The present paper ponders – mainly through Theophrastus’ De sensibus – the encephalocentric and cardiocentric standpoints adopted by four “pre-Socraticµ philosophers, namely Alcmaeon of Croton and Diogenes of Apollonia, on the one hand, and Empedocles of Agrigentum and Philolaus of Croton on the other. Their insights paved the way for a fruitful – though unsolved – debate about the physiological preeminence of one part-organ-function with respect to all others, centuries before Alexandrian physicians succeeded in drawing a distinction between arteries, veins and nerves (by “peeling the body off"

The main aim of this article is to examine Franciscus Hemsterhuis’ Lettre sur une pierre antique (1762) in the light of Caylus’ Recueil d’Antiquités (1752-1767). This comparison is intended to show the assimilation of scientific criteria in Hemsterhuis’ “inspection" of an ancient gem, highlighting the intersection between erudite and critical concerns in the study of antiquities.

A sceptical philosopher and long-time professor of politics at the London School of Economics, Michael Oakeshott always showed particular interest in education and teaching as fundamental aspects of human life and conduct. His ideas on these issues, while appearing nostalgic at times, are really “subversiveµ and unconventional, precisely to the extent that the “sceptical humanismµ which distinguishes them is the opposite of teaching exclusively envisaged as the transmission of “technicalµ and utilitarian knowledge. In the first part of the paper, I try to demonstrate the genuine nature of Oakeshott’s scepticism, nurtured by a close relationship between the English philosopher and the tradition of ancient and modern scepticism, via Hobbes and, above all, Montaigne. Using Oakeshott’s own words as much as possible, the second part examines this attitude or philosophical impulse at work

Setting out from an engagement with François Jullien’s philosophical perspective, the paper proposes a reassessment of the relationship between the two notions of “floating attentionµ and metis. These are seen to reflect two possible functional articulations of an idea of “attention" – conceived of as the interest in understanding things – that are conceptually distinct yet virtually related on the operative level. In this perspective, the article shows how, in both cases, what is at stake is the human being’s ability to take up the challenge of sense-perception, by making his encounter with the sensible an occasion for the liberation of the possible.

This short essay aims to discuss the spread of the “right to philosophy" to all students. The teaching of philosophy in all upper secondary schools is considered necessary. This contribution is intended to retrace the various stages of a philosophy project carried out in a vocational school, so as to present an operational proposal to make this kind of teaching available in schools that do not usually provide it.