It Takes Two to Do Science : The Puzzling Interactions Between Science and Society [1 ed.] 9789054876052

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It Takes Two To Do Science The puzzling interactions between science and society

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Henri Eisendrath and Jean Paul Van Bendegem (eds.)

It Takes Two To Do Science The puzzling interactions between science and society

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Cover design: Frisco, Oostende Book design: Style, Hulshout Print: Flin Graphic Group, Oostkamp © 2009 VUBPRESS Brussels University Press VUBPRESS is an imprint of ASP sa (Academic and Scientific Publishers sa) Ravensteingalerij 28 B-1000 Brussels Tel. ++ 32 2 289 26 50 Fax ++ 32 2 289 26 59 E-mail [email protected] www.vubpress.be ISBN 978 90 5487 605 2 NUR 740 Legal Deposit D/2009/11.161/064 All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Contents Introduction Henri Eisendrath History, archaeology and heritage in Flanders The industrial past and its landscapes Peter Scholliers Camel antibodies in medicine and biotechnology Serge Muyldermans Tensions between mathematics, the sciences, and philosophy Jean Paul Van Bendegem CO2 sequestration by the ocean via the biological pump: Is man’s interference ecologically warranted and economically senseful ? Frank Dehairs The evaluation of legal science The Vl.I.R.-model for integral quality assessment of research in law : what next ? Serge Gutwirth Ethical challenges in the inclusion of the poor in the financial sector Marek Hudon Cosmologies for the generation of useful and reliable knowledge in Western Europe and China from the accession of the Ming to the First Opium War (1368-1839) Patrick K. O’Brien FBA Sleep and wakefulness research at the Department of Biological Psychology Raymond Cluydts and collaborators Media, ‘public opinion’ and (criminological) research Sonja Snacken Kristof Verfaillie

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Photonics : research in a world of creativity and controversy Hugo Thienpont

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Afterthoughts : yes, but is it science ? Jean Paul Van Bendegem

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Introduction The New York Times of December 7, 2008 had a wonderful piece by business columnist Janet Rae-Dupree, with title ‘Teamwork, the true mother of invention’. She started her article with ‘Despite the enduring myth of the one genius, innovation does not take place in isolation’. Truly productive invention requires the meeting of minds from myriad perspectives, even if the innovators themselves don’t always realize it. Keith Sawyer, a researcher at Washington University in St Louis calls this ‘group genius’ and in his book ‘Group genius, the creative power of collaboration’ he shows that what we experience as a flash of insight has actually percolated in social interaction for quite some time. In the September 2008 issue of Harvard Business Review Ed Catmull, President of Pixar Animation Studios and Disney Animation Studios wrote : ‘Creativity involves a large number of people from different disciplines working together to solve a great many problems’. “The best innovations occur when you have networks of people with diverse backgrounds gathering around a problem,” said Robert Fishkin, President and Chief Executive of Reframeit. In fact these were the same basic ideas Jean Paul Van Bendegem and me had when at the end of the last century, we initiated a series of interdisciplinary study groups and workshops for young researchers at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). During Professor Els Witte's term as rector of our university the VUB (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), a long standing requirement for the formation of research workers came under new attention. Their formation should not be restricted to their specific research subjects, but should include the ethical and social relevance of their work. This had originally been a part of the requirements for the presentation of a Ph.D., but had fallen into neglect as a result of the competition between universities. During her ‘rectorate’, Professor Witte lent her full support to the interdisciplinary seminars and workshops organized by Jean Paul Van Bendegem and myself for Ph.D. students and young research workers. Thanks to the additional help provided by Filip Callewaert and Marc Runacres, these seminars became increasingly successful, and their continuity until the end of 2007 was ensured. The interdisciplinary seminars brought together professors from the VUB once a month to come and present the aims, the importance, the successes and the difficulties of the work their research teams were engaged upon. Accompanying texts and references were provided in advance so that the students attending the seminars could meaningfully participate in the 7

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discussion. Due to the presence of students from different faculties, the discussion, in which ethical, philosophical and social aspects were emphasized, was also strongly interdisciplinary. It not only gave a broadening of the horizon of the research group, but quite frequently it provided original and new impulses to the research work itself. In the workshops, the Ph.D. students participated in the talks, explaining to their colleagues the whys and wherefores of their research, and the difficulties and help they had encountered. Discussions and enquiries between the organizers and the more than a hundred participants (over a year) made it clear that the seminars and workshops had not only been useful to the Ph.D. students in the preparation of their work, but had often brought them out of a relative isolation. These interdisciplinary seminars actually also constituted an open presentation of the top research at the VUB an international level. The series held in the academic year 2003-2004 had as its theme ‘Sustainable development and decisions taking under uncertainty’. Thanks to the reputation of the speakers it led to the publication of a book in Dutch. This book was also a factor in the conception of the international exhibition ‘This is our earth’ in the Turn and Taxis Center in Brussels, from October 2008 to April 2009, with a number of the contributors to the book being consulted as experts. In other years other research groups came into the limelight. For the academic year 2006-2007, the theme which had been chosen was ‘It takes two to do science’. The organizers were so impressed by the quality of the speakers and of the research projects which had been proposed that they thought it necessary again to publish a book, this time in English so that this ‘visiting card’ of the VUB would receive a greater distribution. The theme ‘It takes two to do science’, just as ‘It takes two to (dance a) tango’, is to make it clear that today, interesting and successful research activities depend in almost all cases upon the confrontation and the communication with other research groups in one's own or in other countries. This conclusion might seem obvious, but it has not truly penetrated to the leaders of all research groups. Since in the series of seminars for the year 2006-2007 we also wanted to pay tribute to Professor Marcel Liebman of the faculty of Economic, Social and Political Science, the well-known historian Professor Patrick O'Brien of the London School of Economics was invited to participate. The series thus comprised eleven contributions. The first talk was by Professor Peter Scholliers, a historian from the faculty of Philosophy and Letters ‘History, archaeology and heritage in Flanders. The industrial past and its landscapes.’ This was followed by: Professor Serge Muylderman, a bio-engineer from the Science faculty, with ‘Camel antibodies in medicine and biotechnology’. 8

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Introduction

Professor Jean Paul Van Bendegem, philosopher of science in the faculty of Philosophy and Letters with ‘Tensions between mathematics, the sciences, and philosophy’. Professor Frank Dehairs, a biologist from the Science faculty, with ‘CO2 sequestration by the ocean via the biological pump: Is man’s interference ecologically warranted and economically meaningful ?’. Professor Serge Gutwirth, from the Faculty of Law and Criminology, with ‘The evaluation of legal science’ Professor Kristiaan Thielemans, a doctor in the Faculty of Medecine and Pharmacology, with ‘Research of the laboratory of molecular and cellular therapy of the VUB : immunology of dendritic cells and medical oncology”. We did unfortunately not receive his written contribution. Professor Marek Hudon, economist and philosopher from the Solvay Business School of Economics and Management of our sister university, the Université Libre de Bruxelles, with ‘Ethical challenges in the inclusion of the poor in the financial sector’. Professor Patrick O'Brien, a historian at the London School of Economics, with ‘Cosmologies for the generation of useful and reliable knowledge in Western Europe and China from the accession of the Ming to the First Opium War (1368-1839)’ Professor Raymond Cluydts, a psychologist in the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Science, with ‘Sleep and wakefulness research at the Department of Biological Psychology’ Professor Sonja Snacken, from the Faculty of Law and Criminology, with ‘Media, ‘public opinion’ and (criminological) research’. The series terminated with a talk by Professor Hugo Thienpont, from the Faculty of Engineering Sciences, on ‘Photonics : research in a world of creativity and controversy’. From the titles of the talks, it is clear that the subjects which were presented come from very different fields of study. The discussions frequently involved not just specialists in the specific research activity, but also Ph.D. students from other fields. It is very regrettable that due to a modification in the organization of the Ph.D. programs, these series of talks have been discontinued. The publication of the book was made possible thanks to financial contributions from different faculties, to the generosity of several professors amongst whom Professor Hugo Thienpont, and also to that of the two publishers themselves. We present our sincere thanks for all these contributions. Professor Emeritus Henri Eisendrath March 2009

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History, archaeology and heritage in Flanders The industrial past and its landscapes Peter Scholliers Professor, History department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

On the occasion of the Third International Conference for Industrial Archaeology in Sweden (1978), the International Committee for the Conservation of the International Heritage (TICCIH) was founded (www.mnactec.com/TICCIH). The newly established committee decided to organize a global conference every two or three years, and it resolved to comply with at least two conditions each time: every member state was to submit a national report, and each conference would see a different central theme being addressed1. The second resolution proved easy to keep; the first one turned out a tougher challenge. The particular difficulty lies in finding someone capable of producing such a national report, as it needs to comprise a wide range of matters, including legislation, museums, organizations, publications, forums, and the reuse of former industrial buildings. By ascertaining ‘who does what where’ and taking stock of current methods, approaches, achievements and problems, such a report can obviously be of immense value in the assessment of the current national and international state of affairs. Nonetheless, most of these reports lack substance and depth, steer clear of the real issues, ignore certain regions, industries or developments, and show little uniformity. The Belgian association, TICCIH-Belgium, primarily functions as a liaison between Belgium, other countries, and the association’s international counterparts. It is charged with drawing up the national reports. TICCIHBE also gathers Flemish and Walloon industrial archaeologists around the table; the annual general meeting is actually one of the few occasions where this still occurs. The association exists by the grace of SIWE and PIWB, the Flemish and Walloon industrial heritage bodies, respectively, both of which have an effective mandate (including publications, members and events). With a view to the 13th conference of TICCIH (Terni, Italy, September

1. The conferences in chronological order : Ironbridge (GB) 1973, Bochum (DE) 1975, several towns in Sweden, 1978, Lyon and Grenoble (FR) 1981, Lowell (USA) 1984, Vienna (AU) 1987, Brussels (BE) 1990, Barcelona and Madrid (ES) 1992, Montréal and Ottawa (Cnd) 1994, Athens and Thessaloniki (GR) 1997, London (UK) 2000, Moskow, Ekaterinburg and Nizhny Tagil (RU) 2003, and Terni (IT) 2006. Freiberg (DE) will host the next meeting (2009).

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2006), Patrick Viaene (SIWE) and myself wrote the Belgian national report, with the assistance of Corinne Dubois (PIWB).

On the relationship between heritage and history I considered it worthwhile to lift the part on Flanders and Brussels from the report, and publish it in order to attain a somewhat wider audience. This should provide a succinct overview of the current state of affairs in Flanders, inform readers of the lasting existence of TICCIH-BE, and, first and foremost, allow me to make some remarks on the way industrial archaeology is practiced in this region, as well as to reflect generally on the arduous relationship between (industrial) archaeology, (industrial) heritage, and historiography. I am aware of the inherent ambiguity of this operation : I am co-author of the report and yet provide a running commentary on my own work. Nonetheless, my additions do not go beyond the inclusion of some footnotes and occasionally interpreting the text. The present paper starts with my remarks, followed by the chapter on Flanders from the National Report – Belgium. This national report concludes on a moderately optimistic note. It observes that there has been a change in attitude since the mid-90s, resulting in an increased respect for former industrial buildings, which are being renovated and restored, put to new use, even protected by law at times. A number of successes points to this new trend that I personally embrace wholeheartedly. It rejoices me to find industrial buildings being transformed into homes, office space, museums, shops or arts centres in and around old city centres. These newly converted industrial buildings add to the character of a town or neighbourhood, even when little remains of the building’s original function. There is, of course, always room for improvement; the report includes examples of a number of buildings that have been completely destroyed. However, the sea change in attitude previously mentioned is real. Flanders is definitely following an international trend. It is by no means exceptional in this, though. Wallonia is the region providing the truly sensational examples (including the Musée des Arts Contemporains, housed in the exceptional site of Le Grand Hornu (http://mac-s.be), close to Mons). However, I did not set out to compare Flanders to other regions (if this is your main interest, you are advised to consult the national reports2 .)

2. ‘National Reports presented to the 13th International Conference TICCIH 2006’, Patrimoine de l'industrie / Industrial Patrimony, 15 (2006) 1.

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Figure 1: The canonization of a monument : a stamp dated 1979 depicting the “Le Grand Hornu” site; an industrial heritage site under threat that was brought into the spotlight. My main issue with the national report’s conclusion is that it solely applies to industrial heritage and not to industrial archaeology. Is there a difference ? I believe there is. I would even argue that this difference is fundamental, not just in terms of how these two disciplines’ achievements have been appraised, but also in terms of their futures. This point requires a certain amount of clarification, and I need to go back to the early days of industrial archaeology in order to provide this.

The early days The interest in industrial relics awoke in the 1960s in both Great Britain and Belgium; the fact that both these countries had seen industrialization on a large scale was perhaps no coincidence. Interest came from nonprofessionals, university historians and art historians. They soon established a new discipline, industrial archaeology, with its own methods, approaches, journals, networks, and, soon, its own figureheads. By 1975, however, the movement had passed its pinnacle, and by this point practitioners had realized that something was missing, that the field needed ‘something more’. This ‘something’ would not only come with a new banner (‘industrial heritage’), but it also came with new content (reuse, legal protection). The 1978 TICCIH-conference in Sweden can be seen as a turning point in this respect. The 1978 turnaround meant that the discipline became more professional. New players started to claim a starring role : architects, urban planners, civil servants, and investors. The early pioneers were reduced to mere onlookers. It only dawned on them later that this change from ‘archaeology’ to ‘heritage’ was to have at least two consequences. Firstly, 13

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what had disappeared no longer seemed to matter : from then on all attention was channeled to buildings, landscapes, and objects that remained or meanings that were reshaped. Industrial archaeology (‘archaeology’ as defined by Foucault : the excavation, revelation and interpreting of what has disappeared) was not just overlooked, but it became completely marginalized. Secondly, scientific research was equally relegated to the backburner (referring to this matter, the National Report states : “The pursuit of leisure rather than the pursuit of science”). Research was often carried out in a completely isolated fashion, concerned itself with just one building or tool, and lacked relevance beyond a local interest; it can therefore only be described as decent amateurism. When serious research was undertaken at the time, it mostly offered a pragmatic response to some urgent need, with little in the way of theoretical or intellectual reflection. Take the Tour & Taxis site in Brussels, for instance. Most agree that the site contains a number of invaluable buildings that need to be protected, preserved, and respectfully put to new use. Numerous newspaper articles have been published to this effect, as well as a large amount of so-called grey literature (i.e. hard to find), yet this astounding collection of buildings has never been the subject of any article in a scientific journal (of any discipline). It was only three years ago that a booklet with historical and architectural information about the site finally saw the light of day3. Since then, no new research has been done. This development cannot be laid at the door of the heritage protectors, but I may blame the early pioneers of industrial archaeology. In Great Britain, especially, the pioneers are very much aware of this. In the 1990s, British post-medieval archaeologists, fronted by Marilyn Palmer (see also : www.spma.org.uk), started to question the methods that had become traditional by then, as well as the discipline’s close adherence to positivist historiography 4. In 1998, Palmer and Neaverston advocated a ‘cultural turn’ in industrial archaeology 5. The English godfather of the discipline, Kenneth Hudson, similarly pointed to the dead-end traditional methods were leading to. The title of his article ‘Has industrial archaeology lost its way ?’ leaves little to the imagination. He suggested taking the archaeology of labour and the workplace as a new central theme 6. A little restrictive, if you ask me. Nevertheless, the message was clear.

3. G. Vanderhulst, Tour & Taxis. Een wijk in beweging. Brussels, 2005. 4. For more information on this matter, see P. Scholliers, ‘De krampachtige relatie tussen industriële archeologie en economische geschiedenis. Een renovatie-essay’, NEHABulletin voor de economische geschiedenis, 17 (2003) 2, p.3-21. 5. M. Palmer & P. Neaverston, Industrial archaeology. Principles and practice. London, 1998. 6. Industrial Archaeology Review, 23 (2001) 2, p. 6-9.

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What about Belgium and scientific research on industrial heritage and industrial archaeology ? Something going on there ? The TICCIH-report is anything but hopeful when it comes to scientific research. It points to the weak position of industrial archaeology in higher education. I agree; the situation is dire both at the undergraduate and post-graduate level. Has any PhD ever been defended, at any point in time, in any discipline (history, archaeology, architecture, geography, engineering …) with industrial archaeology as its main theme ? To the best of my knowledge, there has not. The National Report does point to the recent emergence of a number of new opportunities. I wish to shed some light on these opportunities, as I contend that they could lead to the revival of industrial archaeology, provide a different take on our past (nothing more, nothing less!), and contribute to a more coherent policy on the conservation of monuments and landscapes.

Cultural turn Palmer’s and Neaverston’s ‘cultural turn’ provides us with a good starting point (leaving aside for a moment whether this turn would actually suffice)7. Both authors plead for site studies that are firmly grounded in the site’s geographical, social and cultural context, for the development of a solid theoretical base and for a dialogue with historical sciences. In the case of Flanders, a huge amount of work still needs to be done in this respect; a context is often missing, theory is considered a waste of time, and contact with other sciences dates back to last century (I’m referring to the 20th century). Yet, I do not see any objections to giving the same cultural whirl, as it were, to industrial archaeology in Flanders too. At least two of the conditions have already been met : 1. Some historical sciences (in particular ethnology, but archaeology and history increasingly so as well) are now devoted to both material and immaterial culture. This means that objects have not only been given their rightful place, but that attention is also (and mainly) given to the significance granted to these objects. In my definition, ‘objects’ not only refers to monuments and (yes, indeed) landscapes, but to all relics of the industrial past, even - and especially - the most trivial. This view entails that

7. It is my belief that a cultural turn would be insufficient to lift industrial archaeology out of the slump. It is not enough to pay a certain amount of attention to ‘culture’, and then believe we can simply pick up from where we left off. Instead I believe that new perspectives, methods and applications of all kinds of social theories could provide the answer.

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the significance or value of objects, landscapes and monuments is not fixed, but that it can change over time 8. 2. Traditional industrial archaeology is evolving into a ‘cultural’ industrial archaeology, something which has already taken place in our industrial and technical museums. Take the exhibition Strong Woman, Heavy Laundry Load as a case in point, organized by the Museum for Old Techniques (MOT, Grimbergen, Belgium), which ran from April to October 2006. This exhibition put 150 years’ worth of laundry history on display, exhibiting all sorts of washing machines and laundry tools. Its aim was also to “pay tribute to all women having to carry the laundry burden for so many years.” The Museum for Industrial Archaeology and Textile’s exhibition : Advertising – Happiness. Now and then. (June – October 2006, Ghent) and the Archives d’Architectures Modernes’ exhithion The Kitchen. A Way of Living (November 2006 – March 2007, Brussels) provide other excellent examples. I strongly believe that industrial archaeology can greatly benefit from such initiatives : they appeal to the public, situate objects in a socio-cultural context, point to developments in everyday life and inspire people to reflect on (or at least marvel at) objects, meanings, contexts and changes. This is to be applauded. However, I do wish to add two qualifications. Firstly, critical notes, unsettling points of view or profound intellectual reflections are often lacking because the subject matter needs to remain accessible and, I’m afraid to write, fun. Nothing wrong with that, but it should certainly not become the sole object. Secondly, when the visitor does ask for more information, it very often cannot be provided. There are no publications (these ask for scientific research !). Visitors are often left in the dark when it comes to the actual exhibition concept, the choices that were made or the situating of the exhibition in a larger socio-cultural context. This is not the responsibility of the people who stage the exhibition, but it should be the job of industrial archaeologists who, just like in 1980, are sitting back in awe but are not getting involved. It is time they sprang to action. Should industrial archaeologists resolutely opt for a cultural turn, their work could be an added value to the protectors of our industrial heritage. Industrial archaeologists could investigate how the significance of buildings and objects has changed and evolved, they could extend our existing knowledge in general, thereby adding new criteria for the selection of what to protect. These are arguments that should be conclusive (although I admit, they often are not). I wish to conclude my commentary on the Belgian report for the TICCIH with a plea. I believe there is a clear distinction between industrial 8. Allow me to take an example from my own research with regard to plastic boxes : P.Scholliers, ‘Cultural History and the social life of things’, in : Tupperware Transparant. Bruges, 2005, pp.65-81.

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archaeology and industrial heritage (i.e., between archaeology and history, and heritage). Yet, one cannot exist without the other. Industrial heritage only considers what remains, but it all too often forgets to ask whether these remains are the result of arbitrary decisions or simply a lack of judgment. This is where industrial archaeology should step in. It laid the foundations for the interest in our industrial heritage, but it has allowed itself to be sidelined. It now needs to leave the fray, not with a muffled sound but with trumpets blazing. Allow industrial archaeology to do what it traditionally has been good at: firmly ensconced in historical sciences, but armed with carefully honed critical tools and specific methods. Let it once again be the unruly, unsettling and critical discipline it was in the 1970s. Let it move forwards and fall into step with current developments in the historical, social and human sciences.

Figure 2: Advertisement for the washing machine (The Netherlands, 1959), contrasting the washing board and the young girl (who is playing) with the washing machine and the mother (who is working). Source : Dutch Association for Women’s History (Vereniging voor Vrouwengeschiedenis).

National report Belgium 2006 Patrick Viaene (SIWE) and Peter Scholliers (TICCIH-BE)

The last National Report on Belgium dated from 1994 and had appeared on the occasion of the TICCIH’s ninth conference (Montreal and Ottowa). From then on only regional reports had been published9. In the course of 9. E.g. P. Viaene, ‘Le patrimoine industriel en Flandre’, Maison d’Hier et d’Aujourd’hui, (1996) 4, no. 112, pp. 20-35; E. Nijhof & P. Scholliers (eds), Het tijdperk van de machine. Industriecultuur in België en Nederland. Brussels, 1996.

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the 1990s Belgium became an increasingly federal state, comprising three separate parts (the regions of Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia). These regions each have a different outlook with regard to industrial heritage, resulting in diverging approaches, legislation, funding policies, and implementations. It therefore makes sense to consider the regions as separate entities, even if, from a more global perspective, they are developing in similar ways. Let us briefly remind of the state of affairs in the early 90s. There had been a strong interest in industrial archaeology for some twenty years by then, and despite the somewhat difficult period between 1980 and 1990, this interest had led to a number of actual realizations: the Centre for Industrial Archaeology (1975-1977), a series of articles in established scientific journals, a number of successful exhibitions, some new museums and a regional organization in both Flanders (Vlaamse Vereniging voor Industriële Archeologie, VVIA, 1978, www.vvia.be – Flemish Association for Industrial Archaeology) and Wallonia (Patrimoine Industriel Wallonie – Bruxelles, PIWP, 1984, patrimoineindustriel.be/fr/accueil/).

Technical and industrial museums Around 1990, a ‘consolidation phase’ set in, which could be ascribed to the discipline’s strong desire to become more professional at that time. However, a number of keen non-professionals and a handful of dedicated academics did not prove powerful enough to inform decisions regarding the conservation, reuse or legal protection of Flemish industrial heritage, despite having been at the forefront of initiatives that had proved very successful previously. The Museum for Industrial Archaeology and Textile (MIAT), helmed by René De Herdt (www.miat.be), is a terrific example of one such initiative. It is incorporated into the city museums of Ghent and receives subsidies from the city council. In 1990 it was moved into an old textile factory, and since then activities have multiplied: the museum publishes a journal (Tijdschrift voor Industriële Cultuur, or TIC), stages permanent and temporary exhibitions, organizes readings, and manages a library and archives. De Bronsfabriek – La Fonderie, the museum for social and industrial history in Brussels (Molenbeek), until very recently helmed by Guido Vanderhulst and subsidized by the regional authority, is another case in point (www.lafonderie.be). This museum also organizes temporary exhibitions, publishes a journal (Les Cahiers de la Fonderie, only in French), houses a specialized library and keeps archives. Unfortunately, not all initiatives have been this successful. Take Energeia, for instance, the electricity museum. It opened its doors to the public in 1986 but had to close them again in 2000 as a result of a new public relations policy at Electrabel, 18

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the energy producer. In the course of the 1990s, the statute for Flemish museums was revised. A number of museums, recognized by the Ministry of Culture, were to benefit from a fixed amount of subsidies from then on. These new criteria for recognition were stringent, and rightly so, but they did cause serious problems for the many smaller industrial and technical museums. A great number of them were unable to comply with the new norms, and consequently they were forced to sell a part of their collections or even close up. The National Organ Museum (Ostend), the Agricultural Museum Stockmanshoeve (Damme), and the ‘Museum of the 1000 Steam Wheels’ (Zwevezele-Wingene) incurred serious problems, to name but a few. It remains to be seen to what extent the Flemish government’s new museum policy has played a part, if any, but it is certainly true that since 1995 the larger museums have been undergoing a rejuvenation process, as has the industrial museum scene in general. A few examples: The Diamond Museum (Antwerp) was modernized; the Flemish Mine Museum (Beringen) was opened thanks to Bert Van Doorslaer’s efforts and enthusiasm; the Flemish Tram and Bus Museum (VLATAM, Berchem), fronted by Eric Keutgens and assisted by a number of first-rate non-professionals, opened its doors; and the MAS, Museum by the Stream (Antwerp), is to bring together several industrial heritage collections from various city museums10. The effect of this drive towards professionalism since 1990 has obviously been two-fold, as it seems to have mainly benefited the well-organized, mostly larger museums.

SIWE: a new contender SIWE was founded in 1996 (www.siwe.be). The Foundation for Industrial and Scientific Heritage (or ‘Stichting voor Industrieel en Wetenschappelijk Erfgoed’) was (mainly) initiated by André Cresens, with a view to stimulating the study and conservation of Flanders’ industrial heritage. This was to be achieved by bringing together industrial archaeologists on the one hand and people interested in scientific and industrial heritage on the other. It should be noted that the concept ‘industrial archaeology’ was never used, and that as a result of its inception SIWE became a direct competitor of the Flemish Association for Industrial Archaeology (VVIA). The Flemish government recognized SIWE in 2001 as the representative body for industrial archaeology in Flanders and Brussels (whereby ‘Foundation’ was transformed into ‘Support Centre’, or ‘Steunpunt’ in Flemish) This 10. A survey of Belgian industrial and technical museums, including their web addresses, may be found on www.vub.ac.be/SGES/ia/musea.html, www.vvia.be/vviamusea.htm, and www.mot.be/directory/directory1.htm.

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recognition has to be seen in the light of a radically new outlook on heritage, which comprised a wide array of interests : folk culture, genealogy, local and industrial heritage (Flemish Decree of October 1998). Popular culture in the widest sense of the world constitutes the link between these different pursuits. The Flemish Centre for Popular Culture (VCV, www.vcv.be) coordinated activities up to 2007, when FARO took over these tasks (www.faronet.be), although the interest in material heritage has shrunk brutally (stressing the immaterial heritage). Part of the interest has been taken over by VIOE, the Flemish Institute for Immovable Heritage (www.vioe.be). The fact that the Flemish government considered industrial heritage to be a legitimate part of heritage itself can be described as a breakthrough. This appears to have been a historic development, one that should enable the expansion of industrial archaeology in Belgium by linking it to the history of everyday life and studies of both material and immaterial culture. Nevertheless, a serious problem still remains, namely the fact that two ministers are charged with industrial heritage.

The conservation and reuse of industrial monuments The Flemish Decree regulating the lawful protection of landscapes and monuments was adopted on 3 March 1976. Crucially, industrial heritage constituted an integral part of this decree, a unique development in Europe at the time. Since the decree, around 100 industrial heritage sites (out of a total of 7,500) have been granted protection. Half of these consist of watermills and windmills. The Brussels Region passed a similar piece of legislation in 1993. A complete list of protected monuments in both regions can be consulted on the websites of the service centres for monuments and landscapes11. Today a number of these ‘self-evident’ sites are still omitted on those lists, including the impressive Tour & Taxis site (although it should be noted that, after years of struggle and negotiations and despite the lack of legal protection, progress does seem to be under way). The situation is somewhat different for movable goods, unfortunately. A steam machine built by the Ghent construction company Vanden Kerchove is legally protected, yet it is currently housed in the Alsberge-Van Oost factory (Drongen), which is itself not protected, and gradually turning into ruins. Hopeful perspectives are offered by the 2008 initiative to constitute a list of so-called top pieces that relate to industrial archaeology and that will get legal protection.

11. For Brussels, www.monument.irisnet.be/nl/patrimoine; for Flanders, paola.erfgoed.net/ engine/bgeo.php.

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But there is bad news, too. Although legal protection obviously holds important symbolic value, it does not naturally follow that the building or object is effectively preserved. AROHM’s three inspectors, charged with the task of ensuring the law is upheld, have many a story to tell about this matter, unfortunately. Even more worrying is the fact that objects that have not been protected, have been disappearing from Belgium at an alarming rate in the last couple of years, despite concerted protest campaigns. The list of examples is (too) long: the Royal Entrepôt of Antwerp, numerous textile factories in Ghent (La Liève, Lousbergs, Texas), the last cokes factory (Zeebrugge), several mine buildings in Limburg …

Figure 3: The Grand Hornu site This brings us to the thorny issue of where industrial objects from the past had best be kept. It is commonly believed that movable heritage is better preserved on site, but it is questionable whether this is indeed best practice (think of vandalism). Transport to and conservation in museums can offer temporary respite, but creates additional problems too (space, cost and maintenance). The Flemish Museum Association (Vlaamse Museumvereniging) is very much aware of this problem, but it does not currently have the means to address the issue in any way. Despite these obstacles, however, many industrial and technical museums have moved objects out of their dark cellars. The MIAT, for example, now exhibits machines and objects from everyday life in the 19th and 20th centuries. Legal protection issues aside, it needs to be stressed that increasingly more old industrial buildings are being renovated and put to new use since the 1980s. Old factories and warehouses are being turned into offices, workshops, homes, arts centres and museums. These conversions are now highly fashionable, marking a sharp contrast with the neglect of the 1980s. The former tobacco factory AJJA (1874) in Brussels provides a superb example of this; it will be transformed into a centre for welfare work. Luckily, this trend to restore and reuse is upheld by the current outlook in architecture schools and departments. Nonetheless, large-scale renovation and reuse works remain far and few between. Some notable exceptions are the meticulous restoration of the 21

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Antwerp Central Station (1899-1905), accommodating a HST-station, and the Tour & Taxis site, just as spectacular, comprising the Royal Entrepôt now housing offices, restaurants and shops.

The pursuit of leisure rather than the pursuit of science As in many countries, Belgian interest in industrial archaeology hovers somewhere between scientific research and a relaxing hobby. In the 1980s academics seemed more active, producing a plethora of books, scientific papers and general-interest articles. Flanders experienced four ‘wonder years’, during which four seminal books were published : P. Viaene & R. De Herdt (1986), Linters (1987), R. Baetens (1988), and P. Berckmans et al (1989)12. This transpired to be such a productive period as publications have been far more limited in numbers ever since. Exceptions are : G. Vanderhulst (1992), E. Nijhoff & P. Scholliers (1996), G. Van den Abeelen (1997) and L. Van Malderen & L. Coirier (2002), but these books never attain the vision of the books published in the 1980s. Nonetheless, a great many specialized articles and brochures have been published since. This output can be consulted in the bibliography ‘Industrial Archaeology & Industrial Heritage’, published annually since 1991 in the Tijdschrift voor Industriële Cultuur (TIC, www.miat.gent.be/tic/index.htm), issued by the Association for Industrial Archaeology and Textile. The full bibliography for the years 1991-2007 is accessible on the internet, to the delight of many (www.viat.be). The website offers a wealth of information, but the question remains why the book output pretty much dried up in the early 1990s. It could possibly be attributed to the position of industrial archaeology in the academic world. Taking a degree in industrial archaeology as such is not possible in Flanders. Only the VUB (Free University of Brussels) (P. Scholliers) and the Hogeschool Antwerpen (P. Viaene) offer specialized courses. In lectures and seminars at other universities, aspects of industrial heritage are only sporadically addressed. The situation is even direr in secondary education, where industrial archaeology barely seems to exist. As a result, it seems logical that the discipline only rarely attracts young people (and that the average age of the Belgian industrial archaeologist is rising alarmingly). Scientific research is being carried out in (industrial) museums, but this is rather exceptional. A rare example is provided by the Museum for Old Techniques (Grimbergen, www.mot.be), whose website allows the 12. Full references to these books can be found in the online bibliography : www.viat.be and www.vub.ac.be/SGES/ia/interactivebiblio.html.

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identification of ancient tools and objects by way of photographs, drawings and descriptions. This museum houses a permanent exhibition on agricultural techniques. Non-professionals (field workers) were in close contact with scientists in the 1960s and ‘70s, and although they still maintain contact today, it no longer happens on a sufficiently frequent basis. These non-professionals bring enthusiasm to the discipline, work hard and publish a lot (see the bibliography online, www.viat.be), but their work often lacks a wider context, coherent research questions or any theoretical framework. It is actually SIWE’s aim to draw both these ‘worlds’ (i.e. amateurs and professionals) closer together, with a view to providing a solid platform from which to launch objective criteria for conservation and reuse. One of SIWE’s many concerns is the loss of interest in the history of technology (apparently an international trend). SIWE wishes to integrate technology into general history, with consideration for working conditions, human relations, objects (tools, machines and products) and landscapes (factories, transport, cities).

The last ten years: a conclusion Let us remind ourselves of the fact that Brussels and Flanders have a very varied heritage in terms of industries, size and chronology. Generally speaking, buildings are not very large (obvious exceptions aside), which is both a drawback and an asset. Smaller buildings are easier to renovate and put to new use, but they often lack ‘character’, by which we mean that their size restricts them from contributing to the construction of a collective identity (for a borough, city, province or region, and their political representatives). The humble watermill and brewery are not capable of appealing to a large audience, in contrast to Charleroi’s massive iron factories, for instance. This particular situation can lead to initiatives that are too small and local in scope. Additionally, the museums that exhibit smallscale heritage are struggling financially as well. And let us not forget that many company directors are still blind to the old architecture of ‘their’ buildings, mainly hoping to erect a modern building as soon as possible. Nonetheless, a certain degree of optimism is warranted in this conclusion. Thanks to the ceaseless efforts of non-professionals, scientists, civil servants, company directors and the general public, there has been a sea change in attitude since 1990. One example proves this point. When Ghent University accommodated its administration in an old textile factory in 1960, it dropped all references to the former function of the building. In 2006, however, the university transformed an old coal depot into hi-tech classrooms, fully respecting the original use of the building.

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About the author Peter Scholliers is chairman of The International Committee for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage – Belgium (TICCIH-BE), and professor at the History department of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, teaching among other courses, Industrial archaeology and industrial heritage. A selection out his books and papers: 앫 Scholliers, P. (2008). Food Culture in Belgium (320 pg). Greenwood Press: Westport, CN. 앫 Scholliers, P. (2008). Dessert voor iedereen. Gewone mensen en hun zoetigheden in de negentiende en twintigste eeuw. In: D. De Vooght, S. Onghena & P. Scholliers (eds). Van Pièce Montée tot Pêche Melba: een geschiedenis van het betere nagerecht (pp. 73-86). VUBPress : Brussel. 앫 Grieco, A., Hyman, M. & Scholliers, P. (2008). Food and drink excesses in Europe. Admissible and inadmissible behaviour from Antiquity to the twenty-first century. in: Food & History, 4, 2-17. 앫 Scholliers, P. (2007). Food fraud and the big city: Brussels' responses to food anxieties in the nineteenth century. In: P. Atkins, P. Lummel, & D. Oddy (Eds.), Food and the city in Europe since 1800. (pp. 77-90). Ashgate: Aldershot. 앫 Scholliers, P. (2007). Novelty and tradition. The new landscape for gastronomy. In: P. Freedman (Ed.), Food. The history of taste. (pp. 33257). Berkeley: University of California Press & London: Thames and Hudson. 앫 Scholliers, P. (2007). Twenty-five years of studying un phénomène social total. Food history writing on Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. in: Food, Culture and Society, 10 (3)(3), 449-71. 앫 Scholliers, P. (2007). Does Belgian cuisine exist? A heated debate! in: Gusto. Gastronomie: tendances et cultures, 1 (2)(2), 54-58.

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Camel antibodies in medicine and biotechnology Serge Muyldermans PhD, Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

1

Composition of antibodies and their antigen binding fragments

Vertebrates have the capacity to elicit antibodies against virtual any possible foreign substance (called antigen). These antibodies recognize the antigen specifically and with a high affinity. A high affinity means that the antigen will be bound by the antibody even if present in minimal quantities, and a specific recognition will guarantee that the antigen will be bound whereas other compounds, even related ones, will remain free in solution. The composition of the antibodies is extremely well conserved throughout the jawed vertebrates, despite antigens occur at an unlimited number and variety in shape and size ranging from very tiny molecules till large viruses or even large non-self cells. Each established, functional antibody from mammals is constitutively composed of two identical heavy chains (abbreviated as H-chain) with a molecular weight of 50.000 Da per chain and two identical light chains (L) of 25.000 Da (Figure 1) (Padlan, 1994). The total molecular mass of a conventional antibody with an H2L2 composition reaches 160.000 Da. The H and L chains are formed by linking ca 500 and 250 amino acids, respectively. Groups of 120 consecutive amino acids within the polypeptide chain interact with each other and cluster in modules, referred to as domains; the H chain has 4 domains and the L chain contains 2 domains (Figure 1 A). The first domain of both the H and L chain associate with each other and are more variable in amino acid sequence than the remaining domains that have a more conserved composition (hence the abbreviation VH and VL). The two domains from the L chain and the first two domains of the H chain are forming an antigen binding fragment (Fab). The following two domains of the two H chains pair with each other and form the Fc part of the immunoglobulin molecule. The antigen is recognized by the paired VH-VL domains, located at the extremity of the antibody, where a structure is formed that is complementary to the surface of the antigen. The modular composition of the antibodies allows to exchange, by genetic engineering, the domains from different antibodies (Winter and Milstein, 1991).

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Figure 1: Schematic representation of a classical H2L2 antibody composed of 2 identical light (L) chains and 2 identical heavy (H) chains (A), and a heavy-chain only H2 antibody exclusively present in sera of camelids (B). The lower parts (C & D) show the smaller antigen binding fragments of classical and Heavy-chain antibodies, respectively. The antigen binding site (paratope) of the VH-VL pair and the VHH domain are denoted by the dotted circles. Abbreviations: VH, variable domain of H-chain; CH, constant domain of de H-chain; VL, variable domain of L-chain; CL, constant domain of L-chain; Fab, antigen binding fragment of classical antibodies; Fv, variable fragment; VHH, variable domain of the H-chain of a Heavy chain antibody. Antibodies have been developed into an important research tool because of the 3 properties mentioned before (possibility to raise antibodies against all possible targets, antigen specificity and affinity) and they offer a multitude of opportunities in medicine (for diagnostics as well as therapeutics). For a number of applications, especially in medicine, intact antibodies seem to be less efficient because of their complexity and large size that prevents them to reach their cognate, hidden target, or because the retention time of H2L2 antibodies in blood of patients is too long. In addition, the monoclonal antibodies (i.e. one type of antibody produced by an immortalized cell-line), most likely of murine origin, will raise a human anti mouse-antibody immune response when administered in patients. To circumvent these 26

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shortcomings, it is preferred to work with the purified, smaller antigen binding fragments derived from intact antibodies. Two methods were designed to manufacture the smaller, functional antigen binding fragments such as the FAB of Fv (=VH + VL) (Figure 1 C) : either we make use of proteases (enzymes that cleave polypeptide chains) to generate FAB fragments, or by genetic engineering we will clone and express the gene regions encoding the FAB of Fv in bacteria or yeasts (Skerra, 1993; Frenken et al., 1998). The Fv fragment of mouse or human antibodies is the smallest intact antigen binding entity that retains the antigen binding specificity and affinity of the original H2L2 antibody. Moreover, its retention time in blood is extremely short after an intravenous injection due to a fast clearance via the kidneys. Their shorter residence time in blood makes these Fv fragments very appropriate for in vivo diagnosis, to search for example for presence of tumor associated antigen in putative patients. Unfortunately, such Fv fragments have the disadvantage of a low expression yield in microbial systems and of a low stability since the VH and VL domains are only kept together by weak vander Waals interactions. Remediations to increase the stability seem to lower the expression and solubility of the recombinant molecules.

2

Camel antibodies and their antigen binding fragment

The presence of large quantities of antibodies composed of a homodimer of H chains and devoid of L chains in camelids (camel, dromedaries, and the 4 llama species) was discovered at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in the laboratory ‘General Biology’ headed by Prof. R. Hamers (Hamers-Casterman et al., 1993). Apart from the absence of L chains, these H2 antibodies also lacks the first constant domain in their H chain (Figure 1 B) which brings the molecular weight to 45.000 per H chain (MW of 90.000 for the intact H2 antibodies or Heavy-Chain antibodies). It was a serendipitous discovery fueled by the multidisciplinarity of the laboratory but was nevertheless considered to be of importance. Biology students tested every effort to avoid their practical for the course of ‘Immunochemistry’ and stimulated the lecture assistant to offer camel sera as a substitute for rabbit, mouse or human serum immunoglobulins as starting material to purify antibodies. The camel serum was a left-over of a previous experiment of the parasitology group within the laboratory. It was the major achievement of the research group to regard this discovery as a breakthrough and to welcome it for its merits in future applications. Far too often similar discoveries are considered as an artifact and are totally neglected if they don’t fit in the current paradigm. It further took a strong commitment of Prof. R. Hamers to pursue and to initiate research to find out what was ‘different’. 27

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Through advanced studies we demonstrated that the camel H2 antibodies are functional and directed against a battery of antigens. For example, the H2 antibodies derived from a sick dromedary (infected with trypanosomes, the parasites that cause sleeping disease in humans) recognize various antigenic determinants of trypanosomes (Hamers-Casterman et al., 1993). Dromedaries and llama’s can be immunized, like any other animal, to raise an immune response into its H2 type of antibodies (Ghahroudi et al., 1997; Lauwereys et al., 1998). The reason why this particular composition of Heavy-chain antibodies occurs exclusively in camelids, as well as the competitive advantage for these animals of having H2 antibodies remain an enigma. In the next set of experiments we cloned multiple genes encoding the entire variable domain of these dromedary H2 antibodies (Muyldermans et al., 1994). From the amino acid sequence deduced from the DNA sequence of these cloned gene fragments, it was concluded that the dromedary variable domain of H2 antibodies is strongly homologous to the sequence of human VHs. All key amino acids, responsible for the proper folding of the domain, are conserved. Notable exceptions are found for the amino acids that are normally responsible for the interaction with a VL domain in a conventional antibody. These amino acids, denoted as VHH hallmark amino acids are mutated from hydrophobic (water repellant) to more hydrophilic amino acids. The amino acid substitutions also explain why the VHH will never associate with a VL domain in dromedary H2 antibodies, and why these antibodies or their isolated variable fragments remain soluble in aqueous solutions and do not aggregate like any other isolated human or mouse VH domain would do. The presence of the mutations are characteristic for all variable domains of the H2 antibodies, and consequently, we denote these Vdomains of dromedary-specific Heavy-chain H2 antibodies as VHH (VHH = VH of a H2 antibody), this to make the distinction with VHs of classical H2L2 antibodies (Figure 1D). A VHH was later on also referred to as ‘Nanobody’. We then cloned and expressed the dromedary VHH genes in bacteria and obtained yields of approximately 10 mg/liter. This is a high yield, certainly in comparison with an average yield of 0.1 mg/liter obtained from bacterial cultures of mouse Fvs. The results from spectroscopic studies revealed that the VHHs were properly folded, they are robust and highly soluble in an aqueous environment. It has been reported that some VHHs are still capable to associate with their cognate antigen at 90° C (van der Linden et al., 1999). Evidently, this temperature is much higher than what is reached for classical Fvs as these molecules denature irreversibly at temperatures around 5560° C. The advantage of a high stability and resistance against elevated temperatures is that a possible therapeutic VHH will have a long ‘shelf-life’ and does not require cooling during transportation or storage.

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It has been repeatedly demonstrated that dromedary VHH domains possess useful characteristics (small molecular weight, good solubility, highly stable, broad antigen-recognition repertoire, and well expressed in bacteria or yeasts). Therefore, we anticipate that VHH domains are versatile entities to develop ideal reporter molecules for a broad range of applications on condition that we manage to generate and identify ‘monoclonal’ VHHs with a good affinity and specificity for their antigen.

3

Identification of monoclonal VHHs

To prove the above statements, we immunized a few dromedaries (in Morocco or Dubai) with tetanus toxin, chicken lysozyme, bovine RNase A, 움-amylase and carbonic anhydrase (Ghahroudi et al., 1997; Lauwereys et al., 1998). After a 2 months immunization we took a small blood sample of the immunized dromedary. The Heavy-chain antibodies were purified from the serum and shown to react specifically with the antigens. To our surprise for enzymes as antigen, we noticed that the Heavy-chain antibodies inhibit the enzyme activity, indicating that the antibodies interacted preferentially with the catalytic site of the enzymes (Lauwereys et al., 1997). The classical antibodies do not show this particular antigen specificity. The lymphocytes of the immunized dromedaries were purified and the VHH genes were cloned in specially designed ‘phage-display’ vectors. These chimeric vectors manage to package the cloned gene in a bacteriophage particle (a virus infecting bacteria) that expresses the VHH domain at the tip of the virus (Figure 2). The virus particles carrying a VHH that recognizes the antigen will be captured by the antigen coated on plastic tubes, and used after elution to infect bacteria and to proliferate (Figure 3). Consequently, we can clone the single clone that harbors the VHH gene directed against the target antigen. According to this protocol we identified various VHH genes that were clearly derived from dromedary or llama H2 antilbodies and that interact with the tetanus toxin, lysozyme or one of the other antigens used for the immunization. The entire procedure starting from the first day of the immunization till the identification of the antigen-specific VHH is achieved in less than 3 months.

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Figure 2: The genomic DNA of an M13 bacteriophage can be isolated from infected bacteria. The gene coding for protein-3 (gene3p) is shown (upper left). An M13- infected bacteria will produce virus particles (upper right), these phages expose the protein encoded by the gene 3p at the tip of the virus particle (denoted by G3p, the large black circle), whereas the gene 3p itself is contained in the packaged phage genome (shown as black bar inside the virus particle). Genetic engineering techniques allow the cloning of the gene of the VHH upstream of the gene encoding the G3p protein (lower left), and transformation of this DNA in bacteria will generate recombinant virus particles having a VHH-G3P fusion protein at the tip of the phage and its gene (grey/black fused bar) inside the viral particle (lower right). Many of the VHHs directed against enzymes such as lysozyme, 움-amylase or carbonic anhydrase behave as competitive inhibitors of these enzymes (Lauwereys et al., 1998). Therefore, we expect that the selection of VHHs from ‘immune’ VHH libraries will be an unlimited source to obtain selective enzyme inhibitors. This would be highly welcomed to develop the next generation drugs to combat bacterial antibiotic-resistance. In such an endeavor we propose, for example, to screen VHHs against lactamase, the bacterial enzyme that confers resistance against the lactam-antibiotics.

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Figure 3: Panel 1: Millions of VHH genes obtained from VHH genes of an immunized camel or llama are cloned separately in the phage DNA and transformed into bacteria (see Figure 2). The resulting phage particles contain each the VHH gene (grey bar) inside and the corresponding VHH protein at the tip of the phage (lower grey square, circle, star, …). Panel 2: The library of phage particles are brought in a container coated with the antigen (large grey circle). The phage expressing an antigen-specific VHH will bind to the immobilized antigen; all other phage particles remain in solution. Panel 3: Phages not bound to antigen are washed off. Panel 4: The phage with the antigen-specific VHH is eluted by a pH shock and is used to infect bacteria for their proliferation and to manufacture large amounts of antigen specific VHHs.

4

Properties of VHHs

Most of the insights in antigen recognition by single domain VHH antibody fragments was provided by the crystallographic structure determinations (Desmyter et al., 1996; Muyldermans et al., 2001; De Genst et al., 2006). We 31

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systematically analyze the structure of the VHH-antigen complex (in collaboration with Prof. J. Steyaert en L. Wyns). The VHH structure reveals clearly the well established fold of antibody domains involving ~ 120 consecutive amino acids folding in 9 so-called ␤-strands distributed over 2 ␤-sheets. This fold is identical in human or mouse VH domains derived from classical H2L2 antibodies. Despite an identical fold, there are stil fundamental differences at the side of the VH domain that normally interacts with a VL domain and where the VHH-specific hallmark amino acids are located. These VHH key-amino acids reshape the VL anchoring site to such an extent that an interaction with a VL is totally excluded (Muyldermans et al., 2001). In addition, the loops connecting the ?-strands and used to interact with the antigen adopt a unique conformation. According to the state of the art it is generally accepted that the peptide bonds of the antigen binding loops adopt only a limited number of conformations, the so-called canonical conformations. These canonical structures are dictated by the presence and nature of particular key amino acids at hallmark positions and by the length of the loop. Although the VHH loops contain the same loop lengths and possess the key amino acids at the proper locations as observed for the VH loops, it seems that the loop architecture of the VHH loops is unpredictable and deviates definitely from the canonical loops (Decanniere et al., 2000). These additional structural possibilities enlarge the structural repertoire of the antigen binding loops in VHHs and explain why VHHs are able to recognize virtually any antigen even in the absence of the VH-VL combinatorial diversity (Muyldermans et al., 2001). The large solvent accessibility of the antigen binding loops (in absence of antigen) provides a sufficiently large surface to guarantee a good antigen affinity and specificity. The antigen binding loops seek for grooves or cavities at the surface of the antigen as a preferred interaction site (Desmyter et al., 1996; De Genst et al., 2006). In sharp contrast, the loops of classical antibodies are more attracted by flat surfaces on their target (Webster et al., 1994). Since the catalytic sites of enzymes are usually forming a cavity, it is not surprising that so many inhibitors are found among the VHHs directed against enzymes, whereas this is rather an exception for VH-VL pairs. The identified VHH genes are well expressed in bacteria and the purified proteins bind the antigen highly specific and with high affinity (Ka= 109-108 M-1). Their small size and strict monomeric single-domain character renders the VHHs extremely apt to generate bivalent or bispecific constructs (Conrath et al., 2001). This is easily achieved by cloning and expressing two VHHs in tandem. The use of two identical VHH genes will generate bivalent contructs with a higher affinity (avidity) for the antigen compared to the monovalent VHH. Tethering two different VHHs will form bispecific entities that might be employed in cancer therapy for example in strategies where

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one VHH would bind the tumor cell and the second VHH would target toxic effector cells.

5

Applications in cancertherapy

However, with VHHs we successfully developed another option, known as ‘antibody dependent prodrug therapy’ to combat cancer (Figure 4) (CortezRetamozo et al., 2004). First we selected VHHs against a tumor associated antigen, by definition an antigen that is (nearly exclusively) present on cancer cells. We chose for CEA (carcino-embryonic antigen) as tumor associated marker. These CEA-specific VHHs were genetically linked to the gene for an enzyme, lactamase, expressed in bacteria and purified. Mice bearing human tumors that expose CEA antigens were injected with the VHH-lactamase conjugate. The VHH moiety recognizes the antigens on the tumors and targets the conjugated lactamase to the tumor surface. After the free conjugate disappears from the blood circulation we inject a prodrug, a non-toxic molecule that is converted by the lactamase in a highly toxic compound. Evidently, this conversion occurs only at the site where the lactamase is located, being the tumor (Figure 4).

Figure 4: A tumor cell expressing CEA is recognized by a CEA-specific VHH fused to lactamase. The subsequent administration of a prodrug that is only converted by lactamase into a toxic compound eliminates the tumor. As a result, the tumor cells are exposed to high doses of the toxins and will be eliminated, whereas the other organs escape to the noxious activity of the drug. Mice that were not treated with the conjugate and prodrug die from cancer within one month, whereas the tumors within the treated mice disappear completely and these mice survive over prolonged times. 33

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Similar therapeutic products were developed by coupling VHHs to proteins that are toxic for trypanosomes (responsible for sleeping disease in man) to eliminate parasites from mice (Baral et al., 2006). Recently we succeeded to isolate a VHH against scorpion toxin. One single treatment with these VHHs neutralizes in mice the toxicity of 10 times the lethal doses of the scorpion toxin (Hmila et al. 2008). In experimental models for diagnostic applications we linked our VHHs against intracellular targets to red fluorescent protein. Transgenic cell lines expressing these conjugates (referred to as chromobodies) detect and trace their cognate antigens in living cells (Rothbauer et al., 2006). In conclusion, we optimized an elegant approach to clone the VHH antibody genes from an immunized camelid and developed a fast and efficient selection strategy to retrieve antigen-specific antibody fragments from these libraries. It is clear that these minimal-sized, stable VHH domains will find their marks as a diagnostic or research tool and will lead to the discovery of therapeutics to eliminate malignant cells or parasites or to neutralize toxic compounds from blood or other contaminated organs.

6

Founding a spin off

A patent application was immediately deposited after the discovery of the H2 camel antibodies. A business plan was written based on this patent application and a spin off company Ablynx NV was founded in January 2002. It is their mission to expand and to valorize the patent portfolio on camelid antibodies, and to develop VHHs for human and animal therapy. Important venture capitalists (Sofinnova, Alta Partners, Abingworth, SRone, GIMV, KBC Private equity, en Gilde) invested over three rounds, 70 Mg in Ablynx. The spin-off company obtained research collaborations with toppharma companies such as Proctor & Gamble, Genencor, Centocor, Novartis, Kirin Brewery, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals (for 212 M$ for an antiTNF) and Boehringer Ingelheim (for 265 M$ to develop anti-Alzheimer products). In November 2007, Ablynx became with a collection of 80 Mg the largest biotech company introduced at the Brussels stock exchange market. Currently, Ablynx employs over 200 people and two of their Nanobody-based products (anti-trombotic agents) passed successfully the clinical phase I.

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7

Scientific, financial and ethical consequences

With all these successes in research and Tech transfer, one might conclude that our work is free of scientific, financial or ethical problems. On the contrary, firstly, since the most experienced scientists of our VUB-group joined Ablynx at its start-up, our research group witnessed a serious braindrain. However, this is only a temporarily issue that was rapidly remediated by the formation of new experts. The financial and scientific consequences were far more important since a large company will without any doubt turn immediately to Ablynx, instead of us, with a research proposition and their concomitant financial support. A small biotech company or a research institute that is declined by Ablynx might come to us to initiate an interesting and feasible research collaboration (e.g. to generate VHHs against snake venom, scorpion toxin, sleeping disease …). However, they have an insufficient financial back up to sponsor the research and we have to submit a grant proposal at IWT, FWO, of EU to finance the project. In the most optimal scenario, we obtain the grant and good experimental data that can be published in scientific journals of high impact and/or it can lead to a patent application. However, for a further development of the VHH product as a therapeutic we should start extremely costly clinical studies for which we will never receive support without agreement from Ablynx. In addition, for the afore mentioned examples, the income from net sales of the therapeutic will never compensate the costs of clinical tests because the patients lack financial resources, or because there are too few patients in Western Europe, North America or Japan. Consequently, the only projects that we routinely undertake and for which we obtain financial support are high-risk projects such as our anti-proteome EU sponsored research. The problem here is that genomics reported the presence of ~ 30.000 genes in the human genome. These genes encode probably ~ 100.000 different proteins (there are more proteins than genes due to the multitude of posttranslational modifications on one single protein leading to protein derivatives with novel function). From these 100.000 proteins, only ~ 5.00 to 10.000 are known to some extent. To investigate the occurrence, location, quantity and function of the remaining unknown protein and its variants we aim to generate ~ 5 VHHs per protein as detection tool to trace and quantify their target in living cells. This challenging project is considered to be successful if we manage to identify useful VHHs against 10 % of the target proteins. Obviously, this collection of VHHs might contain a binder to an antigen that makes the distinction between a sperm cell harboring an X chromosome from one with a Y chromosome (or we might consider to search directly for such a VHH; we received such a request from an American small biotech company to generate such VHHs for chicken or pig sperm cells but we 35

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refused the offer). It can be imagined that the conjugation of a toxin with such a VHH could eliminate for example all X-sperm cells so that all progeny would be males (small adaptations in the approach could equally well generate an all-female progeny as well). This application definitely offers beneficial advantages, for example, to avoid sex- related diseases; however for sure, the educated reader might imagine other applications that are unacceptable on ethical grounds.

Bibliography BARAL T.N., MAGEZ S., STIJLEMANS B., CONRATH K., VANHOLLEBEKE B, PAYS E., MUYLDERMANS S. & DE BAETSELIER P. (2006). African trypanosomiasis therapy with nanobody conjugated human trypanolytic factor. Nature Med., 12, p. 580-584. CONRATH, K.E., LAUWEREYS, M., WYNS, L., & MUYLDERMANS, S. (2001). Camel single-domain antibodies as modular building units in bispecific and bivalent antibody constructs. J.Biol.Chem., 276, p. 7346-7350. CORTEZ-RETAMOZO V., BACKMANN N., SENTER P.D., WERNERY U., DE BAETSELIER P., MUYLDERMANS S. & REVETS H. (2004). Efficient cancer therapy with a nanobody-based conjugate.Cancer Research, 64, p 2853-2857. DECANNIERE K., MUYLDERMANS S. & WYNS L. (2000). Canonical antigen-binding loop structures in immunoglobulins: More structures, more canonical classes? J. Mol. Biol. 300, p 83-91. DE GENST E, SILENCE K, DECANNIERE K, CONRATH K, LORIS R, KINNE J, MUYLDERMANS S, & WYNS L. (2006). Molecular basis for the preferential cleft recognition by dromedary Heavy-chain antibodies. Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci., 103, p. 45864591. DESMYTER, A., TRANSUE, T.R., ARBABI GHAHROUDI, M., DAO-THI, M.-H., POORTMANS, F., HAMERS, R., MUYLDERMANS, S. & WYNS, L. (1996). Crystal structure of a camel single-domain VH antibody fragment in complex with lysozyme. Nature Structural Biology, 3, p. 803-811. FRENKEN, L., HESSING, J.G.M., VAN DEN HONDEL, C.A.M.J.J. & VERRIPS, T. (1998). Recent advances in the large-scale production of antibody fragments using lower eukaryotic microorganisms. Research in Immunology, 149, p. 589-598. GHAHROUDI, M.A., DESMYTER, A., WYNS, L., HAMERS, R. & MUYLDERMANS, S. (1997). Selection and identification of single domain antibody fragments from camel heavy-chain antibodies. FEBS Letters, 414, p. 521-526. HAMERS-CASTERMAN, C., ATARHOUCH, T., MUYLDERMANS, S., ROBINSON, G., HAMERS, C., BAJYANA SONGA, E., BENDAHMAN, N. & HAMERS, R. (1993). Naturally occurring antibodies devoid of light chains. Nature, 363, p. 446-448. HMILA I., BEN ABDERRAZEK-BEN ABDALLAH R., SAERENS D., BENLASFAR Z., CONRATH K., EL AYEB M., MUYLDERMANS S., BOUHAOUALA-ZAHAR B. (2008). Selection of a camel single domain antibody and engineering of bivalent and chimeric Heavy chain-only antibodies with high neutralizing efficacy of scorpion toxin AahI’. Mol. Immunol., 45, p 3847-3856. LAUWEREYS, M., GHAHROUDI, M.A., DESMYTER, A., KINNE, J., HÖLZER, W., DE GENST, E., WYNS, L. & MUYLDERMANS, S. (1998). Potent enzyme inhibitors derived from dromedary heavy-chain antibodies. EMBO J., 17, p. 3512-3520.

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MUYLDERMANS, S., ATARHOUCH, T., SALDANHA, J., BARBOSA, J.A.R.G. & HAMERS, R. (1994). Sequence and structure of VH domain from naturally occurring camel heavy chain immunoglobulins lacking light chains. Protein Engineering, 7, p. 1129-1135. MUYLDERMANS, S., CAMBILLAU, C. & WYNS L. (2001), Recognition of antigens by single-domain antibody fragments: the superfluous luxury of paired domains. TiBS, 26, p. 230-235. PADLAN, E.A. (1994). Anatomy of the antibody molecule. Molecular Immunology, 31, p. 169217. ROTHBAUER U., ZOLGHADR K., NOWAK D., TILLIB S., SCHERMELLEH L., GAHL A., BACKMANN N., CONRATH K., MUYLDERMANS S., CARDOSO M.C. & LEONHARDT H. (2006). Targeting and tracing of antigens in living cells. Nature Methods, 3, p. 887-889. SKERRA, A. (1993). Bacterial expression of immunoglobulin fragments. Curr. Op. Immunol., 5, p. 256-262. VAN DER LINDEN, R.H.J., FRENKEN, L., DE GEUS, B., HARMSEN, M.M., RUULS, R.C., STOK, W., DE RON, L., WILSON, S., DAVIS, P. & VERRIPS, T. (1999). Comparison of physical chemical properties of llama VHH antibody fragments and mouse monoclonal antibodies. Biochim.Biophys.Acta, 1431, p. 37-46. WEBSTER, D.M., HENRY, A.H. & REES, A.R. (1994). Antibody-antigen interactions. Curr. Opin. Struc. Biol., 4, p. 123-129. WINTER, G. & MILSTEIN, C. (1991). Man-made antibodies. Nature, 349, p. 293-299.

About the author Serge Muyldermans obtained his PhD at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 1982 and is currently heading the laboratory of 'Cellular and Molecular Immunology’ at the same university. This laboratory is part of the VIB (Vlaams Interuniversitair Instituut voor Biotechnologie) department of 'Molecular and Cellular Interactions’. Within this department he developed the technology to select nanobodies, the antigen-binding fragment (single domain) of camel-specific Heavy-chain antibodies that were discovered at the university of Brussels in 1993. The nanobody selection technology is a proven approach whereby over 600 Nbs against more than 100 targets have been identified in the past few years. These nanobodies are employed in numerous applications in medical and research fields. The research group is involved in several international programs (bilateral programs, NATO, NHGRI, USDA & EU), performs contract research for major industrial partners and published more than 70 articles (of which >10 in journals with Impact Factor >10). Serge Muyldermans co-founded the spin-off company Ablynx that counts currently some 190 employees. Ablynx is listed at Euronext stock exchange market and aims at utilizing their Nanobodies as therapeutics to treat various human diseases.

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Tensions between mathematics, the sciences, and philosophy Jean Paul Van Bendegem Professor, Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Universiteit Gent

Introduction It is a safe guess to assume that the title of this article immediately suggests to the informed reader that he or she expects to be presented with a presentation of and/or discussion about the so-called Science Wars. This introduction will in fact briefly say a few things about this curious phenomenon, but it will not be the core theme of my presentation. Rather deliberately, I chose the term ‘tensions’ – indeed, I did have Thomas Kuhn’s essential tension at the back of my mind, see Kuhn [1977] – and not ‘wars’, precisely to avoid this obvious connection. Apart from the fact that presently (August 2008) the Wars seem to be in a phase of a (temporary ?) armistice, it is my belief that the whole discussion has not been particularly productive, let alone seminal and that therefore it would be a good thing to leave it quite simply behind us. These in a nutshell are the elementary facts. As is well-known the Science Wars started with the publication in 1996 of a paper, entitled ‘Transgressing the Boundaries : Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity’ by Alan Sokal in the journal Social Text (although some will claim that the Gross-Levitt 1994 book set the scene for coming events). Shortly after publication, Sokal announced in Lingua Franca that the paper was a hoax 1, thus marking the true beginnings of war activities. Afterwards he joined forces – the military language does seem quite appropriate in this context – with Jean Bricmont, a Belgian physicist, which resulted in the publication of Impostures Intellectuelles. Roughly speaking, although with clearly distinct motives, in this book two scientists explain to us, laypersons, all the mistakes, stupidities, and sheer madness philosophers dare to write down and, in addition, consider worth publishing. Truth be said, some 1. Sokal made sure that nearly all citations referring one way or another to physics, were complete nonsense. Just one example : “In the Newtonian mechanistic worldview, space and time are distinct and absolute. In Einstein's special theory of relativity (1905), the distinction between space and time dissolves: there is only a new unity, fourdimensional space-time, and the observer's perception of “space” and “time” depends on her state of motion” (p. 220).

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philosophers would indeed make a wise choice if they would cease to select their examples from the natural sciences and admit that mathematics is not exactly that branch of human knowledge they are familiar with 2. The philosophers that are dealt with in the book are, though not exclusively, socalled post-modernists or, at least, so labelled 3. In short, once the Wars started, relationships between (exact) scientists and (some group of) philosophers were seriously disturbed. Scientists accused philosophers of not understanding what science is all about, of poisoning the youth – an accusation philosophers are actually rather proud of ! 4 – and, generally, of wasting people’s and scientists’ time and money, or, in other words, of having little or no economical utility or relevance – something actually philosophers are very proud of, as well 5. However, there was and there still is something truly odd about this warfare business. Some of the possible participants were lacking, namely, the philosophers of science, including the philosophers of mathematics 6. Although some attention is paid to them in the Sokal-Bricmont book, mainly towards Paul Feyerabend, the worst enemy imaginable in their view, they did not have the opportunity to really join into fights and battles. Whatever the reasons may have been for their reluctance, it did rather drastically change the whole debate. I am convinced that their contribution would have been vital as it would have led not merely to an armistice, but also to a mutual understanding, enrichment, and support. To substantiate this claim, the space available is not sufficient, hence a different option has been taken. What follows is an imaginary dialogue between a philosopher, Paul, and a mathematician, Martha (occasionally interrupted by intermezzos to provide some background information). Why a mathematician and not a scientist tout court ? Two reasons: first, mathematics still enjoys this very special status of a “science” of certainty and reliability, and, secondly, an implicit aim of this paper is to serve as an illustration of the kind of research that is being done at the Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science at the Vrije 2. It is, e.g., quite unclear why a philosopher such as Régis Debray wants to use Gödel’s theorems to illustrate certain claims about human society, such as the claim that a society can never be ‘closed’, in the sense that it would have perfect control over itself. True, there are elements present here that refer to the object-level including the metalevel, to (vicious) circularity, to self-reflection, and so on, but that is still a long way from what Gödel has shown. Chapter 10 lists some more examples about use and abuse of Gödel’s theorems. However, if one is really interested in that theme, rather than Sokal & Bricmont [1997], read Franzèn [2005]. 3. Especially the French philosophers are the victims of their attacks: Jacques Lacan, Julia Kristeva, Bruno Latour, Jean Baudrillard, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, to name some of them. 4. At least in that respect many a philosopher does not mind being compared to Socrates. 5. And, for that matter, mathematicians as is so often claimed. 6. Although at a later stage, they did get partially involved, see, e.g., Koertge [1998].

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Universiteit Brussel, whereof the author of this paper is the director (www.vub.ac.be/CLWF).

Philosophy and mathematics : an imaginary dialogue We meet with Paul, a philosopher, and Martha, a mathematician, having the following discussion about the relations between their two domains of research : P: Isn’t it odd that scientists and I guess mathematicians as well have so much fun with the stupid philosophers who don’t understand the first thing about numbers and measures ? After all, if it wasn’t for us philosophers, would there be any mathematics at all ? Without Plato and Aristotle, to name just these two, who would have told us what kind of special form of knowledge mathematics is ? A source of certainty, of undoubtable truths, supported by an underlying, implicit logic, guaranteed to maintain the highest standard of certainty ? So much for the ignored role of philosophers ! M: Steady on ! Are you really trying to tell me that the Egyptians when they were measuring up the land using a 12-knot rope, did not know what they were doing ? OK, so perhaps they could not prove that the equation a² + b² = c² has an infinite number of integer solutions, but they did know that 3² + 4² = 5² comes out right. The mere fact that they accepted this technique for constructing a right angle, is ‘proof’ in itself that they realised that doubting this technique would not do. Look : isn’t it the same story over and over again ? We, mathematicians, and, by extension, scientists have all the ideas and once they have been formulated, you philosophers come along and start to criticise us about the tiniest detail, thereby hampering our progress, something you fellows and girlies do not seem particularly worried about.

Intermezzo Given the equation a² + b² = c², the integer solutions are given by the formulas : a = p² – q², b = 2pq and c = p² + q². One easily checks that (p² – q²)² + (2pq)² = (p² + q²)². Take p = 2 and q = 1, and a = 3, b = 4, c = 5 is the well-known solution. What is not really trivial, is the other way round, viz., any integer solution can be expressed by these formulas. Note, in addition, that some questions can be answered in a rather straightforward way, once one has these equations. It follows, e.g., immediately that there an infinite number of solutions. Although one has to be careful ! In principle one needs to prove that for a different choice of p and q, the corresponding triples a, b, 41

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and c are indeed different as well. Take, e.g., the formula n = ((2p + q) – (p + 2q))/(p – q), then it is not the case that, for different choices p and q, a different value for n will result. For, after simplification, one sees that n = 1, for all values of p and q.

End of intermezzo P: Oh dear, surely you are not suggesting that one of the basic distinctions between science, mathematics in particular, and philosophy is that the former knows progress and the latter does not ? Yes, I do know the basic argument : in mathematics problems get a generally accepted and no longer doubted solution, but is there one philosophical problem that is considered solved by all philosophers ? M: Although I was not going to use that argument, now that you have done so yourself, well, is there ? P: Tricky business this ! If I were to answer this question, I would accept the presupposition of that question, namely, that progress in no matter what, means that you solve problems once and for all. This is simply far too narrow a view. Apart from the fact that even in mathematics problems are not necessarily solved for eternity, … M: Pardon ? Oh God, no, you’re not one of those post-modernists who think they can doubt anything ? P: Wait, wait, let me first finish my sentence : so, apart from that fact, there are more and more interesting interpretations possible for understanding progress. Just one example: given a problem, whether philosophical or scientific need not matter, suppose you are able to show that a proposed solution will not do. This implies that future generations need not waste time over that particular solution any more, so they can focus on other matters. That too I should want to count as progress. Wouldn’t you ? M: Like I said, it wasn’t my idea to use that argument, so, yes, why not, if you want to have progress, have it by all means! But, forget this silly matter, what did you just say about proofs not being eternal ? That was a joke, right ? P: By no means! Haven’t you read Proofs and Refutations by Imre Lakatos ? Probably never even heard of the book, am I right? (Martha nods, somewhat annoyed.) Thought so ! Well, all I can say, you really must have a look. The whole book centers around one particular ‘proof’ – I have to use quotation marks, you’ll see in a minute – and how it was changed and transformed over the years into something that bares almost no resemblance to the original attempt. M: And what is the ‘theorem’ ? I guess I better use quotation marks myself.

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P: Euler’s ‘theorem’ – you’re quite right, by the way, about the quotation marks – says that, given a polyhedron, then V(ertices) – E(dges) + F(aces) = 2. Euler produced an ingenious ‘proof’, there I go again, that can actually be summarized in words. Imagine a polyhedron. Each face can be triangulated by adding the necessary number of edges from one vertex to another. Now if you introduce such an edge, the number of edges goes up 1, but so does the number of faces and these two balance one another. So, it doesn’t change the formula. Imagine now the triangulated polyhedron. Remove one triangle. What happens ? We now have one face less and the same number of vertices and edges, therefore for this (amputated) polyhedron the formula now becomes V – E + F = 1. Now remove the triangles one by one in such a way that either one edge is free or two edges are free, in the sense that they do not belong to another face. In both cases, the formula remains unchanged. If one edge is free, you remove one edge and one face, which is OK. If two edges are free, you remove one vertex, two edges and one face and that too is OK. What will be left at the end of this procedure is one triangle and 3 – 3 + 1 = 1. QED. Isn’t this lovely ? M: To be honest, I would like to see a more formalized version of this nice story, if you don’t mind. Are you quite sure about these free edges ? I have a funny feeling something is missing there. P: Excellent ! Exactly what happened historically : imagine two polyhedra glued together at one vertex. For each one apart, you have V – E + F = 2, but for the pair of them, you end up with 4, minus the common vertex, hence V – E + F = 3. M: But that’s ridiculous, ‘glued together at a vertex’ ? That’s not a polyhedron, that’s plain silly! Get your definitions right, for Christ’s sake! (Martha gets a bit angry). P: My goodness, calm down ! You know, what you have done just now is actually rehearsing the history of mathematics all by yourself. How strange ! M: Look, what I do know, is that, if you reformulate the problem in terms of vector spaces, graphs, linear transformations and incidence matrices, then a formal proof exists 7. So what else have you shown besides the trivial fact that mathematicians need some time to get their ideas straight. But once straight, always straight. So your example is not all that impressive, is it ? 7. See Lakatos [1976], pp. 106-126. Actually, Lakatos pays considerable attention to this topic of translation from geometry into more abstract spaces. Without going into the details but with the purpose of letting the reader “taste” the difference, this a modern version of Euler’s theorem (actually, it can be derived from it) : if z is an element of ZF and z = a1e1 +... + an-m+1en-m+1 + bn-men-m +... bnen, where e1,..., en-m+1 are not in T and en-m,..., en are in T, then z = a1ATe1+...+an-m+1ATen-m+1.

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P: Although even that is not entirely true. But, agreed, let us forget about this particular example. Just take a look at what we see happening today. I’ll give you three examples: extremely long proofs, extremely complicated proofs and proofs involving computers, either for proof checking or for brute force calculations. Take as an example of the first, Wiles’ proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem. Of the second, the proof of the classification of the finite simple groups and of the third, the proof of the four colour theorem. M: You have doubts about these proofs ? P: This might sound funny, but it doesn’t matter for that is not the point I am trying to make. What I want to say is that these examples have radically changed the existing notion of proof, whereby I mean that something is a proof if, first, it is a finite sequence of formulas, second, any single mathematician can check this proof, and, three, it is part of a network of already proven formulas. M: I see why the first two are important, but what is this idea of a network of formulas ? P: Well quite simply, the idea that, when a mathematician proves a theorem, he or she will make use of statements already proved without obviously repeating the proof. This is so well-entrenched in mathematical practice that often mathematicians do not notice that they are using other theorems. It even goes further: often in the introduction of mathematical textbooks, there will be a paragraph summing up what will be assumed to be known.

Intermezzo One of the finest examples I know of is to be found in Devlin [1988], p. 126. There he writes the following : “His idea was to concentrate on the elements a of the group (other than the identity element e) for which a * a = e. Such group elements are called involutions, and it easy to show that any group with an even number of elements must contain at least one involution. (Try this yourself. All you need to know about groups is the definition given earlier. …)” The author of this paper of course immediately yielded to this invitation. The proof I came up with looks like this: Suppose that for every a ⬆ e, a*a ⬆ e. From this follows that for such a ⬆ e, a ⬆ a-1. This follows from the fact that, if a*a ⬆ e, then a-1*(a*a) ⬆ a-1*e or, by associativity and identity, (a-1*a)*a ⬆ a-1 or e*a ⬆ a-1 and thus a ⬆ a-1. This implies that the elements of the group can be split up in pairs (a, a-1), so we must have an even number of elements. But for e itself, since e*e = e, so e = e-1. So, we end up with an odd number of elements. Contradiction. Note the curious move I made. I assumed that, if we have pairs (a, a-1), then going through alle 44

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elements of the group, we must end up with an even number of elements. This is however (once more) trickier than it looks. Suppose two such pairs (a, a-1) and (b, b-1). If a = b, then a-1 = b-1 and so the pairs coincide. No problem. But if a 앓 b, then it must be the case that a-1 ⬆ b-1, a fact that can be proven. Most importantly however, it supposes also that the sum of a set of pairs produces an even number. No doubt this will be considered a trivial remark, but it is a fact of number theory and not of group theory, hence the phrase “All you need to know about groups is the definition given earlier” is, strictly speaking, not correct.

End of intermezzo M: OK, although this all sounds rather obvious to me! P: Perfect ! For in that case you will agree that the three examples I just mentioned violate one or more elements of my definition, would you not? So, after all, it does not seem all that obvious after all. M: What do you mean ‘violate’ ? Show me ! P: You want proof, I’ll give you proof, to quote Sidney Harris 8. Wiles first. When he published the proof, there were about ten mathematicians worldwide who could check the proof for its correctness. Today, because of important efforts of the mathematical community to simplify the proof, this number has considerably grown, but still it remains the case that not every mathematician can actually read the proof in the sense that he or she can read a proof in the first chapters of any handbook on whatever mathematical topic, where definitions are given and simple basic theorems are proved. But, as soon as things get ‘interesting’, it is out of the question to present a proof in full detail as it would involve millions of lines, and the ‘real’ proof requires so much mathematical background that only a part of the mathematical community can understand it and satisfy themselves as to its correctness. What are the other mathematicians supposed to do ? M: You call that a violation !? What is the problem ? If a hundred mathematicians can understand and check the proof, that’s fine with me. Your definition need not be a description of actual practice, does it? Sure, it would be much better if every mathematician could do the job, but a theorem does not become ‘more true’ if, instead of one hundred, one thousand mathematicians can understand it (Martha laughs, as she find the idea of “more true” apparently very funny).

8. Sidney Harris is an American cartoonist whose work focuses almost exclusively on science and technology. The quote is also the title of one of his collections.

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P: Really ? Suppose that we have a proof and there is a mistake in it and suppose for simplicity’s sake, that a mathematician on average has a probability p of detecting the error. In realistic cases, p will not be one. So there is a non-zero chance that he or she will not find the error, namely, 1 – p. Suppose now that there two mathematicians who independently check the proof, then the probability becomes (1 – p)² and that is closer to 0. Take p = 0.9, then 1 – p = 0.1, and so (1 – p)² = 0.1² = 0.01. Don’t laugh, it does make a difference, alright? M: Look, don’t bother me with probabilities. A statement is true or not. If you have something that claims to be a proof, either it is a proof or there is a mistake in it, and then it is not a proof. There is no gradation of any sort, it is quite simply one or the other. Alright ? P: (Paul gets a bit irritated) Please do not confuse a proof being correct with somebody telling you that that proof is correct. That is the problem I am trying to explain: the only thing you can do is accept their judgment and, since they are human, they could be wrong. Unless you can check it yourself, which you can’t. See ? M: Don’t get so excited! Like I said, it is an ideal and, yes, sometimes we are closer to it, sometimes not. But it seems to work rather well, does it not ? P: Sorry, I apologize, but the point I am trying to make is really important to me, and I am really glad you mentioned the idea of ‘being closer or not’. You will agree that, if we were able to measure this distance, that would be a good thing ? M: It certainly wouldn’t cause any harm, so yes. P: But to be able to measure this distance, you must know where the two points are that are separated by that distance and one of the two we know, namely, the ideal. Does that not imply that we therefore need to know the other point as well, mathematics as it is actually practiced ? M: My God, a real philosopher ! Alright, yes ! So do your measurements, if you like, what is it to me ? P: I am sure we will come back to this theme, but, in first instance, it is nothing to you. If you are doing mathematics, that’s what you are doing. You read or are told that someone has given a proof of FLT, you say ‘Great’, you hear colleagues who understand the proof that is a beautiful piece of work, you say ‘Great’ a second time, and then you get back to your own specialty and continue to look for proofs for the open questions in your field. But, what is an entirely different matter, is when you’re asked to say something about mathematics, you keep repeating the ideal and do not say a word about actual practice. Is it then not a nice ‘division of labour’ that we philosophers take care of that job ? M: Sounds almost too good to be true. So you will not bother with us and just let us do our job. Fine with me.

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P: Of course, the idea of the ‘division of labour’ is itself more of an ideal than anything else (Peter clearly enjoys making this remark). Of course, philosophers will not sit in the corner of your office to study what you are doing while you are searching for proofs, but we will write and publish about it and then it is perfectly possible that you hear things that will shock you. M: Try me ! P: My pleasure ! Here goes : suppose I wrote an article, entitled “Correct proofs no mathematician can understand” in a philosophical journal. A colleague of yours shows you my paper. You see the title, what would your response be ? M: The truth ? Obviously, that you don’t understand the first thing about mathematics, something I suspected right from the beginning, to be honest. That is absolute nonsense: a correct proof can be understood. What’s next: blue is not a colour ? P: Don’t get upset ! (Paul smiles). Suppose now that you read the paper nevertheless and you are confronted with the following argumentation. It will also allow me to say a few words about the second example I mentioned, namely, the classification theorem of finite, simple groups. When the proof was considered complete, the complete version counted some fifteen thousand pages. Well, it is reasonable to claim that no single mathematician can check this proof. Can I tease you with a bit of logic ? The statement ‘A proof that no mathematician can understand’ is the statement “There is a proof such that it is not the case that there is a mathematician who understands it” 9, and that is the only thing I am claiming. Agree ?

Intermezzo One of the fascinating aspects of the classification theorem is that it takes less than a page to sketch the problem. First, a group is nothing but an arbitrary set G, equiped with an operation *, such that : (a) Closure : for all g and g’ in G, g * g’ also belongs to G. (b) Associativity : for all g, g’ and g” in G, (g * g’) * g” = g * (g’ * g”). (c) Neutral element : there is an element e in G, such that g = e * g = g * e. (d) Inverse element : for every g in G there is an element g-1, such that g * g-1 = g-1 * g = e. 9. If P(x) stands for “x is a proof”, M(x) for “x is a mathematician” and U(x,y) for “ x understands y”, then, for the die-hards among us, the statement is the following: ( ∃ x)(P(x) & ∼ ( ∃ y)(M(y) & U(y,x))). This statement is obviously not contradictory with the statement that a group of mathematicians can understand the proof.

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Secondly, a group is finite if G is a finite set. Thirdly, we must define what a subgroup is. H is a subgroup of G, if H is a subset of G and H has the group properties for *. A trivial subgroup is the group consisting of the neutral element only, {e}. It is easy to check that the four properties hold. Fourthly, a group is simple, if its only subgroups are {e} and G itself. The challenge now is to classify all finite, simple groups. Often an analogy is drawn with prime numbers. In the same way that all natural numbers are built up from the prime numbers, finite groups can be composed starting with the finite, simple groups. Hence the importance of the classification theorem.

End of intermezzo M: Yes, yes, I agree, but what’s the problem ? If a group of mathematicians tells me that together they have checked all parts of the proof, that is fine with me. I think we already had that discussion before. P: Exactly, so the same conclusions hold, do they not ? M: Sure, but, once more, what’s it to me ? P: With Fermat and the finite, simple groups, as I said before, most likely nothing. But there is something more and that brings me to my third example, namely, the use of computers in mathematical practice. Let me give an example first, the famous four-colour theorem. Part of the proof consisted of checking one by one a fairly large set of cases. For a human mathematician, this would be incredibly tedious and endless work with an extremely high probability that a mistake is made somewhere. So, this task was enthrusted to a computer who did the calculations. The final answer of the machine was ‘OK’ and so the theorem was considered proved.

Intermezzo The four-colour theorem states that any planar map divided up into regions can be coloured by four colours in such a way that neighbouring regions get different colours, where ‘neighbouring’ means that at least a segment and not e.g. one point is common to both. The problem was formulated for the first time in 1852 by Francis Guthrie and was finally proved (?) in 1976 by Kenneth Appel and Wolfgang Haken. Usually, the name of John Koch is not mentioned, although his contribution is as important as that of the two mathematicians, for Koch provided the algorithms for the computer part of the proof. Appel and Haken showed that all possible, i.e., infinitely many maps could be reduced to a finite set in such a way that, if all members of 48

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this finite set could be coloured with four colours, then all maps can be so coloured. Checking this finite set was done by computer. Although the proof has been simplified and reduced in terms of cases to be examined, the computer part of the proof remains essential. A good introduction is Wilson [2003].

End of intermezzo M: But are they not trying to reduce this part of the proof ? P: Indeed, they are, but some mathematicians consider this not to be necessary. The proof as we have it today, including the computer part, is fine for them, so one need not bother anymore. Additionally, they draw attention to the fact that such proofs will only become more frequent as, given more complex problems, it will be more likely that parts will become too complex for humans and hence will be left to computers. You see, what I am trying to say, is that in this case mathematicians among themselves started to discuss the problem whether this should count as proof or not. Or, let me put it differently, your practice is changing, you know it is changing, but you keep sticking to the ideal. You know, I am almost tempted to say, but in a quite positive state of mind : ‘Get real!’. M: Look, I am a mathematician and what I want to do is mathematics. Does that bother you, for that is the impression I am getting here. Do you want me to quit my job and make myself useful in society ? Or what ? P: No, no, no, of course not ! Please, keep on doing mathematics, for otherwise I have no longer a topic to think about. When I spoke about a division of labour, this does not mean that we should go separate ways. To a certain extent we do, of course: you are working in a mathematics department in a subfield of mathematics and I am in a philosophy department in the subfield of logic, philosophy of mathematics, and philosophy of science. We have largely separate networks, journals, conferences, you name it. So the division is already there. But that does not imply that we cannot talk about one another. What we philosophers are trying to do, is to understand better what mathematicians are doing. For a twofold purpose: a philosophical one, where we wish to contribute to the on-going discussion about the nature of mathematical knowledge, and a mathematical one, where the hope is that mathematicians themselves might be interested in the results of our research. It also means at the same time that there is no need whatsoever to be ‘afraid’ or annoyed when a philosopher says something about what you are doing. M: As if ! I have never been afraid of you, why should I ? I know what I am doing …

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P: (Interrupts) Exactly !! That is what I am saying: you know what you are doing, but not necessarily about what you are doing. See, we can complement each other here. M: Let me think about that. I have to confess that it sounds a bit funny. Has this ever been done before? I cannot remember ever to have heard about this complementarity thing. P: Don’t laugh, but the best answer is ‘yes’ and ‘no’. What has been done before is that mathematics and philosophy have interacted with one another, but for the obvious reason that the same person practiced both. Think of the Greek philosophers, think of Pascal, Descartes, Leibniz, Newton, …, so the answer is ‘yes’, but it also ‘no’ when we are talking about mathematics and philosophy as separate domains. Come to think of it, this is also a question that should be answered by historians, sociologists and philosophers of science and mathematics so that interaction is required as well. M: Make love, not war, then ? P: Fine with me, better to discuss various ways of love making, then to invent better fighting equipment, I guess. Here the dialogue between Paul and Martha ends. Next time they met, Martha wanted to discuss with Paul the idea of a mathematical experiment, whether that notion made sense or not, because one of her colleagues claimed to have done such an ‘experiment’ and Paul wanted to find out from Martha how mathematicians decide what problems are interesting or not, i.e., worth the trouble to investigate. After that, they decided to meet on a regular basis.

Conclusion It is obvious that this conversation has taken place in some at present nonexistent utopian place in some far (?) away future, where mathematicians and philosophers come to understand the fruitful ways wherein they can complement each other. Because that is the main thesis of this paper : a philosopher of mathematics, by extension a philosopher of science, need not be a ‘threat’ for the mathematician or, by extension, the scientist. True, if all goes well, it should have some impact. If philosophers come up with some well-founded criticisms about mathematical (scientific) practice, then, yes, it should make mathematicians (scientists) think. That being said, it should be equally clear that the impact is symmetrical: the philosopher too should take into account what the mathematician or scientist is doing when they come up with some interesting ideas, which, as it happens, they frequently do. To avoid wars and instead to opt for working together, must surely be considered as a form of progress beyond C. P. Snow’s two cultures. 50

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Bibliography DEVLIN K. (1988). Mathematics: The New Golden Age. Harmondsworth, Penguin. FRANZE˙ N T. (2005). Gödel’s Theorem. An Incomplete Guide to its Use and Abuse. Wellesley, Mass, A. K. Peters. GROSS P.R. & LEVITT N. (1994). Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels With Science. Baltimore. Johns Hopkins University Press. KOERTGE N. (ed.) (1998). A House Built on Sand. Exposing Postmodernist Myths About Science. Oxford, Oxford University Press. KUHN T. (1977). The Essential Tension. Selected Studies in Scientific Tradition and Change. Chicago, Chicago University Press. LAKATOS I. (ed. BY JOHN WORRALL & ELIE ZAHAR) (1976). Proofs and Refutations. The Logic of Mathematical Discovery. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. SOKAL A. (1996a). Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity. Social Text, nrs. 46/47, pp. 217-252. SOKAL A. (1996b). A Physicist Experiments with Cultural Studies. Lingua Franca, May/June, pp. 62-64. SOKAL A. & BRICMONT J. (1997). Impostures intellectuelles. Paris, Odile Jacob. WILSON R. (2003). Four colors suffice. How the Map Problem was Solved. Princeton, Princeton University Press.

About the author Jean Paul Van Bendegem is at present full time professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels) where he teaches courses in logic and philosophy of science. He is director of the Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science (www.vub.ac.be/CLWF/) where currently eleven researchers are working. He is also president of the National Center for Research in Logic (http://www.lofs.ucl.ac.be:16080/cnrl/), founded in 1955 by, among others, Chaïm Perelman and Leo Apostel. He is the editor of the journal Logique et Analyse (http://www.vub.ac.be/CLWF/L&A/). His research focuses on two themes: the philosophy of strict finitism and the development of a comprehensive theory of mathematical practice. Recently he edited, jointly with Bart Van Kerkhove, Perspectives on Mathematical Practices. Bringing together Philosophy of Mathematics, Sociology of Mathematics, and Mathematics Education (Dordrecht: Springer/Kluwer Academic, 2006). His personal website is to be found at: http:// www.vub.ac.be/CLWF/members/jean/index.shtml.

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CO2 sequestration by the ocean via the biological pump: Is man’s interference ecologically warranted and economically senseful ? Frank Dehairs Professor, Analytical and Environmental Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

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Abstract

Air-sea exchange of heat and greenhouse gases including CO2 are determining factors setting the climate on earth. The mechanisms controlling these exchanges need to be well understood for proper reconstruction of past climate change and for establishing realistic prognoses of climate change in the future. In what follows we will focus on carbon biogeochemistry in the ocean and on the sequestration capacity of the ocean for CO2, as controlled largely by the biological pump. The biological pump integrates a suit of processes, including photosynthetic carbon fixation, export of plankton material to the deep sea, bacterial degradation of sinking organic matter and accumulation in deep sea sediments. The efficiency of these different processes depends on the composition and productivity of the plankton community and these conditions are in turn controlled by availability of macro nutrients (nitrate, phosphate, silicate, ...) and micro nutrients (Fe, Cu, Zn, ...). In-vitro growth experiments with iron amendment, for instance, have clearly established the crucial role of this potentially growth-limiting micro nutrient. Any changes in nutrient supply and nutrient ratios have far fetching consequences for the functioning of the biological pump. Evidence exists that the lower atmospheric CO2 contents during past glacials is in part due to enhanced productivity in the ocean as sustained by an increased supply of iron. This could result from more intense aeolian erosion on the continents during glacials. The question then arises whether enhanced, iron-boosted, productivity also magnifies the CO2 sequestration efficiency of the biological pump. Over the past years a number of meso-scale in-situ iron fertilization experiments have been conducted at several locations in the World Ocean but it remains unclear whether this resulted in increased CO2 sequestration. It is crucial also that ecological impact of such perturbations be assessed properly. Furthermore, it is important to realize that sequestered CO2 will reside in the deeper oceanic water column on time scales not 53

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surpassing of few ten to hundred years, before being released again to the atmosphere, this as a consequence of oceanic circulation and deep sea ventilation. An improved understanding of the mechanisms of the biological pump and its sensitivity to climate change are crucial to allow for a more accurate assessment of the ocean’s CO2 sequestration efficiency and its evolution with climate change as steered by feed-backs.

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Feed-backs between the oceanic and atmospheric carbon reservoirs

The main factor which induces climate warming is the ongoing increase of green house gases in the atmosphere, with CO2 contributing most. Ice cores recovered from the Antarctic continent reveal that the increase in atmospheric CO2 associated with the transition from the last glacial period over the Holocene to recent, occurred as a series of rapid and important pulses (Figure 1) (Ridgwell et al., 2003). The time scales involved represent a few hundred to 1000 years and imply that the residence time of the released carbon in its reservoir of origin is of the same order of magnitude. The possible source reservoirs in terms of reservoir-strength and turn-over that are to be considered are : the terrestrial biomass; the combined continental deposits and earth crust; the oceans. Residence times of carbon in continental deposits and earth crust appear too long (up to 300 106 years) and they are too short for terrestrial biomass (about 18 years) in order to explain the magnitude and rates of observed changes in the atmosphere. On the contrary, the ocean and more particularly the deep ocean has the appropriate characteristics in terms of reservoir-strength (38,000 Gt of dissolved inorganic carbon; see Figure 2) and ventilation time, which is of the order of 1000 years (Sigman and Boyle, 2000). Thus, fluctuations in ocean – atmosphere exchange may well explain the observed fluctuations and increases of atmospheric CO2 during the transition from Last Glacial to Holocene. Today, international forums and research programmes such as the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and CLImate VARiability (CLIVAR) do recognize the major role played by the oceans in regulating climate on earth and also, importantly, the fact that the oceans have recorded the warming up of the earth as is occurring at enhanced rate since the 1950’s.

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Figure 1: Changes recorded in the high-resolution CO2 record at ‘Dome-C’ (Antarctica). Atmospheric CO2 has increased between last glacial maximum and present: What has been the ocean’s role? (Ridgwell et al., 2003)

Figure 2: Magnitude of carbon reservoirs and turn-over rates (1Pg = 1 Gt = 1015g). Fast changes in atmospheric CO2 content as seen from Figure 1 can only be explained realistically as resulting from changes in exchange rates between deep sea and atmosphere (Sigman & Boyle, 2000). 55

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Recognizing the mere fact that exchanges of CO2 between ocean and atmosphere are taking place also raises the question about which mechanisms are involved. It is understood today that the mechanisms to be considered are : (1) hydrodynamical processes (changes in rate and intensity of upwelling, downwelling; i.e. changes in the thermo-haline circulation); (2) physico-chemical processes (the solubility of CO2 is salt and temperature dependent; alkalinity changes of the ocean as a change in erosion patterns on the continents); (3) biological processes (carbonfixation, primary production; trophic interactions resulting in carbon translocations; respiration). These different processes interact with climate via positive or negative feed-back mechanisms.

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Functioning of the biological carbon pump

The process of uptake of atmospheric carbon via oceanic primary production followed by the sinking of biogenic particles is called biological carbon pump or biopump (see Figure 3).

Figure 3: Functioning of the biological pump. 56

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Whenever there is sufficiency of light and essential nutrients (phosphate; nitrate & ammonium; silicate; micro-nutrients such as iron, copper, cobalt, zinc, ...) unicellular algae will photo-autotrophically fix inorganic carbon and metabolise it in the synthesis of carbohydrates, proteins, lipids and nucleic acids. On a yearly time scale this biological carbon fixation in the ocean is very much larger than the release of anthropogenic CO2 (50 Gt and 6 Gt, respectively). However, phytoplankton cells have a very short lifetime (on the order of a day) due to grazing by heterotrophic organisms, cell lysis and also cell division. Most of the carbon fixed as phytoplankton biomass is consumed by heterotrophs (mainly bacteria) which oxidize this reduced carbon back to CO2 in the process of respiration. In fact, were the oceanatmosphere system in equilibrium, all carbon fixed via primary production should be returned to the atmosphere and the atmospheric CO2 content, though seasonally fluctuating, would not change on the yearly time scale. This was indeed the case before the onset of the industrial revolution in the late 18th century. Since then, the continuously increasing CO2 emission resulting from man’s activities (fossil fuel burning, deforestation and agricultural practices) has added CO2 to the atmosphere. Thereby it has put the atmosphere-ocean exchange out of equilibrium, resulting in a net flux of CO2 to the ocean. This net-flux is mainly physico-chemically controlled, but the increasing discharge of nutrients (also due to man’s activities) makes the biological pump contributing to the overall CO2 uptake by the ocean. Yearly, the net CO2 influx to the ocean represents about 40% of the CO2 emission (Sabine et al., 2004) and this large fraction clearly emphasizes the important role of the ocean as a buffer against global warming. Depending on the phytoplankton community composition and the structure of the trophic web, the synthesized phytoplankton biomass will be either retained in the surface waters (i.e. the situation with predominance of a microbial food web and material recycling), or will be exported to the deep sea as zooplankton fecal pellets and aggregates of biogenic detritus (i.e. situation of a more linear trophic interaction with zooplankton grazing pressure as a main driver). However, carbon fluxes recorded by sediment traps moored in the deep sea (> 1000m) represent in general only a few % of the carbon exported out of the upper mixed layer. This indicates that the major fraction of the exported organic carbon is oxidized and released as CO2, mainly as a result of bacterial respiration (i.e. the remineralization process) at depths < 1000m, i.e. in mesopelagic waters. The magnitude of the biopump is mainly depending on : (i) availability of light as energy source for primary production; (ii) composition of the phytoplankton community as influenced by the supply of essential nutrients and the nutrient ratios; (iii) the rate of organic matter degradation in the upper water column. The efficiency of the biopump is set by the ratio of 57

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export over primary production and the ratio of remineralisation over export. Fast remineralisation in the top layers of the water column results in fast degassing of the biologically fixed carbon, while deep and slow remineralisation results in a more efficient carbon sequestration. However, in fine the latter will be controlled by the deep sea ventilation rate.

4

Evolution during the Anhropocene

The atmospheric CO2 content is increasing fast and a doubling of the preindustrial value of 285 ppm is expected to be reached in the coming century. About 40% of the cumulated emission till date has been redistributed in the ocean, as a result of air-sea exchange, CO2 solubilisation, dissociation and biological carbon fixation (Sabine et al., 2004). At present this redistribution of anthropogenic CO2 has reached depths of only 500 to 1500m, that is at a pace set by the ocean’s ventilation rate (about a 1000 years), (Sarmiento and Gruber, 2002). As a result of this CO2 uptake, the ocean’s pH is decreasing (Caldeira and Wickett, 2003; Cicerone et al., 2004) as does carbonate oversaturation. This may cause adverse conditions for calcium carbonate secreting organisms such coccolithophorids (unicellular algae); foraminifera (unicellular protists); pteropods (pelagic molluscs); corals. Climate warming also warms the upper ocean, which gains buoyancy. The density gradients between surface and deep ocean are being enhanced and thereby impede vertical supply of nutrients from the deeper water column to the upper mixed layer. Increased stratification due to warming thus results in a decrease of primary production and carbon export by the biological pump. This in turn generates a positive feed-back to climate warming. The situation may be different for the Southern Ocean. There warming and enhanced stratification will diminish depth of the mixed layer yielding in a more favorable light regime for phytoplankton. As a result productivity will increase, provided the necessary nutrients are available (Figure 4) (note: the mixed layer in the S.O. often reaches down to 100m; that is well below the light lit, euphotic layer).

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Figure 4: Warming impacts on stratification of the ocean and on primary production. Warming results in decreased productivity at low and mid latitudes while it may enhance productivity at high latitudes (Doney, 2006).

5

Role of the micro-nutrient iron

Today, 20 years after the pioneering work of Martin (1990) the primordial role of the micro-nutrient iron in controlling oceanic productivity is widely recognised. Also, iron needs to be available in appropriate ratios to nitrogen and phosphorus (i.e. Redfield ratios; Redfield et al., 1963) for phytoplankton growth to proceed. For each phosphorus atom (P = 1), a phytoplankton cell needs about 4 10-4 Fe atoms; 16 N atoms; 16 to 32 Si atoms and 106 C atoms. Si is necessary for the growth of diatoms which secrete a SiO2 skeleton and constitute a major component of phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean. Fe is required for a suite of essential biochemical reactions, including reduction of nitrate by nitrate reductase; nitrogen fixation by nitrogenase; the electron transfer chain in photosynthesis,... Although Fe is the third most abundant element on earth, it occurs in extremely low concentrations as a dissolved component in the ocean (< 1 10-9 mol l-1), because it is near insoluble under the oxic conditions which prevail in oceanic surface waters. As a result of these low concentrations and of its biochemical significance, iron is in most cases the growth limiting element. 59

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6

The specific role of the Southern Ocean

The thermo-haline circulation results in an upwelling of nutrient-rich and oxygen-poor deep waters around Antarctica. At the surface these waters deliver CO2 to the atmosphere and take up oxygen from the atmosphere. The prevailing westerly winds and the resulting Ekman drift diverge these upwelled waters to the north (Figure 5). During this northward transport local phytoplankton growth consumes nutrients. But because of iron dearth the resulting carbon export to the deep sea (i.e. the biopump) is limited (Figure 6; Sigman and Boyle, 2000; Marinov et al., 2006). With iron limiting growth, a significant fraction of the macro nutrients (nitrate, phosphate, silicate) is not consumed by the phytoplankton and is transported northward carried by the water masses advected from the south by Ekman drift and which subduct at the Polar Front and the Subantarctic Front. These waters flow northward into the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific basins, as Subantarctic Mode Water and Antarctic Intermediate Water and may fertilise plankton growth at mid-latitudes (Sarmiento et al., 2004).

Figure 5: Schematic cross-section of the Southern Ocean, illustrating the presence of (i) upwelling deep water in vicinity of the Antarctic margin; (ii) the two characteristic overturning cells: Intermediate + Mode Water cell and Bottom Water cell (Rintoul, 2001, ACE-CRC graphics). 60

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Figure 6: Schematic showing the impact of the biological carbon pump on the redistribution of carbon in the Southern Ocean. The biopump is supplied with nutrients via deep water upwelling in vicinity of the Antarctic margin (left side of scheme). Because of wind stress induced Ekman drift, this upwelled water is advected northward (to the right). Underway, phytoplankton growth consumes nutrients, delivers oxygen and sustains carbon export to the deep sea. Left-over macro-nutrients (these nutrients can not be consumed due to lack of iron) may eventually re-enter the Southern Ocean via deep water advection (i.e. the thermo-haline circulation) (Sigman and Boyle, 2000). For the modern Southern Ocean, however, growth limitation because of iron dearth seems to be the rule. Only sites close to continental shelves and margins (e.g., Crozet Basin; Kerguelen Plateau; South Sandwich Plateau) 61

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sustain higher productivities (Blain et al., 2007). Because its condition of low phytoplankton biomass goes together with high macro-nutrient contents, the Southern Ocean is called a High Nutrient Low Chlorophyll (HNLC) system. Though the system has an apparent potential for biological carbon fixation and carbon sequestration, it appears to be inefficient at this task. The absence of any significant input of iron via rivers and of eolian transport (today, there is little advection of dust-loaded air masses from low latitudes toward Antarctica) is to be blamed for this condition. Ice cores retrieved from the Antarctic ice cap, however, reveal that this condition was different during the past Glacials, with a clear indication for the last glacial maximum (between 30,000 and 15,000 years BP) of enhanced dust deposition (Figure 7; Martin et al., 1990). These dust particles are rich in iron and originate from aeolian erosion of South-American and African soils as well as from continental shelve sediments which became exposed as a result of sea surface lowering during the Glacials. This increased supply of dust and associated iron is thought to have stimulated primary production and carbon export (see Figure 8 for feed-back interactions) in the Circumpolar Ocean thereby lowering the atmospheric CO2 content as witnessed by the ice core records.

Figure 7: Vostok Ice core : Evolution of iron associated with dust particles and of CO2 trapped in air bubbles over the past 160 Kyr BP. The low atmospheric CO2 contents (200 ppm) during the last Glacial (25,000 years ago) coincide with increased iron deposition over Antarctica. The latter probably result from enhanced wind erosion of the continents to the north of Antarctica (Martin, 1990).

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Figure 8: Potential impact of iron-rich dust particles rich on climate; + indicates a positive feed-back (enhances the original effect); – indicates a negative feed-back (diminishes the original effect) (Ridgwell, 2003). It seems most likely that ongoing climate change today will change the iron fertilisation pattern in the World Ocean through changes in oceanic circulation, aeolian transport of iron-rich dust, sea-ice retreat,. (Ridgwell, 2003). Next to the effect ongoing climate change has on surface oceanic stratification, the changing patterns of Fe supply to the ocean will directly affect CO2 sequestration efficiency of the ocean with a probable feed-back on climate.

7

Iron fertilisation of the ocean

To date several meso-scale in-situ iron fertilisation experiments have been conducted in the Southern Ocean (SOIREE; EISENEX; EIFEX; de Baar et al., 2005; Boyd et al., 2007) to find out to what extent amending the system with iron boosts productivity. Surface waters are supplied with huge amounts (tons) of an iron sulphate solution where after the change in productivity is closely followed over several weeks. All experiments have witnessed a clear increase of algal productivity resulting in significant CO2 uptake in surface waters making the ocean a temporary sink. This increased productivity also 63

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went with a change in the phytoplankton community composition, showing an increasing contribution of SiO2 secreting diatoms (Hoffmann et al., 2006). While purposeful iron amendment undoubtly stimulates productivity, the experiments left unanswered the question whether or not this also resulted in enhanced carbon sequestration. The EIFEX experiment conducted in 2004, however, showed that about one month after the iron addition an intense but brief export of phytoplankton biomass occurred reaching deep the ocean and even the sediments (Jacquet et al., 2008). Furthermore, it was observed that remineralisation occurred deeper in the water column. Thus, overall it appeared that iron fertilization led to increased carbon sequestration by the ocean. However, model assessments of long-term, global scale fertilization revealed that such intervention would only have a limited effect on atmospheric CO2 content (a mere 30 ppm of atmospheric CO2 reduction, assuming a continuous fertilization effort; Aumont and Bopp, 2006) and also are economically unjustified (Zeebe and Archer, 2005). Furthermore, halting fertilization would very quickly drive back the atmospheric CO2 content to the high pre-fertilisation values. Most importantly, however, it is uncertain what the ecological impact might be in the end, but it is likely that this will be significant and irreversible. Indeed, phytoplankton composition and trophic interactions will be affected with possible development of harmful species (Figure 9). Increased export of organic carbon to the deep sea will draw on the available reserves of deep sea oxygen and may induce anoxic conditions. The latter would then favor nitrate reduction with release of N2O which is an even more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2. Also, since nutrients need to be available in a well defined pattern set by the Redfield ratios, it is likely that the relieve of growth limitation by iron will shift the status of growth limiting nutrient from Fe to other micro-nutrients such as Co, Cu, Zn, … thereby halting the Fe fertilisation effect.

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Figure 9: Possible consequences of large scale ocean fertilization : intensification of the biological carbon pump and safe guarding the ecosystem of irreversible deterioration of the system ? (J. Cook, 2004, WHOI graphics).

8

If iron fertilisation of the oceans does not offer the expected solution, what else can be done to limit further increase of atmospheric CO2 ?

Different scenarios and approaches have been proposed today, of which the one developed by Broecker (2007) seems quite interesting. Broecker’s basic idea is that some maximum, ‘not-to-cross’ limit of acceptable CO2 atmospheric content should be set when elaborating mitigation procedures to limit CO2 emission. A doubling of the pre-industrial CO2 content (i.e., the atmospheric CO2 concentration would reach 570 ppm, while the present CO2 concentration is 380 ppm), for instance, could be accepted internationally as this upper limit. All countries would then be allocated CO2 quota in proportion to their population. Considering that 1 ppm increase of the atmospheric CO2 content results from an emission of 4 Gt CO2 the allowable total CO2 emission over the coming years is then calculated as: (570 – 380) x 4 = 760 Gt. The rich countries taken together 65

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represent some 20% of the world population but contribute for the largest part of the global yearly CO2 emission, which is about 6Gt. These countries would receive an emission quota of 0.2 x 760 Gt = 152 Gt. In case no abatement of the yearly CO2 emission (now at 6Gt/yr) is achieved, rich countries would use their emission quota in a very short time of about 25 years (i.e. 152/6). Broecker’s conceptual approach could trigger incentives for major mitigation efforts aiming not only at limiting CO2 emission but also at recapturing and neutralizing emitted CO2. This clearly is the way to go rather than fertilizing the ocean, which is a mitigation approach that leaves many questions about ecological impact unanswered.

Bibliography AUMONT O. and L. BOPP (2006). Globalizing results from ocean in situ iron fertilization studies, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 20, GB2017, doi:10.1029/ 2005GB002591, p. 115. BLAIN S. et al. (2007). Effect of natural iron fertilization on carbon sequestration in the Southern Ocean, Nature, 446, p. 1070-1074. BOYD, P.W. et al. (2007). Mesoscale iron enrichment experiments 1993-2005: synthesis and future directions, Science, 315, p. 612-617. BROECKER, W.S. (2007). CO2 arithmetic, Science, 317, p. 1371. CALDEIRA K. and M.C. WICKETT (2003). Anthropogenic carbon and ocean pH, Nature, 425, 365. CICERONE, R., J. ORR, P. BREWER, P. HAUGAN, L. MERLIVAT, T. OHSUMI, S. PANTOJA, H.-O. POERTNER, M. HOOD and E. URBAN. 2004. The ocean in a high CO2 world, Oceanography, p. 72-78. DONEY, S.C. (2006). Plankton in a warmer world, Nature, 444, p. 695-696. DE BAAR H. J. W. et al. (2005). Synthesis of iron fertilization experiments: From the Iron Age in the Age of Enlightenment, Journal of Geophysical Research, 110, C09S16, doi:10.1029/2004JC002601, p. 1-24. HOFFMANN, L.J., I. PEEKEN, K. LOCHTE, P. ASSMY and M. VELDHUIS (2006). Different reactions of Southern Ocean phytoplankton size classes to iron fertilization, Limnology and Oceanography, 51, p. 1217-1229. JACQUET, S.H.M., N. SAVOYE, F. DEHAIRS, V.H. STRASS and D. CARDINAL (2008). Mesopelagic Carbon remineralization during the European Iron Fertilization Experiment (EIFEX), Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 22, GB1023, doi:10.1029/ 2006GB002902, p. 1-9. MARINOV, I., A. GNANADESIKAN, J.R. Toggweiler and J.L. Sarmiento (2006). The Southern Ocean biogeochemical divide, Nature, 441, p. 964-967. MARTIN, J.M. (1990). Glacial to interglacial CO2 change: The iron hypothesis, Paleoceanography, 5, p. 1 – 13. REDFIELD, A.C., B.H. KETCHUM, F.A. RICHARDS (1963). The influence of organisms on the composition of seawater, in: The Sea, M.N. Hill, ed., vol.2, Wiley (Interscience), NewYork, p. 26-27. RIDGWELL, A.J., A.J. WATSON, M.A. MASLIN and J.O. KAPLAN (2003). Implications of coral reef buildup for the controls on atmospheric CO2 since the Last Glacial Maximum, Paleoceanography, 18, 1083, doi:10.1029/2003PA000893, p. 1-10.

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CO2 sequestration by the ocean via the biological pump RIDGWELL, A.J. (2003). Feedbacks in the Earth System: Past changes in dust and iron fertilization of the ocean, IGBP Science Features, p. 2-5. SABINE, C.L. et al. (2004). The oceanic sink for anthropogenic CO2, Science, 305, 367-371. SARMIENTO, J.L. and N. GRUBER, 2002. Sinks for anthropogenic carbon, Physics Today, August issue, p. 1-13. SARMIENTO, J.L., N. GRUBER, M.A. BRZEZINSKI and J.P. DUNNE (2004). High-latitude controls of thermocline nutrients and low latitude biological productivity, Nature, 427, p. 56-60. SIGMAN, D.M. and E.A. BOYLE (2000). Glacial/interglacial variations in atmospheric carbon dioxide, Nature, 407, p. 859-869. ZEEBE, R.E. and D. ARCHER (2005). Feasibility of ocean fertilization and its impact on future atmospheric CO2 levels, Geophysical Research Letters, 32, L09703, doi:10.1029/ 2005GL022449, p. 1-5.

About the author Frank Dehairs Doctor in Sciences (PhD), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1979. 1972-1979 : Doctoral research at ‘Laboratoire de Géochimie’, Université Libre de Bruxelles and Centre des Faibles Radioactivités’, CNRS, Gif-surYvette, France, in the framework of the GEOSECS program (Geochemical Ocean Sections). 1978-1980 : Interim assistant at the Department. of Analytical Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel. 1980-1999 : Research Associate at the Research Foundation-Flanders. 1990 : Three months sabbatical at University of Delaware, USA. 1995-1996 : Ten months sabbatical (Poste Rouge CNRS) at Observatoire Midi Pyrénées, CNRS-CNES, Toulouse, France. 1999-2000 : Research Director at the Research Foundation-Flanders. 2001-present : Professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Main research interests : Role of the ocean in climate change; understanding carbon and nitrogen flows and the controlling biogeochemical processes in aquatic systems; developing and implementing proxy tools to assess biogeochemical processes. Focus of the research is on the assessment of the biological carbon pump in the Southern Ocean and the significance of marine biogenic carbonates as archives and tools for assessing environmental change.

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The evaluation of legal science The Vl.I.R.-model for integral quality assessment of research in law : what next ?1 Serge Gutwirth Full professor, Law, Science, Technology & Society, Vrije Universiteit Brussel en Erasmus Universteit Rotterdam

1

Every science has its own truth regime

Although many may have their doubts, legal science does exist, not only because law as an academic discipline should in any case be scientific, but also – and especially – because apart from legal practice there is an activity that aims to develop a corpus of reliable and sound knowledge of law. Needless to say, legal science differs greatly from experimental sciences, field sciences and social sciences, which are respectively built upon the setting up of laboratory experiments, in situ, or field research, or quantitative/statistical and qualitative methods. The requirements that have to be met for the developed knowledge to be valid differ from science to science: every science has its own truth regime within which and with which its practitioners have to work if they want to be successful and if they want to be acknowledged by their peers. What is true in physics, sociology or legal science will depend on a different set of requirements for each of these disciplines. Nevertheless, they can all be referred to by the generic term ‘science’, because they all aim at the collective and mutually tested development of robust and reliable knowledge by the practitioners of a science. Thus the model of experimental science cannot serve as the model for other contemporary sciences, if only because the latter usually cannot isolate their object in an experimental space that can be precisely controlled and set up anywhere in the world. Other sciences do not validate the same type of claims, but this does not make them less scientific. A statistical sociological analysis of voting behaviour is indeed very different from the experimental 1. This contribution is an adapted and updated translation of S. Gutwirth ‘Evaluatie rechtswetenschappelijk onderzoek. Vl.I.R.-model voor integrale kwaliteitsevaluatie van het onderzoek in de rechtswetenschappen’, Nieuw Juridisch Weekblad, 2007, nr. 168, 674 – 678. The text has been translated and corrected by Wim Van Verre and Michael Whitburn (ITO, VUB).

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demonstration of gravity. In other words, the validity and success of a scientific claim is territorial and cannot be captured by generalising (epistemological) theories about Truth, Objectivity or Method, but results from the particular collective processes and practices of a given science or discipline.

2

So also legal science

The legislative branch takes political decisions and converts them into legislation, which in turn provides the framework for the legal practice or the ‘law in action’. This legislative activity of representative bodies essentially belongs to the realm of politics, which is nicely expressed by the existence of a special section législation in the Belgian Conseil d’Etat that watches over the legal quality of the process in order to optimise the conversion from political decisions into the statutes that provide the framework for the legal practice. The legal practice occurs primarily in jurisdiction, in the courts. The law as such is not a science: unlike the sciences, it does not aim at the collective production of a body of robust and reliable knowledge, but tends to hold persons and things together in a web of relations that makes it possible to attribute responsibilities and impute acts, words and things to persons. It holds our societies together, via small and superficial, but crucial bonds, which put an end to conflicts and discussions, and stabilise relations, generating legal certainty 2. The production of legal science is the work of the legal doctrine, which endeavours to compile, describe and interpret aspects of law exhaustively, logically and systematically. It does so through monographies, articles, contributions to collections, reviews and not least through manuals that are constantly updated in accordance with the advancement of the law and that in turn, through teaching, wield influence over legal practice itself. Typically, a legal author will produce a systematising picture of important and pertinent juridical developments, sometimes followed by a retrospective analysis of these developments and their implications for future jurisdiction and/or legislation. The legal doctrine shines structuring light upon the legal practice: it analyses the course of law and produces an ordered and systematic body of legal knowledge. Writings by legal authorities render the law teachable and 2. Cf. Br. Latour, La fabrique du droit. Une ethnographie du Conseil d’Etat, Paris, La Decouverte, 2002, 318p. See also: S. Gutwirth, P. De Hert & L. Desutter, ‘Technology regulation: the trouble with Lessig’s ‘optimal mix’ in R. Brownsword & K. Yeung, Regulating Technologies, Oxford, Hart Publishers, 2008 (forthcoming).

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transferable, and are an inspiration to legal practitioners who give life to the law. Thus, the legal doctrine occupies a remarkable and singular position : it is both the science of law, and an indirect, but often authoritative and influential source of that law. This explains the close ties between the legal science and the legal practice, the frequent combination of an academic career with a practical one, and it is also the reason why legal scholars address not only their peers in legal science, but must also be pertinent for legal practitioners. Legal science is therefore characterised by a double constraint: not only does it need to pass the quality test of fellow legal scientists – and must therefore be ‘robust’ as scientific knowledge – but it should also be relevant and pertinent to legal practice. Legal science has both scientific and legal dimensions that partly overlap and intertwine. Apart from the more classic legal doctrine, legal science also encompasses comparative law and legal theory insofar as they maintain the same relationship of reciprocity with the legal practice and accordingly produce legally relevant knowledge. This distinguishes them from legal anthropology, legal ethnology and legal philosophy. As is the case for legal history, legal sociology, criminology and the science of public administration, these disciplines are not part of legal science since they do not generate legal knowledge, but another science’s knowledge about the law. These ‘metajuridica’ (‘about the law’) concentrate upon the study of the law from the perspective of sociology or psychology; as a result, they derive their scientific validity mainly from the truth regimes of these sciences. Legal science is autonomous: it includes legal doctrine, comparative law and legal theory insofar as these disciplines produce legal knowledge that is tested for resistance and pertinence by other legal scientists. Consequently, legal science has its own truth regime and should not be approached using criteria stemming from other disciplines or abstract methodological rules deemed to be relevant in all scientific disciplines.

3

Measuring scientific output

In the context of the ‘knowledge economy’, the pressure on academics to raise their output has increased sharply. The opportunity to collectively explore and build up knowledge at one’s own pace is gradually losing ground to a short-term achievement culture that emphasises the importance of tangible and visible results in terms of publications (publish or perish), doctoral degrees, secured research projects and subsidies, and patents (which indeed represent the perfect osmosis between knowledge and economy entailed by the knowledge economy). This shift has an impact not only on the assessment of a researcher’s achievements, but also on the 71

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institutional policies of universities, for their funding is also increasingly dependent on scientific output. All this leads to a dire need for serious and reliable instruments for the virtually permanent evaluation and measurement of scientific output by researchers, research groups, fields of study, faculties, and academic institutions and higher education associations as a whole. Many are rightly convinced that the best way to assess research and scientific publications is peer review : a thorough qualitative (and quantitative) judgement of a scientific result or file by a panel of both national and international researchers with expertise in the domain under investigation. However, considering the increase in the number and intensity of required evaluations, there is generally too little time and availability for this kind of ideal scientific assessment by peers. Moreover, policymakers demand figures because only figures can provide a basis for the allocation of funds. Finally, there is need for intercommensurability and comparability between the different sciences. As a result, quantitative measurement and registration of scientific output is seen as increasingly important. Whether one likes it or not, quantitative measuring instruments today dominate the scene, along with bibliometry and performance indicators that are said to correlate to the quality of the research as assessed by peers. A number of scientific disciplines rely (to different extents) on the lists of science journals compiled by the Thomson Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), an American-based private enterprise. It selects the journals in accordance with a number of criteria among which, so the institute proclaims, the most decisive are frequency of issue, timeliness of publication, existence of peer review, use of English and the application of ‘international editorial conventions’ 3. Typically, a journal with a high ISIscore is written in English, is international and peer reviewed. Its multinational editorial staff presents an anonymised version of the submitted contributions to a number of anonymous referees who specialise in the matter discussed in the article. ISI also calculates the ‘impact factors’ of scientific journals and conducts author-related citation analyses (e.g. the ‘h-index’, the ‘highly cited researcher’ and more of the like). In general, the extent to which a scientific discipline relies on ISI depends partly on the context independence of the discipline in question (it is largest in experimental sciences), and partly on the ‘coverage rate’ of the periodicals analysed by ISI in that particular scientific field. However, for many sciences, and for social sciences in particular, the ISIsystem is irrelevant as it reports far too few effectively used publication 3. The Thomson Scientific journal selection process, http://scientific.thomson.com/free/ essays/selectionofmaterial/journalselection/,last consulted on 14 June 2008.

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channels (if only because these sciences are – also – practised in languages other than English). The system is problematic for other reasons as well : on the one hand, it forces these scientists to conform to requirements that are alien to or irreconcilable with their context dependent or local disciplines and on the other hand, it patronises non-ISI-disciplines. Needless to say, human sciences are much more closely related to the cultures, languages and societies in which they thrive and function. And so they should, if they are to be scientifically and societally relevant: a Belgian political scientist with a keen interest in Belgian politics can hardly publish only in English, especially if he is writing about theoretical implications of local politics that are not necessarily relevant to his English-speaking peers. Besides, why should his Dutch or French publications, by definition, be of inferior quality ? Precisely because it is impossible to answer this question does the ongoing European Reference Index for the Humanities (ERIH)-project of the European Science Foundation (ESF) merit attention 4. Addressing the need to further ‘benchmarking and commensurability of quality’, this project attempts to draw up a list of science periodicals in 15 disciplines in the humanities (e.g. archaeology, art science, history, philosophy, psychology, anthropology …). Unlike the ISI-system, ERIH does take into account both the European diversity of languages, cultures and intellectual traditions and the specificity of the disciplines in the humanities (such as the fact that the range of output channels is much broader than ‘scientific journals in English, and the fact that the life cycle of research is much longer here than in other sciences). More concretely, after consultation of the scientists involved, a list of peer reviewed scientific journals is compiled. Regardless of the language in which they are published the journals are ranked A, B or C, according to their circulation and reputation. The result is that Dutch, Portuguese or Hungarian scientific journals are not automatically eliminated, but are sometimes ranked B or even A. C-journals are typically of local or regional importance, and receive through this approach a weight or a value in a context of international comparability. The field of legal science is not involved in the project, which is most unfortunate, as it could offer perspectives at least as far as the output under the form of articles in scientific journals is concerned.

4. European Reference Index for the Humanities (ERIH), European Science Foundation (ESF), via http://www.esf.org/research-areas/humanities/activities/research-infrastructures.html, last consulted on 14 June 2008.

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4

Measuring the output of juridical science

The Belgian legal scientist who is confronted with ISI bibliometrical requirements and realises he is expected to take them seriously cannot but feel outraged for reasons closely connected to a number of immediately apparent features and practices specific to legal science. First, the Belgian legal expert publishes mainly in Dutch and in French, because they are the languages of his legal system, of his original legal sources, of the peers who deal with the same law in the same languages, and obviously of the law practitioners that he wishes to reach. So, law systems are strongly marked, locally ; they are highly sensitive to context and so differ greatly from place to place. To publish in English in an ISI journal is therefore an exceptional occurrence, all the more since most of the relatively small number of legal ISI journals are not really ‘international’, but mainly American or British. Moreover, as common law and continental legal systems are technically very different, it is difficult and sometimes impossible to correctly translate the French or Dutch Belgian legal concepts into English, since not all legal mechanisms have their equivalents in the other legal system. There is also the fact that in legal science books and chapters in a book are at least as highly esteemed as, if not more highly than, articles in journals. And finally, legal journals are not only aimed at a readership of scientific peers, but more generally – and especially – at legal practitioners, which ties in with the particular nature of juridical science. There is also the particular way in which legal research is carried out. Most research is not large-scale and networked, but it is often conducted by individual researchers working on an exhaustive, systematising and interpretative analysis of a legal subject. Legal scholars are text scientists, legal scientists are text scholars. And this also influences the way in which the legal doctoral thesis and legal project research are approached : the former is long drawn out, heavy, exhaustive and lonely hermeneutic journey through a sometimes very narrow subject ; the latter is simply scarce. It is impossible to assess legal research on the basis of international bibliometric evaluation techniques more or less widely accepted in other scientific disciplines. To negatively evaluate a Belgian legal researcher because he has too few ISI publications is the same as saying that a Thai restaurant is no good because there are no chips or pizzas on the menu. If legal science has its own validity criteria it should also have its own evaluation criteria. Indeed, the best solution is to use the thorough qualitycontent assessment and comparative peer review ; but for reasons already explained, the peer review is no longer up to the task. There must also be more quantitative measurements. The question is : what is available ? Is

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there an instrument besides qualitative assessment by peers that can be used in Belgian legal research to measure output quantitatively ? The answer is ‘no’. Yet the question is far from unimportant, because how else can a legal researcher claim that his scientific output is comparable to that of a physicist or sociologist ? Or how can he show that his research deserves to be publicly funded, or that his scientific output actually generates some of those funds ? Or, to put it more trivially, how can I convince a colleague in the immunology department without bringing a smile to his lips that the ‘comment’ I have just published on a judgment passed by a lower court is in fact a serious scientific publication ? How can he be convinced that some of the funding that he intends to devote to his AIDS research can just as usefully be spent on my legal research work into the legal aspects of autonomous agents ? The answer to these questions is obvious : I need to be able to rely on a specific and transparent system of evaluation, supported by a network of peers/legal scientists, that allows me to align my own legal research work and scientific credentials with those of my legal colleagues. Should it appear that my work is the best in legal science and his is not the best in immunology, then he will have to accept that mine takes precedence over his. In other words, there is need for a clear, reliable and valid system of evaluation of legal research that meets the truth regime of the legal science.

5

The Vl.I.R-project with relation to the evaluation of legal research

The need was recognised and addressed by Vl.I.R (Vlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad), which produced a Model for Integral Quality Assessment of Research in Law in 2004, after two years of preparatory work carried out by an inter-university study group 5. Despite the (sometimes very convincing) basic reservations about the quantitative evaluation of research, it has to be said that this model meets the specific requirements of juridical science : it attaches more value to books6 ; publications in Dutch published in national journals receive due recognition and bonuses are awarded for 5. Vl.I.R., Model for Integral Quality Assessment of Research in Law, 22 September 2004 http://www.vlir.be/media/docs/Onderzoeksbeleid/notitieKZRechtenEngels.pdf, last consulted on 14 June 2008. 6. In some disciplines the writing of books is seen as a negative sign: only scientists who are unable to have their writings published in ISI-journals would write books, which are deemed to be published for commercial reasons and without serious peer review. How wrong this assumption is, at least in the field of philosophy, has been nicely described in: J. De Mul, ‘Publish and perish’, Tijdschrift voor filosofie, 2005, 426-428.

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international publications ; it recognizes the fact that legal journals have a practical as well as a scientific orientation ; it adopts a cumulative approach in as much as more publications in lower ranking journals can compensate for there being no publications in the highest ranking journals. Evaluation systems focusing on the legal field were also developed with relation to project research, the coaching of doctoral research work, conferences and lectures, membership of editorial boards, etc. The model as such has been accepted by the Flemish law faculties, and it was decided to put it to the test. The journals committee was set up and was given the task of evaluating Flemish legal journals on the basis of five issues provided by the journals’ editorial boards. Each journal was awarded an A, B, or C-ranking. The Committee was set up on an inter-university basis and included four foreign, but Dutch speaking, members out of a total of nine. When the Vl.I.R publicised the committee’s ranking proposal on their website, there was a radical change in the goodwill attitude which the project had enjoyed until then 7. The ranking system became a subject of controversy in legal academic circles as well as in the related editorial boards of the journals considered, so that the project was soon deprived of oxygen and began to die a slow death. Having completed its task the publications committee was disbanded. But the books committee, which had been set up around the same time and was about to begin its work, was also disbanded, because of the commotion caused by the ranking system, and was replaced by a committee of exclusively foreign members. This committee never met and produced no work. In March 2007, the chair of the Vl.I.R asked the conference of deans of the Flemish university faculties to break the deadlock. It would appear that in a yet to be published document the conference of deans has recommended adopting the Dutch system to ensure that a reliable gauge may be developed ‘rapidly and without undue effort’. Flemish law faculties should be consulted in the process. Meanwhile, however, the Flemish Government has launched a new initiative, spanning the whole field of social sciences and humanities (including law) to foster the development of a Flemish academic bibliography, which will officially (for financing purposes) list and rank the valuable scientific publications (not only journal articles). But in this project, the specificities of the legal discipline may again be disregarded by the bibliometrical customs of the other social sciences, which very often rely on criteria similar to those used by ISI (‘international’ journal publications in ‘English’ as ‘top publications’).

7. Operationalisering van het model, http://www.vlir.be/02thema/04onderzoeksbeleid/ Ranking/Vlir_update_Ranking_041206.pdf last consulted on 14 June 2008.

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6

The Dutch report ‘Towards performance indicators for research in legal science’

The report ‘Towards performance indicators for research in juridical science’8, which was completed in March 2007, followed the report ‘Passing judgement on law’ of 2005 9. Both reports were produced on the initiative of the consultation body for disciplinary matters of the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (the VSNU). The final aim is to establish criteria for evaluating legal research. And clearly, the two Dutch reports often draw their inspiration from the work carried out by the Vl.I.R. The March 2007 Dutch document seeks to define evaluation criteria that can be applied to the specific and particular nature of legal science : it is largely a matter of explicitating on the basis of performance indicators criteria of prime quality research that are already implicitly being used in the academic community of legal experts. Nevertheless, many observers have insisted on the limitations of such indicators for juridical research, and as corollary on the prominent role that peer review must play as the prime and best method of evaluation. As far as the ranking of journals is concerned, the Dutch report does not opt for the Vl.I.R model in which the A, B, or C score is based on scrutiny of the content by a committee of peers. The Dutch report is extremely cautious and points to the many drawbacks and limitations of a system of classification including the fact that a journal’s ranking system reflects the mean quality of the journal and says nothing about the article itself. Consequently, the Dutch report relinquishes the A, B, or C ranking system and opts for the division into two categories instead : A-journals that meet particular criteria and will therefore be considered ‘scientific journals’, and other journals. There are three conditions to be met by A-journals : the journal mainly addresses a scientific forum and always strives to be original, far-reaching and thorough ; submitted articles are checked by members of the editorial board against a pre-existing format in which minimum criteria for an article have been determined; editorial boards mainly include recognised experts in the field and – should there be a lack of experts – peer reviewers.

8. Naar prestatie-indicatoren voor rechtswetenschappelijk onderzoek. Rapport van de Commissie Prestatie-indicatoren en ranking, ingesteld door het Disciplineoverlegorgaan Rechtsgeleerdheid van de VSNU, Maart 2007, 47 p. http://www.vsnu.nl/web/show/id=51717/langid=43, last consulted 14 June 2008. 9. Oordelen over rechten, Rapport van de Commissie Voorbereiding Onderzoeksbeoordeling Rechten, oktober 2005, 77 p, http://www.vsnu.nl/web/show/id=51717/langid=43, last consulted 14 June 2008.

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Following the proposal, the list of A-journals will be drawn up in cooperation with the editorial boards of the journals themselves and in accordance with a particular procedure in which the journals will be required to say whether they meet the pre-set conditions. The Dutch approach is different from the Vl.I.R model in as much as it uses much broader categories and is based on the active involvement of editorial boards throughout the process. As a result, there may be far less commotion and controversy, and it is quite possible that a great many A-journals will appear that will cover every sub-speciality. On the other hand, there is the question whether such an approach will be sufficiently discriminating and whether it will have enough credibility in other disciplines where there is a scarcity of A-journals. A similar system could be adopted for books, which could be regarded as scientific provided they are included as part of a series with a permanent editorial board, or provided they have previously been submitted to an independent peer review. What is striking is the fact that the Dutch model shows no concern for preserving the anonymity of the peer review, and that articles can be evaluated by expert editorial boards. This is certainly in line with current editing practices in the legal field. The Dutch report also recommends that publications that appear in journals published in Flanders should take into account work carried out by the Vl.I.R – which is a problem since the Vl.I.R.initiative has been aborted.

What now ? The Vl.I.R model was one that could meet the new – possibly unsavoury, but nevertheless very real – challenges of a changing academic and scientific world, and one that could do so without losing face, while keeping an eye on the link between the quality of the manuscript and its evaluation. More so even, it represented a transparent response to the challenge of putting legal science on the academic maps alongside other disciplines. Seen from this angle it was a strong and courageous initiative that corresponded to a real and concrete need. Obviously, there was also room for improvement, which is why it was designed as a pilot scheme that was first meant to be tried out before it could be implemented. The Dutch model sets out to achieve the same aims, but using other means and techniques. The legal experts concerned will – at least at first – probably find it less controversial, but it will be much less convincing for our colleagues in other scientific disciplines, because it is far less selective. If, say, half the current legal journals become ‘A-journals’, then the comparability – both internally and externally – of legal-scientific research 78

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will remain small. And wasn’t that precisely the problem that had to be solved ? How can I convince researchers from other disciplines that legal researchers are also engaged in serious scientific work, even though the work may be carried out in a very different way ?

About the author Serge Gutwirth is full professor of human rights, legal theory, comparative law and legal research at the Faculty of Law and Criminology of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), where he studied law, criminology and also obtained a post-graduate degree in technology and science studies. He also holds a part-time position of lecturer at the Faculty of law of the Erasmus University Rotterdam where he teaches philosophy of law. Since October 2003 Gutwirth is holder of a research fellowship in the framework of the VUB-Research contingent for his project ‘Sciences and the democratic constitutional state : a mutual transformation process’. Gutwirth founded and still chairs the VUB-Research group Law Science Technology & Society (LSTS, www.vub.ac.be/LSTS). He publishes widely in Dutch French and English and participates (inter)national and interdisciplinary research projects (a.o. FP6, FP7). Gutwirth has been (co)promoter of 8 publicly defended PhD’s and he has often been invited to be an external member of PhD-juries in other universities in Belgium and abroad. He is a member of several editorial boards of scientific journals.

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Ethical challenges in the inclusion of the poor in the financial sector Marek Hudon Assistant Professor, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Université Libre de Bruxelles

The increasing ‘monetarization’ of the society and the globalization of the financial markets continuously produce both inclusion and exclusion. While major firms and multinationals can benefit from the capital flows and see their profit increasing, the smallest ones lack access to these financial products. Hence, exclusion from the financial sector is a common situation for many poor in the South or in the North. Microfinance has emerged as an efficient tool against financial exclusion. Today, it is a widely-known practice and a recognized instrument in development policies or in social policies in the North. The sector has spectacularly developed during the last ten years and is now offering financial services to many citizens who were previously excluded from the traditional banking institutions. According to figures from the Microcredit Summit, by December 31st, 2006, microfinance institutions had reached 133 millions clients in the South, 92 millions of whom were among the poorest 1 when they took their first loan (Daley-Harris, 2007). Nevertheless, at the bottom of the pyramid, many citizens still cannot access the formal credit markets. It is estimated that more than two billion people lack access to credit, except from the very expensive informal lenders. After the United Nations’ 2005 Year of Microcredit, the recent awarding of the Peace Nobel Prize to M. Yunus and the Grameen Bank ‘for their efforts to create economic and social development from below’, has further accentuated the enormous hopes put in the sector. Microfinance institutions often face a double mission, also called their double bottom line, of social and financial objectives. This chapter will address a few ethical issues related to the development of the microfinance sector. We will first present two approaches of the credit transaction, the bargaining and the moral ones. We will then focus on the role of credit in the socio-economic framework. Third, we will discuss the

1. “The Microcredit Summit Campaign defines ‘poorest’ as those who are in the bottom half of those living below their nation’s poverty line, or any of the nearly 1 billion people who live on less than US$1 a dayadjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP), when they started with a program” (Daley-Harris, 2007).

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level of interest rates for institutions offering credit to the poor. Finally, a conclusion is drawn based on these findings.

Is access to credit a moral claim ? The harms caused by financial exclusion, in term of access or price of financial services, have long been admitted by all actors. The problem of the low access to credit, as to any financial service, opposes a bargaining and a moral approach. We will present these two approaches of the same loan transaction in this section. These approaches pin down the inherent conflict between the individual rights (property rights and personal liberties) of the lender with the social or the international regulation (e.g. human rights declaration or some articles of the economic and social rights covenant) related to the socio-economic situation of the borrower. On one hand, based on freedom rights 2, one can analyze the low access to credit as the result of an impossible match between what the demand side of credit can offer and what the supply side of credit would require. Any moral and ethical obligation for the lender or the society to offer financial services to the citizens would be dismissed. The loan transaction is thus the result of an agreement that can easily be decomposed in a two-step transaction, the first one being the agreement of the borrower with the lender conditions, the second one being the acceptation of the profile of the borrower by the lender. The credit disbursement is thus the result of a double bargain. In a perfectly competitive market, the bargain would be done by the market, from the interaction between the supply and demand of credit. In imperfect markets, the agreement is much more cumbersome since the client may even not receive any offer since the lender does not want to lend to this clientele. Alternatively, the offer would be at conditions that one of the two parties is not able to accept or would automatically refuse. The demand does not match the supply. The only price at which the institution would accept to enter the transaction would be too high for the clients. In both cases, the result is striking: the potential borrower is excluded from the traditional financial sector. It is therefore a bargaining problem, since the private or sometimes public institutions do not have a sufficient interest, or sufficient information, to provide services to these populations.

2. For instance, the protection of private property or even the freedom to dispose of one’s natural wealth and resources. See International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 1.

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Alternatively, proponents of this approach may pinpoint the lack of information to explain the bargaining problem. Microfinance markets would be imperfect (partly) because of the bad quality of information on these institutions. The recent success of microfinance among international investors would be a sign that, while MFIs are well managed, they represent a fruitful investment. Regulators should therefore facilitate the transparency of the MFIs financial accounts and trigger the disclosure of the information so that the suppliers can better serve this segment of the market. According to this approach, public policy should principally aim at facilitating the functioning of the market rather than intervening on these. On the other hand, one can argue for a moral standing of the financial market because of its underling social impact. Similarly, the role of last resort played by the central banks and governments during the financial crises or the huge public investments that are constantly done to facilitate the development of the financial markets also justify some moral evaluations. Since the financial market is developed by human interactions and is thus a social construct, any social consequence is potentially a moral conception. The political and socio-economic effects of the absence of credit access may trigger a moral obligation to offer a wider access to the benefits that the financial market can offer. A more conservative defence of morality in imperfect markets argues for a special moral approach for imperfect markets because of the poverty of the clientele. It is not the global functioning of the markets that is questioned but their side effects when they are not competitive. Similarly to Walzer (1983)’s spheres of justice, imperfect markets would require different principles than perfect or competitive markets and thus some specific regulations. A global and unique moral approach of the financial market is then implicitly rejected to establish two spheres of morality, the perfect and the imperfect markets. Gauthier’s work on moral by agreements is a good example of a theory of emergence of morality in imperfect markets, even if the moral dilemmas in the imperfect markets should also be solved through bargaining procedures3. The difference of bargaining powers entails reprehensible consequences. In both cases, the moral problem of the access to credit is highlighted4. It is a moral issue because of the terrible socioeconomic consequences and the lack of opportunities that these additional and cheaper funds would create. Compared to the bargaining approach,

3. Gauthier (1986) argues that the perfect market is a morally free zone, a zone in which the constraints of morality would have no place. Morality would arise from market failures. 4. Habermas (1996) makes a distinction between moral, ethical and bargaining issues. Examples of moral issues are the social or tax policies or the distribution of social wealth and life opportunities.

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proponents of this approach are likely to broaden the roles of donors or regulators. This distinction between the two approaches is instrumental to pinpoint the basic differences of analysis of the imperfect markets. If one only supports the bargaining aspect of credit, ethical justifications to a new right to credit are not likely to be plausible. A bargaining approach considers that credit will only be given if there is a voluntary interest to enter the transaction from both the borrower and the lender. If no public institution is created to provide these services or no subsidy granted to the private institutions, any credit right would automatically force a positive outcome of the bargaining or a positive outcome of one of the multiple bargains of the citizen with the financial institutions in the market. It would oblige the institutions to accept the citizens’ conditions at one point, what would undeniably constrain or distort the bargaining process. The transaction will not be fully voluntary given. A classic libertarian, such as Nozick, would oppose these arguments, and argue that how the individuals acquire their holdings would distort the process or the market5 and violate the principle of transfer. Any moral view on the credit transaction, related to redistributive policies, would be misleading and illegitimate. Nonetheless, in the light of what the poor borrowers could get from the transaction, the moral approach would argue that the society should act so that the financial institution and all citizens reach an agreement on the access to financial services. Incentives, legal duties or (moral) obligations should then be established to reach this goal6. A right to credit is one instrument to accomplish this common good, next to more specific regulations such as the Indian social banking program imposing to open branches in more difficult areas7. We will see later that, on the one hand, 5. The distortion would be small for the traditional financial sector since few financial institutions are offering financial services to this clientele. Nevertheless, if one considers all institutions or individuals offering financial services, such as the cooperatives or informal lenders, the distortion could be significant. 6. A discussion in 2001 at the Economic and Social Council of the UN reflected the opposition between the two approaches and what they entail. The Independent Expert of the UN, supported by some countries, argued that economic, social and cultural rights are entitlements that require correlated legal duties and obligations, similarly to what we called a moral approach. Five other countries, however, oppose that they would require duties and obligations, a bargaining approach. They argued that ‘that States have the primary responsibility for the creation of national conditions favourable to development. The workings of the free market, supported by clear property rights and the rule of law, have proved worldwide to be the best and fastest way to achieve these development goals” (United Nations, 2001). 7. The social banking program imposed a 1:4 branch license policy requiring banks to open four branches in rural unbanked locations for every branch opened in an already banked (typically urban) location, what significantly reduced poverty in rural areas (Burgess and Pande, 2005).

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proponents of a moral approach to credit would not automatically agree with the regulation of access to credit or, more precisely the creation of right to credit. On the other hand, proponents of a right to credit will undeniably someway base their analysis on a moral rather than (only) bargaining obligation.

Should we then regulate the access to credit 8 ? Following a moral perspective, the question thus remains on what the moral obligations imply in terms of regulations. To develop a moral perspective on the access to financial services, one should confront the contested interests and their underlying arguments 9. Before elaborating a new right, we should first discuss the contested interests and value orientations within our agreed system of rights. It could well be that a set of rights or the juxtaposition of existing rights sufficiently respond to the interests at stake in the moral issue. Yunus argues that credit should become a human right. He considers that self-employment and the liberty to unleash one’s own potential is a fundamental human right. There is indeed a wide consensus that access to cheaper credit than that provided by informal lenders is central for many small entrepreneurs. Along with the difficulty of efficiently managing these institutions, there is a new debate to determine the priority, in terms of public policy, and the universality that should be given to credit vis-à-vis other elements such as education or health. Economic and social rights have long been discussed 10 and have even been established in an international covenant, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1966. Nevertheless, even if access to credit and savings schemes is sometimes quoted as a an instrumental measure to ensure some rights 11, no direct reference to the access to the financial market is done in the International 8. This section draws on Hudon, M. (2009), Should Access to Credit be a Right?, Journal of Business Ethics, 84, pp. 17-28. 9. Habermas’ theory of ethical discourses provides a useful framework for ethical and moral issues. In Norms and Values, Habermas explains that “moral issues call for discourses that submit the contested interests and value orientations to a universalist test within the framework set by a system of rights as it has been constitutionally interpreted and elaborated” (Habermas, 1996, p. 165). 10. See, for instance, Sen (2002), Eide (1995) or Alston (1992). 11. In 1997, the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities (currently renamed Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights) urged “governments to take increased measures to ensure that the economic and social rights of women were being fully promoted and implemented through their equal access to economic resources, including land, property rights and credit and savings schemes”.

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Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. If access to credit can accomplish all the hopes that have been put in microfinance, and especially if it leads to eliminating poverty as argued by Muhammad Yunus, there is an undeniable rationale to rapidly set up a universal human right to credit. Use of credit is a core component of the economic framework in high-income countries but is also instrumental for economic development in low-income countries. Moreover, financial development disproportionately helps the poor, since their incomes grow faster than average per capita GDP growth (Beck et al., 2006). There is therefore an underlying idea of social justice that has also been recognized outside the microfinance sector. Political philosophers or economists such as A. Sen (1999, p. 39) or T. Pogge put (micro)credit in the list of projects that “augment the poor capacities to fend for themselves” (Pogge, 2002, p.9) and play a role in the eradication of poverty. In short, financial exclusion is very likely to exacerbate unfairness in the distribution of opportunities or the running of the political process. Even if these arguments support the establishment of a right to credit, a few counter-arguments should however warn us to take the positive effect of credit as granted. Contrary to most rights, a right to credit would not only imply the granting of a good or a service that would be unilaterally awarded to all citizens. Rather, it would involve a bilateral relationship through a repayment process that can be very costly for the borrower. Furthermore, the question of the opposability of the right, the counterpart to which they could claim their right, is a major challenge. A right would thus automatically impose some credit transactions for these private institutions that are not likely to be willing to collaborate, or the creation of new public institutions. In a fully competitive credit market, the borrower may easily change institutions and select the one offering the best offer. In imperfect markets, the borrowers lack opportunity. Borrowers taking loans in these credit markets are also likely to rapidly need the product, which emphasizes the unequal bargaining powers. There is thus also an inequality in how much both parties need the transaction. These three elements, the extreme outcome, the weak agency and the inequality in market relations are the three characteristics of what Ravi Kanbur (2004, pp. 43-52) calls ‘obnoxious’ markets. Clearly, the imperfect credit markets are not always scoring the maximum on these three points but they contain some of these characteristics, what attest that they are controversial. The process made to microfinance is sometimes political. Microcredit markets have been depicted as a dangerous or usurious activity by some local authorities, such as in Uganda or in the South-Indian state AndhraPradesh during the summer 2006. The success of many credit institutions 86

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would not only come from the huge demand but from heavy loan recovery practices. Responses from field actors have ranged from a simple denial of the practices or the interest rates, to the adoption of a new ethical code. The new « Voluntary Mutual code of Conduct » adopted in April 2006 in SouthIndia after the debates on the microfinance conducts can be understood due to the fear of social movement where borrowers would refuse to repay after the publication of articles arguing that microfinance institutions are exploiting their clients (Fouillet, 2006). These protests are particularly perilous for institutions that do not ask for collaterals. In Andhra-Pradesh, for instance, some clients started to complain about the pricing and repayment policy of the institutions. MFIs are thus subject to the risk of default of borrowers and particularly to the domino effect. The domino effect occurs when at least one member of a credit group defaults due to the defaults of other members (Godquin, 2004). The high degree of covariant income is a major risk of domino effect in microfinance, primarily in agrarian societies. The limit between very expensive credits such as the one charged by microfinance institutions and usury can be very thin. Some microfinance institutions charge very high interest rates, as high as 80% to 100%. While these are considered as microfinance institutions in the financial sector, other actors would consider them as loan sharks. In some regions of Thailand, Siamwalla et al. (1990) found that typical informal lenders charge annualized rates of 60%. The border is very small between the “laudable” activity of providing services to financially excluded citizens, microcredit, and the informal moneylenders who are commonly viewed as ‘extorting money’ from very poor borrowers. For instance, Nobel-Prize Laureate M. Yunus considers that microfinance institutions charging higher rates than the costs of funds plus a 15% margin should be considered as imitating the money-lending activity (RESULTS, 2006). Usury is widely criticized in the ethical literature. For instance, Sen (1991, p. 29) states that “the activity of a usurer in charging high interest rates might appear as a violation of the obligation to other human beings in a human way”. There is clearly no consensus on the border between microfinance and usury, this border even varies within regions12 and historically. Furthermore, one should not forget that the charging of high interest rate that microfinance now has standardized was long considered as unethical. Before the emergence of microfinance in the 70s, the most common approach was that the poor should have low, but also very subsidized interest rates. The question of access to credit is related to the role of capital in development. There is a vast literature on the role of capital in the 12. Levels of interest rates that would currently be considered as very high or unacceptable in India or Bangladesh, for instance, are now someway common in Mexico.

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development process. The celebration of the boom in capital flows in the first half of the 1990s has been replaced in recent years by skepticism (Mishra et al., 2001). As Mishra et al. (2001) argue, it is difficult to say unequivocally that private capital flows drive growth. Domestic growth may, for instance, drives capital flows. Private capital may increase either domestic consumption or investment, or it may mainly raise the country's foreign exchange reserves. Surprisingly and on a more macro perspective, Immanuel Kant already warned against the use of credit. He advised the countries that credit could be “as an opposing machine in the antagonism of powers” (Kant, 1795). In his Perpetual Peace : A Philosophical Sketch, the fourth step that should be taken immediately to get perpetual peace is that national debts shall not be contracted with a view to the external friction of states. Moreover, credit concrete impact, which would justify the right to credit, not only depends on the affordability of the credit but also on some of the features of the loan methodology. Only a minority of loans are either fully or significantly controlled by women, where significant control does not include control over marketing, and may thus imply little control over the income generated13. Similarly, decision-making process shifts in favor of the woman when financial services are combined with social group intermediation14. Impact in term of empowerment may thus depend on special features making sure that women keep the control of their loan. A final criticism is that a right to credit could be judged as a Western-based view of the society and therefore not be as consensual as other (human) rights. Nevertheless, this lack of total compromise does not stop automatically the establishment of a right. Theoretically and if credit would still be judged as a central good, its quality of human right could also be established as a concern above the current minimalist consensus. This is what Cohen (2004) names ‘justificatory minimalism’, a conception of global justice for an ethically pluralistic world that is autonomously established from the philosophical or religious theories. It is not because a practice is currently not consensual that it should be banned from the potential list of human rights. This justificatory minimalism could challenge some conservative beliefs. Even if most observers admit that access to credit at a very high price is the cheapest source of funds for many borrowers, it does not free micro-lending from all ethical questions. The ‘expensive second-best opportunities’ argument can, for instance, be challenged. Let’s take the extreme example of child prostitution or child labor in very poor families. Even if no individual

13. See Goetz and Sen Gupta (1996) and Holvoet (2004). 14. See Holvoet (2004).

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would ever favor these activities, in extreme cases, some parents estimate that there is no other alternative to survive for the children. Nevertheless, does this lack of alternative make it acceptable or fair ? Any regulation of access to credit should thus encompass the price of the financial service.

Fair price in microcredit Observers of the sector regularly challenge the very high interest rates charged by some institutions focusing on poor clients. Most practitioners argue for high interest rates. The rationale is that interest rates charged on microcredits are the major source of income for MFIs and should therefore be set high enough to cover operational costs. If MFIs are not able to cover their costs, they would rely on external assistance and stay dependent on donors or philanthropists’ funds. Nevertheless, the levels of interest rates strongly vary within regions, ranging from 20 – 30% by many MFIs in Bangladesh or India to a minimum level of 50% (until 100%) in Mexico, for instance. Some regulators, donors or NGOs have constantly challenged this policy as being unfair to the poor. Since the re-emergence of microfinance in the 70s, these serious critics have put in doubt the ethical aspect of microlending and the fairness of the interest rate policy. If radically followed, this rationale could lead to ban microcredit markets or closing the institutions because of their potential danger, such as in South-India. This radical judgment could however be counter-productive since, in many areas, it is likely to leave the even more expensive informal lenders as the sole source of financial services. The debate on microfinance services pricing policy is thus not only about ethics. It is also pragmatically crucial since each of the parties will always be at risk for the success of the transaction by the actions of the other one. Cull et al. (2006) found that raising interest rates above a certain level (60% in their estimate) is associated with lower returns for microfinance individuallenders. Many reasons can be suggested to comment this figure. The feeling of fairness, even if irrational, can play a major role in such a transaction. In the case of lending, if the client does not consider the interest rate policy fair, he or she could well choose not to repay. This is particularly relevant in microfinance programs where, as we have seen, no collateral is required, which obviously puts the lender at extra risk. Moreover, the possibility of enforcing penalties for defaults is often very limited. The lack of classic collateral or the application of pressure may lead in some extreme cases to violent behavior. Finally, if fixed too high, interest rates might attract only very risky borrowers. Institutions would then face an adverse selection. Innovations such as the use of social capital in group-lending developed in 89

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Bangladesh or progressive loan 15 practices, try to reduce the risk to the lender. However, ultimately, any such transactions must still mostly rely on mutual trust among the partners. Next to the moral issues at stake, these management dimensions also affect the behavior of the MFIs. The institutions are thus likely to act as a sociallyresponsible actor, whether because of their own social conviction, for instance for a NGO, or under stress from its stakeholders, for a commercially-oriented MFI. In a cooperative structure where the clients are also the shareholders, the process is even more complicated, especially when the cooperatives also take deposits. Lastly, the environment in which the institution operates is particularly important. In some cases, the rest of the society may consider very high interest rates as unethical while some clients would just value the credit access. The same multiplicity of answers arises when one tries to determine who should be involved to determine what a fair price such as a wage, should be. As we will see, one classic response to the critics on the high interest rates is that it still offers additional opportunities because of the exorbitant costs of the other opportunities. By banning an obnoxious market, an even more obnoxious market, the usurers and moneylenders’ one, is fostered if no extra alternative is offered. Taken to another extreme, this rationale is likely to judge most interest rates in non-competitive markets as fair. Ironically, many microfinance institutions have spread in countries where debates on usury were still ongoing (such as the Islamic countries), sometimes eluding the interest debates with the application of fees that are not subject to religious or cultural laws. Imagine, for instance, a new institution working in an urban area currently un-served by the ‘traditional’ financial actors. Only moneylenders, charging 30% per month, would provide credit to the poor in this area. If the institution decides to charge a monthly interest rate of 25%, even if it received subsidies to start its activities or if it can access cheap commercial funds outside the region, the interest rate would not be morally questionable. These two extreme examples clearly highlight the challenges we face while addressing prices in areas without competition. In microfinance as in other ethical debates on interest rates, the traditional response to the moral argument was that even if they are proportionally very unequally distributed, interest payments have a fairly moderate effect on the inequality of income distribution because of their absolute low level of share

15. Progressive loans are dynamic incentives used to secure higher repayment rates. In this methodology, borrowers can “expect a stream of increasing larger loans”. See Morduch, J., (1999), The Microfinance Promise, Journal of Economic Literature, 37, 4, p. 1583. Hulme, D. and P. Mosley (1996), Finance against Poverty, Volume 1, Routlege Publications : London.

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in income generated. The effect of the unequal distribution would then be unimportant 16. The assumptions behind this line of arguments, related to the diminishing marginal return to capital, can however be criticized. The very concept of diminishing marginal return to capital suggests that enterprises with little capital should be able to earn a higher return on their investments than larger, better capitalized enterprises. The poorest entrepreneurs should thus be able to afford to pay higher interests, and money would then flow from rich depositors to poor lenders 17. The Nobel-winning economist Robert Lucas has calculated the difference in return based on the marginal return of capital and found that under the classical assumptions, the poor Indian borrowers should be willing to pay fifty to eighty times as much for capital as borrowers in the United States. In poor areas, the weight of interest rate in total income is certainly still small for many poor entrepreneurs active in very productive sectors, even if it may not be dismissed as negligible. As argued by many donors or microfinance institutions, poor borrowers have proven that they can easily repay from their income-generating activities. Interest rate levels should not be problematic because the high turn-over of the activities of the poor clients enables them to pay high interest rates 18. Even at the bottom of the income pyramid, very poor borrowers active in petty trade or selling goods in small markets in developing countries repay rapidly thanks to the very high margins and turn-over of their incomegenerating activity. In short, the borrowers targeted by microfinance activities should be insensitive and not responsive to price changes. There is however very few broad evidence on the returns and the weight of the interest rate in the poor’ profit and loss. For instance, one of the most quoted surveys (Rosenberg, 2002), done by Castello et al. (1991), is based on the detailed study of nine microentrepreneurs. Very few studies exist on the part of the interest rate costs on the revenues. A case study of Moroccan micro-entrepreneurs however suggests that for some activities, such as the farmers, interest rates can represent until 45% of total benefits (PlaNet Finance, 2006). Many of the world’s poorest people, however, are still active in agriculture or other activities with much lower productivity and have at best a monopolistic source of funding (if not only by moneylenders).

16. Conard (1959), pp. 99-101. 17. Armendariz de Aghion, B. and J. Morduch (2005), The Economics of Microfinance, MIT Press, Cambridge. 18. Helms, B., Reille, X. (2004), Interest rates ceilings and microfinance: The story so far, CGAP Occasional Paper, 9, CGAP, The World Bank Group.

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A few methods to assess the fairness of interest rates of microcredits are regularly presented in the microfinance sector 19. The first one is a deontological one. Islamic banking prohibiting interest rates, the maximum interest rate fixed in usury laws or in Yunus fair interest rate proposal can be related to this approach. It has a long historical background since Aristotle already denounced interest as the unnatural fruit of a barren parent. Similarly, the Council of Nice condemned interest in 325 AD, on the basis of the Old Testament’s prohibition of interest among fellow Jews. Many countries still put some usury laws, prohibiting interest rates or limiting their maximum level, to protect their citizens against ‘extortive’ interest rates. These laws have often been established based on these religious backgrounds but not always. Usury laws are very used in developed and developing countries. Helms and Reille (2004) recently listed about forty developing and transitional countries that have introduced regulations about interest rate ceilings of some kind. Moreover, the Marxist and Keynesian interpretations of interest rates also refer to the intrinsically unjust or potentially harmful interest rates gained by the lenders. The second approach will include some internal or environmental indicators to fix the fair interest rate. Similarly to the first one, it has the advantage to come up with a concrete number. It uses a procedural approach, similar to the one suggested on fair wage. A parallel with a fair wage concept, presented for instance by Pull (2006), may be helpful since it is much more present in both the ethics and the economics literature. Pull (2006) argues that fair wages should be established based on the salaries of individuals with similar characteristics. Contrary to the relative low presence of definition of fair interest rate in the literature, the fair wage has been regularly debated. For instance, in 1885, Belgium already issued fair wage clauses, based on the presumed natural justice of a system of free private enterprise (Johnson, 1938, p. 176). Fair wages for public contracts were to be equal to those paid by reputable employers in the private sector. Similar to fair interest, many interpretations of fair wage have been designed. For Akerlof and Yellen (1990), the fair wage is a perception held by the average worker, presumably on the basis of what has gone on in the past. Pull’s work is maybe the most interesting for interest rates. Pull (2006) argues that worker fairness conceptions might be similar to what the result of a co-operative game would be. Fairness conceptions are influenced by what a fair arbitrator would have suggested. The fair wage then becomes a function of the outside options of workers, employer commitment to the contractual relations, employment level, returns on investment and the sensitivity of returns with respect to wages. Similarly to the fair wage 19. The next paragraph draws on Hudon (2007), Fair interest rate when lending to the poor, Ethics and Economics, 5, 1, pp. 1-8.

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proposal, this approach of interest rates is thus based on a comparison of interest rate levels between individual borrowers. Credit scoring20 approaches could be used to fix the fair interest rate. One could well imagine that an institution with sufficient information on its members and their repayment rate proposes loans with interest rates related to the clients’ characteristics and scoring. This definition of justice therefore makes justice equivalent to a lack of discrimination. One constraint is that in order to compare the interest rates, the institution would need sufficient comparable examples. It would be thus not be applicable to the smallest institutions or the regions with few MFIs. A more stringent criticism concerns the criteria used for the scoring. Some of these indicators may well conflict with our conception of justice. One may well imagine, for instance, that women, often poorer and more sensitive to external shocks than men, would invariably have to pay more for their microcredit. The third widely used method uses consequentialist arguments to determine the fairness of microfinance interest rates. Instead of judging the fairness with deontological arguments or comparing with other clients, the individual context of the transaction is taken into account to justify the appraisal. One should therefore assess the client’s costs in the absence of the lending institution. Many MFIs charge very high interest rates according to European standards but these are still much lower than interest rates that the microentrepreneurs previously borrowed at. The criterion then goes as follows : an interest rate is deemed to be fair if all previous and second best opportunities are much more expensive. For instance, Aleem (1990) reports an interest differential between formal and informal lenders of more than 50 percentage points. This approach is certainly more pragmatic than the former one. Nevertheless, it someway assumes that the previous or second best opportunities should be accepted as fair. It would, for instance, accept the informal lenders’ interest rates or the monopolistic rates as point of comparison. If no formal financial institution is active in the area or if all institutions charge very high interest rates in a quasi-monopolistic situation or because of their inefficiency, exorbitant interest rates will be fair even if it only leaves a small profit margin to the borrower. The fourth method to the ethical dimension of microcredit rates presents the high repayment rates of the MFIs and the constant demand of microcredits as an indicator of fairness. These two elements would reflect the affordability of the loans and thus their fairness. This approach focuses on the demand 20. Before accepting a new client or giving an additional loan, financial institutions use credit scoring to assess the probability of their future clients’ repayment. As defined by Schreiner (2004, p. 64), “scoring is the use of the knowledge of the performance and characteristics of past loans to predict the performance of future loans”.

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for credit as a proxy of fairness. This could be related to a traditional emphasis on the access to credit rather than the price. Similar arguments are used in the trade debate. Opponents of the inclusion of fairness considerations in trade negotiations often argue that the agreements are voluntary. Consequently, all agreements that developing countries think would make them worse off will be refused (Stiglitz and Charlton, 2006). As in our criticism of the second approach, if he does not have alternatives, the client may well decide to retake a loan even if the price is exorbitant. However, as in the trade case, the distribution of the benefits may well be unequal. The poor may simply lack the bargaining power to influence the price or approach another lender. These four different approaches to fair interest rates show that there is a clear trade-off between the interests of financial institutions and those of the clients. We have seen that, if these interpretations are often rightly intended, most of them face strong challenges in their application. The three last ones one way or another assume that the institutions and the borrowers have comparable bargaining powers or that the difference of bargaining power is not relevant enough. This assumption is maybe plausible in many countries but remains highly unrealistic for the majority of borrowers in the world.

Conclusion Microfinance has emerged in numerous countries. In many cases, its development has exceeded all expectations. Nevertheless, ethical dimensions of the broadening of financial access are now central for its public acceptability. Many of the ethical conclusions drawn for microfinance in the South can in fact be applied in the North. At times of global financial crises or criticism among the civil society on unfair salaries in many companies, the microfinance sector is certainly instrumental to pinpoint the strong challenges that the globalized financial sector currently face. An ethical appraisal of financial services is today important for a ‘social sustainability’ of its activities. If credit activities end up being judged as an unfair mechanism by observers, social investors, donors or even by the borrowers, the consequences may be extremely harmful for the whole society. While credit, as many financial products, is central in our society, overexpectation of its potential can be extremely harmful. Additional research and evidences is certainly needed to better understand the effects of the inclusion of all citizens in our financial system. While financial exclusion is detrimental for the poor in the North or the South, inclusion at any price may become as dangerous.

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Bibliography ALEEM, I. (1990). Imperfect information, screening and the costs of informal lending: a study of rural credit markets in Pakistan, The World Bank Economic Review, 4, p. 329– 349. ALSTON, P. (1992). The United Nations and Human Rights: A Critical Appraisal, Oxford, Clarendon Press. AKERLOF, G.& J. YELLEN (1990). The Fair Wage-Effort Hypothesis and Unemployment, Quartely Journal of Economics,105, p. 255-283. ARMENDARIZ DE AGHION, B. & J. MORDUCH (2005). The Economics of Microfinance, MIT Press, Cambridge. BECK, T., DEMIRGUC-KUNT, A. & M. S. MARTINEZ PERIA (2006). Reaching Out: Access to and use of banking services across countries, Policy Research Working Paper Series, 3754, World Bank, Washington D.C. BURGESS, R. & R. PANDE (2005). Do Rural Banks Matter? Evidence from the Indian Social Banking Experiment, American Economic Review, 95, 3, p. 780-795. COHEN, J. (2004). Minimalism About Human Rights: The Most We Can Hope For?, Journal of Political Philosophy, 12, 2, p. 190-213. CONARD, J. (1959). An Introduction to the Theory of Interest, University of California Press, Los Angeles. CULL, R., DEMIRGÜÇ-KUNT, A. & J. MORDUCH (2006). Financial Performance and Outreach : A Global Analysis of Leading Microbanks, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, 3827. DALEY-HARRIS, S. (2007). State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2007, Microcredit Summit Campaign, Washington D.C. EIDE, A., H. BERGESEN & P. RUDOLFSON GOYER (1995). Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Textbook, Dordrecht, London. FOUILLET, C. (2006). La Microfinance serait-elle devenue folle? Crise en Andhra Pradesh (Inde), BIM, 26 April 2006. GAUTHIER, D. (1986). Morals by Agreement, Oxford University Press, Oxford. GODQUIN, M. (2004). Microfinance repayment performance in Bangladesh : How to improve the allocation loans by MFIs?, World Development, 32, 11, p. 1909-1926. GOETZ, A. & R. SEN GUPTA (1996). Who Takes the Credit? Gender and Power in Rural Credit Programmes in Bangladesh, World Development, 27, 1, p. 45-63. HABERMAS, J. (1996). Between Facts and Norms, Polity, Cambridge. HELMS, B., REILLE, X. (2004). Interest rates ceilings and microfinance: The story so far, CGAP Occasional Paper, 9, CGAP, The World Bank Group. HOLVOET (2004). The Impact of Microfinance on Decision-Making Agency: Evidence from South India, Development and Change, 35, 5, p. 937–962. HUDON, M. (2007). Fair interest rate when lending to the poor, Ethics and Economics, 5, 1, p. 1-8. HUDON, M. (forthcoming). Should Access to Credit be a Right?, Journal of Business Ethics. HULME, D and P. MOSLEY (1996). Finance Against Poverty, Routledge, London. JOHNSON, E. (1938). Just Price in an Unjust World, International Journal of Ethics, 48, 2, p. 165 -181. KANBUR, R. (2004). "On Obnoxious Markets" in Globalization, Culture and the Limits of the Market: Essays in Economics and Philosophy, Cullenberg, S. and P. Pattanaik (editors), Oxford University Press, Oxford. KANT, I. (1795). Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch, Hackett Publishing Company.

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MORDUCH, J. (1999a). The Microfinance Promise, Journal of Economic Literature, 37, p. 1569-1614. POGGE, T. (2002). World Poverty and Human Rights: Cosmopolitan Responsibilities and Reforms, Polity Press, Cambridge. PULL, K. (2006). What is a Fair Wage? A Model of As-if Cooperation, Working Paper, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen. RESULTS (2006). A Conversation with Muhammad Yunus, November 14, 2006 (http:// www.results.org/website/article.asp?id=2476). SCHREINER, M. (2004). Benefits and Pitfalls of Statistical Credit Scoring for. Microfinance, Savings and Development, Vol. 28, No. 1, p. 63–86. SEN, A. (1991). Money and Value: On the Ethics and Economics of Finance, Edizioni Dell’Elefant, Roma. SEN, A. (1999). Development as Freedom, Oxford University Press. SEN, A. (2002). Open and Closed Impartiality, Journal of Philosophy, 99, p. 445-469. SIAMWALLA, A. PINTHONG, C., POAPONGSAKORN, N., SATSANGUAN, P., NETTAYARAK, P. MINGMANEENAKIN, W. & Y. TUBPUN (1990). The Thai Rural Credit System : Public Stiglitz, J. & A. Charlton (2006). Fair Trade for All, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Subsidies, Private Information, and Segmented Markets, World Bank Economic Review, 4, 3, p. 271-295. United Nations (2001). Report of the Open-Ended Working Group on the Right to Development, Economic and Social Council Reports, 20 March 2001. WALZER, M. (1983). Spheres of Justice. A Defense of Pluralism and Equality, Basic Books, New York.

About the author Marek Hudon holds a Ph.D. in Economics and Management Sciences and a Master in Philosophy. He was FNRS Research Fellow at the Solvay Business School (ULB) in the field of microfinance and has conducted research in India, Morocco and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is also the academic coordinator of the European Microfinance Programme (EMP) and co-director of the Centre for European Research in Microfinance (CERMi). In 2006, Prof. Hudon was a visiting fellow at Harvard University where he worked on ethical issues in microfinance under the supervision of Professor Amartya Sen. Current research interests also include public policy issues in microfinance. He has publications in journals such as Journal of Business Ethics, Savings and Development or International Journal of Social Economics. Since October 2008, he is Assistant Professor at Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (ULB).

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Cosmologies for the generation of useful and reliable knowledge in Western Europe and China from the accession of the Ming to the First Opium War (1368-1839) Patrick K. O’Brien FBA Centennial Professor of Economic History London School of Economics

1

Needham’s puzzle and the great divergence : China and the West

Recent syntheses in comparative global history proclaim that classical views (Smithian, Marxist and Weberian) which narrated the history of China as a history of cumulative economic retardation compared with the economic dynamics of Western Europe from, say, the accession of the Ming (1368) to the Opium War (1839) are no longer tenable. Two generations of post-colonial historical research on West, South and South East and above all on East Asia have confirmed Marshall Hodgson’s percipient observation of 1974 that historical explanations that “invoke premodern seminal traits for the long run economic success of the Occident can be shown to fail under close historical analysis”. Modern revisionists have also published a substantial volume of evidence to support Braudel’s insights of 1982 that for most if not all that period the advanced economic regions of Eurasia are more appositely represented in the words of Ken Pomeranz as “a world of surprising resemblances”. Revisionism has, moreover, degraded the virtually unsupported assertions from a best-selling polemic from David Landes that “for the last thousand years Europe (the West) has been the prime mover of development and modernity”. Montesquieu, Hume, Smith, Malthus, Marx, Weber and their nineteenth and twentieth ‘Eurocentric’ acolytes – purveying histories of long term Asian backwardness are now engaged in a scholarly and potentially heuristic debate in global economic history. Furthermore (and unless their Asiacentric counterparts happen to be ideologically convinced that histories of anything that might potentially lend support to new anachronistic narratives of ‘Western triumphalism’, are politically incorrect, the major discourse in global economic history that remains wide open for both discussion and research is the famous Needlham Puzzle. According to Needham and his school for more than a millennium down to and some time after the Accession of the Ming (1338) the locus for most 97

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technical, organizational and institutional innovations promoting entirely gradual and, of course, cyclical economic progress (with ‘efflorescences’ under the Tang and Sung dynasties) can be located in the East and not in the West of the Eurasian Oikumene. At some conjuncture (still under debate) in early modern history the locus for the generation and application of knowledge behind both process and product innovation shifted from the Orient to the Occident and has remained there down to the present time. Disagreements over the chronology for what can be represented as a climacteric in the discovery, development and diffusion of useful and reliable knowledge in China followed by the clear emergence of capacities for an accelerated rate of accumulation of such knowledge in Western Europe is probably not resolvable within any degree of precision. Nathan Sivin suggests that “Chinese civilization was much more efficient in applying natural knowledge to practical human needs” down to the fifteenth century. Needham himself traced the crossover to the centuries, of Europe’s classic scientific revolution but finds the antecedents for that revolution (as do modern historians of science) in the writings of natural philosophers writing as early as the twelfth century. Since Needham launched his great project to integrate the contributions of China into global histories of science and technology few historians have displayed the temerity to deny Chinese pre-eminence and precedence in the discovery, development and application of useful and reliable knowledge to problems of production and wealth which may have lasted for some 1500 years after the birth of Christ. Thus, Needham’s famous question (once again under revived investigation and debate) is when, how and why did the Chinese empire lose its position of scientific and technological superiority to the West ?

2

Flows of useful and reliable knowledge

To clarify and historicize that question it is necessary by way of a preface to say something about how economists and modern economic historians analyse knowledge as on ‘input’ into processes of production. Following classic texts from Schumpeter and Kuznets they see economic growth (‘sustained’ rises in standards of living) as emanating from two basic mechanisms : (a) rising productivity of labour employed in agriculture, industry and services and (b) the reallocation of labour from sectors of production (usually agriculture) where productivity per hour worked is

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lower to sectors of production where productivity is higher (industry and urban services). Given this standard framework for the analysis of changes in rates of growth and structures of output historians proceed to ask : where does useful and reliable knowledge that allows for higher and sustained rises in labour productivity emanate from? Why did some civilizations (China) accumulate and diffuse such knowledge at more impressive rates than others (e.g. Western Europe) ? When and why does the locus for the discovery and diffusion of knowledge change ? Two classes of economic theory address these questions and are labelled as endogenous and exogenous. Endogenous growth theory certainly provides historians with a plausible way of explaining the diffusion of knowledge across any industry or economy once such knowledge has been perceived to be reliable and commercially profitable. Alas, serious difficulties remain in trying to account historically for the relative achievements of different countries, cultures or civilizations in the discovery and development of useful knowledge. Even economic historians (who are educated to explain its accumulation with reference to a tradition of thought drawn from classical, Marxist and neo-classical models in economic theory, remain dissatisfied with narratives that square circles by accounting for Europe’s convergence to Chinese levels of scientific and technological efficiency, basically in terms of the outcome of shifts in demand for innovations emanating from higher rates of economic growth in the West. Interestingly and as a ‘Christian Marxist’ Needham himself equivocated between endogenous or demand induced theories of knowledge accumulation and some rather ad hoc speculations which linked the shift in the locus of innovation to clear and profound cultural and theological contrasts between the east and the west in the appreciation, comprehension and manipulation of nature. In short, Needham suggests that variations across space and time in the accumulation of knowledge could ‘in some degree’ be exogenous or autonomous - not as fortuitous gifts from Athena - but rather as emanating in significant ways from the social, political and, above all, cultural realms of distinctive civilizations that can be represented as partially but loosely connected in diverse and complex ways to their economic foundations. Rejecting the insistence by mainstream economists on reifying distinctions between endogenous and exogenous forces, historians continue to recognize ‘loops of inter-connexions’ that are analogous to the components and circuits of the internal combustion engine that play their own particular and indispensible roles in moving economies at various speeds from one to another and superior levels of efficiency. Whether the process is endogenous or exogenous or best represented by diagrams displaying arrows of interconnexions, it is not clear how historians might proceed systematically to compare something as amorphous and intangible as the discovery and 99

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diffusion of knowledge in China and Western Europe over long spans of time – an evolution that as they nevertheless recognize, led ultimately to significant differences in the standards of welfare afforded to the populations of these two civilizations. For a start (and unlike real income, output or other indicators of economic progress) they will never find a way of measuring the accumulation of knowledge available for production in the east compared with the west. Historians must make do with impressions from scholars who know something about the quality of material life for populations residing at both ends of the Eurasian landmass; who have some understanding of the cultures and institutions that (along with favourable natural endowments) provided generations of Chinese with superior levels of welfare for more than a millennia of time. Even for those centuries from the accession of the Ming dynasty down to the Opium War (1368-1839); when extensions to the base of knowledge available to the Europeans and Chinese economies supposedly diverged, the knowledge in Needham’s prism can neither be added up or connected in systematic ways to economic progress. Furthermore, it emanated from a plethora of sites, sources, institutions, households and individuals (‘proto’ technologists and scientists) of great variety. Knowledge emerged in numerous forms : explicit and tacit, recorded and unrecorded, written and oral. In the future historians may be able to impose some kind of taxonomical, even scalar order upon the great mass of Chinese and European written and printed material that could be represented as potentially useful and reliable for purposes of production. At present they can only investigate the contexts or regimes for the discovery, development and diffusion of useful and reliable knowledge in order to make comparisons across civilizations that might help us to suggest when, why and to what degree the regime evolving in Europe become more promotional for production than the regime operating in China. In short and over these centuries when technological progress proceeded gradually reciprocal comparisons (pace Marc Bloch) are the only method available to ascertain when and why Western economies moved (as many historians assert) up to and along a trajectory that eventually left the Chinese empire economically behind and vulnerable to geopolitical takeover ? Such an exercise in history (involving the comparison of several connected but separable components of regimes for the discovery, development and diffusions of the knowledge upon which the relative economic performances of Europe and China depended) could never be conclusive. The widely shared assumption behind my argument, (which is located in a 100

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larger narrative on divergence) is that technological innovation mattered for Europe’s precocious transition to modern economic growth and that sources for its extension and deepening were contrasting systems of regimes for the production, development and diffusion of useful knowledge. With a specified comparison in place I will now proceed to elaborate on connected but separable components of two regimes, but proposes to allocate more space to Chinese and European cultures and cosmologies because modern historians assume that observed contrasts between eastern and western regimes reside in some reductionist sense in their cultural and cosmological foundations.

3

3.1

Sites and institutions for the generation of useful knowledge Urban sites

Historically most productive knowledge emerged from urban settings. Maritime towns and cities as nodes or poles de croissance have long been emplotted into histories of slow economic growth in early modern Europe. These narratives and proto-theories from historical sociology represent coastal and riverine sites as promotional for : (a) the establishment and maintenance of gilds, professional schools, universities and other institutions for the generation of knowledge, (b) for the exercise of mercantile aristocratic, courtly and ecclesiastical patronage for its formation; (c) for the employment of skilled artisans producing instruments used for the investigation of the natural world; (d) as locations for the embarkation and storage of knowledge imported on sailing ships and embodied in plants, primary products, machines, devices and information from ports along the Mediterranean and Baltic and North Seas surrounding Europe and increasingly (after 1415) from Africa, Asia and the Americas; (e) as political spaces offering some protection and toleration and autonomy vis à vis the powers of conservative monarchs, seigneurs and bishops to control, tax and even repress potentially dangerous knowledge. Thus, historians of Europe have been educated to look for sites of comparable scale, scope and potential along the rivers, canals and coasts of the Ming and Qing empires. They do find hierarchies and networks of towns and cities all over China. Yet for reasons that may well be basically political and geopolitical, the extent and dept of urbanization in China, as well as the character of Chinese towns looks relatively less conducive to the accumulation of knowledge than appears to have been the case in Western Europe. 101

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3.2

Higher education

A high proportion of innovative knowledge produced over these centuries has been ‘attributed’ to lists of European and Chinese men who received some form of ‘higher education’. This component of the two regimes under comparison turns out to be one where secondary sources allow historians to make some supportable comparisons constructed around several relevant questions including : (a) ratios of the higher educated to total and to literate populations in Europe and China; (b) the relative openness of political elites to recruitment based upon merit; (c) degrees of centralized political and/or ecclesiastical control exercised over the institutions and the personnel involved with the delivery of all forms of higher education; (d) the scope of the curricula on offer to students at an impressionable stage in their life cycles; (e) the status accorded to the study of nature; (f) the encouragement of disputation and debate, both at university and across the cultures at large. For long stretches of its history and largely for political reasons, the Chinese empire probably offered higher education to a comparable, if not higher proportion of its male population than Europe and what is more recruited entrants to positions of power and patronage upon a meritocratic basis. From a Euro-centred perspective, the empire’s and educational institutions emerge, however, as: less plural, subject to tighter degrees of central control and offered for reasons elaborated below, a more circumscribed curricula for young men interested in the study of the natural world.

3.3

The circulation of knowledge

Knowledge was, however, circulated in cheaper printed form in China several centuries before Europe. It is simply not possible to demonstrate either that the volume of printed natural and technical knowledge available for consultation in China fell below the total volume available in Europe, or that the range of potentially useful branches of knowledge covered was more confined in scope or scale in the East. The Needham project’s 18 volume compendia of Chinese investigations and analysis of (Shi) or things celestial, terrestrial, botanical, biological, zoological, geographical, optical, mineral, mechanical, chemical, agricultural, industrial etc., degrades any Eurocentric suggestions of that kind. Furthermore, there seems to be no areas of knowledge where Chinese publications failed to appear in printed from for year after year during either the Ming-Qing dynasties. Historians who have the credentials to engage seriously with the history of Chinese science deny the charge that the language is not precise enough for the communication of abstract science and technology. Another negative aspersion that the flow of words printed in China and devoted to yet another 102

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round of learned commentaries on Confucian classics in moral philosophy, to lessons in statecraft to exemplary forms of history, to literature, calligraphy and poetry exceeded the flow of useful knowledge by a larger margin than was the case in Europe has not been tested. Although the corollary that the authors of books on ‘things’ (Ko Wa) were not widely regarded within their own culture to be engaged in the promotion of morally and intellectually superior forms of scholarship, may be the case. Large volumes of knowledge were, moreover, published in the form of state sponsored encyclopaedias and manuals that made rather limited inroads into the curricula for higher education. Furthermore, historians of China have not exposed anything approximating to the scope and scale of an ‘associational culture’ for any sustained discussion of natural philosophy of the kind that emerged across urban Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Indeed there are suggestions that associations of intellectuals were less tolerated under the Qing (post 1644) than during the closing stages of the Ming dynasty. To sum up : at present there is no evidence to show that the share of pages printed and circulated that could be classified as potentially useful and reliable knowledge (compared, say, to the volume of didactic books on religion and moral philosophy) was any higher in the West. Scholars who have surveyed China’s fact-based literature (kgoz) leave an impression that it displays a greater concern with agronomy, hydrology and medicine than with commerce or industry. These ‘unquantified’ observations are just what one would expect from a physiocratic empire where leading patrons for books included the state and its mandarinate concerned with jengshi or how to manage the age and the empire.

3.4

Economic incentives (patents, prizes, rewards)

How far was innovatory knowledge in Europe and China rewarded and/or protected against plagiarism and exploitation by imitators, in order that the search and development for useful knowledge might become profitable for individuals, families or institutions making discoveries remains as another key question to pursue. Beginning in Venice (1415) European innovators received some (rather inadequate) measures of protection and/or rewards for novel and potentially productive ideas. Europe’s state-run systems of protection were, however, neither universal, generous or effectively enforced, and it could be the case that the maintenance of traditions of secrecy among kinship groups in China might just have provided incentives that were as efficacious as patents and rewards?

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4

4.1

Cultures and cosmologies for innovation in Europe and China Families, schools and careers

Mary Douglas defined culture “as a widely shared cluster of beliefs and values deployed implicitly and explicitly to promote, justify or restrain the collective actions of institutions and the behaviour of individuals”. Cultural historians (now in the ascendant in departments of history) ‘reconstruct!’ cultures in order to ‘make sense’ of the actions taken by organizations, institutions and people in the past. The goals of cultural history is to recover ‘outlooks and dispositions’ of peoples as they were experienced, recorded and reflected upon at the time. They are aware that people then and now inhabited multiple cultures and that culture should not replace economies as another ‘reductionist’ category for historical analysis. “Although, (as Marshal Sahlins observes) actions and events are reordered by culture. Culture is also reordered by actions and events”. Cultures as ‘durable dispositions’ were far more stable and resistant to change in early modern China and Europe than they are today. Historians looking for comparisons and contrasts in the dispositions of cultures towards the accumulation of knowledge and innovations should find the cosmologies and clusters of beliefs playing upon the relative propensities of Chinese and Europeans alive between 1368 and 1839 to develop useful and reliable knowledge heuristic to contemplate. Historical evidence will be hard to find and inferences difficult to draw. But already the relevant areas for future investigation and research in comparative history have been clearly mapped out by historians and social scientists. For example, innovators are born, raised and socialized within families and networks of kin who inculcate curiosity, desires for the acquisition of knowledge and attitudes towards risk into children. Secondly, primary schools not only provided the basis of literacy and numeracy required for higher forms of formal education, but reinforce or modified attitudes and aspirations acquired at home. Ambitions formed with families and at school led men towards careers that were selected among privileged minorities, placed to make choices in this matter, basically upon economic grounds, but were chosen partly in response to cultures of approbation and disapprobation. For example, was it the case, as some historians have suggested, that a disproportionate (sub-optimal share) of young educated men in China, with potential for innovative thought, were attracted into the imperial civil service where their prospects for advancement rarely depended on the allocation of time and talent to the study of ‘things’, let alone the taking of risks or the promotion of novelties ? But did this 104

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ostensibly unproductive avenue for upward mobility represent really significant contrasts with the courtly, clerical and military careers open to men of ambition and talent in early modern Europe ? All three institutions, families, schools and careers demand much more rigorous and textured historical research than appears to be available on current bibliographies of comparative histories for the east and west. At present, the extant historiography allows historians to deal in far greater depth with potentially significant contrasts between eastern and western cultures at less micro tangible and more general levels, by reconstructing the cosmologies or basic beliefs about the natural world, as comprehended by Chinese and European elites, for, say, four centuries down to the Opium War. Such cosmologies were neither homogeneous or stable through time, but they are represented by intellectual historians as cultures which prompted relevant political and wealthy elites to formulate policies, construct institutions and offer patronage that either promoted or restrained the accumulation of useful and reliable knowledge. My reading into the complex and contested histories of early modern European and Chinese developments in science and technology leads me to suggest that the modern bibliography supports Weber’s position, namely that over this period, Western Europeans reordered a traditional Christian cosmology in ways that became discernibly more conducive for the accumulation of knowledge. While the maintenance and restoration of an altogether more neutral Confucian cosmology, that prevailed under the Ming and Qing dynasties, did little or nothing to promote any significant reconfiguration of elite cultures in China, until much later in the nineteenth century.

4.2

The reconfiguration of European cosmology 1543-1727

This Weberian hypothesis is framed by dates that refer to the decades between the lives of Copernicus (1473-1543) and Newton (1642-1727) – a period of scientific revolution when increasing shares of Europe’s political, ecclesiastical and business elites began to comprehend the natural world in new ways that can be represented analogous to a gestalt switch. Cultural and intellectual historians (including modern historians of science) tend to narrate and analyse that switch by way of critical surveys of the protracted, acrimonious and often violent debates between ancients and moderns. The former as stakeholders in charge of established institutions based upon biblical scriptural and Aristotlean bodies of knowledge, sanctified by religious authority, resisted claims from moderns for the validity of their own more reliable and useful forms of knowledge based upon : (a) systematic observation; (b) Baconian interrogations of nature deploying a 105

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variety of reliable and transparent experiments and (c) above all upon the formulation of mathematically rigorous and logically consistent models of how nature depicted as a single coherent system actually worked. In retrospect and after protracted and unsettled debates among specialists in the history of science, the scientific revolution may still be regarded as a progressive shift in the understanding of how and why phenomena in the celestial, terrestrial and biological spheres of the natural world operated as they did. That evolving comprehension of nature permeated gradually into the mentalities (not of the illiterate masses at large) but of Western Europe’s educated political and economic elites (including craftsmen) with the powers, means and skills required to favour, sponsor and produce innovations in thought and practice. Of course, the proclivities of elites to embrace cosmologies favourable to sustained interrogations designed to extend possibilities for the comprehension and manipulation of nature did not change simply as the outcome of an intellectual debate between ancients and moderns. Furthermore, the antecedents and possibly the foundations for that change are to be found in Medieval Christendom. Indeed, evidence has now piled up to undermine ideologically biased histories that left chronologies and impressions of early modern Europe’s history as one of pronounced discontinuities with its medieval past. Nevertheless, the four ‘Rs’ of the period under review for purposes of this narrative in global history, namely the Reconaissance, the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Revolution in Science all operated in diverse and interconnected ways to extend and accelerate a pronounced shift in the conceptions held by Europe’s elites about the natural world that surrounded and framed their privileged lives on earth. For example, and although this conjecture cannot be quantified, the Renaissance of the Quartocentro which continued during the lifetime of Copernicus was marked (and more clearly marked after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453) by a faster rate of recovery of classical (particularly Greek) knowledge about the natural world. Recovered, restored and translated texts by Plato, Archimedes, Heron, Democritus and others undermined extant canonical and beatified authorities for higher education derived from Aristotle, Ptolemy and Galen. Secondly, and what seems to have been seriously quantified by a generation of modern scholarship on the nature of the Reformation are liberal, Weberian and Mertonian hypotheses that the Vatican resolutely opposed the recovery and assimilation of classical and Islamic knowledge. The long established ideological view that the Roman church (even in Spain) consistently and effectively stamped out investigations into natural phenomena; repressed all speculations about the world that might somehow contradict or qualify the rather limited range of references to that natural 106

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world as embodied in Christendom’s canonical texts, including new and old testaments, scripture even the writings of Saint Paul and other saints, is no longer held as tenable by ecclesiastical history. All organized religions, Catholic and Protestant alike, remained hostile to the diffusion of ‘heretical’ cosmological ideas that ecclesiastical authorities deemed to be potentially dangerous to established hierarchies of churches, clerics and their ‘sacred books’. For the advance of economies (our key interest) the Reformation left Europe with several institutionalized and competing religions and a multiplication of texts, printed in vernacular languages (mainly moral and theoretical) but containing a plurality of facts and hypothesis about the natural world. As the violence associated with the theological disputes gave way to co-existence, the notion that there could be any single and singular source of authority about the operations of the natural world became less and less credible to educated Christians of all persuasions. Provided their findings and inferences did not explicitly undermine the ‘words’ of God as interpreted by several of his chosen churches, natural philosophers as well as theologians became freer to investigate the basis upon which ‘their Gods’ might have constructed the natural world that shaped the material lives of populations all over Europe. Finally and as an outcome of the reconnaissances of the fifteenth century Europeans established regular contacts and commerce with Africa, Asia and the recently re-discovered Americas. Voyages of discovery followed up by profitable commerce and colonization provided an enormous boost to European confidence. Europeans had acquired the scientific knowledge and technologies required to achieve a dramatic and ultimately profitable conquest over the most awesome parts of nature, namely, the winds, tides and seas covering most of the world and surrounding their promontory on the edge of Eurasia. Western Europe’s command of the oceans then generated accumulating flows of information about the geographies, peoples, institutions, flora, fauna, artefacts and commodities from all parts of an expanding world that gradually degraded received biblical, clerical and fantastical accounts and conceptions of nature as it had supposedly operated outside the known, but narrow, geographical and intellectual compass of Western Europe. In numerous ways these famous historical conjunctures, the Reconnaissance, Renaissance and Reformation reordered the culture surrounding urban elites in the West and intensified their ambitions to promote, patronize and participate in systematic investigations of the celestial, terrestrial and biological spheres of the natural world. Despite all the scholarly debate and nuanced interpretations that now surround it, European historians may as well continue to label the programme of investigation and development in natural philosophy as it proceeded between the times of Copernicus and Newton as a scientific revolution. 107

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The flow, validity and variety of new knowledge about the universe generated by natural philosophers researching with indispensible help from artisans and funded by princely aristocratic, mercantile and even ecclesiastical patrons will be too vast to summarize here. Furthermore the purpose of the debate is not to reconstruct and evaluate the histories of modern specialized sciences in retrospect. Nor will I be concerned to trace either tangible or indirect connexions between the knowledge diffused over this period to particular innovations. Instead the rather general argument (pursued this far for whatever credence becomes available from an exercise in comparisons with China) makes two points: first, that a loosely connected programme of investigations into the celestial, terrestrial and biological spheres of the natural world was conducted within an otherwise conservative and often hostile social environment of Western Europe. Secondly, and at propitious times in its early modern history, the knowledge generated by that programme penetrated into, and ultimately undermined, the cosmological predispositions of that continent’s political, economic and ecclesiastical elites. The foundations of elite culture had been based on Europe’s conversion to Christianity, a religion that co-existed in tension with the sanctified pagan texts (Aristotle, Ptolemy and Galen); with “common sense” and with all kinds of heretic fantasies that the clerical establishment did its best to stamp out in favour of a unified view of nature as God’s creation. In cultures permeated by monotheistic beliefs, in an afterlife and by heretical fantasies it is, moreover, not surprising to observe that astronomy played the key historical role in a cosmological reordering of perceptions about the natural world. That ‘gestalt switch’ could simply be illustrated by detailed investigations into the beliefs, held by increasing numbers of educated men about the natural world, after, say the times of Copernicus, compared with the comprehension of and attitudes towards nature held by preceding generations for, say two centuries following the Black Death. Up for debate is the historical background to and representation of a scientific revolution in the West as a ‘cosmological reordering’ that led European elites (including skilled artisans) and eventually majorities among populations in the West to believe and expect that everything in the world can be explained rationally, demonstrated empirically and manipulated technologically.

4.3

Cultures and cosmologies for innovation in the East

Research to establish plausibility for an historical narrative about the possible significance of changes to the cosmological basis for the discovery and diffusion of useful knowledge around Western Europe, can only be 108

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taken further by following Marc Bloch’s advice to engage in reciprocal comparisons with China – the West’s leading contender for technological leadership – then and again today. This strategy for the construction of global economic history upon a comparative basis bypasses ‘orientalist’ objections that Chinese culture is sui generis and the empire’s regime for the accumulation of such knowledge had successfully proceeded along a trajectory, all of its own for at least 1000 years. Historians must also perforce ignore assertions that comparisons of this kind can be dismissed as ‘Eurocentric’. Several tentative and under-researched suggestions as to why the regime evolving in Western Europe may in retrospect be perceived as being on a relatively more efficient trajectory have appeared in print. Furthermore, an extensive historical literature on the rise and decline of national economies in the West has already documented the penalties (institutional and cultural constraints) attached to the early starts and temporary positions of technological leadership held by the Italian, Dutch, British and latterly, the American economies, which could well apply to China before 1800. Until well into the eighteenth century many features of the economies and societies of Ming and Qing empires continued to be widely admired by enlightened European intellectuals of the day. At that time the scale and scope of information about China that filtered into European perceptions through reports from Catholic missionaries (mainly Jesuits), travellers’ tales and accounts from merchants was neither voluminous, representative nor accurate. Today these valuable accounts are but a part of a much wider and deeper historiography written in Chinese, Japanese and European languages, concerned to ascertain with reference to primary sources what institutional or cultural capacities the empire either possessed (or lacked) to sustain technological leadership when confronted by a dimly perceived, but retrospectively clear challenges from the West. Historians, with help from a far greater volume of evidence than contemporaries had at their disposal, have revisited seventeenth and eighteenth century European debates that deal with representations of China as a model culture, polity and economy. Several have reaffirmed the objections raised by Montesquieu, Hume and Adam Smith who disputed more favourable interpretations of the oriental empire by Montaigne, Barros, Bayle, Voltaire, Leibniz, Quesnay and others. This famous enlightenment discourse resonates into modern investigations into knowledge formation and innovation across different civilizations including institutionalized incentives and scope for the operation of multiple sources and centres for state and private patronage for investigations into the natural world; and the circulation of knowledge. In short and taking a lead from anthropology, modern historians have taken up Needham’s suggestions to expose and analyse contrasts in cultures and cosmologies, playing upon the missions of 109

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Chinese institutions (including the imperial state) as well as the dispositions of China’s educated and wealthy elites to support and patronize the development of potentially productive forms of knowledge. As wily Jesuits missionaries to China discovered the differences between (Confucian) and Western (Christian) cultures as moral philosophies were neither profound nor (in their ultimately mistaken view) unbridgeable. Both cultures supported hierarchy, patriarchy, filial piety and proclaimed in favour of righteous, just, frugal and patient behaviour. Although Christian practice had probably come further along the way towards an accommodation with the avaricious tendencies of those with sufficient wealth and power to lead more autonomous lives and display individualistic patterns of conduct. That contrast came about because Christianity had risen to a position of ideological hegemony in Europe as a functional component of the Roman Empire and as a quasi autonomous hierarchical organization with pretensions to a universal mission after the fall of Rome. Christian churches and their congregations existed under the benign protection of diverse and competitive secular authorities, kings, aristocracies and oligarchies to whom they offered the promise of compliant subjects. That promise was not idle. As parishioners most Europeans believed that obedience to moral codes propagated by priests and participation in the rituals performed by the Church accorded with the will of a divine creator and would secure their places in heaven. In China the political institutions of an empire that survived as a political unit and claimed sovereignty over populations and territory greater in scale, extent and complexity than Western Europe also rested on principles designed to maintain hierarchy, internal stability, external security and obedience, coupled with more commendable concerns for social welfare. These Confucian principles never evolved in a Western sense into religions that were expressions of a divine order interpreted by a universal church that for centuries sustained claims for a sphere of authority sanctified by God and separated from the secular power exercised by hereditary rulers of realms, republics and cities. In China the principles underpinning the institutions of the empire (including families, farms, firms, merchant networks, gilds, schools, higher forms of education, the organizations of local, urban, regional and imperial governance) were all derived from a set of canonical texts as revised, interpreted and implemented by an elite of officials, recruited along meritocratic lines, operating in the name of successive dynasties of emperors, with mandates from heaven. The Chinese recognized no God and provided no space for the authority of a church separated from the state. Power in the Chinese empire depended more heavily for the implementation of rules, policies and decrees emanating from emperors and their officials upon ideological persuasion than upon coercive, more costly, forms of power deployed by rulers of Europe’s smaller 110

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but more manageable set of warring polities. Under the Ming and Qing dynasties Confucianism, and the institutions and personnel most actively involved in the refinement, revision and diffusion of that all pervasive and effective moral code, evolved into an extraordinarily powerful and relative cheap way of obtaining compliance for the governance of a vast, heterogeneous complex and expanding empire. Confucianism’s status as a primary source of power utilized by emperors, mandarinates, local officials and patriarchs to exercise authority emerged clearly during crises of internal order and interludes of dynastic change when China’s ruling elites turned again and again to purification of Confucian values to restore peace, harmony and stability to an empire that had by the time of the Qing dynasty survived for more than two millennia. As an ideology, designed and refined to maintain a common identity, cohesion, obedience and effective rule, Confucianism became of greater concern for the political authorities of China than religions (either Catholic or Protestant) ever became for the dynasties, aristocracies and oligarchies, governing polities of smaller scale and lower complexity in Europe. Apart from rituals of ancestor worship, deference towards age and greater veneration for ancient texts (all of which could be functionally conservative in their operation) the major contrast between Eastern and Western cosmologies resides in the more stable and coherent cluster of beliefs and perceptions that the majority of a well-educated Chinese elite held about the natural world and the study of nature over the centuries between the accession of the Ming dynasty (1368) and the Opium War (1839). Both Christian and Confucian cosmologies can be depicted as anthropocentric in the sense that they reaffirmed and continually refined a foundational belief, namely, that all institutions and personnel exercising power over the subjects of hereditary rulers should act in accordance with immutable moral-cum-spiritual precepts. Prescriptions for all forms of human behaviour in the spheres of familial, interpersonal, social, economic and political relations were pretty clear for both Chinese and European rulers and their subjects. One salient difference was that rulers of China unlike their counterparts of the West, had refrained from embodying these principles (as expressed on their policies and decrees) into codes of law reinforced by precedents that applied across the empire. Law usually operates to constrain custom and the discretion of local officials to take personal and particular contexts into account. In their adjudications over all spheres of private and social behaviour, including the economic spheres the Chinese managed without applicable reference to any universally law applied system of imperial law. Both cosmologies also recognized that men interacted not only with others, but were also intensely preoccupied with the natural world that surrounded, sustained and afflicted their daily lives. Yet the attention devoted and 111

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resources allocated to the systematic study of nature was neither a top priority, or accorded high status, either in China or Europe. Nevertheless, the historical record suggests that the Chinese accumulated a more impressive stock of useful and reliable knowledge down to some indeterminate period, marked by a climacteric that probably occurred under Ming emperors, when Confucian priorities for the conceptions and comprehension of nature and the methods used by Savants to investigate all natural phenomena (including the human body) seems (in retrospect) to have continued along a trajectory that accumulated useful and reliable knowledge at a low rather traditional rate of advance compared to Western Europe. In this our Europe mirror, Chinese savants neither envisaged nor institutionalized a separated quasi autonomous sphere for the study of nature. Whereas Christian cosmology (with its felicitous origins in the Roman Empire) accommodated its theology, teaching and institutions to take in knowledge inherited from classical times. In forging that particular fusion the ‘Roman’ hierarchy left no space at all beyond its parameters and perimeters for alternative moral philosophies or interpretations of the words and commands of God. But the Church certainly encouraged the circumscribed study of an (albeit inferior) branch of pagan knowledge and learning, namely, natural philosophy, concerned with systemic investigations into nature as a whole, but always as a reflexion of the creation and works of God. For centuries in the West natural philosophy as represented in the ‘expurgated’ works of Aristotle, Ptolemy, Galen and a limited range of other pagan and Islamic texts, existed within a tolerated by uneasy position of subordination with Christian theology concerned with its own sanctified set of Latin texts and scriptures dealing with God and principles of moral behaviour. Unlike Christianity (or Islam), Chinese cosmology displayed no comparable divisions or tensions. Confucians never separated moral from natural philosophy. They formulated their overall view of the world as an integrated whole, embodying human behaviour, all socially and politically constructed institutions (especially the state) conceived to be organically related to the celestial, terrestrial and biological spheres of the natural world. For centuries Chinese savants contemplated, studied and added impressively to the world’s stock of knowledge about natural things (shih hsven) including stars, water, plants, animals, minerals, colours, medicines, topography, magnetism, optics etc. etc.,. Their epistemological tradition accorded no credence, however, to speculations let alone theories about the operations of nature (li) as a cosmic realm detached from man, society or from emperors with their mandates from the heavens to rule over a large and successful empire. Nature as a whole seemed too multifaceted and alien an 112

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idea to grasp, let alone produce general theories about. It was perceived to display nothing more challenging and useful than harmonies and balances (Ying and Yang). As part of nature men were advised by sages to go with and not against its grain. Furthermore, it would have been inept and dangerous for savants, employed by the state, to publicize speculations that questioned or undermined the harmonious cosmological foundations of the empire. Not only was it politically prudent and profitable to say with mainstream moral philosophy, but the curious minority of educated Chinese who strayed into speculations about nature, concentrated upon the classification of natural phenomena, detecting patterns and correlations and/or investigating problems of clear and immediate practical import. After all their successful civilization flourished on this basis for more than a thousand years. As systems of belief that weave diverse perceptions of the universe into some kind of coherent whole, there were similarities but also discernible contrasts between European and Chinese cosmologies and it is arguably the case that the wedge into Western cosmology that widened between the times of Copernicus and Newton placed investigations into the comprehension and manipulation of the natural world upon a more systemic and efficient basis for technological innovation. This ‘hypothesis’ currently under debate among historians of science cannot be construed to suggest that the accumulation of useful knowledge in China had been restrained from the beginnings of the Empire. Clearly (as Needham and his school have demonstrated) that had not been the case. And as Mark Elvin observed, the Chinese were nothing other than almost entirely cognizant of (if not familiar with) the several methods and styles of investigation adopted for study of natural phenomena in the West. Furthermore, only historians of particular problems or proto-sciences could detect and somehow sum up changes at frontiers of knowledge where Chinese levels of comprehension and potential for advance really lagged behind the West. The list of extant examples (which includes : geometry, cartography, anatomy, astronomy and the use of scientific instruments) was never that long. On the basis of an established cosmology and indigenous institutions and traditions for enquiry, the Chinese continued to add to their own and the world’s stock of useful and reliable knowledge. Neither intellectual stasis not any deep seated cultural antipathy to learn from and adapt advanced Western knowledge (offered to the Chinese state as part of a culturally unacceptable package of religious moral and natural philosophy by Jesuit missionaries) can be represented as an incontrovertible or highly significant part of scholarly answers to Needham’s important question of why China failed to keep up with the pace set by the West for the accumulation of knowledge from the times of Copernicus onwards.

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Tim Brooke, Dennis Twitchett, Jonathan Spence and Jean Genet, Ben Elman, John Henderson and other historians of Chinese intellectual traditions are currently constructing a narrative to suggest that ‘promising’ developments in Confucian thought in both moral and natural philosophy occurred in the late Ming period, and may well have been cut short by the prolonged and protracted takeover of the Empire by Manchu armies after 1644. They and other global historians are suggesting that decline of the east allowed for the rise of the west. Certainly there seems to have been widespread destruction during this dynastic takeover by the Qing regime and sufficient and cultural repression for some time thereafter to provide support for the thesis of a lost cosmological movement in the long history of the empire.

4.4.

Needham’s unanswered question

Eurocentric and other historians from backgrounds in comparative history may remain more impressed with Needham’s view that “China was overtaken by the exponential growth of modern science”, and by Mary Wright’s classical study and its conclusion “obstacles to the adaption to the modern world was not imperialist aggression or the accidents of history, but nothing less than the constituent elements of the Confucian system itself.” From several perspectives (which are shared by many Chinese scholars) is the view that what counted against China in its always difficult endeavours at unpropitious times to move onto a learning curve for the accumulation of knowledge comparable to the West were China’s long tradition of success as an empire, reinforced by a set of cosmological-cum-political constraints which can be ranked for discussion and future research under the heading of Needham’s puzzle. At the top of that agenda for historical research must be the Chinese stance of incredulity towards the paradigm (that had gripped the imagination of European natural philosophy, namely that all natural phenomena, including the human body could be investigated, comprehended and interrogated as cases or instances of universal laws of nature. Furthermore, these laws (which explained how and why things operated as they did) were the manifestations of the intelligent designs of a divine creator). They could be exposed by transparent experimental methods and explicated rigorously in mathematical language. Natural laws that could be represented as divine in origin provided the West with a cosmology and a culture for elites of aristocrats, merchants, industrialists and craftsmen that rested on an acceptable, unproveable, but ultimately progressive supposition that God created a natural world that was rational and explicable, that its tendencies to afflict the lines of people’s everywhere could be fixed or ameliorated and that matter could be manipulated to provide technologies to raise the productivities of labour. 114

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Confucian cosmology neither restrained nor promoted the interrogation of nature or the search for technological solutions to problems of production. What it did not provide for even during the continued economic advance of the Qing Empire was that powerful promotional confidence that entered into the cultures of Western elites of a natural world that was the rational and explicable work of their God. As Needham observed : “there was no confidence that the codes of nature could be read because there was no assurance that a divine being had formulated a code capable of being read.” His point is intact and remains open for research and discussion

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About the author Patrick K. O’Brien (12 August, 1932) Centennial Professor of Economic History London School of Economics. His research interests are global economic history: world trade, technology and historiographical traditions. As examples: 앫 Historiographical traditions in the construction of global economic history 앫 The evolution of intercontinental trade from Roman Empire to 1846 앫 The formation and efficiency of fiscal states in Europe and Asia 15001914 118

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He organized and teaches for the Master Degree (MSc Econ.) in Global History. He also convened a Leverhulme funded network of economic historians in global economic history. His current research project concerns: 앫 Global History in the Long Run 앫 The political economy of British Public Finance, 1485-1914 Patrick Karl O'Brien is fellow of: British Academy, Academia Europaea, Royal Historical Society, Royal Society of Arts. Doctorates honoris causa from Carlos III University Madrid, Spain and Uppsala University Sweden. President of the Economic History Society 1999-2001.

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Sleep and wakefulness research at the Department of Biological Psychology Raymond Cluydts and collaborators Professor, Chairman of the Department of Cognitive and Biological Psychology & Head of the Experimental Sleep Laboratory, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

I

Introduction

Biological psychologists relate behavior to bodily states, particularly the working brain. Although the nervous system is central, hence the name behavioral neuroscience, not only the brain but all physiological systems in the body (e.g., nervous system, endocrine system, respiratory system, immune system, and cardiovascular system) can be the focus of research within biological psychology. 'Behavior' includes diverse activities such as attention, sleep, stress, problem solving, motor learning, language, emotions etc. Within the research unit Biological Psychology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, the vast majority of studies is grouped around the central theme of sleep-wake regulation. Why sleep ? By the age of 60 most us have spent about 20 years asleep. It is surprising that both behavioral and physiological aspects of sleep have not been studied in depth until the 60’ies. Sleep was just considered to be a ‘nonawake’ state. Nowadays both scientists and layman have in increased interest in our sleep behavior and its functions. The social relevance of sleep research can best be understood by investigating the effects of sleep loss – so prominent in today’s society- be it self-induced or as a disorder (insomnia). Self-induced and involuntary sleep loss has dramatic effects on both physiological and cognitive functions including memory and attention, complex thought, motor speed and selection, and emotion regulation (Figure 1).

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Figure 1: Decrease in motor response speed after 7 days with partial sleep deprivation 1. Sleep loss however does far more than make us irritable and sleepy. In the past decade several studies have shown that sleep loss can have very harmful consequences for the immune, endocrine and neuronal systems and so contributes to serious medical conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. Our major current research lines include : A first line of research considers the role of stable trait characteristics of individuals in the regulation of sleep and wake. By using extended sleep deprivation protocols in the laboratory on short, long and average duration sleepers, in-depth fundamental research questions are being addressed (3). Sleep deprivation protocols are also being performed in people suffering from insomnia, as the role of the cortical hyperarousal that has been shown in these patients in influencing sleep, can further enhance fundamental 1. Gregory Belenky, Nancy J. Wesensten, David R. Thorne, Maria L. Thomas, Helen C. Sing, Daniel P. Redmond, Michael B. Russo and Thomas J. Balkin (2003). Patterns of performance degradation and restoration during sleep restriction and subsequent recovery : a sleep dose-response study. Journal of Sleep Research 12 (1), 1–12. (Blackwell).

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insight into the basic sleep mechanisms (3 and 1). An applied research topic that has evolved from these studies, considers the efficacy of neurofeedback training as a treatment modality for people with insomnia (1). A second major research area in our department focuses on the influence of environmental variables on sleep. On the one hand, this subject is addressed in the framework of a large project in cooperation with engineering departments assessing the role of different environmental factors, such as noise, light and physical exercise, on polysomnographically defined sleep quality (4). On the other hand, field studies on the specific influence of environmental traffic noise on sleep and daytime functioning, allow evaluating the significance of the findings for the community (2). Thirdly, the role of internally generated variables, more specifically emotion, on sleep quality and quantity is investigated (6). This is in followup of our earlier studies on the impact of experimentally induced emotional arousal on sleep. The role of sleep in regulating daytime functioning and performance is a fourth main research field. It has been dealt with in the domain of aviation and space (5), shift work (8.1), car driving (8.3), and school performance in children (8.2). Finally, some research branches have evolved beyond the specific sleep regulation domain. This applies for our studies on performance and the role of operational stress in aviation and space environments (5), as well as our research on health in shift workers (8.1). Biological Psychology 1. Wake and Sleep EEG characteristics in primary insomnia 2. Environmental noise and sleep quality: field studies 3. Short and long sleepers: effects of sleep deprivation 4. Effects of psychosocial and environmental stressors on sleep: PSG studies 5. Autonomic activation and performance: field studies in aviation and space environments 6. The emotion-regulatory function of sleep 7. Psychosocial aspects related to chronic medical conditions 8. Other research topics : 8.1. Shift work and health 8.2. Sleep in children and school performance 8.3. Sleepiness and driving

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II

A presentation of the work of our pre- and post-docs

1

Wake and Sleep EEG characteristics in primary insomnia

1.1

Introduction

Insomnia has usually been studied from a behavioural perspective. As such, the impact of somatic and/or cognitive arousal was often used as the starting point for the development of non-pharmacological treatment modalities. The introduction of the neurocognitive perspective, with its focus on cortical or CNS arousal, has given rise to a renewed interest in the neurophysiological characteristics of insomnia. Recent research in the field of insomnia, focusing on quantitative EEG, neuroimaging techniques and the study of the microstructure of sleep, suggests a state of cortical hyperarousal. Furthermore, specific impairments in daytime functioning, such as negative mood, fatigue and social withdrawal suggest that primary insomnia is not restricted to sleep complaints alone, but might be considered a 24-hour disorder. These new findings have implications for the treatments used and indicate that a focus on cortical or CNS arousal should be pursued. As such, the use of EEG neurofeedback might be a promising treatment modality, especially for insomnia patients not responding well to the standard treatment modalities (Cognitive-Behavioural therapy, pharmaca,…) (Figure 2).

Figure 2: The set-up for an EEG-Neurofeed-back session. Preliminary results in insomnia and successful applications for other disorders such as ADHD, suggest that this treatment modality can have the necessary stabilizing effects on the EEG activity, possibly resulting in a normalizing effect on daytime as well as night time functioning. 124

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1.2

Some recent findings

Wake EEG in insomnia patients Recent studies examining EEG frequencies in primary insomnia during sleep support the concept of cortical hyperarousal in this population. Higher levels of beta power were found in comparison to healthy controls and comorbid insomnia patients. The question remains, however, if this cortical hyperarousal, is also apparent in the wake EEG (Figure 3).

Figure 3: An example of Fast Fourier Transformation and mapping. A quantitative EEG was obtained in 13 unmedicated primary insomnia patients, diagnosed according to the DSM-IV criteria. The EEG was measured during an ‘eyes open’ and an ‘eyes closed’ condition. 19 electrodes according to the International 10-20 system were used and referenced to 125

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both mastoid electrodes. EOG and EMG were measured to assure optimal artefact rejection and impedances were kept below 10 kOhm. A minimum of 90 seconds of artefact-free EEG per patient was used for further analysis using the Thatcher qEEG database. z-values were obtained for delta (1-3,5 Hz), theta (4-7,5 Hz), alpha (8-12 Hz), beta (12,5-25 Hz) and high beta (25,5-30 Hz) EEG power. The results indicate a trend of heightened high beta power (25,5-30 Hz) in the eyes open condition (Cz : z = 1.86; p.= 0.06) and a deficit in the delta range in the eyes closed condition (T3 : z = 1.34; p.=0.18). Furthermore, in the eyes open condition, the excess in high beta power is significantly higher in the right hemisphere in comparison to the left, especially on Fp2 (df 12; p.=.014), F4 (df 12; p.=.011), F8 (df 12; p.=.000) and T4 (df 12; p.=.000). These preliminary results suggest that the observed cortical hyperarousal reflected by heightened beta power levels in the sleep EEG, continues to be apparent in the wake EEG. Furthermore, there might be a dominance of beta power in the right hemisphere in insomniacs. We stress again that all comparisons were made against the Thatcher database. The influence of contextual cues on the wake EEG in insomnia patients The behavioural perspective posits that in chronic insomnia contextual cues related to sleep (such as the bedroom) may lead to a conditioned arousal respons, resulting in a difficulty of falling asleep and/or staying asleep. As recent research has shown that the hyperarousal is also present on the level of the cortex measured by the EEG, one might assume that these sleep related cues may also have an influence on specific EEG components. A wake EEG (eyes closed) and a sleep EEG (F3, C4 and O1) were obtained in 11 primary insomnia patients, diagnosed according to the DSM-IV criteria. EOG and EMG were recorded in both measurements and used for artefact rejection. Impedances were kept below 10 kOhm. For the wake EEG, a minimum of 90 seconds of artefact-free wake-EEG data per patient was used for further analysis. For the sleep EEG, the first 5 minutes of wakefulness during the sleep onset period were selected. FFT analyses of both conditions were performed using Neuroguide software (Thatcher, 1997). Relative theta (4-8 Hz), alpha (8-12 Hz) and beta (20-30 Hz) EEG power in F3, C4 and 01 were evaluated. Bonferroni correction for location was performed. The results indicate a significant increase in theta power at C4 (t(10) = 2.877, p < .05)* and O1(t(10) = 2.681, p < .05)* when lying awake in bed with eyes closed compared to the wake EEG measurement performed in an experimental room of our lab. No differences were observed for alpha or beta power (Figure 4).

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Figure 4: The electroencephalographic brain waves of interest. The heightened theta power when trying to fall asleep suggests that the context of lying in bed serves as a cue that might initiate sleep onset processes. The lack of decrease in beta power might be an indication of interference of these processes. However, an age-matched control group of healthy sleepers is necessary to validate this hypothesis. *Bonferroni correction already applied. Polysomnographic and sleep diary before and after bio- or neurofeedback training Insomnia is a sleeping disorder, usually studied from a behavioural perspective, with a focus on somatic and cognitive arousal. Recent studies have indicated that a third arousal component may be in play, namely cortical arousal, reflected by heightened beta and gamma power during the sleep onset period, NREM and REM sleep. As such, a treatment modality focussing on CNS arousal might be of interest. 17 insomnia patients (6 female, 11 men) were randomly assigned to either a sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) tele- neurofeedback (n = 8) or an electromyography (EMG) tele-biofeedback (n = 8) protocol. The sessions 127

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were performed from the patient’s homes through a secure internet connection. The neurofeedback protocol consisted of the inhibition of theta (4-8Hz) and beta (20-30Hz) EEG activity, as well as the reinforcement of SMR (12-15Hz) all at Cz. The biofeedback protocol was an EMG inhibitor with electrodes placed at Fpz. A polysomnography was performed pre and posttreatment, and a morning questionnaire was used to monitor subjective data on their sleep. Sleep Onset Latency (SOL), Wake After Sleep Onset (WASO), Total Sleep Time (TST), Sleep efficiency (SE) were our primary outcome variables. A significant decrease in SOL pre to post treatment in both groups (F(1,15) = 10,56; p. < .01) was observed. The SE improved significantly after training (F(1,15) = 6,41; p.