THE MAKING OF BEINGS. REPRODUCTION, BEYOND NATURE AND ARTIFICE (18TH-21ST CENTURIES)

This thematic issue reports on a historian's foray into the anthropology of the human/nature relationship after the work of Philippe Descola(24). The way in which modern societies construct an otherness between the human and the non-human, and - separate but inseparable question from the first - the relationship they maintain with the natural world, possibly thought of as a natural order, are particularly acute in contemporary debate. Today, references to nature, with or without a capital letter, occupy public discourse in at least two ways. Firstly, awareness of the environmental or the appeal of eco-feminism. Secondly, the accelerated spread of a "pro-nature" mindset, whose manifestations sometimes go as far as mistrust of the contraceptive pill, apology for unmedicalized childbirth, and so on. This special issues aims at demonstrating how in-depth researches in history and sociology, on circumscribed subjects, can be useful to tackle these philosophical and political issues.