This PhD thesis is about communication concerning nature in the Netherlands. The purpose of this exploratory study is to take both a theoretical and an empirical look at whether religious elements play a role in this communication about nature in the Netherlands. In this PhD thesis it is argued that the role of communication practitioners is to signal, articulate, and interpret normative elements in the discourse. In other words, to make congruent frames explicit and clarifying the associated world views in (...) the discourse, including that of the government itself. The government has to be impartial as possible in its communications, but the communications about nature shows that there are questions to be asked about this neutrality. Although not explicit, but through the communications of NGOs, who operate as delegated executors of the Dutch nature policy in the context of this PhD thesis, certain images, i.e., frames regarding nature are communicated. However, the question is raised to what extent the government, based on its alleged neutrality, should condition the communication of NGOs. Here, _tension can be observed. If _nature conservation NGOs communicate a specific vision about nature, using ‘religious subtexts’, the government appears to support these ‘subtexts’. For nature conservation NGOs, it is appropriate to put forth a certain opinion to raise support for their actions among the public. However, in this PhD thesis it is argued that it is not the responsibility of the government to promote a specific religiously phrased view of nature and nature policy. Hence, this PhD thesis reveals a necessity for reflection on the relationship between government and NGOs regarding their communication, i.e., awareness of distinction and a need for mutual adjustment in the case of close cooperation. The results of this PhD thesis are placed in a broader cultural context with respect to nature development. A paradox is highlighted: creating nature ‘according to our view of nature’ and, simultaneously, wanting to experience wilderness-nature, preferably without too much human influence. This paradox appears to form a cultural basis for many new nature development projects. In other words, nature development is no longer just driven by ecological interests. In today’s ‘wilderness desire’, a certain form of anthropocentric thinking also manifests, because it focuses on the human experience of nature. In addition, because nature projects can be places to have meaningful experiences, in this PhD thesis it is concluded that nature projects, such as _Tiengemeten_, not only have ecological value, but societal value as well. It is also argued that in a secular society, we should not lose sight of the mediating role of creating and maintaining nature parks. Designing or maintaining natural areas in a certain way can create conditions for certain meaningful experiences. With our designing vision and communication, we can reap ‘benefits’ from nature. With this conclusion, this PhD thesis shines a different light on the concept of nature development and, indirectly, on the Dutch nature policy. Finally, this PhD thesis shows that religious elements play a role in the communication about nature. These are linked to meaningful experiences that people can have in nature. A religious depth dimension can be discovered in meaningful experiences. This religious depth dimension is the reason that there are ‘religious subtexts’ in the communication about nature. However, the word ‘subtext’ is crucial. The communication about nature is ‘religionised’ to some extent, but there is no mentioning of a personal God or other reference to a supernatural reality. This PhD thesis also shows that the religious depth dimension does not explicitly come to the fore in what visitors are saying. This means that this PhD thesis, in addition to questioning the appropriateness of ‘religious subtexts’ in the communication about nature, also doubts whether those ‘subtexts’ are convincing from visitors’ perspective. (shrink)

The Grande Bibliothèque du Québec , the merger of the National Library of Québec with the Central Municipal Library of Montréal in a ninety-million dollar construction project which opened in the spring of 2005, serves as the point of departure and as a model and metaphor for reflection on the significance of libraries in the cultural life of a society and in the construction of social identity. The province of Québec is unique, not only because it is the sole province (...) in Canada where the citizens are a French language majority, but also because it is the only province to have established its own national library. The Bibliothèque nationale du Québec and other significant libraries around the world collect and preserve memory in ways that create a context for cultural recall. Government and religious leaders have, for a long time, recognized the potential that libraries have in influencing popular thought and ideas of citizens. In societies where democratization of information is fostered, libraries are promoted as a source of pride and cultural achievement in buildings that are constructed as architectural monuments. In war-torn regions or in areas under authoritarian control, library materials are censured and cultural epochs are erased or destroyed. The heated debates that took place at the turn of the late 19th and early 20th century over the creation of a public or municipal library in Montréal and in the struggle between religious and secular forces over control and direction of public reading characterize a lengthy discourse that parallels the development of the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec and of public libraries in Québec. The various stages of evolution and current metamorphosis of the Bibliothèque nationale / Grande Bibliothèque can be viewed as a reflection of the evolution and metamorphosis of society and cultural memory in Québec throughout the nineteenth century to the present. (shrink)

This article reconsiders the work of Raymond Aron in order to explore the fracture lines that existed between conservative forms of political liberalism, as advocated by Aron, and neoliberal ideas of economic or market freedom associated with Hayek and his followers. These tensions between Aron and Hayek are analysed by assessing Aron’s involvement in the Mont Pèlerin Society and the Congress for Cultural Freedom through the 1950s, and then considering the arguments of his 1962 review of Hayek’s Constitution of Liberty (...) and his 1963 Jefferson Lectures. While Aron has been largely neglected in the existing literature on neoliberalism, it will be argued that he was the key sociological figure to engage critically with neoliberalism in its formative years and, beyond this, that the value of his work today lies in its defence of the social basis of democracy and freedom against the raw economism of neoliberal thought. (shrink)

Tensions, Réformes et Recherche du consensus: Vatican II dans l’itinéraire de l’Église catholique au XXe siècle (Tensions, reforms and consensus : Vatican II in the itinerary of the Catholic Church in the twentieth century) Résumé Contrairement à ce que l’on affirme parfois, les tensions que l’on retrouve dans l’Église catholique au moment de la réception du concile ne sont pas nées avec le concile, mais s’enracinent au cours du siècle qui précéda Vatican II. Elles portent principalement sur le rapport de (...) l’Église catholique au monde moderne. À Vatican II, si les Pères conciliaires ont été d’accord pour généraliser et accélérer l’effort de mise à jour de l’Église entamée depuis quelques décennies, quelques-uns ont refusé le discernement opéré par l’Église catholique sur l’enseignement des papes, depuis Pie IX, sur le rapport de l’Église avec le monde moderne. Les évêques appartenant à la majorité ont estimé qu’il fallait re-recevoir ces enseignements portés dans des circonstances historiques différentes, et les apprécier à la lumière des situations nouvelles dans lesquelles évoluait désormais l’Église catholique. L’opposition actuelle au concile refuse ce discernement et voudrait, par-delà le concile, revenir aux positions tenues au XIXe siècle. Mots-clés : Vatican II; L’Église Catholique. XX e siècle. Tensions. Réformes. ConsensusTo the contrary of what is commonly said, the tensions in the Catholic Church at the time of reception of the Council did not originate within the council, but are rooted in the course of the century prior to Vatican II. These tensions relate mainly to the relationship of the Catholic Church with the modern world. If the Fathers of the Second Vatican agreed to upgrade the Church, after a few decades some priests refused to follow the teachings of the Popes about the relationship of the Church with the modern world. Most bishops felt that they should return to those teachings used in different historical circumstances, and evaluate them in light of the context of the new changes in the world. The current opposition to the council refuses this insight or judgement and wants to go back to the positions of the Church of the nineteenth century. Keywords : Vatican II; Catholic Church. Twentieth Century. Tensions. Reforms. Consensus. (shrink)

The province of Québec, the sole province in Canada where the citizens are a French-language majority, is also the only province with its own national library. The Bibliothèque nationale du Québec and other significant libraries around the world collect and preserve memory in ways that create a context for cultural recall. The first part of this article traces the heated debates that took place in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries over the creation of a public or municipal library (...) in Montréal. The second part traces the events leading to the development of the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec and its subsequent merger in 2005 with the Bibliothèque municipale de Montréal to form the Grande Bibliothèque, or "the new national library of Québec." The stages of evolution of the Bibliothèque nationale/Grande Bibliothèque, in parallel with the development of public libraries in Québec, can be viewed as a reflection of the evolution and metamorphosis of society and cultural memory in Québec throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to the present. (shrink)

L'article s'interroge sur la tradition française en matière d'épistémologie et analyse la réaction du milieu philosophique du début du xxe siècle face à la crise des acquis philosophiques traditionnels provoquée par le développement des sciences. Les interventions au premier congrès international de Philosophie de 1900 montrent que la philosophie essaie de continuer à exercer une hégémonie sur les sciences, mais que, pour réagir à la crise, elle doit s'engager dans l'histoire des sciences. L'histoire des sciences devient alors le moyen employé (...) par la philosophie pour essayer de garder sa place privilégiée dans l'ensemble du savoir: elle est donc faite par des philosophes qui, de ce fait, en contrôlent les lieux institutionnels. Il devient dès lors possible de tracer une ligne qui relie les questions des philosophes de 1900 à celles qui préoccupent ceux de l'entre-deux-guerres, notamment Gaston Bachelard. (shrink)