For a visitor
arriving in 1994, the organization of Parisian research institutions
and resources in the history and philosophy of science appeared as
something of a mystery, meriting a cartographic project. Herewith,
some years later, the results of that project, as modified by Frédéric
Fruteau de Laclos to reflect changes in the intervening years. For complementary information, the reader may consult
the impressive “Guide de l’histoire des sciences”
authored by the French delegation to the XXII International Congress
of the History of Science in Beijing (2005); this document can be
found on the website of the Comité national d’histoire
et de philosophie des sciences (Académie des Sciences), at
http://www.academie-sciences.fr/cnfhps.htm.
Educational and research institutions.
There is a curious order to the multifarious array of French educational
and research institutions,
and this order is best understood in light of the historic French
role in the creation and celebration of the modern state—and
not the modern university. The lasting power of statism is manifest
in the continued elite status of the Grandes Écoles (which
include, for example, the revered École Polytechnique and the
École Normale Supérieure). The
terrific challenge to the State represented by the student-supported uprisings
and strikes of 1968 produced a perfectly statist response: an explosion
of the previously small and overcrowded Université de Paris
into thirteen sprawling institutions. Finally, the French vision of
the unification of the sciences has it that l’État leads
the way: the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) is
the government directorate for research in all manner of academic
disciplines, the researchers of which are organized into literally
hundreds of units in and out of existing university structures. There
are yet other sorts of institutions—public and private—
with an educational mission, and these include museums, libraries,
and archives. The bulk of research per se (particularly in science studies), however,
is done by persons attached to the universities and the CNRS.
Universities and other institutions of higher education.
Université de Paris.
In this vast university system with
numerous departments of philosophy and history, historians of the
philosophy of science tend to be concentrated in a few places.
We find at Paris I-Panthéon-Sorbonne
University
(http://www.univ-paris1.fr)
two relevant research centers, the
« Centre d'histoire des
sciences et des mouvements intellectuels » and
« Centre d'Histoire et Philosophie des Sciences ». The former, which is organized as a research team (Équipe d’Accueil,
or EA, no.1452; http://www.univ-paris1.fr/recherche/ed/ed113_histoire/cr/article3773.html),
was initially lead by Jacques Roger and-under Pietro Corsi’s direction-remains dedicated
to a conceptually-rich history of biology, as well as such themes
as the history of blood and scientific revolutions. It is located
in the Centre Malher of Paris I, located at 9, rue Malher 75004, tel.
01.42.78.33.22. The latter, located at 13, rue du Four, 75006, tel
01.43.54.60.36 or 01.43.54.94.60 (http://www-ihpst.univ-paris1.fr/), was founded in 1932 by the historian
and philosopher of science Abel Rey. In its first managing committee
we find the names of scientists such as Louis de Broglie, Elie Cartan,
Jean Perrin, philosophers such as Etienne Gilson or Alexandre Koyré,
and researchers such as Lucien Febvre or Marcel Mauss. It is now organized
as a doctoral studies unit connected to Paris I and the ENS, as part
of a ‘UFR’ or what would be a ‘department’
in the American context (UFR 10 – Philosophy). It is also a
research unit of the CNRS (see below).
After becoming a Unité Mixte de Recherche of philosophy
of science in 1998 (directed for many years by Philippe de Rouilhan),
it was renamed « Institut
d’Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques » in 2002. Since then, it has
been directed by Jacques Dubucs (UMR 8590). This unit promotes a remarkable
range of HOPOS-related studies, from mathematics to the social sciences
and much in between. There are a great many variously affiliated researchers,
from Paris-I to the CNRS, and the Collège de France (Jacques
Bouveresse) as well. The Histoire et Philosophie des Sciences unit
is particularly active, featuring regular lecture series and frequently
welcoming visiting scholars.
The
Ecole doctorale de philosophie (ED 280) (http://edph.univ-paris1.fr), directed by Jean Gayon, is the only
dedicated to philosophy doctoral unit in Paris I. This unit comprises
all the research centers and the DEA (pre-doctoral advanced studies)
of UFR 10 (philosophy). One of the principles of its research policy
ethos consists in opening up philosophical
research towards physical sciences, law, economics and social sciences.
At
Paris-IV-Sorbonne University, the research team Rationalités
contemporaines (EA 3559) was founded by Pascal Engel and by Alain Renaut in 2000 (http://www.rationalites-contemporaines.paris4.sorbonne.fr/). Directed
by Pascal Engel until 2005 and presently by Alain Renaut, this unit
brings together researcher-teachers (‘enseignants-chercheurs’)
from the Paris-IV philosophy and sociology departments and from many
other universities. This team aims at developing research on topics
concerning nature and the extension and limits of rationality, adopting
a broad and varied approach, chiefly oriented towards contemporary
issues.
At
University Paris-7-Denis Diderot (http://www.sigu7.jussieu.fr), the Centre Georges Canguilhem (http://www.centrecanguilhem.net)
commenced research activities in 2003 and now offers seminars
online. The Centre is
a unit of the « Institut de la Pensée Contemporaine »,
and is located at 2 place Jussieu (75251 Paris cedex 05, tel 01.44.27.63.78).
The director is Dominique Lecourt. The research associated
with the Centre fall within the French tradition of ‘epistemology’.
This tradition, begun by Gaston Bachelard and continued by Georges
Canguilhem, aims at an integrative approach to the history of science
and the philosophy of science.
The University Paris 7 Département « Histoire
et Philosophie des Sciences » brings together research and teaching
activities in the history and philosophy of science. This unit is
a part of the UFR Biology and Natural Sciences and is directed by
Jean-Jacques Szczeciniarz. This unit also maintains strong connections
to the UFR of natural and physical sciences and the UFR of literature.
It is composed of three research teams: « Science et philosophie,
de l'Antiquité à l'âge classique », linked
to the CHSPAM (see below) ; « Histoire et épistémologie,
de l'âge classique à l'époque contemporaine », linked to the
REHSEIS (see below) ; and « Philosophie, sciences et
société », linked to the Centre Georges Canguilhem (see above).
The Ecole Doctorale « Savoirs
Scientifiques », directed by Dominique
Lecourt, joins two units of Paris 7, « Epistémologie
et histoire des sciences »
and « Didactique des disciplines ». The unit « Epistémologie
et histoire des sciences »
comprises the UMR 7596 Paris 7 - CNRS (REHSEIS) (see below), the UPRESA
7062, Paris 7 - CNRS (Centre d’histoire des sciences et des
philosophies arabes et médiévales) (see below), and
the Centre Georges Canguilhem (see above). The unit « Didactique »
comprises
the DIDIREM team (physics education), the LDSP (physics education
laboratory), and the unit of epistemology and geography education
(« Mobilité, Itinéraires et Territoires »).
Finally,
at Paris-X Nanterre University (Bât.
L, 200 avenue de la République,
92001 Nanterre tel 01.40.97.73.53), the
Centre d’Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences
(http://www.u-paris10.fr/14006663/0/fiche_ea373__pagelibre/) is one of three components of a multidisciplinary research team (EA 373, including
the « Centre de philosophie ancienne » and « Centre d'Histoire de la Philosophie
Moderne et contemporaine »).
Created in 1973 by Jacques Merleau-Ponty and
presently directed by Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, this unit gathers
philosophers, historians and sociologists working on the sciences,
logic, and epistemology. This unit advocates strong connections between
the history of science and philosophy—as institutionally manifest
in its affiliation with the CNRS 17th section (‘Philosophy’)
and 72nd section (‘Epistemology, History and
Philosophy of Sciences and Techniques’).
Grandes Écoles
Ecole Normale supérieure
de la rue d’Ulm. Created in 2001 and
directed by Daniel Andler, the Département d’Etudes Cognitives (DEC) of the ENS (http://www.cognition.ens.fr) aims at gathering all teaching and research activities concerning cognition,
inside the ENS and in connected research units. The DEC is dedicated
to developing psychology and cognitive neuroscience on one hand and
theoretical linguistics on the other. This unit is multidisciplinary,
addressing students in the physical sciences as well as in the humanistic
disciplines.
The « Collectif Histoire-Philosophie-Sciences
» (http://www.ens.fr/chps/),
directed by Claude Debru, has two goals.
For one, the Collectif aims to bring together the work and
training of departments of both ‘divisions’ of the ENS. Consequently, the Collectif offers a program of philosophical
training for scientists and, conversely, a program of scientific training
for philosophers. For another, the Collectif attempts to federate
all teaching in history and philosophy of science at the ENS-whether located in the departments
of philosophy and history, the Centre Cavaillès, the laboratory
« Pensée des sciences », or the seminar « Philosophie
et Mathématiques ».
The Unité Mixte des Services
UMS 2264 CAPHES
(Centre d’Archives de Philosophie, d’Histoire et d’Edition
des Sciences) (http://www.ehess.fr/html/html/CEN_1_21.html), extends the work of a previous ENS
research group (UMS 2267 ACTA).
Now located at 29, rue d’Ulm (75005), this unit was earlier
located in the Hôtel de Nevers (12, rue
Colbert), the site in the inter-war period of several prominent scholarly
institutions related to history and philosophy of science. Since its creation in 2000, the UMS 2264, directed
by Michel Blay and managed by Eric Brian, has pursued an orientation
similar to those precedent research entities. This unit’s mission
comprises the development of journals, book collections, and critical
editions in the history and philosophy of sciences, including the
Revue de Synthèse and the Revue d’Histoire des
sciences.
École Polytechnique. Although its central
academic units do not teach history or philosophy of science, the
CREA (see below) is a semi-autonomous research unit within the school
(as well as a CNRS unit; see ‘CNRS’ below) and its library
houses a valuable and fascinating collection of scientific instruments
(see ‘Museums’ below).
Another significant exception is the Ecole des Hautes Études en
Sciences Sociales or EHESS (http://www.ehess.fr/html/html/index.html)
which is housed in the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme or MSH (54 boulevard
Raspail 75006—the site of the old Cherche-Midi military prison).
For reasons of status, the EHESS might not count as a truly Grande
École but then it is difficult to otherwise place the school in the spectrum
of academic institutions. By all other accounts it is a center of
much important research and scholarly accomplishment, not least in
HOPOS-related studies. In the history of sciences unit, seminars in
the past have ranged over the history of the probability calculus
and statistics (directed by Marc Barbut of the EHESS-based Centre
d'Analyse et de Mathématique Sociales or CAMS; see http://www.ehess.fr/centres/cams/semin/barbut_hcps.html), the history and philosophy of mathematics, the history of mechanics,
and the history and historiography of life and earth sciences. Some
seminars are taught by persons attached to the Centre Alexandre-Koyré
(see ‘CNRS’ below). The EHESS also has a ‘philosophy
and epistemology’ unit (‘épistémologie’
in French generally refers to what Anglophones call ‘philosophy
of science’, whereas ‘théorie de la connaissance’
ranges over the theory of knowledge). Recent seminars have covered
the nature of proof, philosophy of biology, philosophy of engineering,
and philosophy of social sciences.
The MSH also hosts several other relevant institutions, including the CNRS-related
Centre Historique de Géométries (tel 01.49.54.22.54),
which now offers a program on « Formalisms, Formes and
Sensibles Data [F2DS] ». In addition, much activity of
the (Continentally-oriented) Collège International de Philosophie
occurs at the MSH.
Collège de France (http://www.college-de-france.fr/). This
institution is rich with HOPOS-related history and has a small archive
(and helpful archivist). Many faculty members have Hopoi-like interests:
Anne Fagot-Largeault offers courses on the « Philosophie
des sciences médicales et biologiques »; Ian Hacking’s
chair is in the « Philosophie et histoire des concepts scientifiques
»; Jacques Bouveresse teaches on « Philosophie du
langage et de la connaissance »; and Philippe Descola’s
work on the « Anthropologie de la nature » concerns
various topics in the history of philosophy of science.
CNRS.
The ‘Human and Social Sciences’ department of the CNRS comprises
units dedicated to history or philosophy of science. Many of these
units are located in Paris, and a good number of them are also affiliated
with other institutions (one central, though not exhaustive, source
of information is http://web-ast.dsi.cnrs.fr/l3c/owa/annuaire.recherche). What follows is a list of the relevant Parisian units, with addresses,
directors, affiliations, subjects researched or taught, and some annotations.
Different
acronyms designate different levels of CNRS organization, e.g. GDR
(Groupement de Recherche), UMR (Unité Mixte de Recherche),
and UPR (Unité Propre de Recherche). A useful and exhaustive guide to French laboratories
in the history of science and engineering can be found at http://www.academie-sciences.fr/comites/pdf/cnfhps_Pekin.pdf.
Centre Alexandre-Koyré
(UMR 48)
Museum National d’Histoire
Naturelle, Pavillon Chevreul, 57 rue Cuvier, 75231 Paris Cedex 05;
tel 01.43.36.70.69; http://www.koyre.cnrs.fr/
Director: Dominique Pestre |
Affiliations: EHESS, MNHN
History and philosophy of science. This Centre, tucked away in a tiny,
hard to find building on the campus of the MNHN, is a beehive of activity.
Their wide array of seminars (typically sponsored jointly with other
institutions like the CAMS or UPR 21) covers, for example, the development
of scientific knowledge, the history of life and social sciences,
and the history of science teaching. There is also a monthly colloquium
on varying methods and traditions in the historiography of science.
The Centre A-Koyré has a wonderful little library (tel. 01.43.36.70.69),
which has the same requirements for visitors as the parent library
of the MNHN (see ‘Libraries’ below).
Centre de Recherche en Épistémologie
Appliquée (CREA) (UMR 7656)
Director: Jean Petitot | Affiliation:
École Polytechnique
Analytic philosophy of mind, language, and social, natural, and cognitive
sciences. An important locus of research in philosophy of science—though,
hélas, not with a historical focus.
Centre d’Histoire des
Sciences et des Philosophies Arabes et Médiévales (UMR 7062)
Centre d’Histoire des
Sciences et des Doctrines, B. P. 8, Bâtiment C, Rez-de-chaussée,
7 rue Guy Môquet, 94801 Villejuif; tel 01.49.58.35.99; http://chspam.vjf.cnrs.fr/ (Métro
7 direction Villejuif Louis Aragon)
Director: Régis Morelon
| Affiliations: École Pratique des Hautes Études, Université
Paris 7
Medieval and Arabic history and philosophy of science.
Centre de Documentation d’Histoire
des Techniques (CDHT) (UPR 21)
Director: André Guillerme
| Affiliations: UPR21, CNAM, EHESS
History of engineering. This unit shares the CNRS designation UPR 21 with
the LHST (despite having neither any CNRS researchers on staff nor
any common research area). In
addition to documenting the history of the CNAM, the researchers here pursue
projects in the general history of engineering and supervise doctoral
studies.
Institut d’Histoire
et de Philosophie des sciences et des techniques
(IHPST) (UMR 8590)
13, rue du Four 75006; tel 01.43.54.60.36 or 01.43.54.94.60
Director: Jacques Dubucs | Affiliations: Paris I and ENS (see above)
History and philosophy of science.
Recherches Épistemologiques
et Historiques sur les Sciences Exactes et les Institutions Scientifiques
(REHSEIS) (UPR 318)
Université Paris 7-Centre
Javelot, 2, place Jussieu, 75251 Paris cedex 05; tel 01.44.27.86.46
or 01.44.27.99.57; www.rehseis.cnrs.fr
Director: Karine Chemla | Affiliation:
Université Paris 7
History and philosophy of science. This past year, this unit became affiliated
with the Geography, History, and Social Science Department at Jussieu
(Paris VII), and so changed classification to become a ‘mixed’
CNRS/university unit, or ‘UMR’. The CNRS listings indeed
identify such a unit in the logical place of REHSEIS, namely, « Recherches
d'Histoire, d'Épistemologie et de Philosophie des Sciences » (REHPSCI;
UMR 7596). But REHSEIS has shown no sign of changing its name (see
the website).
Scholarly societies.
The
Société d’Histoire et d’Epistemologie
des Sciences de la Vie (http://www.bium.univ-paris5.fr/shesvie) is a place of discussion, study and
innovation for those interested in the life sciences and aspects of their historical development-particularly teachers,
researchers in biological and medical sciences, and students. From
its foundation in 1993, this society has maintained an international
profile.
Created in 1986, the Société
Française pour l’Histoire des Sciences de l’Homme (http://www.bium.univ-paris5.fr/sfhsh)
coordinates and promotes studies relative to the history and the epistemology
of the human, anthropological, medical and social sciences.
The Société Française d’Histoire des Sciences et
des Techniques (http://histsciences.univ-paris1.fr/sfhst/) was created in 1980. Its president is Bernard Joly. This society coordinates and promotes studies in the history of science and engineering.
It is located at the fondation « Pour la science », ENS Paris.
Museums.
Paris does not lack for science museums, learning centers, and curated
collections attached to its august scientific institutions. Here are
well-known highlights of science history tourism plus a few sights
off the beaten track:
Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie
This stunning complex is a science museum and discovery center intertwined.
The interactive
exhibits are generally successful, but from a historical perspective the
exhibit on the history of computing may be most impressive.
Conservatoire National des
Arts et Métiers (CNAM)
The museum (along with the whole Conservatoire) has been slowly restored
and renovated, and reopened in the summer of 1999.
École Polytechnique Bibliothèque
Centrale
La Maison d'Auguste Comte
10, rue Monsieur-le-Prince 75006 ; tel.
01.43.26.08.56, http://www.augustecomte.org/
The international Association Auguste Comte was
created in 1954, thanks to Paulo Carneiro, a Brazilian researcher
and UNESCO ambassador. This association aims to conserve the material
heritage (consisting in the apartments where Auguste Comte lived from
1841 to 1857 and all his furniture and books), and to make available
to researchers the archives bequeathed by the philosopher and his
positivist disciples. Various
Hopoi researchers participate in their colloquia on positivism and
Auguste Comte. To visit
the museum, open from Monday to Friday, call 01.43.26.08.56 or write
to augustecomte@wanadoo.fr.
Musée de l’Assistance
Publique Hôpitaux de Paris
This museum records the history of Paris’s public hospitals, from
medieval times through the present.
Musée de l’Institut
Pasteur
3, boulevard Raymond Poincaré
and 3, avenue Pasteur 92430 Marnes-La-Coquette
(SNCF from Gare St Lazare to Garches/Marnes-La-Coquette, or Métro
10 to
The museum of the Institut Pasteur is not located at the Institut itself (25, rue du Docteur Roux 75015)! It is nevertheless
worth a trip to the banlieues (suburbs)
to see the place
initially given over to Pasteur to provide a quiet place to pursue his
battle against rabies. This suburban museum now traces the history
of the medical struggle to conquer infectious disease from Pasteur’s
day through the present. Historians with research objectives
are advised to contact the documentation services back in Paris (tel 01.45.68.82.82).
Musée d’Histoire
de la Médecine
This museum features a collection of surgical instruments.
Museum National d’Histoire
Naturelle (MNHN)
The Grande Galerie de l’Évolution was reopened after an exquisite
renovation in
1995, and is as lovely a natural history museum as one can see.
L’Observatoire de Paris
The Paris Observatory is open for public viewing only one day a month (the
first Saturday, at 2:30 pm)—upon prior written request! The
average waiting period is three months, so it is highly advised to
plan ahead. To gain this special entry, one must write to the « Service
des Relations Extérieures de l’Observatoire de Paris
» and include a self-addressed stamped envelope
(IRCs will probably suffice in lieu of French postage). To visit the
far more modern facilities at the Observatory at Meudon as well, one
must write separately (5, place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon). This
site holds great fascination as Claude Perrault’s (1667) architectural
tribute to the compass, and the institutional home of Laplace,
Delambre, Arago, and Le Verrier.
Palais de la Découverte
The Palais de la Decouverte survived the opening of the ultra-modern Cité
des Sciences et de l’Industrie, and this older cousin of the
Parc de la Villette ‘discovery center’ is still worth
a visit. Some exhibits—particularly in the physical sciences—compare
quite favorably on a pedagogical scale, even if they lack a bit of
the Cité’s pizazz. Young visitors may in fact benefit
from the less cluttered and busy environment.
Libraries and archives.
Paris has numerous wonderful libraries and archives but they are often
plagued by failure to adequately address the primary challenges of
information science: organization and access. A major coup for the
cause of public access has been achieved by the opening of the Bibliothèque
national de France (Quai François Mauriac, 75706 Paris Cedex 13, tel 01.53.79.59.59).
A pilgrimage to the old BN site (58, rue de Richelieu 75002) will
be possible only if you need to work on maps, plans, prints, photographs,
coins, medals, manuscripts, or materials on music or the performing
arts. You can tell in advance which site you need to visit by looking
up the works first on the BnF webpage (http://www.bnf.fr; and more precisely the online catalogue at http://catalogue.bnf.fr/). Entry requires
proof of researcher status, so it is a good idea to make a regular
practice of carrying around important (or at least important-looking)
papers testifying to such standing and research needs. One no longer
needs little photos for reader’s cards (the library staff create
digital photos). A couple of days’ entry (the “Carte 2
jours”) costs an astonishing ¤ 41⁄2, a two weeks
pass (the “Carte 15 jours”) costs ¤ 30 (half for students), and an annual pass
(“Carte annuelle”) ¤
46 (half for students)! The
BnF also offers the very rich Gallica repository
of digitized books and journals out of copyright, available at http://gallica.bnf.fr.
Bibliothèque Mazarine
For infrequent visitors, the Mazarine requires a Carte d’Entrée
which is valid for 6 sittings over 6 months; otherwise, researchers
can obtain a long-term Laissez-Passer. The library has an appreciable
elegance and general quiet, and it is a generally nice place to read
or write even if one has exhausted its many bibliographic riches.
Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève
The BSG, as it is known, was designed by Henri Labrouste and is accordingly
yet another lovely place to study. This beauty has not escaped public
attention though, and the library’s main reading room is generally
quite full, primarily with students from the nearby Sorbonne schools
(Paris I and IV). It is crucial that one arrives as early as possible
(10 am, Monday through Saturday) or else the wait for a seat may seem
interminable (as was true at the old
BN). One must first register in order to enter, and receipt of a “Carte
de Lecteur” requires one piece of ID (bring something impressive,
such as a passport) and a small photograph for the card. The BSG also
offers a higher-status “Carte d’Accès Privilégié”,
for which documentation must be presented indicating that one merits
greater privilege. The holdings are supposed to be completely incorporated
into the BnF electronic catalogue but experience suggests that this
is sometimes not so. Their card catalogue (catalogues manuels) still
stands, in any case (http://www-bsg.univ-paris1.fr/catalogues/manuels.htm).
Bibliothèque du Museum
National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN)
There are entrances to this beautifully-redesigned library from the street-side
and from the Jardin des Plantes. It may be preferable to stroll through
one of the world’s best maintained public gardens, past the
statues of Buffon and Lamarck but the approach from rue Geoffroy Saint
Hilaire works just as well (and runs by the gorgeous Institut du Monde
Arabe and Mosqué). This library is generally underutilized
(a terrible fact to advertise) which may have something to do with
the rather prompt service. The librarians are also quite pleasant
and eager to help. The holdings include items from the seventeenth
century onwards. Acquisition of a ‘Laissez-Passer’ requires
the typical documentation of researcher or student status and identification.
Archives de l’Académie
des Sciences
A useful guide to this and other
archival sources is Eric Brian and Christiane Demeulenaere-Douyère
(eds.), Histoire et Mémoire de l’Académie des
Sciences: Guide des Recherches, Paris and London: TEC & DOC
Lavoisier, 1996.
Médiathèque
scientifique de l’Institut Pasteur
Bibliothèque de l’Observatoire
de Paris
Médiathèque
Spécialisée, Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie.
Many of the aforementioned CNRS units have libraries which can be used
by visiting researchers, and several of these libraries can be searched
through a single online
Bookstores.
Most Hopoi are bibliophiles, stricken by that passion for books which generally
though not universally includes the desire to cart them away. If libraries
and archives are great places to visit bibliographic treasures, bookstores
are great places to invite slightly lesser treasures to cohabitation.
Here are some places to make romantic encounters of the second sort,
with HOPOS-related books: Paris is still home to many, many used and
antique bookstores. Among those with significant collections in history,
science, or philosophy are:
La Boutique de l’Histoire
(*history; 24, rue des Écoles
75005; tel 01.46.34.03.36; http://bhistoire.com/ )
Librairie Benelli (history and science; 244, rue
Saint-Jacques 75005; tel 01.46.33.73.51)
Librairie Florence de Chastenay
(alchemy;
76, rue Gay-Lussac 75005, tel 01.43.54.05.78)
Librairie Maille (* science and medicine; 3 rue
Dante 75005; tel 01.43.25.51.73)
Librairie J. Vrin (* philosophy; 6, place de la
Sorbonne 75005; tel 01.43.54.03.47 and 01.43.54.32.75; http://www.vrin.fr)
Librairie À la 42e
Ligne (social sciences and medicine;
24, rue de Fleurus 75006; tel 01.45.49.47.17 and 01.45.49.48.18)
Librairie Thomas-Scheler
(science and medicine; 19, rue
de Tournon 75006; tel 01.43.26.97.69)
Librairie Albert Blanchard
(*science,
medicine, engineering, and math; 9, rue de Médicis 75006; tel
01.43.26.90.34 ; http://www.blanchard75.fr/)
Librairie Alain Brieux (* sciences, engineering, and
medicine; 48, rue Jacob 75006; tel 01.42.60.21.98)
Librairie René Cluzel
(science; 61, rue de Vaugirard
75006; tel 01.42.22.38.71)
Librairie Paul Jammes (science; 3, rue Gozlin 75006;
tel 01.43.26.47.71)
Librairie Lepert-Scheler
(science; 42, rue Jacob 75006;
tel
L’Intersigne (ancient science, medicine,
esoterism; 66, rue du Cherche-Midi 75006; tel
Librairie Chamonal (science and medicine;
5, rue Drouot 75009; tel 01.47.70.84.87)
Librairie Clio (*history, 38, avenue Villemain 75014 tel
01.45.41.59.20)
This list is organized in typical Parisian fashion, by arrondissement,
which helps pick out the relevant parts of town for the road-weary.
An asterisk indicates that these are the primary specializations of
the bookstore. Visitors
to Paris who are also interested in other subject matters are highly
advised to pay a visit to the web site of SLAM (Syndicat National
de la Librairie Ancienne et Moderne; http://www.franceantiq.fr/slam with links to seven other national antiquarian bookseller groups (‘guilds’
seems more appropriate here) before travelling.
There is less choice—or perhaps just less wandering in search of
the unfindable—among bookstores for new books. For new science
books, there is no better than Eyrolles [perhaps most like NYC’s McGraw-Hill bookstore,
which is to say best at applied science in particular]
(55-61 Boulevard Saint Germain 75005; tel 01.44.41.11.74; http://www.eyrolles.fr) though it is also worth a visit to Éditions Jacques Gabay (151bis, rue Saint-Jacques, 75005 ; tel 01.43.54.64.64 ; http://www.gabay.com/). As far as philosophy
pur et dur is concerned, there is decent browsing at
Gibert Jeune (Place Saint Michel 75005 ; http://www.gibertjeune.fr/) and Gibert
Joseph (26-30-32 Boulevard St. Michel 75006 ; http://gibertjoseph.com/) but the largest selection is to be found at the deservedly famous J.
Vrin (6, place de la Sorbonne 75005).
Journals.
There is nothing particularly Parisian about the relevant French journals
except that, as with much else in French life, the center of activity
is in the capital. A French journal which is of greatest interest
to Hopoi is the Revue d’Histoire des Sciences, edited
by Michel Blay (CNRS, Paris) et Jean Gayon (Université de Paris-I).
Further information can be obtained at http://www.puf.com/Collection.aspx?collection_id=000253. Another
journal of particular interest is the Cahiers d’Histoire
et de Philosophie des Sciences,
Other.
There are naturally
many other resources to discover.
These include:
· The listserv Theuth resides on a server at Rennes University and features
discussions of history and philosophy of science. The website, at
http://theuth.univ-rennes1.fr/theuth.html,
provides a CV for numerous list participants.
· Books of HOPOS relevance are occasionally reviewed in Le Magazine Littéraire
· Those interested in paying homage to
historical figures may care to visit their present day homes in Cimetière
du Saint-Étienne-du-Mont (Blaise Pascal), Cimetière
du Père Lachaise (François
Arago, Claude Bernard, F-M Xavier Bichat, Auguste Comte, George Cuvier, Jean- Baptiste-Joseph Delambre, Louis-Joseph
Gay-Lussac, Pierre-Simon
Laplace, Etienne Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, and Claude de Saint-Simon), the
Cimetière
du Montparnasse (Mirko Grmek and Henri Poincaré), the Cimetière
Montmartre (Léon Foucault), or the Panthéon (Jean-Jacques
Rousseau, Marcelin Berthelot, Paul Langevin, Jean Perrin, and Marie
and Pierre Curie).
Saul Fisher
Revised and updated by Frédéric Fruteau
de Laclos
