Collège de France - Sélection

Grand événement - Réenchanter les maths à l'écoleCollège de FranceAnnée 2024-2025Grand événement - Réenchanter les maths à l'école - Emmanuel Sander : Qu'est-ce qu'un beau problème mathématique ? : (Ré)concilier intuition et sens mathématiqueIntervenant(s) :Emmanuel SanderProfesseur à la Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education de l'Université de GenèveEmmanuel Sander est professeur à la faculté de psychologie et sciences de l'éducation à l'Université de Genève. Membre du conseil scientifique de l'Éducation nationale, ses recherches portent sur l'analyse des représentations mentales et des processus interprétatifs dans le champ scolaire, dont les mathématiques.

Anne ChengCollège de FranceHistoire intellectuelle de la ChineAnnée 2024-2025Conférence - Naoko Shimazu : The Making of a Heroic War Myth in Modern JapanWar and Peace: A Global History of Japan, 1904-1943Naoko ShimazuProfessor and Deputy Director, Tokyo CollegeNaoko Shimazu est invitée par l'assemblée du Collège de France sur proposition de la Pr Anne Cheng.RésuméHeroic war myths are an integral aspect of war in any cultural tradition. In modern warfare, the primary objective of heroic war myth is to arouse patriotic sentiment in order to mobilise the nation to fight an efficient and winning war. Modern Japan was no exception. Within Japan, the most powerful official heroic myth created from the Russo-Japanese war was Commander Takeo Hirose who died in the second blockade of Port Arthur on 27 March 1904. Within a few days of his death, Commander Hirose even began to assume the title of the 'God of War Commander Hirose' (Gunshin Hirose chūsa). In this lecture, we trace step by step how the myth of the 'God of War Commander Hirose' was created by the Naval History Section of the Japanese Imperial Navy as it started looking for a suitable individual as soon as the war started in February 1904. 'God of War Commander Hirose' became a household name and his appeal was such that many cultural outputs were created, such as a kabuki play, a Western style theatre play, commercial films, for instance. The Hirose myth reached its apogee in 1935 when the commander was venerated as a god of war in a shrine named after him – Hirose Shrine established in his native hometown in Oita Prefecture.

Grand événement - À la recherche d'un Avenir Commun DurableRegards croisés sur l'eau atmosphériqueCollège de FranceAnnée 2024-2025Intervenants :Matteo BächtoldDoctorant en théologie à l'Université de LorraineDamien DelormeAgrégé de philosophie, docteur en philosophie et théologie, à UNIGEGuillaume Guez MaillardDoctorant sous la direction de la Professeure Boisson de Chazournes (Université de Genève) et du Professeur Ascensio (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)Projet sous la direction de : Thomas Römer, chaire Milieux bibliques.RésuméL'eau atmosphérique, présente sous forme de vapeur, de gouttelettes d'eau liquide et de cristaux de glace, joue un rôle considérable dans la physique de l'atmosphère et du climat. Aux côtés des autres formes d'eau, elle constitue le principal vecteur à travers lequel nous percevons les effets des changements climatiques. Les recherches menées sur les limites planétaires révèlent que les cycles naturels de la Terre ont gravement été perturbés, affectant non seulement le climat et la biodiversité, mais aussi les principaux cycles chimiques et hydriques.Contrairement aux apparences, le contrôle de l'eau atmosphérique est un enjeu ancien. Le regard sur le passé nous apprend que, durant une large part de son histoire, le monde méditerranéen a connu des lois et des pratiques relatives à l'eau atmosphérique et sa maîtrise sous ses différentes formes. Étant perçue tantôt comme une ressource, tantôt comme un danger, sa captation ou son contrôle par des puissances rituelles font l'objet d'un grand intérêt.De manière paradoxale, le droit international contemporain et de nombreux ordres juridiques internes ignorent largement l'eau atmosphérique. Son statut, sa gestion et sa protection ne font ainsi l'objet d'aucune réglementation. En droit international, l'eau atmosphérique n'est en effet saisie que par l'intermédiaire des rares instruments relatifs aux manipulations de l'environnement.

Dominique CharpinCollège de FranceAnnée 2024-2025Civilisation mésopotamienneLa recherche sur les archives cunéiformes d'Ebla : rétrospective et prospectiveConférence - Marco Bonechi : Les limites cunéiformes de nos connaissances, ou : d'Ebla, trop de lumière !Marco BonechiResearch Director, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR)RésuméFocus sur l'actuelle situation de sauvegarde des données textuelles d'Ebla. Discussion sur l'isolement des textes des archives eblaïtes, si anciens dans le contexte sémitique et si originaux dans leur rédaction par rapport à la norme cunéiforme mésopotamienne. Liste des questions ouvertes et de ce que nous aimerions savoir, mais que nous ne savons pas.

Grand événement - La Comédie-Française au Collège de France Théâtre et pouvoirsÉric Ruf, Patrick Boucheron & Florence NaugretteAnnée 2024-2025Patrick BoucheronProfesseur du Collège de FranceÉric RufComédie-FrançaiseFlorence NaugretteSorbonne UniversitéRésuméLe théâtre, en tant qu'espace de prise de parole face à un corps collectif, est par nature un lieu où s'exerce le pouvoir. Un pouvoir tripartite qui émane à la fois du texte, des artistes et du public. C'est dans le cadre de ce billard à trois bandes que circule le pouvoir, son expression autant que son exercice.

Grand événement - Réenchanter les maths à l'écoleCollège de FranceAnnée 2024-2025Grand événement - Réenchanter les maths à l'école - Naama Friedmann : Difficulties in Numbers and Difficulties in Letters – Do They Necessarily Appear Together?Intervenant(s) :Naama FriedmannUniversité de Tel AvivNaama Friedman est invitée par l'assemblée du Collège de France sur proposition des Prs Stanislas Dehaene & Luigi Rizzi.Elle intervient dans le cadre d'une série de quatre conférences données en mai et juin 2025.

Jean-Jacques HublinPaléantropologieCollège de FranceAnnée 2023-2024Conférence - Hugo Meijer : Aux origines de la guerre et de la paix dans l'espèce humaineHugo MeijerChargé de recherche CNRS au Centre de recherches internationales (CERI) de Sciences Po ParisHugo Meijer est invité par le Pr Jean-Jacques Hublin.RésuméQuelles sont les origines de la guerre et de la paix ? Notre espèce, Homo sapiens, présente un paradoxe remarquable : nous sommes la seule espèce capable à la fois de conflits létaux et de coopération pacifique étendue entre groupes. Alors que certaines espèces se livrent à des conflits intergroupes (comme, par exemple, les chimpanzés, les loups et les fourmis), d'autres font preuve d'une coopération intergroupe limitée (comme les bonobos et les dauphins), mais aucune autre espèce ne combine ces deux comportements à une telle échelle et avec une telle complexité. En intégrant des données issues d'un large éventail de disciplines (biologie, primatologie, anthropologie, archéologie, génétique, neurosciences, criminologie, psychologie sociale, linguistique, démographie et climatologie), l'ouvrage présenté par Hugo Meijer – Janus-faced: The Origins of War and Peace in the Human Species – analyse les facteurs biologiques, culturels et environnementaux qui permettent de saisir quand et pourquoi cette dualité, qui nous distingue au sein du règne animal, a émergé au cours de la lignée humaine.Hugo Meijer est chargé de recherche CNRS au Centre de recherches internationales (CERI) de Sciences Po Paris, dont il est également le directeur adjoint. Il est également directeur fondateur de l'European Initiative for Security Studies (EISS), le réseau universitaire paneuropéen en études de sécurité.Publication à paraître : Janus-faced: The Origins of War and Peace in the Human Species (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press).

Dominique CharpinCollège de FranceAnnée 2024-2025Civilisation mésopotamienneConférence - Silvia Alaura : The Anatolian studies during the 1930s through the lens of Albrecht Goetze's correspondenceSilvia Alaura est invitée par l'assemblée du Collège de France sur proposition du Pr Dominique Charpin, chaire Civilisation mésopotamienne.RésuméThe lecture offers an overview of Anatolian Studies during the 1930s from both archaeological and philological perspectives. The main facts of this momentous years are highlighted by means of the hitherto largely unpublished correspondence of one of the leading scholars of the time: the philologist Albrecht Goetze (1897-1971), who in 1931 was professor of Semitic Languages and Ancient Oriental History at the Philipps-Universität Marburg and in 1933 emigrated to the United States after being dismissed by the Nazi regime, not on racial grounds but because he was deemed politically unreliable.His extensive correspondence, now kept in the Yale University Archives, includes many letters exchanged with leading scholars involved in the research on preclassical Anatolia (among others, Hans Gustav Güterbock). Particular attention will be paid to Goetze's correspondence with the archaeologist Kurt Bittel, who in 1931 was director of excavations at Boğazköy/Ḫattuša and in 1933 was appointed Referent at the Archäologisches Institut des Deutschen Reiches Istanbul. The personal relationship between Goetze and Bittel provides meaningful insights on the different behaviour of two non-Jewish scholars in the field of Anatolian Studies towards the National Socialist regime.

Anne ChengCollège de FranceHistoire intellectuelle de la ChineAnnée 2024-2025Conférence - Naoko Shimazu : Japanese War Diaries from the Russo-Japanese WarWar and Peace: A Global History of Japan, 1904-1943Naoko ShimazuProfessor and Deputy Director, Tokyo CollegeNaoko Shimazu est invitée par l'assemblée du Collège de France sur proposition de la Pr Anne Cheng.RésuméThe Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5 was the first modern warfare of the twentieth century. Japan won the war against Russia which had the largest land army in the world at the time. In this lecture, we focus on the personal war diaries of Japanese conscripts who had been conscripted from all over the country, and mobilised to fight against the Russians in the northeastern provinces of China. Contrary to the official narrative of 'honorable war death' where Japanese soldiers were supposed to have found honour in dying for the country, conscript diaries told entirely different stories. Many of the conscripts came from poor rural areas and were bread winners of their families. They wrote about their profound sadness in leaving their elderly parents back home, and their desire of surviving the war and return without injuries. We also learn about their attitude towards death on battlefields, when they witnessed and engaged in the business of fighting and killing as soldiers. Their diaries reveal the process of brutalisation in war as conscripts became accustomed to seeing death everywhere on battlefield. In all, conscripts diaries offers a rare glimpse into the emotional world of a conscript and how they processed their desftiny of dying for the state. In turn, such an insight enables us to have a better understanding of Japanese attitudes towards death.

Anne ChengCollège de FranceHistoire intellectuelle de la ChineAnnée 2024-2025Conférence - Takahiro Nakajima : Modern Japanese Sinology As an Imperial DiscourseTakahiro Nakajima est invité par l'assemblée du Collège de France sur proposition de la professeure Anne Cheng.RésuméThe Organization of Philosophy as an InstitutionInoue Tetsujirō claimed to have introduced the now widely used distinction between Western and Eastern philosophy in his Congratulatory Address to the 25th-anniversary celebration of Religious Studies at the Faculty of Letters of Tokyo Imperial University in 1930. When the University of Tokyo was founded in 1877, it reorganized Tokyo Kaisei School and established a Faculty of Letters. The faculty was divided into two departments: the first department included history, philosophy, and political science, while the second department covered Japanese and Chinese literature. Chinese and Indian philosophy, categorized as Eastern philosophy, were initially placed within the second department. After multiple restructurings, by 1904, a three-department system of philosophy, history, and literature was established, which remained in place during the Tokyo Imperial University era. Eventually, philosophy was divided into Western philosophy and Eastern philosophy, with the latter further split into Chinese philosophy and Indian philosophy. Today we are focusing on Chinese philosophy.Confucianism as MoralityHattori Unokichi was a leading scholar of Chinese philosophy then. His primary concern was Confucianism, which he argued was not a religion but a system of morality. His perspective was shaped by contemporary developments in China, where Kang Youwei and others sought to establish Kongjiao (Confucian Religion), attempting to redefine Confucianism as a formal religion akin to Christianity. This movement, initiated during the Hundred Days' Reform of 1898 and briefly implemented in the early Republic of China (1910s), aimed to make Confucianism the spiritual foundation of modern China but ultimately failed to gain broad acceptance.Hattori strongly opposed this movement, insisting that Confucianism should remain a moral philosophy devoid of religious elements. He criticized Kang Youwei and his followers for reinterpreting Confucius' statement "I have long prayed" to claim that he engaged in religious prayer. In contrast, Hattori argued that Confucius entirely rejected prayer. According to Hattori, Confucianism—or what he called Kōkyō—was not a religion but a secular ethical system.The Philosophy of EmpireHattori's Kōkyō was a moralized and ethicized version of Confucianism. By redefining Confucianism as philosophy or ethics rather than religion, he argued that it could achieve universal validity. To accomplish this, elements like prayer had to be eliminated. This process would make Confucianism universally acceptable and position Japan as its rightful successor and global advocate, replacing China. Hattori's emphasis on philosophy and ethics in Confucianism was driven by Japan's imperial ambitions, seeking to elevate itself as a leading intellectual and cultural power.Takase Takejirō: Yōmei-ism and the Study of MoziTakase Takejirō, a modern Yangming (Yōmei) scholar, explored the relationship between Mozi and Christianity. He argued that Mozi's teachings closely resembled Christianity, particularly in their advocacy for universal love and opposition to war. During the interwar period between the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, Takase criticized Mozi for promoting ideas similar to Christian pacifism.Criticism of Christianity as a religion had already been intensifying following the Uchimura Kanzō Disrespect Incident of 1891 and the publication of Inoue Tetsujirō's The Conflict Between Education and Religion (Keigyōsha, 1893). In response, Inoue promoted the concept of national morality, emphasizing the necessity of ethics to support the state. Modern Yōmei-ism became a key intellectual discourse supporting this ideology. Takase's critique of Mozi was developed within this broader historical and ideological context.Takase Takejirō: Laozi-Zhuangzi PhilosophyAnother major work by Takase was Laozi-Zhuangzi Philosophy (1909). At that time, European Oriental Studies were grappling with 19th-century scholarly concerns, particularly philology and comparative studies, in their efforts to interpret Eastern texts. A central debate in this field concerned the origins of Laozi: Were they derived from India, the Middle East, or uniquely Chinese?Takase engaged with scholars such as Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat and Pierre Lafitte from France, Robert Douglas from Britain, and Paul Carus from the United States. His work reflected a struggle to position Laozi within global intellectual history.European Orientalists sought to incorporate non-Western traditions into a comprehensible framework, often struggling to reconcile ancient texts with Christian theological concepts. In this context, Laozi presented a challenge due to its antiquity, predating Christian narratives. Takase's work was an attempt to engage with these global debates on the origins and significance of Chinese philosophy.