1The battle of "marriage for all" has served as a model: rapid and profound societal changes are taking place, and the legal code has not yet figured out what it means. This has caused minds to be troubled and makes it necessary to examine them more deeply in order to clarify the stakes. It is precisely because of current events that we consider this pressing issue with the publication of two opposite points of view. Psychoanalysts Monette Vacquin and Jean-Pierre Winter uncover the implications in the upheaval of parental reference points that seem to them to justify opposing a reform that is blind to its consequences. Philippe Ratte proposes clarifying the new idea of family brought on by changes in values—an idea where same-sex marriage also finds its place.
2It is clear that the changes in the feminine condition over the last fifty years represents one of these fundamental changes that cannot be reduced to legal advances in equality. It involves people's identity. Camille Froidevaux-Metterie analyzes this effort to redefine women. But the same movement has consequences for values. Most notably, it restarts the debate on the abolition of prostitution. It creates a dilemma between the refusal to undermine human dignity, as represented by the sale of one's own body, and each person's right to use it as he or she sees fit. Sylviane Agacinski argues for the need to avoid this false opposition.
Contemporary individualization has a price, namely, the solitude of the individual free from social guardianship. Sebastien Dupont explores its multiple facets.
3In the same way, technological progress in medicine has not all been positive. There is also another side, which is to ensure the survival of people who have been seriously weakened. Anne-Laure Boch, a practicing doctor, exposes the ethical dilemmas raised by this creation of disability. We are aware of the role sports play in revealing social values in our society. Le Débathas dedicated many pages to this topic. In the current state of affairs, what then does the emergence of an extreme sport like "ultimate fighting" represent, where regulated competition is returning to unregulated confrontation? Thierry Blin decodes its significance.
