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

Michel Serres Awarded the 2013 Dan David Prize

Ynetnews, the English language Israeli publication of Yedioth Media Group, published a brief summary of the Dan David Prize awardees which this year include Michel Serres. The general criteria for the Tel Aviv University-based award are stated on the website as follows (image is also from the website):

The Dan David Prize covers three time dimensions - Past, Present and Future - that represent realms of human achievement. Each year the International Board chooses one field within each time dimension. Following a review process by independent Review Commitees comprised of renowned scholars and professionals, the International Board then chooses the laureates for each field. 

The Past refers to fields that expand knowledge of former times.
The Present recognizes achievements that shape and enrich society today.
The Future focuses on breakthroughs that hold great promise for improvement of our world.

Michel Serres was awarded the prize in the "Present" category as an acknowledgement of the influence he has had on contemporary society. In particular, the role of public intellectuals whose philosophical reflection and engagement promote greater well-being, is associated with this category. Michel Serres has certainly filled this role admirably as he has challenged us to deeper thought about the meaning of technology, communications, contracts, academic and research silos, as well as the propensity for violence and exclusion that many modern systems exhibit.

His work has not only been a critique of where we are failing, it has also caused us to consider hopeful directions such as the potential that a more synthetic frame of mind contains for our future well-being.  Congratulations from the many of us who have been inspired by your long decades of toil and the risks you have been willing to take to bring meaning back into our contemplations.

Serres Noted in French Academic Landscape

Mention here in CampusFrench of the contribution of scholars like Serres who have run across, through, among, and within a wide variety of disciplines.

A resurgence of philosophy?

Finn has posted a short piece on the role the Michel Serres may have in re-invigorating the vocation of philosophy. Rather than the coldly clinical dissections of certain branches of twentieth-century Anglo-American analytic philosophy or the deeply obscure and possibly senseless language of some Continental experiments, Serres has laboured to bring philosophy to our attention as a habit of life and mind that infuses our experiences and contemplations with real life, hope and possibility.

Serres loves images like this one of earth, where the flow, patterns and connections can be seen and imagined. And where are the borders? Where are the red lines or dotted black lines that define countries and nations? Why, having seen such images hundreds of times, do we persist in our reduction alone habits? Clearly, reduction is only a very partial truth.