Humanitarianism is a powerful rhetorical argument. This strength comes from its positive moral charge, which makes it a “magnetic concept” in the same way as other irredeemably attractive or repulsive terms. This astonishing property conceals an abundance of political possibilities that need to be deciphered. Moreover, it also exerts a significant influence on the social sciences, which it circumscribes within a set of limits that it is important to be aware of. These conceptual phenomena go far beyond the case of “humanitarianism”, like the Péan-Kouchner controversy in France in February 2009, which highlighted the contours and uses of values considered fundamentally good or bad.