Concept (philosophie) | EPFL Graph Search

En logique, un concept est un contenu de pensée, qui, lorsqu'il est appliqué à un objet, peut former une proposition. En linguistique, le concept représente le signifié, c'est-à-dire le sens du mot, tandis que le mot lui-même constitue son signifiant. Le concept est un terme abstrait qui se distingue donc de la chose désignée par ce concept. Le terme lui-même est introduit au Moyen Âge (conceptus) par Thomas d'Aquin puis Guillaume d'Ockham et les autres philosophes scolastiques . Il vient du latin conceptus qui signifie « action de contenir, de tenir ensemble, de recevoir », dérivé du verbe concipere signifiant « concevoir ». Les philosophes modernes (René Descartes, John Locke) substitueront au concept la notion d'idée, qui désigne plus généralement toute représentation mentale, qu'elle soit d'ordre perceptif, imaginaire ou purement abstrait. Les différents philosophes ne sont pas nécessairement d'accord sur ce qu'est exactement un concept. Ainsi, bien que les concepts soient souv

Erweiterung des Funktionalismus 1930-1950

Christoph Wieser

Functionalism serves as the guiding concept of this piece of work, on the example of which shall be traced the changes that took place in modern architecture between 1930 and 1950. This choice seems appropriate since Functionalism is a particularly relevant yardstick of the state of modern architecture owing to its radical nature. In its generally accepted form, Functionalism embodies the most rigorous stage of a development that in the early 1920s assumed a variety of forms, that became increasingly strongly focussed, and which finally expanded in the early 1930s. On the other hand, a penetration of the core of the concept of Functionalism is an uphill task and demands an investigation into allied concepts such Objectivity, and in particular the New Objectivity, Neues Bauen and Rationalism, as well as a digression into Italian Razionalismo. This exploration is followed by an attempt to define Functionalism, whereby the intention is not to equate it with the status of "dogmatic Functionalism" with which its condition at the end of the 1920s shall be labelled, but to attempt to understand it in a more comprehensive sense. This extended view of Functionalism forms the basis of an analysis of the expansion stage, which can be divided into three parts for which the following concepts stand: "enlightened Functionalism" for the years from 1930 to 1935, "self-evident Functionalism" for the following period up until the end of the war, and "subliminal Functionalism" for the first post-war years until 1950 – concepts that refer to the types of development in which Functionalism continued to forfeit its radicality and mutate into an undogmatic, widely accepted form of modern architecture. Towards 1950, however, functionalistic methods were more and more frequently overlaid by a traditional language of form that increasingly blurred the contours of functionalist aesthetics. This represented the final stage of development, for an invisible functionalism is no longer an "ism" – and thus no longer Functionalism. Buildings from Switzerland and Sweden provide the main source of illustrative material, despite the fact that Functionalism developed in Germany. This is connected with the architectural quality of Swiss and Swedish building at the time, as well as with the changes in the political situation. For although World War II brought about a crucial break in Switzerland and Sweden, it did not call a complete halt to the previous developments as it did in most other European countries.

EPFL2005

Lieu hologrammatique, un concept et une méthodologie complexe de mesure de l'organisation spatiale des réalités sociales

Thibault Pierre Louis Romany

The urban is a complex phenomenon whose exploration remains a important scientific challenge. Choosing complex thought in order to renew our capacities for understanding and action on and with the urban is not trivial. The complex thought developed by Edgar Morin is as elegant as elusive. The social sciences of space developed by Jacques Lévy and Michel Lussault have contributed to the renewal of the space's place to understand the inhabited. The objective of this thesis is to articulate these two constructivist approaches, in order to achieve a higher level of synthesis regarding the understanding and measure of the social construction of inhabited space. The thesis consists in three parts :

the epistemological challenge : how to enagage with a complex problem ?
the theoretical challenge : how to appreciate the social construction of space in order to measure an urban substance ?
the methodological challenge : how to measure this substance ? Based on reflections concerning measuring urbanity, I propose a generalization to that of the spatialization of social realities. By translating the notions of metric, scale and place, the author's work leads to the proposal of an indisciplinary concept and methodology for measuring the spatialization of social realities: the hologrammatic place. The thesis defended is that such conceptualization allows us to identify boundaries of places by their emergence. Such an a posteriori identification allows the establishment not of an indicator, but of a measure of the spatialization of social realities. This research contribute to the renewal of urban planning methodologies toward the establishment of a complex methodology that makes conceivable a relative and relational urbanism.

EPFL2020

Villes à la frontière et transformation de l'espace

Lena Poschet El Moudden

Few borders exist which separate two countries as dramatically disparate as the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Both share the territory of the Hispaniola island, but a profound process of differentiation rooted in the colonial division of the island between France and Spain and ideologically maintained by both modern nations, has lead to what Théodat (1998, 2003) calls the "twofold insularity" – each country behaves as if it were located on a separate island. In spite of all prejudices and ethnical, historical, linguistic, social, economic or religious differences, people living in the border regions established cross-border relations which, even if largely based on economic interests, are much more frequent and important to both nations than officially admitted (De Jesus Cerdano and Dilla, 2005; Sillé & Segura & Cabral, 2002). The local dynamic created by this exchange becomes palpable when one observes the busy binational market in the border towns of Ouanaminthe (Haiti) and Dajabón (Dominican Republic). Twice a week, people from nearly the whole northern part of both countries travel to these towns located on either side of the Masacre River, in order to buy and sell goods or to offer services in the market of Dajabón. The other days, tons of cargo transit to Haiti, to the extent that the once small borderland settlements have become an important junction in the economic subsystem of the northern part of the island. Moreover, the construction of a free zone in Ouanaminthe in 2002 –to produce textiles for the US-market– has connected the borderland towns to the international economy. This recent development is set within a context of progressive opening of borders (Martinez, 1994). It is the result of international policies that have been decided in the capitals, without consulting the concerned regions. In Ouanaminthe and Dajabón, local institutions are weak and receive no or little financial and administrative support from central administration. They do not have the means to cope with growing pressure on land and infrastructure, as the emergence of legal and illegal livelihood opportunities in the borderland has generated a threefold increase of the overall population in the past twenty years (Dajabón grew from 8'500 inhabitants in 1980 to 16'000 in 2002 and Ouanaminthe from 7'000 in 1981 to 39'000 in 2003). How did these recent economic, political and societal transformations shape the urban space of the two borderland towns? I addressed this issue by analyzing the motivation of stakeholders involved in the process of spatial transformation, and the impact of their actions. In my work I refer to the conceptual framework of urban intermediation (Bolay and Rabinovich, 2004), i.e. the spatial issues that each town has to address according to its internal characteristics, its function in national and international networks and its relation to the direct rural environment. In order to use this framework for the borderland issues, the conceptual part of this study proposes to develop the concept of "borderland intermediation". To the existing urban intermediation concept, it adds the influence of the characteristics of the border (based on policy and political aspects, economic issues, local identities, social networks, national defense issues and geographical insertion). By doing so, it relates the bi-national system of borderland towns to the intermediation concept. Data has been collected over three and a half years during several periods of fieldwork: observation and mapping of occupation and use of urban space, cartography, qualitative interviews with local stakeholders and residents, completed by other primary and secondary sources. This study shows that the recent transformations have accentuated the existing unbalanced relationship between the two towns. The powerlessness of the municipality of Ouanaminthe to meet population growth and to impose regulations or taxes related to the growing trade has enhanced its dependency to the Dominican town. For a growing number of Haitians, it is of existential importance to cross over to Dajabón in order to seek income, healthcare and education and this, in spite of latent racism and mistreatments. Founded on a strong sentiment of exploitation, Haitians often criticize the capitalist or even colonialist relationship imposed by their neighbors: not only the fact that the bi-national market takes place in Dajabón, but also that Dominican enterprises develop subsidiaries in Ouanaminthe, taking advantage of cheap labor and the absence of local production. On the contrary, the majority of Dajabón residents interviewed do not need to cross the river for their living. Most of them have never been to Ouanaminthe, but consider it insalubrious, out of control and dangerous. Both towns lack application of regulations in urban planning matters. Thus, spatial growth has entirely been ruled by landowner structure and land occupation practices. Around Dajabón, the adjacent land belongs mainly to two landowners, whose strategy –to enhance soil value through development of equipped middleclass neighborhoods– has restricted the urban sprawl. In Ouanaminthe land belongs to a multitude of small peasants. The selling and illegal occupation of rather small plots leads to sprawling urban growth, guided by rural pathways and leaving entire parts of neighborhoods inaccessible to motor vehicles. Population growth has also been absorbed by high densification of existing neighborhoods. No formal collaborations exist between the two municipalities. Informal ones do, through the implication of the two mayors, but overall, cross-border collaboration is left to NGOs and professional associations who militate for human rights, environmental issues and fair treatment inside the bi-national market. International development agencies present in the borderland initiate projects with bi-national concern, but these are disconnected from the local level and strongly influenced by the fact that these agencies relate directly to the central governments. We also observe a process of internal segregation in both towns, as commercial establishments progressively occupy parts of the town centers and the emergent middle class gathers in specific neighborhoods. Ouanaminthe and Dajabón are functionally interlinked and their transformation is undeniably governed by the progressive permeability of the border. Nevertheless, this border separates two completely different urban landscapes that are deeply marked by the internal characteristics of each town. Furthermore, the unequal and complex relationship of both populations creates the paradox that their spatial proximity accentuates the segregation in both towns, as it allows the citizens of both countries to stay in their environment and to commute –if necessary– even daily. This work shows that the application of the intermediation concept is relevant for the study of complex relationships that govern borderland space. The analysis based on this concept has enabled to study, on a local level, processes that are taking place on a global level. In so doing, it has allowed us to provide some answers to the central question: "How do local populations, national and international firms and governments react when a territorial economy, based on agriculture, is progressively linked to international networks? "

EPFL2006