Is a policy of economic growth compatible with the neutrality of the State? Some liberals (Rawls, Dworkin, Ackerman, Larmore, Kymlicka) think so. I do not. I begin by explaining and discussing the different meanings of the neutrality thesis, then I show that, whatever meaning we give to the idea of neutrality, it is very difficult to argue convincingly that a policy of economic growth does not favour some conceptions of the good.

Les articles regroupés dans ce numéro spécial, à l'exception de celui de P. Roeper et H. Leblanc «De A et B, de leur indépendance logique, et de ce qu'ils n'ont aucun contenu factuel commun», ont tous pour origine un colloque tenu les 25 et 26 mars 1994 à l'Université du Québec à Montréal. C'était pour souligner la contribution sans égale faite par un Québécois au développement de la logique qu'à l'occasion du soixante-dixième anniversaire de naissance du Professeur Hugues Leblanc est née l'idée d'organiser ce colloque. Parce que c'est en partie sous l'impulsion fournie par le travail de H. Leblanc qu'ont été développées des sémantiques et des logiques non standard (logiques libres, avec ou sans identité; sémantique en termes de valeurs de vérité; et sémantique probabiliste entre autres), ce colloque portait le titre «Logiques et sémantiques non classiques».

We expound an economic explanation of the nature, causes, and effects of moral conventions. We show, first, that systems of moral rules lead to Pareto-efficiency; second, that the efficiency they induce may be interpreted as the outcome of an exchange of courtesies; third, and finally, that moral exchange takes place whenever the costs of transaction are sufficiently low. We also explain various phenomena, including the diversity of moral rules in time and space. Finally, we give sufficient conditions for universal moral rules to emerge in a sequence of agreements involving two agents only at a time.

This paper will attempt to show that the interlude on necessity in the Timaeus narrative introduces a dualism into the Platonic cosmology, and that it is the material principle which is the positive cause of the disorder in the world. Furthermore, one can notice that in this work Plato is heading toward a concept of sensible substance that is close to the one which Aristotle will be defending.

Professor Roeper adresses a large question, whether probabilistic semantics is a kind of semantics at all. Happily, he does this via an exploration of a specific issue on which he and Professor Leblanc have done important work. That is the issue of how the relationship of logical consequence can be characterized as a relation denned in terms of probability. Let us follow him in calling a relevant relationship of the latter sort the degree of implication, and follow Professor Roeper on his quest for a satisfactory one.

This paper can be read as an attempt at providing philosophical foundations to linear logic. The only plausible form of philosophical antirealism deals with practical feasibility rather than with effectivity in principle. The very notion of recognizability is ambiguous, audit has to be considered from a stricter perspective than currently done. The intuitionistic assertability conditions are to be reinforced. This change requires a move towards a frame in which the circumstances of the application of a logical rule can be specified. Gentzen's sequential calculi provide such a frame, when some structural rules have been removed or limited.

In this article I consider the Kantian preference for natural beauty from a socio-political point of view. Instead of only regarding the “intellectual” significance of beauty in nature as a symbol of morality, I show that the aesthetic appreciation of natural beauty must also be understood in its dialectical relation to society as “the place of antagonism.” By highlighting this dialectical understanding, I point out the socio-political contribution of aesthetic experience for the cultural progress of humanity. The fragility of beauty in the context of culture can be further interpreted as a symbol of the temporality of the project of perpetual peace in politics.