Welcome to the Michel Serres online hub

In an effort to provide better interaction among Michel Serres readers, I have added this blog component. I wish I could bring together all the people from around the world who have benefited from the valuable ideas that Serres has brought to life through his writings but short of that, I offer another small step in building a more diverse and lively group of conversations around ideas that he would very much want us to extend and multiply.

Dancing Stones (embossed line drawing) M Friesen 2003

Serres Honoured with a 2014 Nonino Prize

While I don't know much about this particular prize, it would seem that the jury was duly impressed with the poetic and rich thought of Serres in The Natural Contract.

Being noted as a "Master of Our Time" is a testament to the how much Serres's work has transcended remote academic spaces and ventured broadly into the world to engage people around a host of vital themes. Acknowledging The Natural Contract as a work of "wise love" is high praise indeed.

You can see a video from the 2013 gala here (it is in Italian - worth listening to even if you can't quite get it all). Vats open, steam escapes, parades  of strong drink, and singing are all part of the celebration.

Latour Educates a Naive Michel Serres

This essay titled The Englightenment Without the Critique: A Word on Michel Serres' Philosophy showed a while back as a Google Alert. I immediately read it. Having worked through Conversations on Science, Culture and Time on many occasions, the variance between Latour and Serres was not surprising. However, the interview format of Conversations allowed for banter, a play, between the two that this sustained piece leaves less room for.

 Latour argues that you can see someone's theory by the manner in which they undertake their exegesis of a text, a kind of behavioural marker for core commitments:

But also,it is my conviction that every science, including the hard ones, is defined by a certain way of practising a peculiar kind of exegesis. Tell me how you comment on a scripture or an inscription, and I will tell you what sort of epistemology you hold on to. Understanding Serres's conception of the commentary is thus also a way of understanding his conception of the sciences. p85-86

There is much more in this Latour chapter, including a very interesting discourse on Serres's metaphysics, understanding of non-linearity, the interdependence of physics and poetry, and so on. Latour often differs sharply with Serres but his engagement does provide a valuable perspective on ways in which we might read Serres.

Ashok Karra has posted a review of Biogea on his blog titled Environmental Philosophy and the Question of Origins. The themes of his engagement and critque will be of interest to Serres readers through not unfamiliar. The many images and metaphors that Serres is famous for are often difficult and confusing when you've grown accustomed to other ways of writing and thinking. Serres is not everyone's cup of tea, as they say. I think you will, however, find it a thoughtful discussion and worth reading.

Translations of Biogea and Variations

Thanks to Randolph Burks for pointing out these two new English translations of Biogea and Variations. Below are the publishers blurbs for both from Amazon so you have a sense of what ground they cover. There are some earlier posts as well on these projects. If anyone would like to offer brief reviews, reflections or interactions with either of these books, I'd be happy to publish them here or you can add them as comments.

Biogea is a mixture of poetry, philosophy, science, and biography exemplary of the style that has made Michel Serres one of the most extraordinary thinkers of his age. His philosophical and poetic inquiry sings in praise of earth and life, what he names singularly as Biogea. In these times when species are disappearing, when catastrophic events such as earthquakes and tsunamis impale the earth, Serres wonders if anyone “worries about the death pangs of the rivers.” And for Serres, one can ask the same question of philosophy as the humanities increasingly find themselves in need of defenders. Today, all living organisms discover themselves part of this Biogea. “Today we have other neighbors, constituents of the Biogea: the sea, my lover; our mother, the Earth, becomes our daughter; this beautiful breeze which inspires the spirit, a spiritual mistress; our light friends, the fresh and flowing waters.”

Variations - World-renowned philosopher, Michel Serres writes a text in praise of the body and movement, in praise of teachers of physical education, coaches, mountain guides, athletes, dancers, mimes, clowns, artisans, and artists. This work describes the variations, the admirable metamorphoses that the body can accomplish. While animals lack such a variety of gestures, postures, and movements, the fluidity of the human body mimics the leisure of living beings and things; what’s more, it creates signs. Already here, within its movements and metamorphoses, the mind is born. The five senses are not the only source of knowledge: it emerges, in large part, from the imitations the plasticity of the body allows. In it, with it, by it knowledge begins.

I've been reading Erich Jantsch Technological Planning and Social Futures (1972) and have found it most interesting on adaptive institutions and the way in which specialists can unwittingly clog the system. He also offers important reflections on how education needs to change in light of this. How much has really changed since he published this?

In the previous post I mentioned the work of a new institute. Pablo has graciously responded to my query and another colleague of his sent this conference link from last year and also this video address by Michel Serres. I try and post primarily English sources on the site but as many of you do speak French, it seemed purdent to post the video and conference link. There is a book from the conference proceedings in addition to the video archives.

Video click here.

Book click here.

News: Michel Serres Institute

Pablo Jensen and company have announced a new Michel Serres Institute for Resources and Public Good that will likely be of interest to readers of Serres. You can read more about it here but I've included a brief excerpt for you:

Humans use their power and know­ledge to manage life sys­tems as well as the bios­phere. Therefore, research must serve to increase human unders­tan­ding of those resour­ces and how best to use them for the public good. The Institute will work towards the desi­red, sus­tai­na­ble condi­tion of our socie­ties through the inte­gra­ted ana­ly­sis, moni­to­ring and mana­ge­ment of resour­ces (pro­duc­tion, dis­tri­bu­tion, access and cir­cu­la­tion)

No doubt the themes in The Natural Contract and many other works will have a bearing on how the activities and writing of the institute unfold over time. This is about all I know of it at this point but if others can contribute background, that would be helpful. I have been in touch with Pablo and hope to add more information here soon.

Trying to Understand Serres: Some "Not Fans" of The Parasite

This is a pretty interesting exchange between some people trying to figure out what Serres means by "The Parasite" within a scientific context. If you have a chance, read it and see what you make of the criticisms and struggles that are at play.

Read the "Not Serres Fans" exchange.

Serres and Railways

Stefan is interested in learning more about where Serres might talk about trains and railways. Within our collective reading and explorations, I thought we might be able to come up with a reasonably comprehensive answer.

Trains + Serres...anyone?

Sport and Serres

Stefan at Traditio has posted a great article that connects football and Serres. The motion of the ball, the movement of individual players, and a great video segment of Zidane all make this worth reading and viewing.

Serres appears to be a very keen sporting enthusiast and this make an intriguing connection between complexity, synthesis, messengers and the ideas he has so richly developed around those themes over the years.

Some Posts on Serres in French

For those of you who are interested in reading some posts about Serres in French, you can find some here. If you are less proficient in French, Google can facilitate your cheating (I'm sure some of you are cringing) and give you at least some sense of what is there. 


I keep working on my French (my youngest two are happily in immersion) and constantly envy those who can move with angelic grace between French and English. My lot is to be regularly humbled by my children.


And his new book Biogee as well is here.


Thanks to Stephanie Posthumous for pointing these out.

Serres and Software Company - Trivium

Did anyone else know this? I sure didn't. The connections between Stanford and software development are strong in many of the disciplines but this is a pleasant surprise. According to the company website, Serres is a co-founder of Trivium - you can learn more here.


Has anyone used any of the Trivium tools or approaches? Is Serres involved in any of the functions of the company? It's an intriguing edge.

Serres Influence at Stanford

This interview with a Stanford faculty member who was influenced by Serres is worth reading. Showly Lang talks with Dan Edelstein about who influenced him the most in his studies and work and he picks Serres as an important part of his academic growth and inspiration.

Five Senses - a reflection from Stefan

You'll enjoy reading Stefan's post on what he thinks of Five Senses. Here is the introductory tidbit:

How to approach this book on the five senses (that aren't really five after all)? I loved it, but it's so hard to explain why. It's more the ideas it gives birth to than what's in it. But let me try:

Take your index finger and place it on your bottom lip. Do it! You have to do it, or you wont understand this post. Please do it.

Now, without moving, fix your attention on feeling your lip through your finger (do it, take your time, close your eyes if it helps). OK? Now, shift perspective, and feel your finger through your lip. Isn't that amazing?! One moment you are in your finger, feeling your lip - another moment you are in your lip, feeling your finger! Your consciousness, your self-awareness is somehow shifting place, moving from inside your lip and outside your finger to inside your finger and outside your lip. Yet only one event, one touch, is actually happening. So where are you? In this encounter, this relation, this instance of first-hand knowledge, you are both the knowing subject and the known object. You are outside and inside.

Read more of Stefan's post here.

Alfred Korzybski: Another Geographer of Thought

Alfred Korzybski came up with the phrase "the map is not the territory" and other things. Has anyone read Korzybski? I have not and came across him via this theory of communications post that features Korzybski, The Natural Contract and other communications theory ideas.






After a quick skim of his original Preface for Science and Sanity, I saw that Korzybski notes the implications of new advances in a unified field theory: 

While correcting the proofs of this Preface, I read a telegraphic press report from London by Science Services, that Professor Max Born, by the application of the non-elementalistic methods of Einstein, has succeeded in making a major contribution to the formulation of a unified field theory which now includes the quantum mechanics. Should this announcement be verified in its scientific aspects, our understanding of the structure of ‘matter’, ‘electron’, etc., would be greatly advanced and would involve of course most important practical applications.

Here is the link to a full online version of his Science and Sanity. If anyone else is familiar with Korzybski, I'd be interested to learn more about his life and work.

Serres and the US Debate Circuit

I have happily discovered that Serres's work is being utilized by US debate teams. Jamie Saker, a debate coach says:

We've had an interesting experience with Serres on the debate circuit. Iowa despises "critical" debate (anything beyond advocating policies), where Nebraska is highly critical. We reside on the faultline, closer geographically and philosophically to Nebraska. The current Angels case (with support from Genesis, The Natural Contract, and Latour's Conversations) is interesting but it's a bit complicated. I'm working on an edit for this weekend that narrows the alternative/advocacy portion down since we have too many things in motion. The critique others have of Serres doing "too much at one time" and jumping from Lucretius to Plato to Los Angeles of the sky to Goya in little space/time is even more challenging when you're constrained by an 8 minute affirmative constructive speech.

Indeed. Has anyone else seen Serres's work show up on this kind of debate format? Jamie has also been interested, as noted elsewhere in this blog, in getting English translations of more of Serres's work.

Serres Student Post

I came across this wonderful post from a former student of Serres's, Marylene Delbourg-Delphis, who pursued an entrepreneurial career path after her studies. There are some great photographs and a gracious tribute to the personal dimension of Serres's influence. The occasion was a Stanford celebration recognizing that he has spent thirty years at the university.


If that isn't enough incentive to visit, the subtitle of her website notes an interest in atypical people. It is indeed a heartening tip-of-the-hat to all who have decided to tack into the wind at an angle all their own. The nature and content of the posts are well worth reading and exploring further if you have any interest in thoughtful and seasoned approaches to business and organizational development.

Syracuse Conference - Serres Themes Included

John Caputo and company are putting together a conference titled "The Future of Continental Philosophy of Religion" at Syracuse University, April 7-9, 2011. Papers are being accepted until December 15, 2010 and decisions will be made February 2011.

Within the lengthy call for papers list of questions is this one referencing the work of Serres - "What about the new sciences of information and complexity in thinkers like Mark C. Taylor and Michel Serres?"

If this event is of interest either as an attendee or as a participant, contact and paper submission information can be found at the conference link above.

I'm working on a paper tentatively titled:

Respecting Complexity: Michel Serres and the Challenge of Reductive Cultural Analysis.

It looks at how: "the hazards of specialization encompass both the ‘specialists’ who do the work and the ‘objects’ of their reductive scrutiny, whether organic or inorganic, human or non-human. The specialist can lose contextual perspective leading to psychological fragmentation that mirrors the narrow focus of inquiry. An inability to integrate ideas and circumstances beyond the ‘known’ range of experience can produce anxiety as the apparently inassimilable information scrutiny can suffer too from the dissecting which specialization thrives on because certain emergent properties and qualities are lost when their various aspects are separated out from each other for independent examination."

Is anyone else working on papers related to Serres's work?

Variations on the Body - Michel Serres document

Randolph Burkes sent me this English translation Variations Sur La Corps with an open invite to make it available - see his note below.

Enjoy. I hope this is a helpful resource. It may be that some adjustment of layout, adding page numbers and other design/format ideas are worth considering.

Hi, I noticed you have a blog about Serres.

I've had a translation of his Variations sur le corps in my desk for about four years now but have had little luck getting such a heavily illustrated book published. So I've decided to just send it around to people who would be interested in having a copy.

Do with it what you please. Share it. I'm sure M. Serres would approve. Too bad I can't send the photos, but the references and captions are included.

Ciao!

Randolph Burks

Serres Paper Presentation - May 12 in London

Contemporary Political Theory Research Group

Wednesday, 12th May, 5-6:30pm

FW101, Founder’s Building, Royal Holloway University of London

Prof. Jane Bennett (Johns Hopkins University)

“Michel Serres, A Topography of Becoming, and the Practice of History”

Abstract: There is a group of political theorists today who affirm one of the various ontologies of “becoming” that philosophers such as Nietzsche, Bergson, Whitehead, Deleuze and Guattari, and Michel Serres have articulated. For these thinkers, the cosmos is best characterized not as a fixed order but as a flow, generative process, creative evolution, or ontological ruckus. While a focus on the fragility and changeability of orders has received much attention, it is also important, I contend, for political theorists of becoming to try to characterize, to give some specificity to, the strange systematicity proper to a mobile and protean world. My essay draws upon Michel Serres to address the question of how it is that forms manage to appear amidst the general hustle and flow of life. Serres, I contend, offers a rich conceptual and metaphorical repertoire for thinking about the formativity of becoming and for mapping the course of its congealments. I first consider Serres’ metaphysics of “noise,” I then turn to the distinctive phases he discerns with it, and I conclude by drawing out some implications of his topography of becoming for the practice of doing history and political theory.

A one day conference on “The Margins of Citizenship” is planned for November, in collaboration with the Department of Politics, University of Leicester.