16 November 2023

18:25 – 19:10

Amphithéâtre Say

Jacques Arnould

An agricultural engineer with a doctorate in the history of science and a doctorate in theology, Jacques Arnould is interested in the relationship between science, culture and religion, with a particular focus on two themes: life and its evolution, and space and its conquest. He has written several books and articles on the history and theology of living beings. Following the outbreak of creationist fever in France in January 2007, he was called upon by various scientific, educational and religious circles to inform the public about the existence of creationist currents, their history and the questions they raise for our societies. The year 2009, dedicated to Darwin, showed how the ideas of this scientist and his successors continue to question our contemporaries, inviting them to ask more philosophical questions. He is also an ethics expert at the Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES), a position that is still somewhat unique in the world of astronautics. And yet, it’s in line with a real expectation on the part of the public, but also on the part of players and managers, whose motivations can no longer be the same as they were forty or fifty years ago.

Conference: Is the mind a renewable energy?

A century ago, Henri Bergson collected several of his essays and published them under the title L’énergie spirituelle. Far from stopping to study the paranormal phenomena that fascinated his era, he reflected on the meaning and conditions of all human action, especially the highest, that of creation. What kind of energy do we need to realize our own destiny?