我們從未是現代的? jamais été moderne?

我昨天去了一個法國哲學家 Bruno Latour 的講座。他曾經於一九九一出版的一本名叫 Nous n’avons jamais été modernes《我們從未是現代的》的書。我感興趣是因為講座裏談到哲學、人類學、自然科學和社會科學的問題。其實這樣的文化討論多半不能解決時下社會上如金融危機、環境污染等等眾多問題。可是如果我們在生活水平提高的同時心理上、道德上也是充實的嗎？老實說這問題不但是飛快發展的中國要考慮的議題，亦是西方國家、企業和公民不能回避的問題。 (photo credit: chelseacharliwhite)

So another conference I attended, this tme with a professor at the famous Sciences Po . It was an interesting talk because the speaker had training in philosophy and did research on anthropology and has been looking at the intersection of the above disciplines with science. It really brings back to my days of taking philosophy courses at Stony Brook. The topic is strange for me, for I ain't no academic nor am I well-read in philosophy. I hardly scratched the surface of that field as an undergrad. However, if only people interested and who understand this kinda difficult discourse can put it in layman's terms for the general public, perhaps it would just able to help lessen or prevent some of the messes coming out of the current financial crisis, such as the massive Ponzi-styled fraud, of all people, a former director of NASDAQ Bernard Madoff... yikes! It reminds me of Henry George too, do we REALLY have progess, then why do we still have poverty?


Donc le professeur Latour a parlé beaucoup de choses: la nature, la culture, l'anthropologie, etc. etc. et bien sûr de la modérnisation. Un pointe qui m'attire est qu'il a dit que les Français aiment la mondialisation, mais lorsque tout le monde est maintenant vraiement connecté, cela rend plusieurs gens mal à l'aise. L'ère de mondialisation, une situtation qui bouge et on n'a pas le dernier mot sur ce sujet-là encore! (photo crédit: jmarty)