The growing ascertainment, guided by the natural sciences, of the determinism that rules how living organisms work is often contrasted with a humanism of Kantian foundation. At issue here is the actual condition of human autonomy, reverberating on that of human responsibility both at the social and at the individual levels. Based on Spinozist philosophy, Atlan endorses the deterministic postulates of scientific investigations, though he reconciles them to the statement of the human being’s full freedom and responsibility. Initially, with the strategic background of distinctions in conceptions of human nature, we will review the different approaches of autonomy and determinism on the part of ethics and science. We will then concentrate on the discussion of the dilemma by Atlan, in his essay of 2002, La Science est-elle Inhumaine: essai sur la libre nécessité. Our conclusion redefines the meaning of "humanism" pursuant to the new conceptual demands of the 21st century.
Science; Ethics; Freedom; Necessity; Complexity