Presentation

Nicole Morgan recounts some of the milestones of a North American presidency that grew out of a real estate world that erects towers to illustrate its omnipotence and, under the guise of adolescent whims, draws on pathological and symbolic tricks to undermine the institutions that its citizens support.

Mohammad H. Tamdgidi undertakes to rebuild a sociology that goes beyond its epistemic limits and its dualistic method of Newtonian tradition. He suggests opening the discipline to the resources of quantum theory, to approach the “social thing” through a non-dualist, non-reductive, transcultural, and transdisciplinary method of space-time in the 21st century.

Bernard Guy situates the field of human and social sciences in the perspective of the time/space/movement trilogy. The convergence of time and space into a unitary movement is embodied in multiple forms and relationships that allow the disciplines to evolve within an original dynamic.

Alain Policar returns to some of the concepts used by Bruno Latour to link truth and social reality. In particular, he comments on the constructivist method that links scientific activities to their social frameworks. From this point of view, knowledge cannot derive from logical demonstration, but depends on the researcher’s subjectivity or interest.

Pierre Calame presents his latest work, devoted to the evolution of individual responsibilities within the social contract framework. This is completed with a preface to the book by Mireille Delmas-Marty, who situates the author’s study in the legal framework. She recalls the role of judges in the defence of rights, but also underlines the responsibility of individuals in the defence of common goods, of which the planet is the central element.

Haider A. Khan addresses the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic globally. He raises the question of a possible decline of American power and stresses the uncertainty of the Chinese position as well as the probability of growing tensions, but rules out a direct confrontation between these two powers.

In a second contribution, Nicole Morgan returns to the questions raised by the most radical agricultural revolution since the sedentarization of hunter-gatherers during the Neolithic period, and the social and hygienic consequences whose long-term effects on the history of humanity have yet to be measured.

Following the account published in our previous issue of his experience as an assistant to one of the French judges at the Nuremberg war crimes trials in 1946, Yves Beigbeder extracts from his diary some personal notes on the later development of his career, as well as political commentaries on significant events in recent years.

In a second piece, Pierre Calame analyses the scope of the Citizens’ Climate Convention in terms of the commitments of each citizen, while international agreements and government promises are rarely respected. One strategy would be to set each citizen a quota of fossil fuel energy, a portion of which he or she could freely sell or buy from his or her neighbours.

In their commentary on COVID-19’s pandemic-related stimulus measures, world experts Josef Settele, Sandra Díaz, Eduardo Brondizio and Peter Daszak assess the reports of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) on the effects of the pandemic on fauna, flora and the biosphere generally.