NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Faire jardin à la française : l'instauration du discours analytique chez Jacques Lacan

Freudian psychoanalysis was born thanks to a critical stance toward what appears to us in the guise of “nature.” Freud’s “denaturalization”—in this sense not so far from Marx’s philosophical legacy—can be found in various theoretical and clinical sites: the notion of unconscious, the symptom, the concept of drives, and sexuality itself. Jacques Lacan broadened these notions in a way he called “making a French garden,” which is a perfect example of a denaturalized nature. We argue that in Lacanian psychoanalysis, the analytic discourse is a name for this project. Drawing from the relations between language and jouissance, as well as from Lacan’s famous saying, “there is no such thing as a sexual relationship,” we define the difficult notion of discourse in Lacanian theory, and we identify what are arguably the specific features of Lacanian analytic discourse. We then turn to different modalities of “restitution” (of Freud’s saying (le dire de Freud), and of the truth of the hysteric), which represent the conditions that said discourse must fulfill to be established. Finally, we suggest a critical reading of Freud’s Civilisation and its Discontents to provide an example of what “making a French garden” might possibly mean in a Lacanian perspective, that is, a denaturalized, or demystified one, which pertains to Freud’s theory of culture, as well.

Keyphrases: Lacan, Freud, structure, discours, culture, Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, Discourse, Unconscious, Language
Vers une justice fiscale dans le secteur minier

In the 1990s, the Canadian government put in place initiatives to attract mining companies. From one point of view, the strategy paid off as approximately 75% of the world's mining companies are now registered in Canada. This over-representation can be explained, in part, by a highly attractive tax regime for the extractive industry. In this research, a critical view of the fiscal conditions in the Canadian mining sector is provided. The working hypothesis is that Canada offers mining companies excessively favourable tax conditions that run counter to public interests. Tax competition, financial opacity, and a profit-driven tax regime can explain why mining companies provide little or no contribution to the public treasury. Also, the two case studies presented raise doubts regarding the current mining taxation system. Indeed, according to my estimates, taxes paid are well below current tax regime levels in both case studies. In view of these findings, recommendations are made to improve the current tax regime. In addition, some guidelines are proposed to establish a new mining taxation system. This new system would be highly transparent and based on ad valorem royalties dependent on metal prices. Much work remains to be done to develop and implement such a regime. However, it would certainly represent a major step towards fiscal justice in the mining sector.

Keyphrases: Justice distributive, Justice sociale, Fiscal justice, Distributive justice, Social justice, Financial transparency, Natural resources, Mineral resources, Tax competition, Mining industry
L'Einfühlung chez Husserl et Edith Stein : la constitution intersubjective du sujet

While one tends to think of oneself and another as two radically separate consciousnesses, several theories argue that it would be possible for a subject to have a genuine knowledge of the consciousness of another. In the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl, it is by empathy [Einfühlung] that the subject constitutes another “I” considered as a perceiving and thinking subject similar to himself. Thanks to empathy, the other “I” would not be a mere material body. However, if empathy allows the subject to think of the experience of others from his own (by "aperceptive transfer"), Edith Stein points out that others are equally necessary to the development of the subject in its carnal and psychic dimensions. In Ideas II, Husserl adds that we can only think of our body from the point of view of the other. The thesis of my research is thus to clarify this circular relationship between the fact that the experience of others is necessary for the development of the subject ("heterogenesis" of the ego) and the fact that the subject thinks and understands others precisely as an analogy or reflection of itself ("egogenesis" of others).

Keyphrases: Edmund Husserl, Edith Stein, philosophy, Phenomenology, Intersubjectivity, Empathy
La querelle du positivisme au sein de la sociologie allemande

The positivist dispute in German sociology offers a debate between the critical theory of Theodor W. Adorno and the critical rationalism of Karl R. Popper on the logic of research in the social sciences. This dissertation covers both the epistemological problems and the social issue exposed by the conflict between their respective logics. First, we carry out a comparative study of the logics by analysing their epistemological positions on the concepts of ignorance and knowledge, the scientific problem and the role of criticism within the scientific method. From this analysis, we observe that Popper's theory of science gives precedence to the conceptual over the object of study. We then investigate the social dimension of the scientific activity described by Popper to understand its relation to the social context. We determine that critical rationalism is blind to the objectivity of social reality and maintains a non-reflexive relationship with it. Through Adorno's social critique, we describe the way in which Popper's logic perpetuates the social organization.

Keyphrases: Theodor W. Adorno, Karl R. Popper, Philosophy, Epistemology, Critical theory, Critical rationalism, Social sciences, German sociology
Spectre, aporie, responsabilité : le concept de justice de Jacques Derrida en trois déclinaisons

The ethico-political philosophy of French philosopher Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) has received a fair share of critiques. While these critiques greatly vary, many of them share a common ground, that is, deconstruction, a method of philosophical inquiry associated with Derridean philosophy, leads to an irresponsible account of injustice and is inadequate to formulate grounds for political practices or normative apparatus. However, a careful reading of Derrida's political oeuvre clearly rejects this claim. If deconstruction aims to question the very foundation of political theory and practices, such inquiry is conducted towards the realization of an ideal of unconditional justice. Justice, therefore, is to be understood as that which engages us towards the constant reconfiguration of the present state and the mitigation of violence. This strong commitment towards justice can, however, also be understood as a politicization of the critique of presentism (understood as metaphysics of presence), the theme associated with the "young" Derrida of the late 60's and 70's. Thus, the aim of this master's thesis is to articulate a panorama of the ethical and political philosophy of Derrida by formulating a detailed account of the Derridean key concept of justice and linking this concept to the critique of presentism. I will do so by presenting a threefold account of justice: 1) justice as haunting, that is, the persistence of past violence in the present state; 2) justice as aporia, that is, an impossibility of satisfying justice in the present that operates simultaneously with a commitment to reconfigure the present; and 3) justice as responsibility, that is, the necessity of conducting philosophy in a deconstructive fashion in order to keep the present open to alterity. This latter aspect of justice will also question whether or not the Derridean notion of justice implies normative claims regarding political institutions.

Keyphrases: Jacques Derrida, Justice, Philosophy, Presentism, Aporia, Responsibility
Saint Paul sur le chemin de Nietzsche

This Master’s Thesis focuses on Nietzsche’s critique of christianism and seeks to establish its foundations, scope and consequences, both on History and on Nietzsche’s work. The first part will look at the portraits Nietzsche brushed of the figures of Jesus and Saint Paul. In doing so, the author will demonstrate that the account made by Nietzsche, although relying on it actually breaches the exegis of the time. The contrast between paulinian theology and the message of Jesus will be illustrated. In the second part, the author looks at the way Nietzsche’s critique is closely linked to protestant reform and its heritage, by measuring Nietzsche’s views with relation to both Luther and the Reform. The last part will demonstrate why the figure of Dionysus and the Eternal Return may, and ought to, be considered as the pillars of an original anti-christian counterdoctrine. In the end, the role of Nietzsche in the larger context of the history of christianism and atheism will be assessed by addressing the reasons why, in Nietzsche’s philosophy, the transvaluation of values leads to both a revival of the divine and the rise of secular philosophy.

Keyphrases: Friedrich Nietzsche, Saint Paul, Martin Luther, Secularization, Criticism of christianity, Aesthetics, Philosophy of religion
Le Classique des mutations (Yijing) comme outil psychologique dans le monde francophone contemporain : de la divination à la connaissance de soi

The Yijing is a complex corpus of divinatory origin. Its scriptural tradition was established in China during the 6th century before Common Era, even though its practice of divination by yarrow dates back to Antiquity. However, this canonical text which was included in the Confucian corpus has been popular in the Western world among specialists of various backgrounds. Thanks to Carl Gustav Jung's interest in it, the Yijing became an important reference in the studies of the imaginary.         The aim of our research project is to present some applications of the Classic of Changes advocated in the Western world in order to solve problems of personal nature (psychological, relational, etc.). According to the experiences of Yijing’s practitioners Cyrille Javary and Pierre Faure, we shall address in particular the question of a possible compatibility between the necessarily individualistic reading of the Yijing’s continuators in the contemporary environment and the theoretical foundations of the work. Can we modernize an anonymous text in order to understand and analyse the modern man?

Keyphrases: Philosophy, Classic of changes (Yijing), Psychology, Anthropology, China
Une perspective philosophique sur la douleur

This thesis seeks to investigate in a philosophical context the nature of pain to improve the theory of pain treatment. It brings out the philosophical content of Hardcastle's materialism concerning pain, whereas it constitutes a criticism of the dualism or the representationalism of pain which is in the work of Chalmers. In 1999, Hardcastle published her work devoted to the eliminativism about pain talk. Her idea is that representations (for example, the sensations of pain) are part of the physical world, and that the problem of qualia should be treated metaphysically. She highlights two approaches to the pain system based solely on physical facts: the feature-detection approach and the dynamical approach. According to more recent researches, the existence of the pain-inhibiting system proves that pain is the physical, not psychogenic effect. In his works devoted to the theory of consciousness, Chalmers confirms his dualistic position on the basis of the problem of qualia. This thesis criticizes one by one its epistemic arguments against materialism. It argues that Chalmers' theory of the representationalism of pain is incoherent, based on an erroneous foundation, and in contradiction with medical practices. In the end, this thesis presents an evolutionary conception of pain, from which we will be able to understand its relation with the materialistic vision as confirmation of the latter. We conclude that pain is an adaptive product of natural selection and that it rests purely on the physical mechanisms of the nervous system.

Keyphrases: Qualia, Philosophy, Nature of pain, System of pain, Materialism, Dualism, Representationalism, Evolutionist
L’art comme contestation démocratique

In the contemporary context of democratisation of access to information, freedom of expression is considered as an established fact, and the role of art in democracy is obscured by the apolitical consumerist attitude towards it. In this work I advance the thesis that art represents a value for democracy which can be found in the contesting nature of art. From this value the democratic function of art follows. However, art is also used as a tool of antidemocratic pressure; the use of art against democracy is the use of art against art because it goes against art’s nature. Antidemocratic forces exploit the ambiguous relations between art and truth, and between art and equality. By using art in demagoguery and by labelling it elitist they pretend there is a rupture between art and the values of truth and equality. I argue that this rupture is not natural for art and that the dangers and the constraints that art faces are also the dangers and the constraints for democracy. Methodologically, I consider democracy conceptually in two dimensions: the formal static one, as a political system, and the dynamic one, as a force of social transformation. The dynamic dimension corresponds to the democratic contestation which I take as a normative premise. Art also has its static and dynamic dimensions. Its dynamic dimension defines art as a necessarily free activity that has a democratic value. However, for the democratic potential of art to be realized we have to protect art against censorship and disfigurement. We have to do that by developing a democratic attitude towards art.

Keyphrases: Art, Contestation, Democracy, Political
fMRI exploration of the cerebral mechanisms of the perception of pain in others via facial expression

The pain experience provokes several responses – physical, neural, behavioral. The facial expression of pain is one such behavioral response: it encodes the subjective experience of pain and, as observers, we can decode it. Neuroimaging studies looking at the brain response to the perception of pain in others have identified overlap between brain areas active for the experience of self-pain, and those active during the observation of pain in others. In the first study described below, the brain response to pain in others was investigated using a paradigm that investigated how the intensity of the perceived pain modulated the brain response. The results of this work indicate that the perception of pain in others involves not only certain brain regions involved in self-pain, but also regions previously implicated in the human mirror neuron system (MNS), as well as areas underlying Theory of Mind (i.e. mentalizing). Further, the relative contribution of these areas depended on whether the subject is evaluating the affective meaning of the expression – the pain magnitude – or if they are discriminating the motor components of the expression – the facial movements. A second study was thus designed, using a combined observation and execution paradigm, to confirm the mirroring response observed in the first study, as well as to further explore the hypothesized difference between emotional and motor mirroring. Similarly to the first study, it was found that different brain regions are responsible for mirroring for emotional, versus motor, content of the observed pain expressions. Taken together, these results reveal the perception of pain in others to be a complex process that involves overlap between self and other affective pain areas, as well as mirroring and mentalizing – more general processes of social cognition.

Keyphrases: human mirror neuron system, mentalizing, anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula, inferior frontal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, IRMf, fMRI
Physiothérapie pour les travailleurs blessés indemnisés : exploration des enjeux éthiques, organisationnels et systémiques dans trois provinces canadiennes

In Canada, physiotherapists play significant roles in the care of injured workers with musculoskeletal injuries who are supported by a workers’ compensation board. As part of their practice with these patients, physiotherapists face many challenges, including ethical ones that can influence the provision of care. However, the experiences of physiotherapists working with this clientele remain underexamined. This thesis has two main objectives: 1) conduct an in-depth empirical exploration of ethical tensions experienced by physiotherapists when treating injured workers supported by a workers’ compensation board; and 2) examine how policies from workers’ compensation boards and physiotherapy clinics influence physiotherapy care for these patients. To meet these objectives, we used a qualitative framework called Interpretive Description. We first conducted two focus groups with six physiotherapists and seven physiotherapy technicians from Quebec. Next, we conducted individual interviews with 30 physiotherapists and 10 leaders or administrators working with professional groups or workers’ compensation boards in three Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec).   In the first section of the thesis, results demonstrate that physiotherapists would like to offer care that is equitable, competent and respectful of their professional autonomy, but that many challenges limit the actualization of these three values in their practice with injured workers (objective 1). These challenges include the difficulty for physiotherapists to manage some aspects of the return to work process, their lack of knowledge about the compensation system, barriers to sharing professional responsibilities with other providers, and the need to resist stereotypes regarding injured workers.   In the second section of the thesis, results illustrate how current workers’ compensation boards and physiotherapy clinics’ policies modulate the organization of care and physiotherapists’ practices with injured workers (objective 2). Participants highlighted policies that they viewed as contributing to better patient care and also those that had a detrimental effect on the care they provide.    In sum, this thesis provides new insights into the ethical, political, organisational and systemic dimensions of physiotherapy care for injured workers supported by workers’ compensation boards in Canada. These analyses provide a new and rich understanding of the experiences of physiotherapists working with this clientele. The study results also support several recommendations that can be used to inform future policy development and support clinical practice in this area.

Keyphrases: Physiothérapie, Réadaptation, Description interprétative, Physiotherapy, Rehabilitation, Workers’ compensation boards, Ethics, Healthcare policy, Interpretative description, Work disability, Injured workers
Fonctionnalisation de substrats pour l'étude des phénotypes de migration cellulaire

Amongst the major models of cell migration in the context of inflammation, two are of interest in this thesis: 1. Neutrophil migration in response to danger signals and 2. Migration of cancer cells from a tumour site to a metastatic niche. In both cases, information processing of environmental signals is key to inflammation regulation. The hypothesis supporting this work is that biophotonics, such as substrate functionalization and image processing, contributes to the understanding of cell migration, especially plasticity in migratory phenotypes in neutrophils and cancer cells. Following this, the object of this thesis was to study cell migration applying new methods of substrate functionalization by laser and cell tracking algorithms.  The first objective is to determine the neutrophils response to substrate-bound chemotactic gradients. Laser microengineering of cell culture surfaces with chemotactic cues leads to fabrication of varying gradient shapes and thus, studying in vitro haptotaxie processes, closely mimicking in vivo signals. I developed a novel migration assay by modifying the classic under-agarose assay and acquiring time-lapse imaging data set to perform subtle automated cell tracking algorithms. In the second part of this thesis, I apply an automated cell tracking algorithm to the characterization of neutrophil phenotypes associated with cancer. This analysis revealed new cues secreted by the metastatic niche to which only a subtype of neutrophil responds to.  In the last part of the thesis, I adapted the substrate functionalization by laser to directly modify the surface of migrating cells. For this application, functionalizing cell membranes allows to visually and functionally mark cells with outstanding migratory profiles.  This thesis shows the impact of emerging technologies such as substrate functionalization and image processing on the field on cell migration. In the context of inflammation processes, I showed the extent of cell plasticity in response to chemotactic cues. Finally, I also demonstrated potential applications of cell functionalization in studying specific migratory phenotypes

Keyphrases: Haptotaxie, Cancer, Cell migration, Chemotaxis, Tumor microenvironment, Migration assay, Surface fontionalization, Cell tracking, Image processing, Neutrophil
Retinal optical imaging of intrinsic signals

A relatively new method to study neural activity indirectly is optical imaging of intrinsic signals. This method was first used to visualize cortical activity. The intrinsic optical imaging measures the reflectance variations of light associated with the activity of nervous tissue. Brain studies have shown that these changes in reflectance are attributable to changes in volume, blood flow, blood oxygenation level (oximetry), and light scattering. Similarly, studies on the application of this imaging method to the retina show the presence of intrinsic signals during retinal activity. It appears that the intrinsic signals observed in the retina have their own characteristics, given the particular structure of the retina.  The anatomical origins of these intrinsic signals are still uncertain. Retinal intrinsic optical imaging may provide a promising future for the diagnosis of eye diseases in clinical trials. Thus, before this technique can be used clinically, a detailed knowledge of the properties and origin of intrinsic signals are needed.  The first goal of this project is to study the retinal intrinsic responses to determine the characteristics and its anatomic origin. To achieve this aim, the retinal imaging system (RFI), designed for the human eye is used. For this system, we used the rabbit as the animal model because the size of their eyes is comparable to that of human. Several pharmacological agents have been used to block the different cells of the retina and to determine the origin of the intrinsic cellular signal in rabbits.  The second goal of this project is to develop an optical imaging system of intrinsic signals. This system was designed for the rat animal model. A pharmacological agent (Aspartate) is used to validate this imaging system on rats. Our results indicate that in rabbit bipolar cells are the main cells responsible for the intrinsic retinal signals. Also, approximately 20% of the Ganglion cells also show that 20% play a role in the genesis of intrinsic signals. Our results also indicate that it is possible to construct an efficient imaging system for small animals such as rats. The data obtained with this new retinal imager confirm that the inner retina is at the origin of intrinsic retinal signals.

Keyphrases: Retina, Intrinsic imaging, Animal model, Imaging system, Electroretinogram, photoreceptors, Bipolar cells, Ganglion cells