@clairemathieu Different ways of thinking and doing science. There are many different approaches that you can take to your work, and science would not progress without that freedom. As Feyerabend would say, when it comes to ways of doing science "anything goes".

In principle the freedom of CNRS is very good for accommodating that. I think of it as one of the big strengths of the institution. But not all leadership sees that and strives to support it. For example, currently CNRS strongly encourages its researchers to connect and collaborate with the other researchers in ones lab. This is a top-down recommendation, compatible with some ways of working and not with others.