Research and publications

• Bonard, C., Contesi, F., and Teresa, M. (forthcoming). The Power of Propaganda. Under contract with Cambridge University Press.

This book offers an accessible analysis of propaganda, with a focus on how to conceptualize this phenomenon and its power to manipulate. From the Reformation to twentieth-century totalitarianism and contemporary digital manipulation, it analyzes emblematic cases to illuminate propaganda’s mechanisms and social impact. It evaluates competing definitions of propaganda, distinguishing it from misinformation, conspiracy theories, and hate speech, while offering a conceptual framework grounded in linguistic, epistemic, and moral analysis. It explores how propaganda operates through language, emotion, and the arts, including contemporary interactions between artistic media and new technologies. It concludes by assessing propaganda’s power over action and belief and by considering the prospects for epistemic vigilance in democratic societies.

• Bonard, C. (in preparation). A Pragmatics of Control. 

This monograph develops a novel framework for analyzing a common but neglected phenomenon where an agent conveys a message through a recognizably controllable behavior (verbal or nonverbal), but without the intention to send this message. I argue that accounting for this phenomenon requires a shift from traditional pragmatic theories, which focus on speaker intentions, to a pragmatics of control that prioritizes the agent's public responsibility for the effects of their actions, regardless of their intentions.

• Bonard, C. (in preparation). Philosophical tools for a sustainable world.

This book presents philosophical theories from ethics, political philosophy, social ontology, philosophy of language, mind, and science, selected for their usefulness in understanding and mitigating the ecological crisis. It frames these theories as adaptable tools that clarify the normative, conceptual, and psychological dimensions of environmental issues. Drawing largely on analytic philosophy, while integrating insights from classical figures, it introduces readers to core concepts in a way that also builds general philosophical competence.

Forthcoming

23. Bonard, C. 'Are Emotions Key to Political Engagement? The Case of Environmental Mitigation', Review of Philosophy and Psychology.

22. Bonard, C. ‘Identity-based irrationality and the goal-directed theory of emotions’, Emotion Review.

21. Bonard, C. & Di Pietro, C. 'Faire corps à distance : une enquête sur l’incarnation affective commune en milieu militant' [Being one at a distance: an investigation into shared emotional embodiment in activist circles], in Les désordres de l’interaction, ed. by Kaufmann, L. & Oberhauser, P.-N., Georg éditeurs.

20. Bonard, C. 'Émotions musicales et le paradoxe de l’abstrait émotionnel' [Musical emotions and the paradox of emotional abstractness], in La variété des émotions, ed. by S. Lepine & S. Lemaire, Elliot éditions.

2025

19. Bonard, C. ‘La nature des émotions : Une recension partisane’ [‘The nature of emotions: An opiniated review’], Les Ateliers de l’éthique/The Ethics forum. https://doi.org/10.7202/1117228ar 

2024

18. Bonard, C. & Humbert-Droz, S. ‘The definition of art’, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://iep.utm.edu/definition-of-art/ 

17. Bonard, C. ‘Emotions represent evaluative properties unconsciously’, Erkenntnis. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-024-00873-w 

16. Bonard, C., and Cortal, G. ‘Improving Language Models for Emotion Analysis: Insights from Cognitive Science.’ In Proceedings of the Workshop on Cognitive Modeling and Computational Linguistics, ed. by T. Kuribayashi, G. Rambelli, E. Takmaz, P. Wicke, and Y. Oseki, Association for Computational Linguistics, Bangkok, 264–77.

Une version française est également disponible, publiée dans les Actes de JEP-TALN-RECITAL 2024 [accès libre].

15. Bonard, C., Contesi, P., and Marques, T. ‘The defectiveness of propaganda’, The Philosophical Quarterly, 74(4), p. 1080-1201. DOI: 10.1093/pq/pqae048. [preprint]

14. Bonard, C. ‘Can AI and humans genuinely communicate?’, in Anna Strasser (ed.), Anna's AI Anthology. How to live with smart machines?, Xenemoi, Berlin. [preprint]

2023

13. Bonard, C. ‘Underdeterminacy without ostension: A blind spot in the prevailing models of communication’, Mind and Language, 39(2), 142–161, DOI: 10.1111/mila.12481. [preprint]

12. Bonard, C. ‘Natural meaning, probabilistic meaning, and the interpretation of emotional signs’, Synthese, 201:167. [preprint]

11. Bonard, C. & Deonna, J. ‘Emotion and language in philosophy’, in G. Lenore, Schiewer, J. Altarriba and B. Chin Ng, (eds), Language and emotion. An International handbook, De Gruyter, Berlin. [preprint]

2022

10. Bonard, C. ‘The rationality of mood’, in J. Deonna, C. Tappolet and F. Teroni (eds.), A Tribute to Ronald de Sousa. URL https://www.unige.ch/cisa/related-sites/ronald-de-sousa/ 

9. Bonard, C. ‘Beyond ostension: Introducing the expressive principle of relevance’, Journal of Pragmatics, 187, 13-23. [preprint]

8. Bonard, C., Cova, F., & Humbert-Droz, S. ‘De gustibus est disputandum: An empirical investigation of the folk concept of aesthetic taste’, in J. Wyatt, J. Zakkou & D. Zeman (eds.), Perspectives on taste, Routledge, London. [preprint]

2021

7. Wharton, T., Bonard, C., Dukes, D., Sander, D., & Oswald, S. ‘Relevance and emotion’, Journal of Pragmatics, 181, 259-269. [open access]

6. Bonard, C. ‘Émotions et sensibilités aux valeurs : Quatre conceptions philosophiques contemporaines’ [‘Emotions and sensitivity to values : Four contemporary philosophical conceptions’], Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale, 110(2), 209-229. [preprint]

5. Bonard, C. & Vazard, J. ‘Pas de panique ?’ [‘Don’t panic?’], Les Ateliers de L'Ethique / The Ethics Forum, 16(1), 1-14. [open access]

2020

4. Bonard, C. & Humber-Droz, S. ‘Art’, in M. Kristanek, Encyclopédie Philosophique, URL http://encyclo-philo.fr/.

2019

3. Bonard, C. ‘Lost in Musical Translation. An empirical study of musical grammar’, in F. Cova and S. Réhault (eds.), Advances in Experimental Philosophy of Aesthetics, Bloomsbury Academic, London. [preprint]

2. Bonard, C. & Neeser, B. ‘Les incantatifs : actes de langage, évaluations collectives et groupes sociaux’ [‘The incantatives: Speech acts, collective evaluations, and social groups’], in Implications Philosophiques, 100. [open access]

2018

1. Bonard, C. & Levinson, J. ‘La Créativité’ [‘Creativity’], in E. Tieffenbach and J. Deonna (eds.), Dictionnaire des Valeurs, Editions d’Ithaque, Paris. [preprint]

12. Bonard, C. (2025). “Reasoning as Mental Actions”, in A Causerie on Reasoning, AI-Phi, blog post [link]. 

11. Bonard, C., Contesi, F., Marques, T. (2025). “What Is This Thing Called Propaganda?” Open Philosophy, blog post [link].

10. Bonard, C. (2019). ‘Humeur et émotions’, Questions–Réponses RTS découvertes, blog post, [link].

9. Bonard, C. & Humbert-Droz, S. (2019). ‘Les actes désintéréssés existent-ils?’, Questions–Réponses RTS découvertes, blog post [link].

8. Bonard, C. (2017). ‘Can fear be enjoyable?’ 'Comment peut-on aimer avoir peur?', in Emotions, ed. by D. Sander and N. Hershdorfer, Benteli Publishing, Zürich. [preprint]

7. Bonard, C. (2017). ‘L'invisible nature de l'art visuel. La théorie des qualités quaternaires appliquées aux acquarelles de Michael Rampa’, in Strappato, Micronaut Editions, Vevey. [preprint]

6. Sarzano, M., Van Loon, M., Bonard, C., & Neeser, B. (2016). ‘Les vices épistémiques de Sam : un homme de ressentiment, suffisant, bête et complaisant’, in a Festschrift dedicated to Kevin Mulligan, iphilo. [published version]

5. Bonard, C. & Neeser, B. (2016). ‘Perdre sa vie à la gagner : Une analyse conceptuelle, normative et généalogique des apparences et de la nature des perdants’, in Acte du Loøseloque: Boloss, Perdants, Rejetés. Ed. by Association Cooloque, Cooloque Editions, Lausanne. [preprint]

4. Bonard, C. & Neeser, B. (2014). ‘L'art de ne rien faire: les normes du chill’, in De la Skholè au Chill: repenser le temps libre, Actes du Colloque. Ed. by Association Cooloque, Cooloque Editions, Lausanne. [preprint]

3. Bonard, C. (2013). ‘Le kitsch du snob: quand être dégouté par le kitsch est-il inapproprié?’, in iphilo, 5. [published version]

2. Bonard, C. & Neeser, B. (2012). ‘C’est quoi un hipster? Essai d’ontologie sociale’, in C’est cool un livre? Actes du colloque: Instances et propriétés d'être cool. Ed. by Association Cooloque, Cooloque Editions, Lausanne. [published version]

1. Bonard, C. & Neeser, B. (2011). ‘Ebauche d’une théorie du cool’, in iphilo, 4. [published version]

These manuscripts are available on demand: don't hesitate to contact me.

Submitted

6. Bonard, C. and Matheson, B. [about the nature of emotion-based evaluative properties like being shameful, disgusting, or amusing]

5. Bonard, C. [about whether AI models can communicate emotionally with us]

4. Bonard, C. & Diaz, R. [about what and how slurs communicate]

3. Bonard, C. [about belief-desire theories of emotion].

2. Bonard, C. [about affective speech acts and their influence on the formation and maintenance of social groups].

1. Dubourg, E., Thouzeau, V., Beuchot, T, Bonard, C., 25 other authors, and Baumard, N. [about the cognitive and affective mechanisms explaining why humans consume fictional stories]

First drafts

4. First draft Bonard, C. [about unintentionally sending harmful messages]

3. First draft Bonard, C. [about musical meaning and how theories of meaning in semantics and pragmatics can account for it].

2. First draft Bonard, C. [about the meaning of slurs given insights from the affective sciences]

1. First draft Bonard, C. [about understanding expressive speech acts given insights from the philosophy of emotion].