L’identification d’une substance naturelle, produite par un organisme vivant n’est que l’une des toutes premières étapes du développement d’un nouveau médicament. Beaucoup de molécules à visée thérapeutique développées par des sociétés pharmaceutiques ont en fait été découvertes dans des laboratoires académiques. C’est toujours un continuum de la recherche fondamentale vers la recherche appliquée, souvent de la recherche publique vers la recherche privée, qui aboutit à la mise au point d’un médicament. Leur fabrication, directement à partir de substances naturelles, pose fréquemment le problème de l’approvisionnement en matière première. De nombreuses équipes du monde entier se heurtent aux difficultés de synthèse de ces molécules naturelles complexes. Ce travail de thèse retrace l’histoire des travaux majeurs sur la recherche de molécules naturelles d’intérêt médical à travers les succès et les échecs de chercheurs ayant mis leur énergie, leur imagination, leur ténacité et leur patience au service de la science pour surmonter les obstacles et découvrir de nouvelles molécules de grand intérêt thérapeutique. Elle présente également un travail complémentaire de mise au point d’une base de données regroupant un certain nombre de plantes utiles dans la lutte contre le cancer dans le cadre d’un projet de vulgarisation scientifique. La discussion est consacrée à la question de la place du hasard dans les découvertes scientifiques à travers l'exemple de Pierre Potier. / Identifying a natural substance produced by a living organism is only one of the very first steps towards the development of a new drug. Many molecules which were aimed at therapeutic goals and developed by pharmaceutical companies have in fact been discovered in academic research laboratories. The elaboration of a new drug is always a continuum from basic research toward applied research, and often from public research toward private research. Making these drugs straight from natural substances frequently confronts us with the problem of finding the raw materials. Numerous teams all over the world are facing the difficulties linked to the synthesis of these complex natural molecules.This PhD thesis relates the story of the milestones in the research of natural molecules for medicine through the successes and failures of scientists who put their energy, imagination, tenacity and patience into Science in order to overcome obstacles and discover new molecules for therapeutic use.It also presents a complementary work which consists in developing a database of useful plants in cancer fighting as part of a project of scientific vulgarisation. The discussion is about the part of chance in scientific discovery through the example of Pierre Potier.

A discussão contemporânea sobre a organização de uma sociedade política que estabeleça princípios normativos visando à legitimação do Estado de direito está no epicentro da fundamentação das teorias de democracia deliberativa. Assim, indagaremos sobre a estruturação de mecanismos constitucionais que possibilitem o exercício dos direitos políticos para a formação da opinião pública. A tese a ser defendida é que há pontos problemáticos na teoria deliberativa de Habermas que dificultam a sua aplicação na práxis social. O que observamos é a necessidade do estabelecimento de mecanismos para a defesa dos cidadãos perante a forma instrumental por meio da qual os sistemas sociais operam na sociedade capitalista tardia. Por isso, com o auxílio da teoria de democracia contestatória e a concepção de liberdade republicana, apresentadas por Pettit, almejamos salvaguardar os princípios discursivos da teoria habermasiana de democracia e, ao mesmo tempo, possibilitar uma ampliação no processo de reconstrução normativa e discursiva do Estado democrático de direito. A teoria republicana de liberdade como não-dominação nos oferece um estratagema para escapar da aporia na qual as teorias contemporâneas de democracia deliberativa encontram-se aprisionadas, em particular, no que se refere à finalidade de equilibrar a força de legitimação do poder comunicativo e a sua influência na formatação do aparelho administrativo-estatal. / The contemporary discussion on the organization of a political society to establish normative principles aimed at legitimizing the rule of law is at the epicenter of the grounds of deliberative democracy theories. Therefore, we inquire on structuring constitutional mechanisms that enable the exercise of political rights for the formation of public opinion. The thesis to be defended is that there are trouble spots in the deliberative theory of Habermas that hinder their implementation in social praxis. What we observe is the need to establish mechanisms for the protection of citizens before the instrumental means by which social system operate in late capitalist society. Therefore, with the help of contestatory democracy theory and the design of republican liberty, presented by Pettit, we aim to safeguard the discursive principles of Habermas\' theory of democracy and at the same time, enabling an expansion in the process of normative and discursive reconstruction of the democratic state of law. The republican theory of freedom as non-domination gives us a ploy to escape quandary in which contemporary theories of deliberative democratic are trapped in particular as regards the purpose of balancing the legitimacy under power communicative and their influence in shaping the administrative-state apparatus.

A discussão contemporânea sobre a organização de uma sociedade política que estabeleça princípios normativos visando à legitimação do Estado de direito está no epicentro da fundamentação das teorias de democracia deliberativa. Assim, indagaremos sobre a estruturação de mecanismos constitucionais que possibilitem o exercício dos direitos políticos para a formação da opinião pública. A tese a ser defendida é que há pontos problemáticos na teoria deliberativa de Habermas que dificultam a sua aplicação na práxis social. O que observamos é a necessidade do estabelecimento de mecanismos para a defesa dos cidadãos perante a forma instrumental por meio da qual os sistemas sociais operam na sociedade capitalista tardia. Por isso, com o auxílio da teoria de democracia contestatória e a concepção de liberdade republicana, apresentadas por Pettit, almejamos salvaguardar os princípios discursivos da teoria habermasiana de democracia e, ao mesmo tempo, possibilitar uma ampliação no processo de reconstrução normativa e discursiva do Estado democrático de direito. A teoria republicana de liberdade como não-dominação nos oferece um estratagema para escapar da aporia na qual as teorias contemporâneas de democracia deliberativa encontram-se aprisionadas, em particular, no que se refere à finalidade de equilibrar a força de legitimação do poder comunicativo e a sua influência na formatação do aparelho administrativo-estatal. / The contemporary discussion on the organization of a political society to establish normative principles aimed at legitimizing the rule of law is at the epicenter of the grounds of deliberative democracy theories. Therefore, we inquire on structuring constitutional mechanisms that enable the exercise of political rights for the formation of public opinion. The thesis to be defended is that there are trouble spots in the deliberative theory of Habermas that hinder their implementation in social praxis. What we observe is the need to establish mechanisms for the protection of citizens before the instrumental means by which social system operate in late capitalist society. Therefore, with the help of contestatory democracy theory and the design of republican liberty, presented by Pettit, we aim to safeguard the discursive principles of Habermas\' theory of democracy and at the same time, enabling an expansion in the process of normative and discursive reconstruction of the democratic state of law. The republican theory of freedom as non-domination gives us a ploy to escape quandary in which contemporary theories of deliberative democratic are trapped in particular as regards the purpose of balancing the legitimacy under power communicative and their influence in shaping the administrative-state apparatus.

No description available.

Philip Pettit claims his neorepublican theory of freedom as non-domination is preferable to the liberal ideal of non-interference, and he is right. But the reasons why he is right run deeper than is apparent if we attend solely to his arguments defending non-domination in negative terms. In fact, embedded in the three benefits that Pettit claims non-domination can offer (which non-interference cannot) lie significant resonances with a positive idea of freedom concerned with a person’s sense of agency. We find such an idea in Charles Taylor, where freedom as self-realization is intricately linked with his “significance view” of human agency. By adopting this Taylorian lens and assessing Pettit’s non-domination, I show that non-domination does have much to offer those of us who think of freedom primarily in positive terms and, more generally, to all those of us who believe that freedom and agency are inextricably linked and must be treated as such.

In this essay I discuss if groups can be morally responsible agents over and above the responsibility of their individual members. I consider an important collectivist theory given by List and Pettit arguing that groups can be responsible over its members. I offer some desiderata that a collectivist theory should fulfil and argue that the List and Pettit theory fail to fulfil some of these. Primarily I argue that their theory could come into conflict with a basic ethical and legal principle and that it fails to give a unified account of agency. I draw two conclusions. First, the List and Pettit theory fails to provide a satisfactory collectivist account. And second, a satisfactory collectivist theory ought to give a unified account of agency explaining how the agency side and normative side of responsible group agents fit together.

L’équité est un concept large dont la signification et la richesse conceptuelle ont évolué temporellement au sein de la théorie du droit et de la théorie politique. Au travers d’une histoire de l’équité, partant de la conception d’Aristote jusqu’aux juristes réalistes américains, ce mémoire analyse et explique la transformation graduelle de ce concept dans le droit, dont la place fut tantôt au centre des réflexions autour de la justice, tantôt minimisée, voire écartée, mais jamais complètement supprimée. Nous fondant sur cette riche histoire de l’équité, nous reconnectons ce concept phare de la théorie du droit à une réception de celui-ci au sein de la théorie politique. Pour ce faire, nous mobilisons la théorie de la liberté comme non-domination de Philip Pettit comme le cadre d’une pratique contemporaine de l’équité, au travers de la jurisprudence de la Cour suprême du Canada sur l’équité procédurale. / The concept of “equity” is vast, and its meaning and depth have dramatically evolved over time within the political and legal theory fields. This thesis offers a history of the concept of equity, starting from Aristotle’s conception of justice and equity to the American legal realist movement. On that basis, this thesis analyzes and explains the reasons why such a gradual transformation of this concept happened and, therefore, how the role of equity changed from being at the centre of theories of justice and law to being minimized, almost excluded from the sphere of legal theory, but never completely suppressed. Drawing on this rich history of equity, we reconnect this key concept of legal theory with its reception in political theory. In that regard, we offer an account of Philip Pettit’s theory of freedom as non-domination understood as the framework for the contemporary practice of equity, notably through the example of the case law of the Supreme Court of Canada on procedural fairness.

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No description available.

This dissertation argues that we need to reconceive our notions of economic freedom to be bothmore inclusive and worker-centric. The status quo of economic freedom is dominated by the libertarian perspective, which envisions economic freedom as a matter of individuals being unrestricted in the exercise of their sovereign capacities, especially with regards to the state. Such a view of economic freedom does not account for how individual capacities are made possible, neglecting that in modern economic life, it is only through non-sovereign dependencies on others that makes individual economic capacities substantive. Additionally, outcry against injustices in American economic life is primarily framed through the lens of inequality, which too quickly concedes freedom to the libertarian perspective. Chapter one articulates a critique of three libertarian perspectives, arguing that each in its own way is too closely tied to a sovereigntist view of individual capacity, and as such is incapable of offering a more inclusive conception of economic freedom. Chapter two examines the recent neo-republican resurgence, arguing that Philip Pettit’s revival of freedom as non-domination neglects to account for its own logical and practical assumption on a polity that is bounded and stable, making it less credible as a politics of inclusion. The chapter also extends this critique to Alex Gourevitch’s labor republicanism, arguing that casting freedom as non-domination in a more working class mold is insufficient to eliminate its reliance on exclusionary boundaries. Chapter three draws from recent care theory to argue that we should conceive of economic freedom as the enabling conditions of economic agency, which are made possible only through dependencies on others. But even if such dependencies are universally necessary, they are not experienced in an equitable way. The more privileged tend to be in a position to enjoy access to such enabling conditions, which the work of the less privileged makes possible. Transforming economic freedom into a more inclusive value means properly recognizing such contributions. Chapter four examines two case studies from American labor history: garment workers in the early twentieth century, and the more contemporary Los Deliveristas Unidos, who represent delivery cyclists in New York City.