Category: society

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Colette nature narratives

In the 21st century we know that posting images of cats and dogs yields thousands of likes on the digital social media. Long before today, writers have tried to make us understand our existence through the narratives among animals, also beyond cats and dogs.
Embedded in nature, stories unfolded through the interaction of these animals. Transfigurations and lessons were derived from such fables as well as the tales constructed around the interaction of nature, animals and humans. The commemoration of Colette in the park of the Palais Royal in Paris combines all those aspects.
She grew up in the countryside, wrote “La Chatte” and lived in an apartment at the Palais Royal with a splendid view of the park later in her life.
It is a tiny spot of cultivated nature in the heart of Paris, even a bit isolated from the busy surroundings. Certainly, these days in the centre of Paris you are more likely to meet “Aristocats”, maybe from the 5 star hotels around, rather than the ordinary cat passing by.
(Image, bench in park of Palais Royal, Paris: inscription is a citation from Colette 1925 letter)

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AI as individualizer

In a one pager in the journal “Rolling Stone” (2025, p. 9) Bruno Patino writes about the legendary David Bowie who was the first rock musician to launch a new song on the internet before it became available as CD (Telling Lies, 1996). As a pioneer in co-creation, Bowie anticipated somehow the trend and wish of people to personalize preferred songs even further and distribute such versions among friends. In this process, AI has become a powerful tool to push individualization even further and the digital social media allow even broader audiences beyond a more narrow circle of friends. Music maybe setting the trend  for some in the same field, other creative fields might follow the footsteps. The need to co-create collective experiences and participate in collective musical moments is likely to rise again as well.
Good news for music festivals across the world. Live concerts are the new form “collective individualism”.

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Colette Home

  1. The home of Colette, the French writer of the first half of the 20th century, is an interesting example of the high attributed value for her later creative career. The home and the gardens around, seemingly had a huge and lasting impact on her imagination.Her writings are firmly embedded into not just her home of childhood and adolescent years, but also the changoof homes and contexts literally made Colette. The documentation of this in the “Musée Colette”, which presents the different phases of her life course, allows to get a better understanding of the interconnected world of experiences and artistic work. It takes an especially broad set of influences to form such a polyartist. The libretto for an opera orchestrated by Maurice Ravel or a model for Matisse, stand for the openness to new experiences and take risks when she embarked on new creative endeavors. (Image Musée Collette catalog p. 6)  

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Digital Social Networks

Social networks have become the place to be. The need to distinguish the digital social networks from the social networks of people in the analog or “real” world is important, as we realize that many young persons seem to suffer from loneliness despite a hundred personal links in the digital social networks. This paradox of digital and non-digital social networks needs careful attention of researchers because of the opportunities and risks involved in the transferability of contacts from one network to another.
There is s a kind of “conversion rate” of digital contacts into face-to-face contacts and even purchases for marketing purposes in the world of business. The sociology of the virtual has to deal with these paradoxical social relationships and study the increasing phenomenon of being «alone together». Increasingly we are alone, but together. Over the life course this phenomenon and the digital social network paradox change as well.
To research such a topic we need rather intrusive, personal data and access to the digital traces of people as they construct and deconstruct either form of social networks. 

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Social Anthropology

Dina Dreyfus, married several years to Claude Lévi-Strauss, has shared with Claude the long anthropological expedition to Brazil in the 1930s. They jointly studied the social organization of indigenous people across Brazil. Their abundant notes of field studies have now been digitized and the BNF is making this accessible.
Additionally, an exhibition on these field studies reveals the close collaboration of both partners. Returning to France in 1939 meant that soon after the return due to their Jewish decent had to interrupt their academic careers in France and some notebooks were lost during the Nazi occupation of France. After the war both separated and Claude Lévi-Strauss embarked on the drafting of the structuralist theory, Dina became influential in the field of the philosophy of education and teaching philosophy herself.
Besides all these lasting achievements, the exhibition shows the typewriter which had accompanied them for many years. The German language layout is quite remarkable as this asked for an additional mental versatility in putting their thoughts and experiences into the form of a manuscript. According to Claude Lévi-Strauss the use of this technical device allowed him to detach himself emotionally from his analytical work.
(Image: Exhibit: typewriter Claude Lévi-Strauss, BNF 2025-10)

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Modernist Urban planning

Saint Augustin in Brussels is one of the lesser known defining architectures in Brussels. It is visible from far away much beyond the immediate surroundings. Situated on Altitude 100 it is on the highest hill in Brussels with a 58 meters high Campanile built out of concrete in 1933 in a predominantly art nouveau style. The order of the St. Augustines in the center of Brussels was terminated and at the outskirts of Brussels as a new city suburb was being built starting in the late 19th century An appropriate way to demonstrate continuity despite discontinuity was the placement of the church in the middle of a roundabout and a star-like organisation of roads des descending from the top. The form of an equal length (orthodox) cross is in the spirit of the unity of the Christian churches. Even despite the prominent and exposed situation, most people pass by with little concern for the innovative, architectural features of this edifice. (Image: View from capanile St Augustin Brussels). On a small scale this urban planning concept resembles the Paris of the « Arc de Triomphe » and the views and corridors which we designed and implemented.

 

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Embedded Artists

The Brussels districts have their specific identities. 

The Forêt district is reconfiguring itself rapidly. In addition to the Modern Art Gallery Wiels, It hosts a multitude of diverse artists. Many of them opened their doors to the public as part of the 4 days of Parcours 1190. It turned out to be a truly Inclusive experience in the broadest sense possible. The immersive experience of seeing the work and the artists, some of them in their private homes, created a sense of an embedded connection to their work and personalities. The artists are embedded in the district around them nd the people of the district might feel a bit more connected to the artists surrounding them. The artist has integrated the pink poster of parcour1190 into one of his works under the overarching theme of inclusion. Social inclusion can take many forms, The Brussels district Forêt has added new dimensions to it. (Image entry to Hassan Bouzougarh‘s exhibition on 2025-10-5, Brussels Forêt). 

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Deus ex machina

The term “deus ex machina” used to be applied more in its figurative meaning. With the rise of digital tools like chatbots, facilitated and enhanced through AI, God is speaking to us not only in multiple languages, but also from our pockets through our smartphones and headsets. This is a rather recent form of “deus ex machina”, which we did not expect some years ago. The bible as e-book or pdf-file has been around for some decades, but only more recently we can enter conversations with God through chatbots as another version of “deus ex machina “ about almost everything (and pay for it via digital credit card). Programming of such an AI-tool is easily achieved. AI will prepare a weekly or daily sermon or prayer for you, following your predilections of your favourite quotes of the bible. An interesting twist to the programming is to use authorized as well as unauthorized translations of the bible across several centuries.
Another interesting enlargement of the input data base is the inclusion of interpretations and discussions not only within your own religious community, but beyond. Maybe the discussion of several different religious chatbots with each other could prevent aggressions due to differences in basic beliefs. These “dei ex machina” might further our understanding of what makes us humans different from machines and machine-based solutions of human conflicts.
As genetic clones of ourselves have become already technically more feasible, our digital alter-egos (the comprehensive collection of traces in the internet and digital images, plus social scoring) help to empower those “dei ex machina”.
This kind of “Brave New World” asks us to be rather brave ourselves.
(Image: interior St Denis Basilique Cathedral Paris 2024)

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Inclusive images

In the last 2 decades we can observe a strong concern among photographers to broaden the spectrum covered by images beyond well established imagery of non-binary gender. Diversity in imagery has taken a broader scope to extend, for example, the age range of people who are portrayed as central topic of exhibitions. The topic of mental diversity is more recent and needs a similar or even increased sensitivity to do justice to the whole spectrum of people. The photography of people with mental challenges necessitates a much more careful approach to the persons and complex personalities the photographer intends to portray. Trust and the development of trust of more vulnerable persons is a time sensitive process. The work by Charlotte Abramow “Maurice, Tristesse et rigolade” is a fine example of a photographer who portrayed over a long time of taking care of her father, previously a medical doctor, The years of the final stages of the life course of her father have been the subject over many years as the survivor of an extended medical coma had to struggle with the tough challenge of re-learning basic life skills again.
Abramow portrays her father as an actor of his “second life”, where the borders between reality, reconfigurations of his memories,   and “mise en scene” to co-produce the images. The images go far beyond the portrayal of aging and mental challenges as a deficit of persons. Yes, it is an integral part of these persons, but there is so much fun and positive emotions that derive from the intensive collaboration of actor, father and photographer that the images stick with us for a longer time. The presentation of props along with the photos creates an immersive installation, which strengthens the emotional bonding with the inclusive images of the later phase of the life course of Maurice.

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Marc Aurel critics

In the literature on and about Marc Aurel (Brenan 1882, pp. 484) the end of the ancient world is mentioned frequently. This refers to the beginning of the end of the Roman empire and the rise of Christianity to be become more influential. What caused the decline? The nepotism in the governance structure through the placement of family members to influential positions and as successor alienated many followers who previously believed in the high moral standards advocated by Marc Aurel.
Justifications of superiority by social origin are standard at the time of writing, but Marc Aurel did not see the potential of a more equitable distribution of offices. Women were relegated to subordinate or no public positions and are not mentioned with respect to  the importance of reasoning or social competence either, none but one in his acknowledgements (Book 1). The discrepancy between the formulation of virtues as well as ideal standards versus own practices of hierarchical leadership, recourse to slavery and brutal upholding of the empire should not go unmentioned.

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Marc Aurel Book 11

Throughout the Meditations, Marc Aurel concerns himself with the idea and importance of the common good. Based on his experience as Consul and Roman Emperor, the common good is of primary concern. At least in his thinking and writing these concerns play a very prominent role just like the “social“. In order to ensure his own successor, as described by Katherine Kennedy (2020 through www.classicalwisdom.com) he was only the 2nd Roman Emperor  to appoint a biological heir as his successor, which met a lot of criticism already at that time. Nevertheless, in his philosophical thinking and leadership guidelines he cherished the common good above all. “Have I done something for the common good? Then I too have benefited. Have this thought always ready to hand: and no stopping.” (Book 11 paragraph 4, Penguin Classics edition). This is in contrast to the predominant utilitarian thoughts many centuries later where the pursuit of your own benefit will further the benefit for society. The reversal of the logical sequence in later thoughts is particularly remarkable as well. The process of individualisation seems to be another additional factor in the lack of concern for the common good in the 21st century. Raising the awareness to further the common good is a continued challenged in most societies.

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Marc Aurel Book 8-9

In book 7 paragraph 38 the stoic wisdom is exemplified in the the the short phrase „If you have sharp sight, use it: but, as the poet says, add wise judgment“. Being sharp in your reasoning or data collection is only part of the human endeavor. A wise judgement is, however, an ambitious aim as judgments have different short term and long term consequences. Intergenerational considerations as for climate change ask for respect of other species, biodiversity and to take into account very long time horizons.  The quote from book 8 paragraph 5 appears very modern or post-modern in this context. „There can often be wrongs of omission as well as commission.“ (both citations from Penguin Classics edition) Not acting on behalf of future generations and disappearing species is the most crying omission of our time.

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Marc Aurel Book 7

In paragraph 63 Marc Aurel refers to Plato as one of his sources: “No soul”, says Plato, “likes to be robbed of truth” ( and continues himself) “– and the same holds of justice, moderation, kindness, and all such virtues. Essential that you should keep this constantly in your mind: this will make you more gentle to all.” The remarkable reasoning is to transform the own generalized experience into a behavioural recommendation. It may be argued that Marc Aurel starts from a kind of Aristotelian empirical study of persons in different life domains to derive an empirical fact. Based on this he develops a more Plato inspired “idealistic picture of mankind”. He is very much preoccupied with the philosophical question, how is a good life for all possible. In a previous paragraph (55) he outlined his 3 guiding fundamentals: (1) “The main principles in a man’s constitution is the social; (2)… resistance to the promptings of the flesh, like impulses; (3) judgement unhurried and undeceived”.
With such a claim for a “rational constitution” of man, he puts himself into the footsteps of previous philosophers of the ancient Greek tradition and, therefore, his writing in Greek rather than Latin is also a homage to this philosophical heritage.
(Image: parts of Installation by Fujiko Nakaya in Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin 2025)

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Marc Aurel Book 2-5

There are several translations of Marc Aurel. In the Shakespeare English translation from the Greek original of the Meditations a passage (Book 5 paragraph XXIII) describes or idealises humans as a “reasonable and sociable creature, regulated and directed.” The same short quote of this paragraph in the English translation by Martin Hammond (Penguin Classics p.43) reads: “…my wish is to follow the nature of a rational and social being.” Of course, both translations are pretty similar at first glance, but the difference of “reasonable” versus “rational” and “sociable” versus social” mark very important differences that had and have different impacts throughout the following centuries up to today. As in many other instances going back to the original version in Greek (book link) might clarify the issue, however, the entry barrier is access to the bilingual version and use of an ancient Greek dictionary.
With almost 2000 years of advances in rational approaches and its tools like mathematics, the scope of the rational is huge and the behavioural turn in the social sciences demonstrates the limitations of human’s use of rationality (λογικός) in decision-making. Reasonable seems to come closer in today’s “post-enlightenment” world.
There is also quite a divergent connotation in the simply “sociable” (κοινωνικός) being or the “social” being, which has a wider scope attached to it. Hence, lets be aware of the implicit interpretations of translations. For a start the parallel reading of translation and original (Link) might enhance our understanding and spur even new translations and interpretations, which speak with the classic originals to today’s audiences (with or without AI).
A witty joinder of both previous translations is “And my will is the will of a reasonable and social being”. (Link Book V, paragraph 29 bottom).
From the Greek to French in book V (Link)  with an even broader understanding of the social as “la société universelle”.

(Image: Camille Claudel 1905: “Persée et la Gorgone, Lucile Audouy collection Paris, exhibited in Berlin 2025, Alte Nationalgalerie)

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Marc Aurel Book 1

The reading of Marc Aurel’s Meditations in its Book 1 offers first of all his acknowledgments of people who had a lasting impact on him or offered learnings to him. He presented these learnings or take-home lessons as we call this nowadays in a style of “positive psychology”. This means writes about the positive influences and which kinds of positive behaviors he saw in living examples of others and which he felt were particularly worthy of general consideration. In philosophical retrospect we might read the book 1 as a list of “categorical imperatives” which would make a decent life feasible for all. His acknowledgments start with 1 line on his grandfather (decency and mild temper), 2 lines on his biological father (integrity and manliness), 3 lines on his mother (piety, generosity, avoidance of wrongdoing and simplicity of living), but 4 lines on his tutor, even more on other advisers, 20+ on his adoptive father, which is more than on “the gods”.  All these experiences impregnated him with a sense for a “ruler’s responsibility for the common good”. (p.8). The stoic virtue lies in the extensive list of positive contributions from others to make him the rather unique philosopher and emperor.

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Chatbot Me

Chatbots are helpful to allow queries to larger data sets like the blog entries here. So here is a try of a Chatbot to query all entries on AI using ChatGPT to create a Chatbot that uses and references it source from www.schoemann.org/tag/ai and the AI reader in pdf-format.
Please send me an email if the hallucinations of this Chatbot 1.0 on AI from a social science perspective are giving strange results. I’ll get back to you. Please use at your own risk as I cannot guarantee for all answers. The usual disclaimer applies here.

ChatGPT proposed the following set of Questions and Answers on the blog for an entry into the chat: Example Q&A with the chatbot

Q: What are the social science concerns with AI?
A: Bias in results, job shifts, democracy risks, privacy, and new inequalities.

Q: What does the text say about reinforcement learning?
A: It’s seen as the next step for AI: focusing on learning and reasoning, not just predicting text. It also uses fewer resources.

Q: How are robots described in the document?
A: Robots are mostly assistants. They can follow people or carry small items, but more complex tasks need sensors and AI training.

Q: What about biased results?
A: Studies can be misleading if control groups are flawed. AI faces the same challenge — social scientists warn: “handle with care”.

Q: What is Schoemann’s blog view on AI?
A: He links AI to energy use, fairness, and its role in the “all-electric society” — stressing efficiency and responsibility.

More on the chatbot (in testing phase) and the Link to the coding help received from ChatGPT on this mini-test-project :
https://chatgpt.com/share/68c1d160-0cc0-8003-bf04-991b9e7c3b24

 

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Marc Aurel AI

In the 21st century it is possible to chat with Marcus Aurelius. Part of the exhibition at the Simeonstift is a chatbot you may freely consult and questions with or about Marc Aurel. Based on your questions the animated screen image of Marc Aurel will reply based on his own writings like the Meditations and (probably) other secondary literature on Marc Aurel. Questions about feminism or slavery are answered based on the original texts. Some of these answers  appeared rather modern like the basic equality of all including women or slaves. The Meditations are an idealistic vision of mankind in the stoic tradition. In practice such ideals have proven very ambitious for the many and growing temptations in the day-to-day lives of ordinary people including their political, religious, business and military leaders. The AI is confronted with the issue to give answers to ethical questions which refer to the time of the author, but not all can apply to today’s ethical standards and basic human rights. Reading the original source, therefore, remains the preferred choice. 

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Marc Aurel Philosopher

2025-9 marks an additional landmark in the achievements of the late Marc Aurel. In the Roman built city of Trier, 3 museums offer exhibitions on the life, ideas and imperial governance style of Marc Aurel. Libraries and bookshops around the city portray a wealth of books and studies by and about Marc Aurel as well in many languages (image below 2025-9). The stoic author and practitioner has served as an example of a leadership style which became for many subsequent leaders a hard-to-achieve precedent. The writing style of Marc Aurel in short paragraphs and aphorisms proved highly accessible, although his readership swell only after a Latin translation of his Greek original appeared in the 16th century. The title “Meditations” in English, “Pensées pou moi-même” in French or “Selbstbetrachtungen” in German demonstrate the difficulty to get to grips with the author’s intention and objectives in writing down these reflections on life, ethics, humanity and good governance. Through the use of Greek rather than Latin he puts himself in the line of Greek philosophers rather than the succession of Roman emperors. As the numbers of bad leaders still outnumber the good governance style advocated by Marc Aurel, these exhibitions in the Simeonstift, the Landesmuseum and the Stadtbibliothek are a perfect opportunity to demonstrate that good governance is something that can be studied and learned even in the distant Roman history.  

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Vacation or Workation

Vacation or Workation, that is the question. Remote work and outsourcing of work have  created the opportunity for more people to work from distant places. Logging into the firm’s or the administration’s secured intranet enabled to work from where you prefer to work rather than on the premises of the firm. After the technological shift to enable secure remote work, the acceptability of remote work is a societal issue. Whereas bosses worked or had to work while on travel for many decades, the same has become feasible due to reduced costs for many other employees as well. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced another shift in the need to accept and advance remote work as well. Taken together the option of a “workation” instead of a vacation became equally more feasible. The borderline between remote work, “workation” and vacation has become more and more blurred. It remains to be seen, whether these options enhance an outsourcing trend by firms or whether  more “back-sourcing” or “in-sourcing” will be the consequence.
Employers with their associations and employees with their trade union representatives have a need to include such topics in their bargaining agenda in addition to pay, health and safety, as well as working time adaptations.
(Image created with Canva 2025-9)

 

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Paris Sorbonne

The history of the university on the left bank of “La Seine” dates back to 1257 when Robert de Sorbon an advisor to Louis IX was asked to create a unifying structure of several colleges which provided room and board already. The location on the left bank in Paris allowed these colleges to escape the religious doctrines and archbishop who dominated the right bank. The choice of the name of the advisor rather than the King was already showing early signs of independence which was cherished by generations of students and professors. The Colleges had individual names like “Collège des Bernardins” or “Collège de Navarre” and operated under the title of “La Sobonne”. The “Musée Histoire de Paris Carnavalet” shows an early design of the Collège de Navarre. Independent thinkers and writers were formed there who became very influential later on in their careers. Thomas d’Aquin was one of them.

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liberté urbanité

In the museum of the history of Paris “Musée Histoire de Paris Carnavalet” we find a special place devoted to the commemoration of the terror attacks in Paris in the Bataclan event location and the office of the journal “Charlie Hebdo” (see image below”. The skateboard on the bottom left of the wall raises the value of “urbanité” next to liberté, égalité, fraternité. The attack of an urban living style with youth going out as they like and journalists and caricaturists speaking their minds freely had been attacked, but continues nevertheless. This statement is part of the Paris state of mind. 

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Home for dog

The places where some dogs live can be rather big. But even tiny dogs may enjoy a luxury home like their owners. This was certainly the case for the dog’s niche in a Paris home, a few years before the French revolution (1785). The exhibit is a testimony of the tough inequality of the late 18th century in Paris, where some enjoyed far reaching luxury and large parts of the population were forced to live in poverty within Paris or the suburbs with little access to basic sanitary facilities. The discrepancy between the luxurious homes of pets and the average person might serve as an indicator for income and health inequality. The Musée Histoire de Paris Carnavalet has a great stock of artifacts that can speak to the issue. Image: Musée Histoire de Paris Carnavalet dog niche 1785). 

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Emotional history

The making of emotional memories of a city is an art in itself. Many cities have professional photographers who accompany all major events in a city over years. Paris has had the chance that artist photographers and film makers have contributed greatly to the emotional history of the city. Agnès Varda was such a formidable person whose images and movies moved people and allowed to share emotions about the city’s busy and diverse neighborhoods. The « Musée Histoire de Paris Carnavalet » combines an autobiographic perspective with the emotional depiction of live in Paris from the 1950s onwards into the late 20th century. (Image: Agnès Varda, 1950 self-portrait, MEP Paris). 

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Femmes Photographers

Paris puts 2 women photographer into the spotlight. The MEP and the Musée historique de la Ville de Paris feature a gender perspective on photography. Both photographers have a common starting point in black and white photography.  Each moved on to develop their art into an additional direction later during their career. Marie-Laure de Decker shifted from the early camera technology from black and white images to color photography in the later stages of her career. Agnès Varda moved from her initial b/w photographic work on to the production of videos for cinema, mainly focused on life in Paris from the early 1960s onwards. An evolution over the professional life becomes evident for both through these retrospectives of their respective work. Technologies evolved and became more accessible for artists’ creative expression. Both moved on to adopt new techniques and challenges. Great personal learning experiences and models for today’s challenges.

(Image Marie-Laure de Decker, L’image comme engagement 2025-8 MEP Paris).

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Gentileschi Iconologia

Ever since the publication of Cesare Ripa’s „Iconologia“ (1593) the codes of art had become subject of a coded production and interpretation of art. Attributes of power or wealth like palms, scepters or crowns, decorated with gold and diamonds spoke a language easily understood by onlookers irrespective of time periods. Orazio and his daughter Artemisia applied this Iconologia throughout their work. The apparently simple depiction of bad weather became a sign of trouble ahead in a person‘s life, office or reign. From the success of Caravaggio‘s paintings, the application of light and shadow became another stylistic feature of especially Artemisia‘s work. Whereas the application of these techniques is a sign of craftsmanship, the own contributions like a more emotional and emancipatory repertoire of Artemisia make her an artist of her own kind. (Image Artemisia Gentileschi, Madelaine pénitante 1625, Musée Jacquemart André“ in Paris 2025-8) 

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Women artists

The history of art has been dominated in public opinion for centuries by men. However, recently art historians have drawn our attention to the numerous works of women who took Centre stage with their art during the last 500 years. Flavia Frigeri (2019, 2024) begins her history of women artists with Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614) followed by Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1652). Both painters produced extraordinary paintings which brought their own touch to the paintings at a time when an independent expression through art was still largely reserved for men. The subjects of Gentileschi were greatly influenced by her experiences as a woman in a male dominated society in the 17th century in Europe. Her choice of subjects for her paintings added a female vision and depiction of biblical and historical narratives that were unique. The „Musée Jacquemart André“ in Paris featured a great retrospective of her art work in 2025. The catalog of the exhibition allows to enter into the art and wit of this early woman artist. 

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Zadkine Van Gogh

Ossip Zadkine has been a sculptor in cubists’ art tradition. He created famous sculptures of Vincent van Gogh after the death of the renowned painter and his friend. The Zadkine museum in Paris allows to get a great impression of these artworks. These sculptures reveal an interesting life course perspective on both artists sensitivity and transformation of their impressions of others or emotions more generally. The first study depicted below by Ossip Zadkine of van Gogh shows how he carefully studied the traits of van Gogh and his personality in order to better understand the evolution and death of the fellow artist. The emotional and broader psychological aspects of a character captured both artists. Doing justice to these inner feelings and society’s judgments about art and artists at their time of creation had strong impacts on both artists. 

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Sedentary Lifestyle

There seems to exist a correlation between a more sedentary lifestyle and the level of industrialization. Industrialized countries have attempted to beat the running of time by faster modes of transport. From horses to cars, trains and airplanes. As a corollary of wanting to go faster the number steps walking has decreased compared to countries with less private or public means of transportation. The the time you spend sitting in transport the less we tend to walk or cycle. Obesity has become a dangerous consequence for large parts of those sedentary individuals and sedentary societies. The contribution by Paul Klotz in “Le Monde” from 2025-7-26 (p.24) highlights the bio-psycho-socio co-determination of the sedentary lifestyle. Societal developments to build entire cities more suited to car and train traffic has made walking the city a stressful task. Rebuilding our cities with a focus for a society on the move again is a challenge for more than one generation.

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Work time reduction

One of the major elements of social progress in the 20th century consisted in the reduction of work time. Reductions from 48 hours per week in the first half of the century were largely reduced to 40 hours per week or less in some industries with strong trade union representation. State regulations also pushed in this direction with positive implications for physical and mental health as well as wellbeing. Advances in longevity of employees may be attributable to this social progress agenda of the 20th century. In the 21st century we witness a new thrust of enterprises and employees striving to implement a 4 day work schedule by at the same time organizing a further reduction of work hours. The scientific evidence which is based on pre- and post trial assessments of workers satisfaction shows rather positive results (Fan, Schor, Kelly, Gu 2025). More studies are due to accompany this potential of further health and wellbeing effects of reduced work time and the reorganization of work time in enterprises. 

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Climate Awareness

The Musée d’Orsay has prepared a wonderful walk through its permanent exhibition of late 19th and early 20th century installations to reflect upon climate and climate change. Raising awareness about the treasures lost and those we are about to lose in the next few years. Impressionist painters have depicted landscapes, cities and monuments covered in snow, which the next generations will no longer be able to enjoy the same way. The roofs of Paris covered with snow has become a feature of a distant past. Additionally, the impression of the massive steam trains crossing metal bridges appear as the daunting future of technical progress. Mixed feelings of fascination and risk associated with those machines were captured by those painters’ eyes. Nowadays we are aware of the consequences of this technical progress for our planet. The walk through museum with a focus on climate related paintings is eye opening indeed. (Image: Extract of Éduard Veuillard, Le jardin des Tuileries, Musée d’Orsay, Paris)