and characterization of a receptor channel: the receptor of the neurotransmitteracetylcholine;3. Allosteric transitions of the acetylcholine receptor, gain of function mutations and the concept ofallosteric disease;4. Role of neuronal nicotinic receptors in cognitive learning and access to consciousness examinedwith genetically modified mice.

Roger GUESNERIE (holder of the Chair of Economy Theory and Social Organisation)Unresolved Problems in Economic Theory

John SCHEID (holder of the Chair of Religion, Institutions and Society of Ancient Rome)1. Male and female presence on the Forum Boariu2. Violence and legality in the Res Gestae Divi Augusti

SWITZERLAND Université de Genève

Pierre CORVOL (holder of the Chair of Experimental Medicine)Angiogenesis and Cardiovascular Patho-physiology

Jean-Louis MANDEL (holder of the Chair of Human Genetics)1. Fragile X Syndrome Mental Handicap: Patho-physiological Mechanisms and the Function ofFMRP Protein2. From Myotubular Myopathy to Myotubularins, a Broad Family of Phosphoinositide Phosphatases

Université de Lausanne Jean-Louis MANDEL (holder of the Chair of Human Genetics)X-Chromosome-related Mental Handicap: Genes, Phenotype-Genotype Correlation and Epidemiology

THE LETTER- N° 150

* Agreements with foreign Universities and Foundations:

1. Germany: Ernst Robert Curtius Chair, Bonn University (1997).2. Brazil: Lévi-Strauss Chair, Institute of Advanced Studies, University of São Paulo (1997).3. Canada: with the Quebec Universities (CRÉPUQ), (2003).4. Spain: Botín Foundation Chair, Santander (2004).5. Italy: with the National Research Council (2004)6. Sweden: with Uppsala University (extended to all Swedish Universities), (2004).7. Brazil: Celso Furtado Chair, with the Rio de Janeiro Universities Forum, (2004).8. Egypt: with the Université Senghor, Alexandria, (2005).9. Singapore: with «A*STAR», Agency for Science, Technology and Research (2005).10. Lebanon: with the Université Saint Joseph, Beirut (2006).11. United States: with the University of Chicago (2006).12. Mexico: with five Universities.

TUNISIA Institut Pasteur de Tunis

Christine PETIT (holder of the Chair of Genetics and Cellular Physiology)Synapses: The Morphofunctional and Molecular Specificity of Ribbon Synapses in the Cochlea

University of Tunis Gilles VEINSTEIN (holder of the Chair of Turkish and Ottoman History)The Ottoman Empire and its boundaries (XVth-XVIIIth Centuries)The Ottoman Empire and its servants. The Limits of State Centralisation

University of Sfax Christine PETIT (holder of the Chair of Genetics and Cellular Physiology)The Physiology and Molecular Patho-physiology of Synapses in the Cochlea

TURKEY Galatasaray University and Institut Français d’Études Anatoliennes (Istanbul)

Pierre BRIANT (holder of the Chair of History and Civilization of the Achaemenid World and of the Empire of Alexander)Political Unity and Cultural Diversity in the Achaemenid World: The case of Asia Minor“Achaemenid Decadence” and “The Sick Man of Europe”: The Achaemenid Persian Empire and theOttoman Empire from a Comparatist Perspective by Historians and European Political Analysts (endof the XVIIIth – beginning of XIXth Centuries)

Michel TARDIEU (holder of the Chair of History of Syncretisms in late Antiquity)The Current Debate on Monotheism: Philosophy, History, and Science of Religions

51N° 1 - THE LETTER

LECTURES AND LECTURE SERIES

BY FOREIGN PROFESSORSBY INVITATION OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE PROFESSORS

State chairs reserved for foreign scholars

Manfred KROPP, Professor at the University of Mainz (Germany)October 2005: The Origins of the Koran

Vincent FERRONE, Professor at the University of Turin (Italy)October 2005: The Enlightenment in the Europe of the Old Order between History and Historiography.

Wilhelm SCHLINK, Professor and Former Director of the Institute of Art and Archaeology of theUniversity of Freiburg (Germany)November 2005: “... we must speak about art”: Jacob Burckhardt, Art Historian.

Balazs GULYAS, Professor, Karolinska Institute, Stockhom (Sweden)February 2006: 1. Core Networks and recruited fields: the logic of information processing in thehuman brain; 2. Four facets of a neuroimager’s single brain: relationship between behaviour,cerebral blood flow/metabolism, neuronal activity and neurotransmitter dynamics;3. Personality, cognition, neuropsychiatry and multireceptor fingerprinting of the human brain;4. Dissection of consciousness.

Manfred BIETAK, Professor, President of the Institute of Egyptology of the University of Vienna (Austria)February 2006:1. Predecessors and origins of the Hyksos;2. Temples and cults in Avaris and the end of Avaris;3. Egypt and its relations to the Minoan world and the New Kingdom;4. Was the tuthmoside stronghold Peru-nefer at Avaris?

Gérard KARSENTY, Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas (USA)February-March 2006:1. Genetic and Molecular control of Bone Mineralization;2. Genetic and Molecular Elucidation of Hypothalamic Control of the Bone Mass;3. Transcriptional control of Osteogenesis;4. Central control of the Bone Mass and its Therapeutic Implications.

Chris SCARRE, Professor at the University of Durham (United Kingdom)March 2006: Megaliths of the British Isles.

Hans BOTS, Professor at the University of Nimègue (Netherlands)March 2006: A Cultural Communication in Europe during the Age of Reason: France/Netherlands, 1550-1750.

Antonio GARCIA-BERRIO, Professor at the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain)March 2006: The Poetic Qualities of Literature

Werner ECK, Professor at the University of Cologne (Germany)March 2006: Cologne during the Roman Era

Marc HAUSER, Professor at Harvard University (USA)March-3 April 2006: Evolution of Aesthetics, Mathematics, and Language Morality.

Jean-Jacques NATTIEZ, Professor at the University of Montreal (Canada)May 2006: Unity or Break-up of Musicology? (proposals for a general musicology).

Alfonso ARCHI, Professor at La Sapienza University, Roma (Italy)May 2006: EBLA (24th Century A-D.)

Luciano CANFORA, Professor at the University of Bari (Italy)May 2006: The Prestige of Cicero and the Myth of Spartacus: Mediaeval and Romantic Reception.

Adam SCHWIMMER, Professor at the Weizmann Institute, Rehovot (Israël)May 2006: Anomalies and Holography.

Grigorii VILKOVISKY, Professor at the Lebedev Physical Institute of Moscow (Russia)May 2006: Expectation values and vacuum currents of quantum fields.

THE LETTER- N° 152

* The Claude-Antoine Peccot Foundation

Several successive donations (in 1886, 1894, 1897, and 1902) made it possible, first to create grants, whichwere later changed into prizes; then, in addition, from 1900 onwards, to allocate a certain number of lecturesto mathematicians of less than thirty years of age who had distinguished themselves in the subjects oftheoretical or applied mathematics.

Peter WESTBROEK, Professor at the University of Leiden (Netherlands)May-June 2006: The Discovery of the World.

Kevin PADIAN, Professor at the University of California, Berkeley (USA)June 2006: Macroevolution and the Structure of the Theory of Evolution.

Polymnia ATHANASSIADI, Professor at the University of Athens (Greece)June 2006: Towards Group Thinking: The Rise of Intolerance in later antiquity.

Claude-Antoine Peccot Foundation *

Laurent BERGER, IHES, Research Officer at the CNRSMarch 2006: Galoisian Ideas and P-adic Analysis

Emmanuel BREUILLARD, Research Officer at the CNRSMay-June 2006: Qualitative Properties of Discrete Groups.

Winaretta Singer Fund lectures: Princesse Edmond de Polignac

Giuliano TOCCO, Superintendent of the archaeological monuments of Salerno, Benevent and Avellino (Italy)October 2005: New Archaeological Research at Velia.

Mark ELVIN, Professor at the National University of AustraliaOctober 2005: The Scientific Mind in Imperial China at the beginning of the XVIth Century.

Patrick SUPPES, Professor at Stanford University (USA)November 2005: Neuropsychological Foundations of Philosophy.

Marcel BOYER, Professor at the University of Montreal (Canada)November 2005: The Value of Risk Management: A Frontier Analysis.

Fabiana CACCIAPUOTI, Curator at the National Library of Naples (Italy)November 2005: The Writing of Zilbadone: From Fragment to System

Antonio PRETE, Professor at the University of Sienna (Italy)March 2006: Poetic Thought in the Zilbadone by Leopardi.

Andreas KABLITZ, Professor at the University of Cologne (Germany)April 2006: The Troubadours’ Conception of Love and Poetry.

Solomon FEFERMAN, Professor at Stanford University (USA)May 2006: Godel’s Theorem, Minds and Machines.

François MOREL, Professor at Princeton University (USA)May 2006: 1. The Paradoxes of the Fertility of the Oceans: The Fierce Battle; 2. The Paradoxes of the Fertility of the Oceans: The problem of CO2.

Michael SANDEL, Professor at Harvard University (USA) May 2006:1. The Case against Perfection (On the Ethics of Genetic Engineering and Enhancement);2. The Moral limits of Markets.

Thomas PALFREY, Professor at Princeton University (USA) May 2006: Quental Response Equilibrium: A General Approach to Bounded Rationality in Social Interaction.

Chakir PIDAEV, Director of the Uzbekhistan Institute of Archaeology at SamarcandJune 2006: Archaeological Exploration of Ancient Termez.

53N° 1 - THE LETTER

EVENTS AT THE COLLÈGE DE FRANCE – 2005-2006

Collège de France’s Institute of Biology Workshop4th October 2005

Franco-Brazilian Conference on Scientific andTechnological Cooperation (Brazilian Ministry ofEducation)10th October 2005

Autumn colloquium of the Collège de France:Belief, Reason and Unreason13-14th October 2005

Conference: What Research for Safety?(Ministère de l’Éducation nationale, del’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche) 18th October 2005

MURS conferences (Mouvement universel de laresponsabilité scientifique - Global Movement forScientific Responsibility) 18th October 2005, 21st February, 4th April and30th May 2006

INSERM Grand Prize (National Institute ofHealth and Medical Research)19th October 2005

Seminar: New information in the CardiovascularArea (Leducq Foundation)27th October 2005

Evans Conference (Professor Émile Étienne Baulieu)14th November 2005

Opening Lecture of the École de Chaillot15th November 2005

Installation day, Institut Universitaire de France18th November 2005

Yarshater Conferences (UMR 7528 The Iranianand Indian Worlds)21st, 23rd, 25th, 28th and 30th November 2005

Prize of the Académie des sciences (INRIA)30th November 2005

Seminar: The Self-Consciousness of Poetry Poetry and Narrative: from the Middle Ages to theModern Era, a Confrontation (Professors YvesBonnefoy and Michel Zink)1st, 2nd and 3rd February 2006

European Seminar on Research into the fightagainst cerebral disability (Association forTherapeutic Education and the Re-education ofChildren with Cerebral Motor Disorders)3rd February 2006

General Assembly of LEEM Recherche (MedicineIndustry)2nd May 2006

Seminar: Centre and Periphery (Professors Jean-Marie Durand and Michel Tardieu)31st May and 1st June 2006

Seminar: Abraham Ecchellensis and the science ofhis age (Professor Henry Laurens)9-10th June 2006

Seminar: Law as an Instrument of EconomicIntelligence: How to Defend the Heritage ofIndustry (Ministry of Justice, Institut d’Études et derecherche pour la sécurité des entreprises)20th June 2006

European Alzheimer Congress (National Union ofAlzheimer Associations)30th June 2006

International SeminarCelts and Gauls: Archaeology Confronts History(European Archaeological Centre of Mont-Beuvray,Chair of National Antiquities of the Collège deFrance)3-7th July 2006

Outside events

First Collège de France Seminar to be heldabroad: ‘A Better World for All: Realistic Project orCrazy Dream?’8-9th March 2006Collège de France, Académie royale de Belgique,Université catholique de Louvain and Universitélibre de Bruxelles

THE LETTER- N° 154

Professor Gabriele Veneziano (holder of the Chairof Elementary Particles, Gravitation and Cosmology),received the Enrico Fermi Prize from the ItalianPhysics Society

The 18th Bristol Meyers Squibb prize was awardedto Professor Christine Petit (holder of the Chair ofGenetics and Cellular Physiology).

The book by Professor Christian Goudineau (holderof the Chair of National Antiquities), L’enquête deLucius Valerius Priscus, has recently received theHistorical Novel Prize for 2005, awarded during theRendez-vous de l’histoire at Blois.

Professor Jean-Pierre Changeux (holder of theChair of Cellular Communications), received theDART/New York University Award for the year 2006.

Professor Michael Edwards (holder of the Chair ofLiterary Creation in English), has been appointedOfficer in the Order of the British Empire by QueenElizabeth II.

Professor Anne Fagot-Largeault (holder of the Chairof Philosophy of Life Science), has been awardedmembership of the Académie royale des sciences, deslettres & des beaux-arts de Belgique.

Professor Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie (holder of theChair of History of Modern Civilization), has beenawarded honorary membership of the Academy ofJapan.

PRIZES AND DECORATIONS

UMR 7148: MOLECULAR GENETICS,PHYSIOLOGY AND BEHAVIOUR

François TRONCHE

UMR 7119: SEMITIC STUDIESChristian ROBIN

UMR 7572: CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OFBYZANTINE HISTORY AND CIVILIZATION

Jean-Claude CHEYNET

UMR 7129: CENTRE FOR RESEARCH INTOCHINESE AND JAPANESE CIVILIZATION

Alain THOTE

EA 518: INSTITUTE OF INDIAN STUDIESLyne BANSAT-BOUDON

INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH INTO TEXT HISTORY Anne-Marie EDDE

THE INSERM TEAM: GENES AND ARTERIALPRESSURE MINERALOCORTICOÏD

Xavier JEUNEMAÎTRE

U691 CENTRAL NEUROPEPTIDES ANDCARDIOVASCULAR HYDRIC REGULATION

Catherine LLORENS-CORTES

U667 THE DYNAMICS AND PATHO-PHYSIOLOGYOF NEURONE NETWORKS

Jean-Michel DENIAU

COMPUTERISED NEUROSCIENCESMisha TSODYKS

Unité mixte de recherche (UMR) : CombinedResearch Unit

U: Unit

RESEARCH TEAMS RECEIVED

Research Teams Received at Collège de France for four years

55N° 1 - THE LETTER

AMANN Jean-PaulAttached to the Chair of Philosophy of Life Science BEGORRE-BRET MichaelAttached to the Chair of Economic Theory and SocialOrganization BEN GUIZA-VERNIERS RayaSemitic Studies BOISSIERE MichelAttached to the Chair of Chemistry of CondensedMatter BORKOWSKI VirgineAttached to the Chair of Observational Astrophysics CAI HuaAttached to the Chair of Anthropology of Nature CARROZA LaurentAttached to the Chair of Neolithic and Bronze AgeEuropean Civilizations CASTETS MarieAttached to the Chair of Human Genetics CHAPUIS-SCHMITZ DelphineAttached to the Chair of Philosophy of Language andKnowledge DAKHLY LeilaAttached to the Chair of Contemporary Arab History FRATEANTONIO ChristaAttached to the Chair of Religion, Institutions andSociety of Ancient Rome HAN Hee-JinAttached to the Chair of Philosophy of Life Science DARD SéverineCultural Affairs DEBATTY BertrandRoman History DELEAGE PierreAttached to the Chair of Anthropology of Nature FAVIER AgnèsAttached to the Chair of Contemporary Arab History FROGER NicolasNeuropharmacology GALAUP ArianeAttached to the Chair of Experimental Medicine. HEMADI-CHALACH MyriamAttached to the Chair of Chemistry of CondensedMatter ITURRIO XavierInstitute of Biology

KEMPF HervéAttached to the Chair of Experimental Medicine KIRSCH MarcAttached to the Chair of Philosophy and History ofScientific Concepts LARDIERE OlivierAttached to the Chair of Observational Astrophysics LE MAGUERESSE CorentinAttached to the Chair of Cellular Communications LEFEVRE GaëlleAttached to the Chair of Genetics and CellularPhysiology LICARI LaetitiaAttached to the Chair of Climate and Ocean Evolution LOUIS JulienAttached to the Chair of History of EuropeanMedieval and Modern Art MALARINO EzequielAttached to the Chair of Comparative Legal Studiesand Internationalization of Law MARTI LionelAttached to the Chair of Assyriology MARTIN-CHENUT KatiaAttached to the Chair of Comparative Law andInternational Law MASDEHORS PeggyAttached to the Chair of Molecular Immunology PALIERAKI EugeniaContemporary History PERNIN IsabelleAttached to the Chair of Epigraphy and History ofthe Ancient Greek Cities QARRY AngieAttached to the Chair of Quantum Physics ROSAT Jean-JacquesAttached to the Chair of Philosophy of Language andKnowledge SAVA ElenaAttached to the Chair of Linguistic Theory SCHARIF ArianeNeuropharmacology SHARMA M.K.L Attached to the Chair of History of India and GreaterIndia SCHULTE Sonia Attached to the Chair of Climate and Ocean Evolution

MAÎTRES DE CONFÉRENCES AND

ATTACHÉS TEMPORAIRES D’ENSEIGNEMENT ET DE

RECHERCHE (ATER)*AT THE COLLÈGE DE FRANCE – 2005-2006

* ATER: Temporary Teaching and Research Assistant

THE LETTER- N° 156

SINHA Ajit Attached to the Chair of Economy Theory andSocial Organization SEVALIE DavidAttached to the Chair of Assyriology SFEIR-KHAYAT Jihane Attached to the Chair of Contemporary ArabHistory SPICQ DelphineAttached to the Chair of History of Modern China THOUROUDE NicolasHistory of France during the Enlightenment TIERNEY Patrick Neuropharmacology VALENTINI AndreaAttached to the Chair of French MediaevalLiterature VAUTRIN CélineCultural Affairs VERDO Geneviève Attached to the Chair of Modern andContemporary History of Politics ZAGO MichelaAttached to the Chair of History of Syncretisms inLate Antiquity ZITTER TiphaineAttached to the Chair of Geodynamics

Maîtres de conférences of the Collège de France ANG IsabelleAttached to the Chair of History of Modern China BOMBARDE Odile Attached to the Chair of French MediaevalLiterature BOUY Christian Attached to the Chair of History of India andGreater India DELAHAYE Hubert Attached to the Chair of History of Modern China DOLBEAU Jean Particle Physics

FABRE Catherine Attached to the Chair of French MediaevalLiterature JACQUET-PFAU Marie-Christine Attached to the Chair of Modern Literatures ofNeo-Latin Europe KOULAKOFF Annette Neuropharmacology KRIKORIAN Ralph Attached to the Chair of ObservationalAstrophysics LAMANDE Noël Attached to the Chair of Experimental Medicine LEWINSKI Liliana History and Anthropology of Meso- and South-American Societies MAISANT Corinne Attached to the Chair of History of EuropeanMedieval and Modern Art MILLERET Chantal Attached to the Chair of Physiology of Perceptionand Action MONSORO Anne-Héléne Attached to the Chair of Biology and Genetics ofDevelopment PERNOT Jean-FrançoisHistory of France during the Enlightenment PICKFORD Martin Paleoanthropology and prehistory PICQ Pascal Paleoanthropology and prehistory SOLINAS Francisco Attached to the Chair of History of EuropeanMedieval and Modern Art SZELAGOWSKI IsabelleAttached to the Chair of History of India andGreater India VIALES Noëlie Attached to the Chair of Anthropology of Nature

* In 1977, the Assembly of the Professors of the Collège de France created the Hugot Foundation of theCollège de France, dedicated, in compliance with the wishes of Hélène and Jean-Pierre Hugot, whose giftsmade its creation possible, to the support of work and research of both a humanist and multi-disciplinarynature.In 2001, the governing body of the Foundation decided to create the Prix de la Fondation Hugot du Collègede France. This prize consists of the appointment to a post of lecturer at the Collège de France (for a durationof one year, renewable once only), and the sum of 4 000 euros, donated by the Hugot Fondation. This prizeis allocated within a different discipline each year.

Prize winners:2003-2004: Ricardo Uribe Vargas, mathematician (Mexico)2004-2006: Hee-Jin Han, philosopher (South Korea)2006-2007: Wouter Henkelman, archeologist (Netherlands).

57N° 1 - THE LETTER

The Collège de France has a partnership with the Éditions Fayard and the Éditions Odile Jacob for publishing theinaugural lectures of the professors, lectures of certain invited professors and some of the College’s colloquiums.

Éditions Fayard

Collection “Leçons inaugurales”

Pierre-Louis LIONS, Equations aux dérivées partielles et applications, mai 2006, n° 173.

Christian de PORTZAMPARC, Architecture: figures du monde, figures du temps, mai 2006, n° 183.

Maurice BLOCH, L’anthropologie cognitive à l’épreuve du terrain. L’exemple de la théorie de l’esprit,mai 2006, n° 184.

Thomas PAVEL, Comment écouter la littérature, mai 2006, n° 185.

Stanislas DEHAENE, Psychologie cognitive expérimentale: vers une science de la vie mentale, octobre 2006,n° 186.

Jon ELSTER, Rationalité et sciences sociales, Fayard, octobre 2006, n° 187.

Others publications

André TUILIER (dir.), L’Histoire du Collège de France, tome 1, Paris, Fayard 2006.

Yves COPPENS, Histoire de l’homme et changements climatiques (leçon de clôture prononcée au Collège deFrance le 21 juin 2005), Paris, Fayard 2006.

Éditions Odile Jacob

Edouard BARD, L’Homme face au climat (Colloque de rentrée 2004), Paris, Ed. O. Jacob, 2005.

Haïm BURSTIN, L’Invention des sans-culotte, Paris, Ed. O. Jacob, 2005.

Robert PIPPIN, Nietsche, moraliste français, Paris, Ed. O. Jacob, 2005.

Gérard FUSSMAN, Croyance, raison et déraison (Colloque de rentrée 2005), Paris, Ed. O. Jacob, 2006.

Yearbook

Les cours et travaux du Collège de France. Résumés 2004-05. Annuaire 105e année.

(More informations available on the website of the Collège de France: www.college-de-france.fr)

PUBLICATIONS – 2005-2006

THE LETTER- N° 158

Collège de France Autumn Symposium

ARTIFICIAL MAN at the Service of Society

PARIS - 12th-13th October 2006

The Symposium will begin by taking up ancient myths, in which Hephaestus constructed servants’ bodies and whereperfect slaves were trained. By fashioning their own bodies through physical and intellectual exercise, the aristocratsand Greek education in general aimed to have perfectly fulfilled bodies. In the same vein, constructors and scholarspursued the dream of attaining perfection through techniques: Daedalus made the gods present through animatedstatues (these automatons were to continue to exist in the temples) and as for Pygmalion, he tried in his own wayto create a perfect being. If, today, the synthesis of life remains a major issue in molecular biology, research is beingdirected towards remedying the imperfections of nature and the attacks to which it is subjected (which is the aimof medicine since the time of Hippocrates), aiding it through an “artificial being” designed and created by man.Artificial man is no longer a myth but an effective means of combating handicap through the restoration of alteredor lost functions.

Programme

Thursday, 12th October 2006

“On Hephaestus’ Golden Servants” the Ancient Myth of Artificial Man, John Scheid, Professor at theCollège de France, Jesper Svendro, Director of Research at CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research)

THE FIGHT AGAINST GENETIC HANDICAP

Stem Cells and Therapeutic Cloning, Nicole Le Douarin, Honorary Professor at the Collège de France The Theory of Genes? Alain Fischer, Professor at the Necker Hospital for Sick Children

THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF ARTIFICIAL MAN

Dreams, Ingenuity and Imagination, Françoise Héritier, Honorary Professor at the Collège de France Automata and Mechanical Men: from Renaissance to the present, Bruno Jacomy, Chief Curator of the Muséedes Confluences in Lyon From Symplectic Biology to Synthetic Biology: Would we know how to build a living organism? AntoineDanchin, Professor at the Institut Pasteur The Artificial Hand, Maria Chiara Carrozza, Sant’Anna Institute of Higher Education, Pisa (Italy) The blood: replacing or copying nature? Luc Douay, Professor at the Hôpital Armand-Trousseau The Artificial Kidney in France, Pierre Corvol, Professor at the Collège de France The Electronic Doctor, Patrice Degoulet, Professor at the Hôpital européen Georges-Pompidou

Friday, 13th October 2006

THE ARTIFICIAL BRAIN

Mental tools and objects of thought: Mathematics, Jean-Pierre Kahane, Professor at the Paris-Sud University Is the human brain a Turing machine? Stanislas Dehaene, Professor at the Collège de France

RESTORING THE SENSORY AND MOTOR FUNCTIONS

From artificial captors to auditory perception, Christine Petit, Professor at the Collège de France Artificial Vision: Between Myth and Reality, José-Alain Sahel, Professor at the Hôpital des Quinze-Vingts Neuronal Control of Artificial Limbs, Miguel Nicolelis, Professor at Duke University, Durham, United States

COLLÈGE DE FRANCE COLLOQUIUMS – 2006-2007

59N° 1 - THE LETTER

Digital Simulation and Medicine, Pierre-Louis Lions, Professor at the Collège de France Virtual Man, Alain Berthoz, Professor at the Collège de France

LIVING WITH THE VIRTUAL AND THE ARTIFICIAL

Children and Electronic Virtual Reality, Aldo Naouri, Paediatrician Is there a (non-electronic) “trader” in the room? Jean-Michel Lasry, Scientific Advisor to the ManagingDirector of Calyon Living with Handicap and Artificial Limbs, Anne Fagot-Largeault, Professor at the Collège de France Justice between the Robot and the Reed, Mireille Delmas-Marty, Professor at the Collège de France Machines and Men, Erich Spitz, Advisor to the Thales Group The Man of the Future and the Rights of Man, Jean-Pierre Changeux, Professor at the Collège de France

Collège de France Colloquium Abroad

THE NEW WORLD OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND PREVENTION

BERLIN (Germany) - 10th-12th May 2007

Friday, 11th may 2007

The Lessons of HistoryThe Human Race and its Health: A long historyThe population, subjected to public action from the XVIIth Century onwardsThe age of Hygienism, XIXth Century-First Half of the XXth CenturyThe role of Colonial control

Revolutions and Contemporary Issues: Case HistoryAn analysis of the issues and problems of public health based on two issues (AIDS and Obesity), and aninvestigation of what has changed (the place of patients, the role of the media, innovations in terms of medical techniques, economic understanding, and the formalization of knowledge).

Saturday, 12th may 2007

Public Health Management Institutions: A Comparative Approach The Different Models – Comparative ReportThe Debate in the areas of Ethics, Economy, Politics: at the heart of the relationship of the individualto society

Health, Public Property Worldwide?The facts: Inequalities and ProblemsThe Institutions: WHO and othersThe ideals to be promotedThe management of human public health as lever for a new international order?

AGENDA

Academic Year 2006-2007

New Chairs Created

Mesoscopic Physics Morphogenetic Processes Writings and Cultures in Modern Europe Technological Innovation - Liliane Bettencourt

New Professors

Pascal DUSAPIN, holder of the Chair of Artistic Creation 2006-2007 Guy ORBAN, holder of the European Chair 2006-2007 Daniele VITALI, holder of the International Chair 2006-2007 Antoine COMPAGNON, holder of the Chair of Modern and Contemporary

French Literature: History, Criticism, Theory

The Inaugural Lectures will take place at 6 pm in the Marguerite de Navarre Lecture Hall.

30th November 2006: Antoine COMPAGNON 14th December 2006: Daniele VITALI 18th January 2007: Holder of the Chair of Technological Innovation - Liliane Bettencourt 1st February 2007: Pascal DUSAPIN 22nd March 2007: Guy ORBAN

Guest Conference Speakers

Fabrizio DORICCHI, professor of Neuropsychology, La Sapienza University, Roma (Italy) Kathinka EVERS, professor of Bioethics, University of Uppsala (Sweden) Michael FRIEDMAN, professor of Philosophy, Stanford University (United States) Hartmut KÜHNE, professor, Free University of Berlin (Germany) Pierfrancesco CALLIERI, professor, University of Bologna (Italy) Anne PORTER, professor, University of Southern California (United States) Ahmad BEYDOUN, professor, Lebanese University, Beirut (Lebanon) Marc TESSIER-LAVIGNE, professor, Stanford University (United States) Michael SHERINGHAM, professor, Oxford University (United Kingdom) Ali Hani CHAMSEDDINE, professor of Theoretical Physics, American University of Beirut (Lebanon) Jean-Jacques SLOTINE, professor of Robotics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (United States) John ROGISTER, professor of Eighteenth-Century History, University of Durham (United Kingdom) François OST, professor of the Theory and Philosophy of Law, University St Louis of Brussels (Belgium) Jérémie SZEFTEL, Department of Mathematics, Princeton University (United States) Erwan ROUSSEAU, Department of Mathematics, University of Quebec at Montreal (Canada)

The Letter of the Collège de FranceDirecteurs de la publication : Pierre CORVOL, Administrateur du Collège de France etFlorence TERRASSE-RIOU, Directrice des Affaires culturelles et des relations extérieures

Direction éditoriale : Marc KIRSCH - Patricia LLEGOU

Conception graphique : Patricia LLEGOU

Crédits photos : © Collège de France, PATRICK IMBERT - Reproduction autorisée avec mention d’origine.ISSN 1628-2329 - Impression : CAPNORD&AUGUSTIN

11 place Marcelin-Berthelot – 75231 Paris cedex 05Prix

: 5

€

W W WW W W.. C O L L E G EC O L L E G E -- D ED E -- F R A N C EF R A N C E .. F RF R