Reflection on Concepts in the Human Sciences

• Date: 31 mars 2026, 7 avril 2026 & 16 octobre 2025
• Heure: 14h00
• Lieu: Room C-8132, Lionel-Groulx building, Université de Montréal
• Intervenant: Pierre Lévy, Member of Canada's Royal Society, Research Associate at the Digital Writing Lab of the University of Montreal.
• Lien: https://bbb.futuretic.fr/rooms/n2i-uak-apk-luv/join

On March 31, April 7, and April 16, 2026, Pierre Lévy will deliver a series of lectures on the role of concepts in the human sciences.

Description

We can neither think nor speak without conceptualizing, without using “categories.” Critical reflection on the concepts we use is what distinguishes philosophical and scientific activities. This three-session seminar introduces a reflection on the concepts of the human sciences. Starting from the idea that concepts are intellectual tools rather than fixed realities independent of practical contexts, what criteria allow us to distinguish “good” concepts from “bad” ones? According to William of Ockham, the fewer concepts we have in our toolbox, the better our theories will be. From an empiricist perspective, the best concepts are those that account for the richness of experience while leaving as little unexplained as possible. Without dismissing these classical criteria, I will argue for a heuristic approach: the best systems of concepts are (also) those that suggest new observations, help illuminate our intellectual blind spots, and open up interpretive possibilities rather than closing them.

Schedule

Tuesday, March 31 at 2:00 PM

The first session will be devoted, first, to defining concepts, and then to reviewing the classical questions concerning the relationships between words and concepts, between individuals and concepts, and among concepts themselves (networks of concepts). I will then revisit the major issues concerning the origin of concepts (innate or acquired) and their nature (the famous problem of universals opposing realists and nominalists). I will conclude by addressing the enigma of the first concepts, from which others can be derived.

Tuesday, April 7 at 2:00 PM

During the second session, I will analyze several key concepts in the human sciences, starting with those organized around the triad: sign / interpretant / referent. I will highlight the ambiguities and richness of concepts such as reflective thought, language, memory, society, affect, world, truth, life, and space. Drawing on examples from the history of ideas, we will see that each of these can structure a systematic understanding of human beings.

Thursday, April 16 at 2:00 PM

The third session will build on the results of the second by proposing a range of ideal types of technical functions that could help us—heuristically and critically—better understand contemporary societies. These include: the interface, the medium, the container, the gift, the toy, fire, the measuring instrument, the organ, and the node. If time permits, I will extend my analysis to semiotic and social functions.