PhiloMonaco Week 2025

LECTURE & DISCUSSION

Truth in art

10

Jun

20 25

Presented by Raphael Zagury-Orly, philosopherWith Paul Audi, philosopher Didier Ottinger, curator, expert in modern and contemporary paintingThe meeting will begin with a screening of Grosse fatigue, a 13-minute colour video with sound created by Camille Henrot in 2013 and acquired the same year by the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco.If truth has to do with knowledge, it is, in its basic sense, the agreement between a thought, a judgement or a theory and reality (or a segment of reality, given reality is infinite) and is therefore opposed to falsehood and sometimes with morality, as truth-telling opposed to lying, then its relationship with art is enigmatic in both cases. How can art capture a part of reality, even momentarily – as science does – and how can it (not) lie? Yet, things are not so simple in reality because art, whether plastic, visual, graphic or sound, allows us to see or hear something of the world, if not what cannot be heard or seen in the world. It is generally objected that this is some type of illusion since the ‘meaning’ we attribute to art is a matter of subjectivity and the interpretation that each person gives or makes of a work of art, which, at best, would allow us to say that art produces and brings a multiplicity of truths into coexistence. But this view is also tenuous because, if we accept it, we would not understand how a work of art could continue to produce meaning, question, disturb, delight and please, even as it endures through the centuries and as the regimes of subjectivity, sensibility and intellect have changed a thousand times over the centuries. Therefore, the truth of art cannot be that of the 'individual' who produces or receives it, but a truth of the world and of humanity that 'contains' even what humanity, with its tools of knowledge, sensation and 'feeling', cannot say about the world or about itself.In collaboration with the Centre Pompidou and the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco.

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Théâtre Princesse Grace

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LECTURE & DISCUSSION

Morning sessions at the market: honest eduction

11

Jun

20 25

Presented by Marc Crépon, philosopher And Théo Schumer, journalistWith daily guest speakers and Jean-Philippe Vinci, Director of Education, Youth and SportIn collaboration with Monaco Info and Monaco City HallThe morning sessions held during PhiloMonaco Week are organised by The Monaco Philosophical Encounters, in collaboration with Monaco Info and Monaco City HallPresented each morning by Marc Crépon, philosopher and Théo Schumer, journalist, these morning sessions provide an opportunity for reflection, debate and discussion, based on questions posed by members of the public to the guest speakers of PhiloMonaco Week."Teaching the truth" is an unusual concept. It could even be considered a misguided one, despite its appeal to those with rigid beliefs, if it meant that educators, parents, teachers, and professors were to impose and instil their own truths upon those who are still learning.There is nothing worse, as the proverb says, than giving children and students a fish rather than teaching them how to fish. After all, no one would ever become a mountaineer if they were willing to be flown directly to the mountain top by helicopter. Educating people about the truth therefore seems to be something of a contradiction in terms, as teaching falsehoods and lies is hardly education. Education is sufficient if it imparts knowledge, or at least the means to distinguish knowledge from opinion, prejudice and preconceived ideas – in other words, critical thinking.

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Place d’Armes à Monaco

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LECTURE & DISCUSSION

Morning sessions at the market: honest eduction

11

Jun

20 25

Presented by Marc Crépon, philosopher And Théo Schumer, journalistWith daily guest speakers and Jean-Philippe Vinci, Director of Education, Youth and SportIn collaboration with Monaco Info and Monaco City HallThe morning sessions held during PhiloMonaco Week are organised by The Monaco Philosophical Encounters, in collaboration with Monaco Info and Monaco City HallPresented each morning by Marc Crépon, philosopher and Théo Schumer, journalist, these morning sessions provide an opportunity for reflection, debate and discussion, based on questions posed by members of the public to the guest speakers of PhiloMonaco Week."Teaching the truth" is an unusual concept. It could even be considered a misguided one, despite its appeal to those with rigid beliefs, if it meant that educators, parents, teachers, and professors were to impose and instil their own truths upon those who are still learning.There is nothing worse, as the proverb says, than giving children and students a fish rather than teaching them how to fish. After all, no one would ever become a mountaineer if they were willing to be flown directly to the mountain top by helicopter. Educating people about the truth therefore seems to be something of a contradiction in terms, as teaching falsehoods and lies is hardly education. Education is sufficient if it imparts knowledge, or at least the means to distinguish knowledge from opinion, prejudice and preconceived ideas – in other words, critical thinking.

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Place d’Armes à Monaco

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LECTURE & DISCUSSION

Can we discuss everything with children? Conversations about sexuality

11

Jun

20 25

Presented by Isabelle Alfandary, author and professorWith Cécile Ladjali, teacher Marie-Rose Moro, psychoanalyst and child psychiatrist Chloé Sallée, coordinating magistrate at the Nice Youth CourtIt is unrealistic to think that we can "say everything", partly because reality transcends thought and thought transcends language, but also because we are not always capable of admitting everything, even to ourselves. Therefore, when "saying everything", we should be cautious not to say things that shock, hurt, anger or humiliate, things that might be unacceptable, taken the wrong way and misunderstood by the recipient. Parents, educators and therapists are confronted with these "limits" when "everything" includes accidents, illness, death, or touches on things that children have not yet experienced, and that will profoundly change not only their bodies and minds but also the "worldviews" they will develop. The development of sexual organs, ejaculation, menstruation, pregnancy, birth, nudity, modesty, gender, sexual relations, sensuality, eroticism, pornography. When and how, at school or within the home setting, should we "say everything" about these things, without taboos or myths, with the assurance that knowledge and information can be understood, internalised, managed and transformed into life skills by children? The issue is even more complex and delicate when a child has not only had access to sexual information but has also suffered sexual abuse so brutal that it has prevented them from "speaking out" and "telling" their story (to their parents, social workers or a judge), or even from believing that anyone will "listen" to them.

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Théâtre Princesse Grace

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LECTURE & DISCUSSION

Truth and transmission

11

Jun

20 25

Presented by Catherine Chalier, philosopherIf "transmission" were only biological, things would be clear: we'd have to study how genes and the information they contain "transcend" generations. The complexity arises when we start talking about the transmission of knowledge, what scientific theories have established over time, moral, political or religious values, customs, practices, beliefs, stories, myths, heritage, artistic, literary and philosophical works, and historical memory. What "truths" should we be searching for? Can a truth remain so if it is not transmitted and revitalised from one culture to another? Is there a 'memory' that cannot be transmitted, facts, knowledge and values that should be "erased", not passed on?

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Théâtre Princesse Grace

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LECTURE & DISCUSSION

You are seriously stylish!

11

Jun

20 25

With Sébastien Talon, clinical psychologist and psychotherapist In response to a fawning admirer who complimented him by saying, "You are so elegant!" Lord Brummel replied, "Not elegant enough since you noticed!". His witty response implies something about style: neither too much, too little, nor somewhere in between! "Dressed to the nines": it's obvious, just like Sunday best. "Dressed as usual" is also obvious, like the jacket you wear every day. Too many colours are pretentious, yet no accents are dull. So, if clothes make the man, when do they create style? The rose is the queen of the garden: it has beauty, not style, and overshadows all other plants. Wildflowers, on the other hand, are all different colours, but they never "clash" with each other: they are stylish and even represent the aesthetic truth of the meadow. Style is the truth of form, which appears without ostentation, without ‘staging’, without preparation - a little like the movements of gymnasts, so fluid that you can no longer see the preparatory exercises. You only need to read five lines to recognise a text by Proust or look at five square centimetres of a canvas to recognise a painting by Pollock: style is a signature. So, to describe someone's way of dressing as stylish is equivalent to saying: that's you, I recognise you! But unfortunately, we also know that a signature can be forged.

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Théâtre Princesse Grace

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LECTURE & DISCUSSION

Family secrets

11

Jun

20 25

Presented by Claire Marin, philosopher With Laurence Joseph, psychologist and psychoanalyst Vanessa Springora, writer and editorWhat are the old walnut cupboards full of, inherited from the grandparents who inherited it from their parents? Skeletons, ghosts, shadows and family secrets, wrapped in dusty sheets with unspoken memories of lies, betrayals, infidelities, abandonments, hidden illnesses, violence, dirty deeds, unacknowledged and unspeakable atrocities. Family secrets are never eaten by moths or reduced to ashes: they are like embers that continue to smoulder and only burst into flames in the open air of revelation and scandal and then acquire the power of fiery lava flowing towards and over the family like an overflowing river. Smothered, guarded family secrets are like the unspoken secrets of transgenerational transmission, as they alter, haunt, or skew-as would an absence, an unconscious lack, an unsuspected loss, the relationship with oneself and others, the construction of oneself, the making of autonomy and identity. Those who fiercely guard them gain power and hold the reins, thus controlling or believing they are protecting the assigned places of individuals and the order of the family. Those who inevitably ignore them, and therefore ignore what the family unconscious has repressed, live askew, burdened by some indefinite doubt, suspicions, unknowing, too distant memories, the diffuse feeling that something has been hidden from them, and they may find it more difficult to fully understand their history, their origins, their subjectivity - a bit like the person who no longer walks the streets with ease for fear of being followed by someone, a shadow, a ghost. But when the scandal occurs, when the secret is pierced or revealed when the cupboard is overturned, everything changes, often painfully, the whole social landscape, the whole constellation of relationships, with oneself, with one's family, with others, with the entire world, before any other doubts come to mind: have we said everything, revealed everything?  

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Théâtre Princesse Grace

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LECTURE & DISCUSSION

Morning sessions at the market: The cost of the truth

12

Jun

20 25

The morning sessions held during PhiloMonaco Week are organised by The Monaco Philosophical Encounters, in collaboration with Monaco Info and Monaco City Hall.Presented each morning by Marc Crépon, philosopher and Théo Schumer, journalist, these morning sessions provide an opportunity for reflection, debate and discussion, based on questions posed by members of the public to the guest speakers of PhiloMonaco Week.We don't know if "everything has a price" or if "everything must be paid for", but we agree that the things we care about most are "priceless". Cost, price and value are not the same thing. The price and cost of a packet of screws are the same because their "value" is insignificant, whereas the price of a gold bar follows its market value, which fluctuates, and the value of the Mona Lisa cannot be expressed in terms of price or cost. So, what about the "cost of truth"? Is the value of truth linked to values, ethics, epistemology, aesthetics or politics? Is it impossible to put a "price" on truth? Or is it simply "what it costs" to obtain and protect it? If there are "revealed truths" to which religious faith gives price and value, truths in the realm of knowledge or morality do not just fall from the sky: they require intellectual effort to conquer and protect from falsehood, opinions, hearsay, prejudices, conspiracy theories or illusions; moral strength to shield them from lies, sacrifice and denial; and political power capable of opposing the truths imposed by tyrants, dogmatists and fanatics. But must we defend the truth "at any cost", without compromise or concession, even if it means sacrificing peace, harmony, security, and social or political stability?

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Place d’Armes à Monaco

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LECTURE & DISCUSSION

Philosophy lunch: The truth according to Foucault

12

Jun

20 25

Presented by Judith Revel, philosopher"The truth is obtained by several methods, by a set of strategies within a field of power dynamics. It is neither the expression of a correspondence with reality nor the manifestation of a universal principle. The truth is a product of history, a result of social and political practices that are constantly shifting. What is true in a given era is the result of what are called regimes of truth, a set of rules that define what can be said, what can be known, and what can be considered legitimate or not. Truth is not simply a fact: it is a system of rules and practices that legitimise certain discourses and exclude others."Michel Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge (Galllimard, 1969).

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Théâtre Princesse Grace

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LECTURE & DISCUSSION

The difficulty of telling the truth and making it heard

12

Jun

20 25

- WomenPresented by Laurence Joseph, psychologist and psychoanalystWith Florence Askenazy, psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry- CarePresented by Robert Maggiori, philosopherWith Flora Bastiani, philosopher Dr Jean-François Ciais, head of the Supportive and Palliative Care Department of the CHPGWhen the truth "erupts", it's unlike a gun aimed at a target, but more like a terror machine, which blindly explodes in all directions, striking everyone with its shrapnel - a family, a crowd, a community, a society. That's why it can be so challenging to expose the truth when the person in possession of it knows its importance and is well aware of the consequences of revealing it. It's even more difficult to hear when it tears down everything you believed in and the foundations of your existence. In this sense, the difficulty of telling the truth decreases if its revelation comes with the awareness that the person (or group, community etc.) receiving it is "armed" to receive, i.e. can integrate the revelations into the fabric of their own life (values, perspectives, hopes etc.) or that of the group concerned. On the contrary, the difficulty increases when the truth - or the reality of a fact, a betrayal, an abuse, a humiliation "cannot" be heard because of a lack of capacity: this is the case of a child, for example, who may not have the intellectual strength or emotional resistance to "hear" and understand the news of their parents' imminent divorce or the loss of a classmate; the case of a woman who has been subjected to violence and is unwilling to confess or denounce it, because of a bond forged with her abuser or through fear of shame; the case of an individual with minor behavioural concerns who is diagnosed with a serious mental illness; the case of a person whose life is precarious and has a fragile state of mind, to whom a doctor must break the news of cancer, or the case of a patient in palliative care, who is unable to process what they have been told in the context of time or plans. Is the truth like the sun, which we cannot "stare at directly"?

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Théâtre Princesse Grace

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LECTURE & DISCUSSION

Awards Ceremony

12

Jun

20 25

Presented by Thierry ConsignyWith founding members and a panel of judges*Presentation "What is philosophy?" by Pierre Guenancia, winner of the 2024 Prize for "L'Homme sans moi. Essai sur l'identité" (Man Without Self: An Essay on Identity) (puf, 2023)*Award ceremony for the Prize, Honourable Mention and Student Prize  

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Théâtre Princesse Grace

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LECTURE & DISCUSSION

Morning sessions at the market: Should lies never be told?

13

Jun

20 25

The morning sessions held during PhiloMonaco Week are organised by The Monaco Philosophical Encounters, in collaboration with Monaco Info and Monaco City Hall.Presented each morning by Marc Crépon, philosopher and Théo Schumer, journalist, these morning sessions provide an opportunity for reflection, debate and discussion, based on questions posed by members of the public to the guest speakers of PhiloMonaco Week.Lying always constitutes abuse because there is no lie if there is no imbalance between the person being lied to, who is necessarily unaware of the truth, and the person lying, who can only do so by knowing the truth (which they hide). In this sense, the relationship is unequal and morally unacceptable since the liar "manipulates" the recipient of the lie, thus objectifying them. If a universal law forbids treating anyone as a means to an end, then lying can never be justified; as we know, this is Immanuel Kant's position. But could it not be that the liar treats the other for a time as a means, thus depriving them of their dignity, to avoid further harm and future damage, ensure their health and safety and provide them with greater strength? In other words, could the act of lying, despite appearances, amount to "looking after" someone, providing a form of protection, kindness, or even love? What does it mean to "lie for the good of others"?

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Place d’Armes à Monaco

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LECTURE & DISCUSSION

Philosophy lunch: the truth according to Descartes

13

Jun

20 25

Presented by Pierre Guenancia, philosopher."The first and most certain of all principles is this: that one exists, i.e. that I am a thinking being; and that I think, i.e. that I doubt, that I will, that I am prey to passions, that I wonder, that I make judgments, that I perceive ideas. But it is not possible for a thinking being to be mistaken in what they think. And it is precisely the certainty they have of their own existence and thoughts that gives them the guarantee of truth. It is obvious that something clear and distinct in the mind is necessarily true, and that there can be no false certainty where there is such obvious perception."René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy (1641).  

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Théâtre Princesse Grace

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LECTURE & DISCUSSION

The truth emerges on the couch

13

Jun

20 25

Presented by Judith Revel, philosopherWith Isabelle Alfandary, author and professor Stéphane Habib, psychoanalyst and philosopherLaurie Laufer, psychoanalyst and professor of psychoanalysisA lot happens on the couch. But not what you might think. It begins with words, sometimes gushing and irrepressible, or hesitant and trembling, punctuated with silences and sobs, as a listening ear awaits, rarely distracted, suspended and attentive. What is happening and unravelling during this unusual conversation? The couch sees and hears everything: words, silences, notes, tics, the therapist's movements and those of the patient as they lay upon the couch, their stories, dreams, slips of the tongue, free associations, the expression of their emotions, desires, obsessions, likes and dislikes, fears, resistances, hopes and plans. Does the couch also perceive the emergence of the "truth" throughout the sessions? Does it become the place where therapist and patient change each other and each gain a clear awareness of who they are? Is it the "foundation" on which the "patient" picks themselves up and rebuilds themselves, becomes a subject by consenting to the "truths" that their subconscious reveals, by accepting who they have become and becoming what they now know they can become on their own?  

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Théâtre Princesse Grace

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LECTURE & DISCUSSION

Fake news, truths and conspiracies

13

Jun

20 25

Presented by Géraldine Muhlmann, philosopher and journalist With David Djaïz, senior civil servant and essayist Asma Mhalla, teacher, expert in Tech Politics and BigTech Geopolitics Rudy Reischtag, political scientist, writer and journalist Patrick Savidan, philosopher Any change in the information channel causes upheaval, not so much in the information itself, but in society, within civilisation itself, and, of course, in how we think and act. There's no need to go back to the carrier pigeon or the invention of the printing press: the barely remembered wireless telegraph led to social and political uproar, with some hailing it a divine miracle, others the devil's invention. The pioneers of the Internet hoped that an open digital channel for information and communication would open up the possibility of free and easy self-expression for all, with everyone free to make use of it and thus contribute to creating a perfect version of Wikipedia, through the construction of a transparent and reliable knowledge bank. But that's not what happened. The digital revolution - the Internet, Darknet, smartphones, social networks, artificial intelligence - is not causing upheaval but rather chaos, where the best and the worst coexist, creating "another" world that the tools at our disposal in this world do not allow us to understand fully. The main victim today is the truth itself, which, like metallic paint on a car, is considered simply an optional extra. Anonymity has led to the emergence of millions of autonomous, uncontrolled spheres in which pseudo-theories, beliefs, mere opinions, nonsense, incompetence and conspiracy theories serve as "information", forming foggy swamps where no one knows where they are or what is happening within them. How do we get out of the quicksand? When social conversations become so tense, or science falls under suspicion before being denounced.

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Théâtre Princesse Grace

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LECTURE & DISCUSSION

Sex, lies and screens

13

Jun

20 25

Presented by Géraldine Muhlmann, philosopher and journalist With Isabelle Alfandary, author and professor Sarah Chiche, writer, psychologue clinicienne et psychanalyste  Samuel Dock, writer et psychologue clinicien  Augustin Trapenard, journalistA screen is ambiguous. A screen can obscure something, yet if you want to see something, perhaps simply an image, a screen can reveal it; so the screen both hides and shows. Never before in the history of the world have so many eyes been glued to screens at the same time, throughout all hours of the day, and we no longer even consider that the gaze fixed on the screen can hardly see what's around it, although, in some countries, the authorities have painted the traffic signals upon the roads, since people walk around with their heads to the ground as they look at the smartphone display. If a large proportion of daily activities now take place in front of a screen, computer or laptop, it was expected that sex would take its place there, and with it, the possibility of veiling and revealing, lying and making up stories, to hoard secrets, to build up a zone of intimacy that we'd like to be inviolable (so we lock our mobile phone screens when someone arrives, we place our phones upside down on the table and mute the sound, we prevent someone else from rummaging through its contents, etc.) Although it's difficult to obtain statistical data on their use, millions of people chat sexually every day and night across all countries of the world, and if we add in the number of pornographic sites and live-streaming, dating sites, webcam sites, cybersex, role-playing games, exchanging photos and videos via phone, it could be suggested that the screen has become an essential sexual partner, for those with sexual partners and those without. The smartphone is a particular one because it is already an object of pleasure (how else would it be so popular?) and because it has opened up new forms of seduction, love and sexuality, certainly diminishing the sensual roles of tact, taste and smell, but considerably increasing the erotic power of hearing and voice. Will this be enough?

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Théâtre Princesse Grace

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LECTURE & DISCUSSION

To hell with the truth!

14

Jun

20 25

Presented by Géraldine Muhlmann, philosopher With David Lapoujade, philosopher Camille Riquier, philosopherCan we stop caring about the truth, consider it useless or obsolete, and toss it in the bin? On the face of it, this would be madness: we would condemn ourselves to live in a world of darkness where nothing is clear, where everything is relative, a world of illusions and mistakes, of suspicion, lies and deceit, of trickery, pretence and mystification. Every word would be tainted with doubt: political discourse would be promotional, scientific discourse would be silver-tongued sales pitching, moral discourse would be wishful thinking, and, with all confidence lost, we would no longer even believe that road signs point in the right direction; a trip to Honfleur would end up in Vierzon. So we should think that banishing the truth to the fires of hell does not have such an expeditious and radical meaning: the grip of truth would be too strong, and we would want to break free from it somewhat to regain some freedom of action, perhaps towards the plausible, the probable, the uncertain, even error - which, as we know, has many virtues, including that of advancing knowledge through correction. If truth has the ugly face of dogmatism, it would indeed be useful to lighten it up or tone down its arrogance, politely pointing out that there is no such thing as absolute truth, that it can depend on points of view, historical contexts, cultures, ideologies, power relations, efficiency, the construction of language, and even the subjectivity of individuals. It is not certain that, locked in its steel hardness and certainty, it will be shaken and open itself up to criticism, just as it is not certain that this criticism if it is not sufficiently cautious and nuanced, will be able to avoid falling into the absurdity of throwing the baby out with the bathwater or exercising itself on the foggy terrain of ‘everything is the same’.  

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Café de paris, 98000, Monaco

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À l’improviste - Improvisation and creation

14

Jun

20 25

Presented by Géraldine Muhlmann, philosopher In conversation with Karol Beffa pianist, composer and doctor of musicologyHow can there be aesthetics in something that, by definition, defies all rules and for which there are no poetics, techniques or solfège? We learn to prepare, not to invent, to continue, not to begin, to plan, not to create: there are no more rules for improvisation than there are for invention or desire. A mechanism can be analysed, but the inventive process can only reveal itself. Since manufacturing has its technical secrets, why should creation not have its mystery, its poetic mystery? Would improvisation be synonymous with frivolity and impatience without hard work? Improvisation manuals themselves (whether for the speaker at the podium or the organist in church) seek to equip the unprepared, to prevent the unexpected circumstances that can catch a person off guard, to break the deadlock with fate by giving the conscience the breathing space of respite and freedom. However, improvisation is not just a hasty act of pulling off a last-minute manoeuvre with the means at hand; it also refers to the mystery of creative thought. In the creative solitude of invention, even the most methodical builders began by improvising. Just as courage is the virtue of the outposts, the virtue of willpower on the front line and in immediate contact with danger, so improvisation is the first step in creative invention, starting from the blank page. It is the very beginning.Vladimir Jankélévitch, Liszt –  Rhapsody and Improvisation  (réed. Flammarion, 1998)

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Hôtel Hermitage, 98000, MONACO

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Religious truth, philosophical truth

14

Jun

20 25

Presented by Camille Riquier, philosopher With Vincent Delecroix, philosopher Brother Olivier-Thomas Venard, theologian Polysemic or kaleidoscopic, the truth can be understood as operativity or utility, the possibility of finding solutions to problems, as inter-subjective agreement or consensus, as conformity to a rule, as coherence, manifestation, evidence, ‘splendour’ as correspondence, often momentary, between thought and reality, or even as unveiling or revelation which presupposes that it is originally disguised or hidden, first kept secret and then “given”. Philosophy and religion both hold truth as their primary object, and they undoubtedly may prioritise one or the other of its meanings. If we look for the greatest common denominator, we might find it in the realm of unveiling and, above all, revelation, with or without a capital R. In what way do philosophy and religion, reason and faith, not fall entirely on one side or the other; could they, on this point, agree or diverge if the former asserts that reality itself reveals itself to human intellect or intuition, and the latter that only divine speech or intellect gives consistency, existence and intelligibility to the world, and has the power to reveal to humans aspects of being that would otherwise be inaccessible to them?

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Hôtel Hermitage, 98000, MONACO

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WORKSHOP/CLASS/TRAINING & COURSE

Philosophy workshop: To tell or not to tell (for ages 7-10)

14

Jun

20 25

Led by Alicia Gauduel, practicing philosopherReflect together on the courage to speak or to remain silent! Do we always have to say everything? Is it okay to keep a secret? And if we don't say anything, are we lying? These are questions that everyone asks, even children.In this workshop, we'll reflect together on what motivates us to speak up or, on the contrary, to remain silent. We'll discover that speaking out can be an act of courage, especially when we are telling the truth, even if it is challenging. Keeping silent can also require courage when we choose to protect, listen or wait for the right moment.We'll also talk about what's important to say, especially if you think you're in danger or if someone needs help. Because sometimes, staying silent can be dangerous, and it's essential to know who to talk to when you are feeling bad.This philosophy workshop will enable children to reflect together and express themselves to better understand how to use their words wisely and will provide a space for listening and discussions around these big questions: what to say and what to keep quiet.

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Théâtre Princesse Grace

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LECTURE & DISCUSSION

Creation and truth/Truth and its counterparts

14

Jun

20 25

Creation and truth/Truth and its counterparts Presented by Fanny Arama, doctor of French literatureFiction and confessions With Paul Audi, philosopher Maria Pourchet, authorFiction is the product of human imagination and, as such, has often been devalued in the history of philosophy because it belongs to a parallel reality corrupted by the writer's imagination and fantasies. Plato disapproves of poets because, in his view, they represent lies, i.e. the alteration of raw truth, and because they prefer the truth of their own point of view to the search for truth "pure and simple". Confession, on the other hand, is originally an "admission": it is part of a religious and moral process of absolution. To confess is to believe that all is not lost, it is to grant words the power to act and transform the past, to make something else of it through the act of confiding, whether oral or written, in the present. While fiction is based on a pact of invention, confession is based on a pact of sincerity. When fiction and confession come together, they reshuffle the cards not only of truth and its presuppositions but also of the writer's ability to achieve sincerity. What stories do we tell ourselves when we confess to others and make those confessions public? Is it possible that a confession is not just an illusory stance? How can we deal with memory lapses and their repercussions on the truth of the confession? Is autofiction the driving force behind all fiction and confession? In other words, how does the writer play with the truth to create a connection with the reader?Conversation and contestation With Richard Malka, lawyer, essayist, comic writer and novelist Chantal Thomas, the French AcademyConversation is the offspring of freedom: without freedom of expression, conversation would have no interest and no value. So, in order to challenge - an opinion, a truth, a power, a world order - you have to start by conversing. And conversation is an art: first, the art of listening. It is then the art of saying things well, of using the right words, of defining them beforehand to establish common ground. Conversation and contestation are not only conditioned by the freedom to speak, question, shake up, shock, and displease but also aim to perpetuate it. The collective imagination views the height of conversational art in France as occurring during the Age of Enlightenment, a period that promoted access to knowledge and the exchange of opposing ideas. The political regimes that have succeeded one another in the West since the 18th century and the laws they have enacted have steadily given everyone a voice. From this perspective, it is mainly the media that, gradually but unevenly, is spreading the spirit of conversation and protest to the average citizen.Today, social media is complicating the picture and challenging the notions of conversation and protest: many users express themselves primarily through vitriol, seeking to discredit others in the name of freedom of protest. If the conditions for conversation are no longer met – listening, respect, exchange of opposing views – does protest, i.e. the possibility of expressing disagreement, still have a future?

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Hôtel Hermitage, 98000, MONACO

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The humour of truth

14

Jun

20 25

Presented by Mouloud Achour, journalist and television presenter With Gad Elmaleh, comedian and actor Olivia Gazalé, philosopherThe anecdote, taken from Plato's Theaetetus (174), is famous. Socrates tells a friend the story of Thales, who, busy observing the stars, stumbles and falls into a well. The scene is witnessed by a Thracian maid, "all cute and cheerful". Seeing the fall, she bursts into laughter and mocks poor Thales, who, in wanting to know what is happening in the sky, forgets to pay attention to what lies at his feet. As we can see, from its very beginnings in Greece, philosophy, the very term invented by Thales of Miletus-has been open to flippancy in that it prefers to elevate itself to the lofty spheres of the abstract rather than look down on real, concrete facts. This criticism is unfounded and unfair, of course, but that's beside the point. The point is not how to laugh at philosophy but rather how to "lighten up" the truths it demands. Could laughter be the "fluidity" that prevents the cement of truth from "solidifying", prevents truth from becoming "firm" and unshakeable dogmatism like the bursts of laughter, jokes, sarcasm, facetiousness, and transgressions of the jester in the Middle Ages prevented the king from taking his authority so seriously as to render it intangible and infallible, unassailable. Tyrants "don't laugh", and if they did, they might not be tyrants. Precisely because laughter is the witness that the mind has become sensitive to what it did not expect, to what it did not expect, to surprise, to an incongruous convergence of ideas, to a "vanishing spirit", to the flash of a new intuition, to the evocative power of a word, to the absurdity of a situation, to a paradoxical statement, to the nose-thumbing, with a lightness and audacity thought impossible, at despair, illness, death, the sacred. That's why, in many traditions, laughter is condemned to oblivion: Aristotle calls it a form of "ugliness", the Benedictine Rule rebukes it as something opposed to silence, a true virtue, and to speech that is killed, moderated and controlled, and all autocratic or totalitarian regimes try to stifle it, no doubt because it adds joy, frenzy, camaraderie, a sense of celebration, furore and mockery to manifestations of social satire, protest and the struggle against power. In reality, laughter and making others laugh is as complex an exercise as philosophising, for in irony, for example, it involves a precarious balance between concealing and revealing what truly counts in life, consoling and distracting people from evil, and at the same time showing them it denouncing society's vices and errors, but without repressing or, through resignation, burdening souls. But laughter comes in so many forms: aggressive, mocking, black, friendly, sardonic, angelic, ironic, humorous, burlesque, fat, grotesque -that it's hard to say which is the most apt to mock philosophical truth or to find the truth that philosophy can't find. 

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Théâtre Princesse Grace

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The truth about muscles

15

Jun

20 25

Presented by Robert Maggiori, philosopher With Olivia Gazalé, philosopher  Sandra Laugier, philosopherAs a preamble, a performance by Southway Studio, created and directed by Emmanuelle Luciani and Alex DanteAt first glance, it's hard to imagine that any truth could derive from muscles, or even that truth, which is the most constant object of muscular philosophy, could be approached or found by a muscular philosophy -if indeed it could be so, thanks to the strength, suppleness and elasticity of its concepts. Yet ancient thought already contains many developments devoted to physical exercise, and, from the moment Milon of Crotone (the greatest of wrestlers, winner of numerous titles at the Panhellenic Games in the middle of the 6th century BC) introduced training methods, to exercises that could be called "sporting". In the Laws, Republic and Gorgias, Plato gives pride of place to gymnastics, which includes wrestling and dancing and represents the art by which citizens should train. But he adds that this art exists for the body, whereas music, for example, exists for the soul, before specifying that muscular effort and athletic exercise must lead the practitioner not only to bodily health and physical performance but above all to virtue, i.e. moral vigour and upstanding, courage, temperance, self-control and emotional control. Hence the scathing criticism of bodybuilding exercises, which have no other end in view than themselves, and which therefore represent "vanity", "grooming", "cosmetics", and which would be to gymnastics what "cooking" - which, according to Plato, "pretends to know the foods most beneficial to the body" - is to medicine, or what rhetoric is to justice, namely a "low", "disappointing" form, whose sole purpose is to "seduce" or to convince oneself. In this way, "pumping up" is the degradation of "virtuous" muscular exercise. However, bodybuilding, as we understand it today, did not appear until late in the mid-nineteenth century in the form of culturism or bodybuilding. Its founders - from the German Eugène Sandow to the French physician Edmond Desbonnet - placed "physical culture" outside the realm of sporting performance in a global aesthetic of the body, where "muscles" and "beauty" were in symbiosis. But muscles are associated with strength, power, invulnerability, dominance, the imposition of forms of sexuality, emotional control, competition, success and authority values which, already embodied by Nazism, fascism and tyrannical powers, are the very values with which machismo and virilism are shrouded. Could it be that muscles and bodybuilding open the door to other, as yet unsuspected truths?

Proposed by : Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco

Location : Yacht Club, Quai Louis II, 98000, Monaco

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