Lynda Gaudemard | Aix-Marseille University (original) (raw)

Books by Lynda Gaudemard

Articles by Lynda Gaudemard

Special Issue in the Annals of the University of Bucharest, 2022

Descartes and Medicine, F. Baldassarri (ed.), Brepols publishers, 2023

According to the standard separatist interpretation, Descartes has supported the substance duali... more According to the standard separatist interpretation, Descartes has supported the substance dualist view claiming that the nonphysical mind can exist without the body. However, several texts show that Descartes’s conception of the mind-body relationship should be more balanced. In this article, I argue that, according to Descartes, the mind is a non-material substance created by God which emerges through a particular arrangement of material particles. I will demonstrate this interpretation on texts suggesting that the mind cannot be created by God without a properly configured body. Firstly, I will begin to show that, factually, the mind does not begin to think before being united to the body, and that the body enables the mind to have its first thoughts. Secondly, I develop Descartes’s account of embryology showing that God is not the immediate cause of a mind’s first thoughts. Thirdly, I address several objections to my emergentist reading of Descartes’s view of mind. This will enable me to show that the mind does not only begin to think without being united to body: the mind cannot begin to think (or exist) without the body. This emergentist view is consistent with the claim that a mind can continue to exist separately from body when it perishes.

Les Cahiers de Droit, 2021

Malgré l’adoption de la Convention Internationale des Droits de l’Enfant en 1989, la question de ... more Malgré l’adoption de la Convention Internationale des Droits de l’Enfant en 1989, la question de savoir pourquoi l’enfant devrait détenir des droits fait toujours débat. En raison de sa jeunesse, l’enfant est habituellement considéré comme n’étant pas suffisamment rationnel pour détenir les mêmes droits que les adultes. Mais l’enfant est aussi reconnu comme une personne humaine dont les droits ne devraient pas être entravés. Bien que durant les vingt dernières années, les études en droits de l’enfant se soient multipliées, ce domaine de recherche ne semble plus progresser significativement. Peut-être la question des droits de l’enfant, habituellement comparés aux droits de l’Homme, pourrait-elle être différemment posée. En effet, comprendre pourquoi un enfant devrait avoir des droits implique de réfléchir à ce qui peut limiter ses droits et donc, en premier lieu, à ce qui fonde moralement les droits parentaux. Cet article réinvestit la question des droits de l’enfant à partir d’une nouvelle perspective qui n’est pas celle des droits de l’Homme, mais celle des fondements moraux des droits parentaux. Une perspective déjà adoptée au XVIIème siècle par le philosophe britannique John Locke sous la forme de la théorie de l’investissement parental.

L' Enyclopédie Philosophique, 2021

Cet article a pour objectif de fournir un aperçu du débat relatif à l’avortement dans la philosop... more Cet article a pour objectif de fournir un aperçu du débat relatif à l’avortement dans la philosophie contemporaine spécialisée en éthique de la reproduction. Par avortement, nous entendons toute interruption délibérée d’une grossesse mettant un terme au développement d’un embryon/fœtus humain in utero.

La question éthique centrale posée au sujet de l’avortement concerne principalement celle de la détermination du statut moral de l’embryon humain ; il s’agit en effet de savoir si les entités anténatales humaines ont un statut moral, si ce statut moral leur donne droit à la vie, et s’il est par conséquent moralement permis ou non de mettre un terme à leur développement.

Cet article sera structuré de la façon suivante. Après avoir formulé le problème éthique de l’avortement sous l’angle historique et philosophique dans la section 1, nous aborderons dans la section 2 les principaux aspects juridiques de l’avortement en France qui illustrent particulièrement bien les raisons pour lesquelles assigner à l’embryon le statut de personne juridique demeure problématique. Dans la section 3, nous présenterons les principaux arguments en faveur de l’avortement, avant d’étudier dans la section 4 les objections auxquelles ces arguments se heurtent. Les sections 5 et 6 fourniront une analyse des arguments opposés à l’avortement et des objections soulevées par ces arguments. Le fait que, d’une part, aucune position n’apparaisse plus raisonnable que l’autre et que, d’autre part, chaque position repose sur une certaine conception métaphysique de l’identité personnelle nous conduit à évaluer, dans la section 7, la pertinence de l’approche métaphysique dans le débat sur l’avortement. Dans la section 8, nous montrerons que bien que la métaphysique puisse éclairer les enjeux de l’avortement de façon neutre, elle ne peut à elle seule résoudre ce débat en raison d’autres aspects essentiels d’ordre éthique, pragmatique et empirique.

Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, 2018

The aim of this article is to clarify an aspect of Descartes’s conception of mind that seriously ... more The aim of this article is to clarify an aspect of Descartes’s conception of mind that seriously impacts on the standard objections against Cartesian Dualism. By a close reading of Descartes’s writings on imagination, I argue that the capacity to imagine does not inhere as a mode in the mind itself, but only in the embodied mind, that is, a mind that is not united to the body does not possess the faculty to imagine. As a mode considered as a general property, and not as an instance of it, belongs to the essence of the substance, and as imagination (like sensation) arises from the mind-body union, then the problem arises of knowing to what extent a Cartesian embodied mind is separable from the body.

Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review, 2017

In this article, I examine the standard assumption that ethical disagreements on abortion and hum... more In this article, I examine the standard assumption that ethical disagreements on abortion and human embryonic stem cells research are grounded on metaphysical claims that underlie these ethical issues. Contrary to what some philosophers have claimed, I argue that, although the bioethical positions about the human embryo’s moral status are partly grounded on metaphysical claims, incorporating metaphysical arguments in the debates about the ethics of reproduction will not resolve this issue.

British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 2017

American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 2015

Most contemporary metaphysicians think that a teleological approach to mereological composition a... more Most contemporary metaphysicians think that a teleological approach to mereological composition and the whole-part relation should be ignored because it is an obsolete view of the world. In this paper, I discuss Descartes’s conception of individuation and composition of material objects such as stones, machines, and human bodies. Despite the fact that Descartes officially rejected ends from his philosophy of matter, I argue, against some scholars, that to appeal to the notion of disposition was a way for him to maintain teleological reference within a mechanistic conception of nature. Through a study of Descartes’s texts, I also want to make clear why it might be difficult to entirely ignore teleological notions, when one wants to account for composition and unity of material objects.

Journal of Early Modern Studies, 2014

In this paper, I shall suggest that, what Descartes supported in his letter to More of August 164... more In this paper, I shall suggest that, what Descartes supported in his letter to More of August 1649, when he claimed that God’s essence might be present everywhere, was not that God can’t exist without being extended, i.e. being omnipresent, but that God has necessarily the disposition to be extended. If my interpretation is correct, then the claim that God’s essence is omnipresent is consistant with the thesis that God is omnipresent ratione potentia.

Early Science and Medicine, 2012

This essay explores the interaction between medicine and metaphysics in early modern natural phil... more This essay explores the interaction between medicine and metaphysics in early modern natural philosophy and especially in Descartes's philosophy. I argue that Descartes's account of birthmarks provides an argument for the metaphysical necessity of substantial union between mind and body. This argument relies on a temporal conception of alethic modalities and provides a new answer to Henricus Regius who in 1641 claimed that, for Descartes, the human being was an ens per accidens.

Methodus, 2011

In the Regulae ad directionem ingenii, the term «idea» is sometimes used instead of «figura» (AT ... more In the Regulae ad directionem ingenii, the term «idea» is sometimes used instead of «figura» (AT X, 414, 20) which refers to a geometrical entity, but also in some contexts to an embodied entity or a cerebral extended image. The fact that both terms are juxtaposed and are substituted one for the other in a context where corporeal imagination appears, led many commentators to argue that Descartes in his early years considered ideas as cerebral. In this paper, I argue against this interpretation, since it does not explain why this terminological equivalence goes on appearing in Descartes’ later work. I claim that, in all of his texts dealing with the possibility of perceptual experience and union, Descartes favoured the metaphysical substantial unity of human being and cares less about ontological distinctions between soul and body.

Etudes de Philosophie, 2008

Etudes de Philosophie, 2008

Conference Presentations by Lynda Gaudemard

Invited conference at « From Theodicy to History » workshop, faculty of philosophy, university o... more Invited conference at « From Theodicy to History » workshop, faculty of philosophy, university of Barcelona

Special Issue in the Annals of the University of Bucharest, 2022

Descartes and Medicine, F. Baldassarri (ed.), Brepols publishers, 2023

According to the standard separatist interpretation, Descartes has supported the substance duali... more According to the standard separatist interpretation, Descartes has supported the substance dualist view claiming that the nonphysical mind can exist without the body. However, several texts show that Descartes’s conception of the mind-body relationship should be more balanced. In this article, I argue that, according to Descartes, the mind is a non-material substance created by God which emerges through a particular arrangement of material particles. I will demonstrate this interpretation on texts suggesting that the mind cannot be created by God without a properly configured body. Firstly, I will begin to show that, factually, the mind does not begin to think before being united to the body, and that the body enables the mind to have its first thoughts. Secondly, I develop Descartes’s account of embryology showing that God is not the immediate cause of a mind’s first thoughts. Thirdly, I address several objections to my emergentist reading of Descartes’s view of mind. This will enable me to show that the mind does not only begin to think without being united to body: the mind cannot begin to think (or exist) without the body. This emergentist view is consistent with the claim that a mind can continue to exist separately from body when it perishes.

Les Cahiers de Droit, 2021

Malgré l’adoption de la Convention Internationale des Droits de l’Enfant en 1989, la question de ... more Malgré l’adoption de la Convention Internationale des Droits de l’Enfant en 1989, la question de savoir pourquoi l’enfant devrait détenir des droits fait toujours débat. En raison de sa jeunesse, l’enfant est habituellement considéré comme n’étant pas suffisamment rationnel pour détenir les mêmes droits que les adultes. Mais l’enfant est aussi reconnu comme une personne humaine dont les droits ne devraient pas être entravés. Bien que durant les vingt dernières années, les études en droits de l’enfant se soient multipliées, ce domaine de recherche ne semble plus progresser significativement. Peut-être la question des droits de l’enfant, habituellement comparés aux droits de l’Homme, pourrait-elle être différemment posée. En effet, comprendre pourquoi un enfant devrait avoir des droits implique de réfléchir à ce qui peut limiter ses droits et donc, en premier lieu, à ce qui fonde moralement les droits parentaux. Cet article réinvestit la question des droits de l’enfant à partir d’une nouvelle perspective qui n’est pas celle des droits de l’Homme, mais celle des fondements moraux des droits parentaux. Une perspective déjà adoptée au XVIIème siècle par le philosophe britannique John Locke sous la forme de la théorie de l’investissement parental.

L' Enyclopédie Philosophique, 2021

Cet article a pour objectif de fournir un aperçu du débat relatif à l’avortement dans la philosop... more Cet article a pour objectif de fournir un aperçu du débat relatif à l’avortement dans la philosophie contemporaine spécialisée en éthique de la reproduction. Par avortement, nous entendons toute interruption délibérée d’une grossesse mettant un terme au développement d’un embryon/fœtus humain in utero.

La question éthique centrale posée au sujet de l’avortement concerne principalement celle de la détermination du statut moral de l’embryon humain ; il s’agit en effet de savoir si les entités anténatales humaines ont un statut moral, si ce statut moral leur donne droit à la vie, et s’il est par conséquent moralement permis ou non de mettre un terme à leur développement.

Cet article sera structuré de la façon suivante. Après avoir formulé le problème éthique de l’avortement sous l’angle historique et philosophique dans la section 1, nous aborderons dans la section 2 les principaux aspects juridiques de l’avortement en France qui illustrent particulièrement bien les raisons pour lesquelles assigner à l’embryon le statut de personne juridique demeure problématique. Dans la section 3, nous présenterons les principaux arguments en faveur de l’avortement, avant d’étudier dans la section 4 les objections auxquelles ces arguments se heurtent. Les sections 5 et 6 fourniront une analyse des arguments opposés à l’avortement et des objections soulevées par ces arguments. Le fait que, d’une part, aucune position n’apparaisse plus raisonnable que l’autre et que, d’autre part, chaque position repose sur une certaine conception métaphysique de l’identité personnelle nous conduit à évaluer, dans la section 7, la pertinence de l’approche métaphysique dans le débat sur l’avortement. Dans la section 8, nous montrerons que bien que la métaphysique puisse éclairer les enjeux de l’avortement de façon neutre, elle ne peut à elle seule résoudre ce débat en raison d’autres aspects essentiels d’ordre éthique, pragmatique et empirique.

Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, 2018

The aim of this article is to clarify an aspect of Descartes’s conception of mind that seriously ... more The aim of this article is to clarify an aspect of Descartes’s conception of mind that seriously impacts on the standard objections against Cartesian Dualism. By a close reading of Descartes’s writings on imagination, I argue that the capacity to imagine does not inhere as a mode in the mind itself, but only in the embodied mind, that is, a mind that is not united to the body does not possess the faculty to imagine. As a mode considered as a general property, and not as an instance of it, belongs to the essence of the substance, and as imagination (like sensation) arises from the mind-body union, then the problem arises of knowing to what extent a Cartesian embodied mind is separable from the body.

Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review, 2017

In this article, I examine the standard assumption that ethical disagreements on abortion and hum... more In this article, I examine the standard assumption that ethical disagreements on abortion and human embryonic stem cells research are grounded on metaphysical claims that underlie these ethical issues. Contrary to what some philosophers have claimed, I argue that, although the bioethical positions about the human embryo’s moral status are partly grounded on metaphysical claims, incorporating metaphysical arguments in the debates about the ethics of reproduction will not resolve this issue.

British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 2017

American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 2015

Most contemporary metaphysicians think that a teleological approach to mereological composition a... more Most contemporary metaphysicians think that a teleological approach to mereological composition and the whole-part relation should be ignored because it is an obsolete view of the world. In this paper, I discuss Descartes’s conception of individuation and composition of material objects such as stones, machines, and human bodies. Despite the fact that Descartes officially rejected ends from his philosophy of matter, I argue, against some scholars, that to appeal to the notion of disposition was a way for him to maintain teleological reference within a mechanistic conception of nature. Through a study of Descartes’s texts, I also want to make clear why it might be difficult to entirely ignore teleological notions, when one wants to account for composition and unity of material objects.

Journal of Early Modern Studies, 2014

In this paper, I shall suggest that, what Descartes supported in his letter to More of August 164... more In this paper, I shall suggest that, what Descartes supported in his letter to More of August 1649, when he claimed that God’s essence might be present everywhere, was not that God can’t exist without being extended, i.e. being omnipresent, but that God has necessarily the disposition to be extended. If my interpretation is correct, then the claim that God’s essence is omnipresent is consistant with the thesis that God is omnipresent ratione potentia.

Early Science and Medicine, 2012

This essay explores the interaction between medicine and metaphysics in early modern natural phil... more This essay explores the interaction between medicine and metaphysics in early modern natural philosophy and especially in Descartes's philosophy. I argue that Descartes's account of birthmarks provides an argument for the metaphysical necessity of substantial union between mind and body. This argument relies on a temporal conception of alethic modalities and provides a new answer to Henricus Regius who in 1641 claimed that, for Descartes, the human being was an ens per accidens.

Methodus, 2011

In the Regulae ad directionem ingenii, the term «idea» is sometimes used instead of «figura» (AT ... more In the Regulae ad directionem ingenii, the term «idea» is sometimes used instead of «figura» (AT X, 414, 20) which refers to a geometrical entity, but also in some contexts to an embodied entity or a cerebral extended image. The fact that both terms are juxtaposed and are substituted one for the other in a context where corporeal imagination appears, led many commentators to argue that Descartes in his early years considered ideas as cerebral. In this paper, I argue against this interpretation, since it does not explain why this terminological equivalence goes on appearing in Descartes’ later work. I claim that, in all of his texts dealing with the possibility of perceptual experience and union, Descartes favoured the metaphysical substantial unity of human being and cares less about ontological distinctions between soul and body.

Etudes de Philosophie, 2008

Etudes de Philosophie, 2008

Invited conference at « From Theodicy to History » workshop, faculty of philosophy, university o... more Invited conference at « From Theodicy to History » workshop, faculty of philosophy, university of Barcelona

Invited conference, university of Clermont-Ferrand

The Conversation, 2023

Press article published in The Conversation

Journal 20Minutes, 2019

Interview for the French journal 20 Minutes

Libération, 2022

Accoler le nom de famille de la mère à celui du père, ou le substituer à ce dernier, nuirait à l'... more Accoler le nom de famille de la mère à celui du père, ou le substituer à ce dernier, nuirait à l'intérêt de l'enfant. Telle est la conclusion formulée par Madame la sénatrice LR Marie Mercier (rapporteur), concernant la proposition de loi de Patrick Vignal (LREM) visant à simplifier la procédure du changement de nom, adoptée majoritairement par les députés la nuit du 26 janvier 2022 (49 voix contre 5, et 2 abstentions).

Le Monde, 2019

pour-la-france-un-panel-decitoyens-issus-de-la-societe-civile-pour-une-democratie-representative_... more pour-la-france-un-panel-decitoyens-issus-de-la-societe-civile-pour-une-democratie-representative_5431614_3232.html Les facteurs de la crise de la représentation citoyenne en France Derrière les revendications économiques et sociales des « gilets jaunes » et, plus généralement, de la perte de confiance des français envers les politiques, émerge la question plus fondamentale de l'efficacité de la démocratie représentative.

While imagination was a major concern for Descartes throughout his work, Cartesian scholars have ... more While imagination was a major concern for Descartes throughout his work, Cartesian scholars have paid little attention to this faculty, and especially to its role in the Meditations of First Philosophy. In this article, I argue that the way Descartes’s conception of imagination is elaborated in the First Meditation leads to conclude that, for him, imagination belongs to the essence of the mind. It results that Descartes’s dualism should not be interpreted as a separation (or a separability) regarding to existence. The mind and body are really distinct from each other not because they exist or can exist apart from each other, but because the mind exists without being extended (since the mind and body are both substances having different and opposite principal attributes). Thus, Descartes’s dualism could merely establish an actual separation between the attributes of the mind, and the attributes of the body.

While historians of philosophy mainly focus on the motivational role of emotions, there is still ... more While historians of philosophy mainly focus on the motivational role of emotions, there is still little attention within the history of philosophy to the role of emotions in the cognitive processes, with the exception of stoic philosophy. Indeed, emotions have long been opposed to reason and rationality. The aim of this seminar is to reinvestigate the way philosophers dealt with the role of emotions in cognition in 17th Century, and to what extent their views anticipate recent neuroscience research showing that emotions are implied in cognitive processes such as attention, memory, decision and reasoning.

Philosophie du temps, éd. La Baconnière, 2018

Philosophie du Temps, éd. La Baconnière, 2018