English
"We call for the reconciliation of man with his full being. Not as an ebble carried away by the torrent, but as an actor and subject of history, man with intact purity in the deepest mystery of a conscience."
Maurice Marois
Preface of Document for History
By Pr. Maurice Marois – 1998
We are all working one by one for the line of common history
(Chateaubriand)
Lost amidst tens of billion of stars that constitute a galaxy, hundreds of billion of galaxies moving in the universe, a tiny point in the haze of stars, a planet, the Earth, was born four billion and a half years ago. On this planet, of the same nature as the immense cosmos, life appeared four billion years ago, and evolved during forty million centuries. The human being is the last born. Then came the slow discovery, by the human mind of the universe and the self.
During its brief history, man has already won his struggle against the hostile universe, he has asserted his power over inanimate matter and the living kingdom, he has renewed his concepts of himself and the cosmos; never was his situation so prosperous, nor was it ever so precarious. For, victorious over all his enemies, he is now confronting himself. Maintaining, transmitting life, such is the humble lesson of the bacterium, the worm and the reed. Is man, a superior form, going to ignore this elementary wisdom of primitive forms? Is he going to use freedom the supreme acquisition of life, to turn it against himself?
“The wind is rising, we must try to live.”
Thus spoke Paul Valery. Since men have been me, the wind has risen and they have tried to live. They have tried to live, and did live, since we are here – alive – the present rings in a long chain of generations, come from bottomless and <ho, ring after ring should go on indefinitely.
Because life is the most precious good, because we are getting more acutely a<are of its value, because the wish to live and to blossom out is in the hearts of all peoples of the Earth, the theme of life has become a major one.
The theme of science, which is drastically changing human condition by giving man boundless power also seems to be a major theme.
The Institut de la Vie :
- Permanently engages in a fundamental and applied, theoretical and practical reflection on life and human condition, be it our own species in the biosphere or man in all his dimension;
- Gathers the best scientific and technical competences to seek, at every moment, in the pluralism of disciplines and philosophies, the solutions best adapted to human aspirations and needs, thus helping in the decision making the highest authorities;
- Set up a confrontation between scientists of all disciplines and the men who inspire, judge, use or are subjected to progress;
- Establishes a flow of exchanges between men at all levels to make them aware of the value of life and educate them to make them respect it.
We must understand the universe that surrounds us and with some of the best brains of the time, ponder on the mechanisms of life. We must make science serve human life, from the first encounter of the spermatozoid and the ovum from the first cry in the cradle to the last breath.
And new fields are continually opening up to its action : protection of the genetic inheritance against mutagenic and carcinogenic chemical agents in the environment, so that man remains man, prevention of congenital abnormalities and mental retardation, global warming, fight against the parasitical diseases that affect 80% of Third World inhabitants, AIDS, tropical biology, preservation of the diversity of species, improvement of the habitat, growth control, aging : a challenge for science and social policy, needs and resources : towards a plan of actions for mankind (economy, energy, pollution, mineral resources, global systems models), man and computer, the consequences of scientific and technical breakthroughs for man and society, the problem of ends.
Thanks to the Prizes of the Institut de la Vie we wish to induce people to love life, to defend it and make it blossom out.
Through a great diplomatic action, we wish to establish the Institut de la Vie on an independent and universal institutional base.
We wish to give Heads of States the historic opportunity of offering life to men’s hope for the world salvation, a politically new idea.
The unity of knowledge, the unity of humankind, the defense and illustration of the highest values, such is the immense design of the Institut de la Vie, to open up to life the fabulous future it is destined to.
Complementary to the great educational and research establishments and specialized agencies, it assumes a threefold function of analysis, vigilance and initiative.[…]
The Institut de la Vie celebrates life in its splendor and munificence. It is an act of trust in the greatness of man and an act of faith.
Life intrudes into all great international debates; it will cause a dramatic shift in the orientation of the policies of nations.
The challenge of life will dominate the human history of centuries to come. […]
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