Saint Thomas contre l'agnosticisme

A plusieurs reprises, au cours de sa carriére, saint Thomas s'est attaqué á ceux qui soutiennent que Dieu est inconnaissable pour l'homme, qu'on ne peut démontrer son existence par des arguments apodictiques, que seule la foi nous donne l'assurance qu'il existe. Il e parait intéressant et instructif de voir comment il traite ce probléme dans ses écrits successifs. L'agnosticisme est étudié une premiére fois dans le Scriptum super Sententiis, á propos de la Distinction III du premier livre, oú Pierre Lombard montre comment le Créateur a pu étre connu partir des créatures: Incipit ostendere quomodo per creaturam potuerit cognosci Creator. Ces premiéres pages du Scriptum ont été rédigées en 1253.1Aprés l'analyse du texte du Lombard, notre auteur se pose différentes questions suggérées par ce texte et la premiére est ainsi formulée: Utrum Deus possit cognosci ab intellectu creato..

The impact of the 2016 terrorist attacks in Brussels on tourism

© 2017 Societe Belge de Geographie. All rights reserved. Scientists as well as the general public remember the terrorist attacks that took place in Brussels in March 2016. This was not a stand-alone event since other places were hit previously. This changes people's perception of places - in tourism terms, destinations - and may affect tourists' behavior. In this paper, we explore the effects on two levels. First we compare, for 2015 and 2016, the month-by-month evolution of the number of (international) arrivals, overnight stays and hotels' occupancy rates which tend to respond very quickly, affected by tourists staying away. It is much more difficult to detect changes of feelings and attitude among tourists. We explored the latter via a survey in Brussels and also in Antwerp and Bruges as a kind of benchmark. The results represent bad and good news for the tourism industry in Brussels and Belgium and for Brussels/Belgium as a destination. The bad news is that terrorist attacks did not pass unnoticed. On the contrary, they had an effect on the visitors' behavior in terms of arrivals and overnight stays (with effects on e.g. hotel occupancy) for several months. We see that the effects are felt far beyond the place that suffered from the attack(s), particularly if this place is a brand for the region or for the country. The good news is that tourists, after ca. six months, seem to feel safe again. Therefore, our results are in line with the international literature but our attention is drawn towards the fact that some did adapt their behavior by self-moderation and by avoiding certain places from a safety perspective as well as differences among countries of origin.status: publishe

A value-based monitoring system to support heritage conservation planning

Purpose — The purpose of this paper is to presents a conceptual framework for a value-based monitoring system that serves as the core element for heritage conservation planning of World Heritage Sites. It reports on the early stage of heritage management research within the PRECOM3OS framework, in collaboration with the University of Leuven in Belgium and the Universidad de Cuenca in Ecuador. A new management concept was developed throughout a five-year interdisciplinary and multi-actor growth process within an international setting. – The application of the preventive conservation approach to world heritage management places the concepts of authenticity and integrity at the core of the heritage monitoring system. Moreover, the monitoring system is converted into a decision support tool for intervention and maintenance planning, beyond the mere purpose of inventorying or generating alerts. – The regular update of information for condition, risks and value assessment strengths and support strategic heritage planning. The conceptual information system developed is based on an inventory system and updated through monitoring. Therefore, planners are supplied with a tool for alternative scenarios, potential prioritization of intervention, options for preventive conservation and multi-criteria support for strategic planning over time. – The monitoring system is not fully implemented in the World Heritage Site of Cuenca; however, a generic model is put forward, developed to generate a planning tool that can be applied for different heritage sites. – More specific, the integration of two concepts: the value assessment and monitoring from a preventive conservation perspective is considered an innovative contribution to the development of decision-making systems in the broader urban planning context of historic cities