19.7.08
Hope and Mary Zournazi
I just came across this post that links to a PDF of Mary Zournazi's book on Hope from a few years back. One of the people she interviewed was Michel Serres. That's of interest. But the other people she interviewed are also well worth reading. The book is a reminder of the role that intangibles, like hope, play in our lives individually and collectively. High tech doesn't render these threads of the social fabric out-of-date.
6.7.08
More Books Added
While in Ottawa recently, I stopped in at the Librairie du Soleil on Rue George - just to the east of Parliament Hill. My good fortune was to find that they had four Michel Serres titles in French that I didn't have. The new additions to my library are: Hominescence, Le Tiers-Instruit, Les Cinq Sens, Le Mal Propre. My desire to become better in speaking and reading French will be enhanced by these texts as I pursue what will, undoubtedly, be a life-long effort to understand more fully the nuance and style of Serres.
14.5.08
What does the world think of Michel Serres?
Inspired by Angela Last's comments to me in a recent email, I'd like learn what people from among the international readership of Michel Serres think about his work. The idea isn't to try to find concensus but rather to explore the range of reactions and thoughts that his complex work inspires in people.Angela's opening volley
I think Michel Serres has a different status in each European country. In Germany, for instance, hardly anyone knows him, although a few of his books were translated into German. In England, he is very popular with a lot of social scientists, but not so much with philosophers. In France and the francophone part of Switzerland, he seems to be a well-known figure (intellectuals are much more public figures over there - they are on TV and in magazines and everything), but a figure of some sort of controversy: some people like him, some people smile at his ideas, some people are enraged by him joining the academie francaise, some people outright deride his ideas.
In Canada, I'd say he's largely unknown, though where he is read, I think he has a hearing. Memorial University in St. John's, NFLD, awarded him an honourary doc a few years back.
Send in your comments and take a swing at figuring out what people in your part of the world think about his ideas.
11.5.08
New Serres Posts
Here are some new posts that provide commentary on Serres and his work.
Andrew Czink - Simon Fraser University
Kotaku - Serres shows up in a gaming review
Peter Jones - Health care and Hodges
Stanford - Topics in French Literature, Philosophy and Humanities
Angela - Mutable Matter blog - a surprise discovery in a bookstore
31.3.08
Michel Serres and UNESCO
My Google Alert inbox this morning let me know that Michel Serres has contributed to a UNESCO book titled "Making Peace with the Earth" (Berghahn Books/UNESCO Publishing). I wasn't familiar with the series but apparently it is the third volume in the UNESCO 21st Century Talks which is edited by Jérôme Bindé. The article from a Turkish source states that Paul Crutzen, Nicolas Hulot, Javier Pérez de Cuellar, Michel Serres, Mostafa Tolba, Asit K. Biswas and Edward O. Wilson are among the contributors. A quick spin around the UNESCO site didn't turn anything up on the book. I'll check back later.
22.3.08
Steven Connor - paper on Serres and the Middle
A provoking meditation on the very common Serresian theme of the middle, as a passing between things.
"There are two kinds of middle, static and dynamic. There is the abstract middle, or centre, that part of a structure which is equidistant from all bounding edges. Then there is the more dynamic kind of middling or mediation, which consists in a movement towards the middle, which never comes to reside there. The line which runs down the centre of an opening in a book divides it into two, but does not belong to the space of the page, since there is no part of the page that does not belong to the recto or the verso. The dynamism of the middle arises when the middle of the page is folded into the middle of one of the spaces it divides off, which then creates two more halves, and another middle into which the centre may be drawn. This kind of middling is always on the hop, an unbalanced attempt to re-topple itself into balance."
Weissman on the Birth of Physics
The title link will bring you to Joseph Weissman's article that explores some key ideas relating to Michel Serres, mathematics and physics.
Declination in a Laminar Flow
Serres begins the first section of The Birth of Physics by showing how the clinamen (atomic swerve) has been represented as a weakness of atomic theory, as a prescientific absurdity. Why has it been able to appear this way? First, because declination is a physical absurdity (since experimentation cannot reveal its existence); second, it is a mechanical absurdity (since it is contrary to the principle of inertia and would result in perpetual motion); and finally, it is a logical absurdity (since it is introduced without justification, as being the cause of itself before being the cause of all things.) Serres writes: “The thing is so absurd and so far from our experience that the physicalist minimizes it, as if to hide it.”
Declination in a Laminar Flow
Serres begins the first section of The Birth of Physics by showing how the clinamen (atomic swerve) has been represented as a weakness of atomic theory, as a prescientific absurdity. Why has it been able to appear this way? First, because declination is a physical absurdity (since experimentation cannot reveal its existence); second, it is a mechanical absurdity (since it is contrary to the principle of inertia and would result in perpetual motion); and finally, it is a logical absurdity (since it is introduced without justification, as being the cause of itself before being the cause of all things.) Serres writes: “The thing is so absurd and so far from our experience that the physicalist minimizes it, as if to hide it.”
21.3.08
Raoul Mortley - Interview of Michel Serres
ABSTRACT (click for PDF of interview)
Michel Serres was born in France in 1930, and is Professor in History of Science at the Sorbonne (Paris 1). He began his adult life by training for the navy, and a love for the sea and its metaphors is always evident in his work. Originally from the south of France, Michel Serres is keenly interested in rugby. His philosophical work began with the study of Leibniz, but following this he embarked on his own self-expression, which led him to the five-volume Hermes series of books. Some of Leibniz' themes persist throughout his work, particularly those concerned with combination, communication and invention. His method is based on an encyclopaedic approach, and this holism is evident in his writing: all kinds of data are held to contribute to philosophy, and the philosopher must not cut himself off from any form of investigation. His most recent work bridges the gap between philosophy and literature, and it has a wide readership.
Michel Serres was born in France in 1930, and is Professor in History of Science at the Sorbonne (Paris 1). He began his adult life by training for the navy, and a love for the sea and its metaphors is always evident in his work. Originally from the south of France, Michel Serres is keenly interested in rugby. His philosophical work began with the study of Leibniz, but following this he embarked on his own self-expression, which led him to the five-volume Hermes series of books. Some of Leibniz' themes persist throughout his work, particularly those concerned with combination, communication and invention. His method is based on an encyclopaedic approach, and this holism is evident in his writing: all kinds of data are held to contribute to philosophy, and the philosopher must not cut himself off from any form of investigation. His most recent work bridges the gap between philosophy and literature, and it has a wide readership.
22.8.07
Angels and Beasts
In the section of Angels that deals with angels and beasts, Serres explores the dynamic of chaos and order through mythical creatures. The categories we use to demarcate each, assigning certain attributes to the angels and other, generally contrasting attributes to the beasts or monsters or demons. Our own world bears witness to the complexity of trying to neatly scribe such lines between things. When it is most confusing, I imagine some analytically fixated scholar trying to draw a line between hot and cold in a turbulent stream. There is hot and cold, as there are other polarities. The perplexity comes in learning their distinctions.
18.8.07
Quebec City Bookstore
This is the bookstore where I purchased the books mentioned in the previous post. For some of you, access to this kind of resource is likely easy. Living in Calgary, Alberta, it is less so for me. Online access is, of course, an open door to all kinds of great resources but having a chance to browse through a shop in a French speaking community was deeply encouraging. I don't think the store has a website but I commend it to you if you ever have the chance to visit Quebec City.Here's the address:
Librairie Generale Francaise
10, cote de la Farbrique, Quebec G1R 3V7
1-418-692-2442 or 1-418-692-2449
email is lgf {at} biz {dot} videotron [dot] ca
7.8.07
A Wonderful Find
While on a month-long road trip this summer with my family, I had a chance to visit Quebec City. There, within the beautiful walls, I found a French bookstore. After entering, I located the philosophy section and was excited to see a plastic wrapped edition of Le Systeme de Leibniz et ses modeles mathematiques. As a slow student of French, I will have my work cut out digging through this but it will be worth every effort. I asked the shopkeeper if he had any more works by Serres. He returned with Le Contrat Naturel, La Legende des Anges, and Les Origines de la Geometrie. This was such a welcome find.
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