Après une présentation des découvertes scientifiques de Monod en matière de biologie moléculaire, en particulier les gènes régulateurs dans l’opéron et l’allostérie, puis l’exposé de l’interprétation philosophique de Monod sur ces apports scientifiques, par la mise en avant des principes du hasard et de la nécessité, nous tentons de tirer au clair ce qui, chez Monod, relève du matérialisme scientifique proprement dit, car relevant d’un principe méthodologique de stricte objectivité, et ce qui relève de choix métaphysique. Cette distinction est fondamentale car il faut montrer que le matérialisme scientifique n’est pas exclusif de toute métaphysique. Il peut contribuer, au contraire, à manifester la pertinence d’un certain niveau d’analyse qui, loin d’exclure d’autres niveaux d’analyse, les permet. Ceci répond à l’exigence d’opérer les distinctions nécessaires pour mettre chaque investigation rationnelle à sa place, sans confusion ou empiétement des niveaux de recherche. / First, we give a presentation of Monod's scientific discoveries as regards molecular biology, particularly the regulator genes in operon and allostery. Then we will present Monod's philosophical interpretation concerning those scientific contributions by the setting in front of the principles of the chance and necessity. We try to draw with light what depends on strict scientific materialism because depending on a methodological principle of strict objectivity, and what depends of metaphysical choice. That distinction is fundamental because it has to be shown that the scientific materialism is not exclusive from any metaphysics. On the contrary, it can contribute to manifest the pertinence of a certain level of analysis which, far from excluding other levels of analysis, do allow them. In that way, we answer to the necessity of right distinctions in order to place each investigation at its right place without any confusion nor overlapping of the levels of research.

Revelation is God's Word addressed to the human being and so speaks of God in relation to the person and the world. Revelation can therefore only be fully understood, proclaimed and lived through an encounter with the world and its conceptions. To understand the evolution of human consciousness and the creation of the soul, we look to the sources of revelation (scripture and tradition) in dialogue with secular anthropology. The latter's paradigm of development and growth is not foreign to the former's understanding of conversion and growth in grace . The image of God, which characterises the human person, is shown to be an emergent likeness, which is created and drawn to its fullness by God. This accounts for Pius XII' s insistence that the soul is created immediately by God, who is responsible for the physical dynamics that bring forth consciousness and the personal dynamics that empower the human soul to develop. / Philosophy Practical &Systematic Theology / M.Th (Systematic Theology)

Revelation is God's Word addressed to the human being and so speaks of God in relation to the person and the world. Revelation can therefore only be fully understood, proclaimed and lived through an encounter with the world and its conceptions. To understand the evolution of human consciousness and the creation of the soul, we look to the sources of revelation (scripture and tradition) in dialogue with secular anthropology. The latter's paradigm of development and growth is not foreign to the former's understanding of conversion and growth in grace . The image of God, which characterises the human person, is shown to be an emergent likeness, which is created and drawn to its fullness by God. This accounts for Pius XII' s insistence that the soul is created immediately by God, who is responsible for the physical dynamics that bring forth consciousness and the personal dynamics that empower the human soul to develop. / Philosophy Practical andSystematic Theology / M.Th (Systematic Theology)

One of the central questions in political theory deals with the nature of rights. What sorts of rights do people possess? How are these rights justified? How ought these rights be reflected and related when seen in political, economic, and social institutions? Following the publication of John Rawls' A Theory of Justice (1971) and Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974), rights have once again returned to dominate much of contemporary political theory. However, natural law, which was the historical basis of the early Enlightenment theories of rights, is no longer the primary system appealed to when discussing rights. In fact, classical natural law has been all but discarded in most of political theory today. There has also been renewed debate over the nature of public neutrality, and what the relationship ought to be between the public and private sphere. The mainstream view of how our liberties relate to our rights, as well as what kinds of rights we have over our private affairs, has come under fire from a newly emerging political philosophy known as communitarianism. This thesis will present a robust theory of rights that provides a new understanding of the relationship between positive and negative rights through a defense of classical natural law as an ethical foundation for political theory. It will side with the communitarian critics of public neutrality, and offer a practical method of determining when the state is justified in limiting private liberties due to public interest.