Michel Serres
Encyclopedia
Michel SerresMichel Serres (born September 1, 1930 in Agen
, France
) is a French philosopher and author, celebrated for his unusual career.
, in 1949 and the École Normale Supérieure
("rue d'Ulm") in 1952. He aggregated
in 1955, having studied philosophy
. He spent the next few years as a naval officer before finally receiving his doctorate
in 1968, and began teaching in Paris
.
As a child, Serres witnessed firsthand the violence and devastation of war
. "I was six for my first dead bodies," he told Bruno Latour
. He studied mathematics
and science in the shadow of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
. These formative experiences led him to consistently eschew scholarship
based upon models of war, suspicion, and criticism.
Over the next twenty years, Serres earned a reputation as a spell-binding lecturer and as the author of remarkably beautiful and enigmatic prose so reliant on the sonorities of French that it is considered practically untranslatable. He took as his subjects such diverse topics as the mythical Northwest Passage
, the concept of the parasite, and the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger
. More generally Serres is interested in developing a philosophy of science
which does not rely on a metalanguage
in which a single account of science is privileged and regarded as accurate. To do this he relies on the concept of translation
between accounts rather than settling on one as authoritative. For this reason Serres has relied on the figure of Hermes
(in his earlier works) and angel
s (in more recent studies) as messengers who translate (or: map) back and forth between domains (i.e., between maps).
In 1990, Serres was elected to the Académie française
, in recognition of his position as one of France's most prominent intellectuals. In the English-speaking world, Serres teaches regularly at Stanford University
and is an influence on intellectuals such as Bruno Latour
and Steven Connor
.
Serres is a vocal enthusiast for freely accessible knowledge, especially Wikipedia
.
Hermès. Vol 2: L’Interférence. Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1972.
Hermès. Vol 3: La Traduction. Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1974.
Hermès. Vol 4: La Distribution. Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1981. [1977]
Hermès. Vol 5: Le Passage du nord-ouest. Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1980.
Translation of Selections of the above: Hermes: Literature, Science and Philosophy. ed. Josué V. Harari and David F. Bell. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982.
Le Messager. Bulletin de la Société Française de Philosophie. 62:2 (1968): 33-71. This paper was originally presented to The Société Française de la Philosophie on November 25, 1967 at 4:30pm in the Michelet Auditorium at the Sorbonne.
“La Formazione della teoria dell’informazione.” La Teoria dell’informazione. Ed J. Roger, Bologna: il Mulino. 1974.
Jouvences sur Jules Verne. Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1974.
Feux et signaux de brume: Zola. Paris: Grasset, 1975.
Esthétiques sur Carpaccio. Paris: Hermann. 1975.
La naissance de la physique dans le texte de Lucrèce. Paris: Minuit, 1977.
The Algebra of Literature. Textual Strategies: Perspectives in Post-Structuralist Criticism. Ed. Josué V. Harari. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 1979.
Le Parasite. Paris: Grasset, 1980.
Translation: The Parasite. trans. Lawrence R. Schehr. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982.
Genèse. Paris : B. Grasset, 1982.
Translation: Genesis. trans. Genevieve James and James Nielson. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995.
“L’homme est un loup pour l’homme.” In René Girard: et le problème du mal. Ed. M. Deguy and J. P. Dupuy. Paris: Grasset, 1982. 301-309
Le Système de Leibnitz et ses modèles mathématiques: étoiles, schémas, points. 2nd Edition. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1982.
Détachement: apologue. Paris: Flammarion, 1983.
Translation: Detachment. trans. Genevieve James and Raymond Federman. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1989.
Rome: le livre des fondations. Paris: B. Grasset, 1983.
Translation: Rome, the Book of Foundations, trans. Felicia McCarren. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991.
L'hermaphrodite: Sarrasine sculpteur. Paris: Flammarion, 1983.
Les cinq sens: philosophie des corps mêlés. Paris: Grasset, 1985.
“Corruption-The Antichrist: A Chemistry of Sensations and Ideas.” Stanford Italian Review 6:1-2 (1986): 31-52
Eléments d'histoire des sciences, sous la direction de Michel Serres. Paris: Bordas, 1989.
Translation: A History of Scientific Thought: Elements of a History of Science. Oxford: Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1995.
Statues : le second livre des fondations. Paris: Flammarion, 1989.
Eclaircissements: cinq entretiens avec Bruno Latour. Paris : Flammarion, 1994.
Translation: Conversations on Science, Culture, and Time. With Bruno Latour. trans. Roxanne Lapidus. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995.
Le Contrat naturel. Paris: Francois Bourin: 1990.
Translation: The Natural Contract. trans. Elizabeth MacArthur and William Paulson. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995.
Le Tiers-instruit. Paris : Gallimard, 1991.
Translation: Troubadour of Knowledge. trans. Sheila Faria Gloser and William Paulson. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997.
Les origines de la géométrie: tiers livre des fondations. Paris: Flammarion, 1993.
La Légende des anges. Paris : Flammarion, 1993.
Translation: Angels: A Modern Myth. trans. Francis Cowper, ed. Phillippa Hurd. New York: Flammarion, 1995.
Atlas. Paris: Julliard, 1994.
Eloge de la philosophie en langue française. Paris: Fayard, 1995.
Les messages à distance. Saint-Laurent: Fides, 1995. This is a published lecture delivered on March 29, 1994 at the University of Montreal and on March 31, 1994 at the Musée de la Civilisation in Quebec City.
Nouvelles du monde. Paris: Flammarion, 1997.
The Birth of Physics. trans. Jack Hawkes. Clinamen Press Ltd: March 2001.
Paysages des sciences. Paris: Le Pommier. 1998
Variations sur le corps. Paris: Le Pommier-Fayard. 1999
Hergé mon ami : études et portrait. Brussells: Moulinsart. 2000
Hominescence. Paris: Le Pommier. 2001
En amour, sommes-nous des bêtes? Paris: Le Pommier. 2002
Jules Verne : La science et l’homme contemporain. Paris: Le Pommier. 2002
L'Homme contemporain. Paris: Le Pommier. 2002
L'Incandescent. Paris: Le Pommier. 2003
Rameaux. Paris: Le Pommier. 2004
Récits d'Humanisme. Paris: Le Pommier. 2006
L'Art des ponts: Homo pontifex. Paris : Le Pommier. 2006
Petites chroniques du dimanche soir : Entretiens avec Michel Polacco. Paris: Le Pommier. 2006
Carpaccio: Les esclaves libérés. Paris: Le Pommier. 2007
Le Mal Propre: Polluer pour s’approprier? Paris: Le Pommier. 2008
La Guerre mondiale. Paris: Le Pommier. 2008
Ecrivains, savants et philosophes font le tour du monde. Paris: Le Pommier. 2009
Temps des crises. Paris: Le Pommier. 2009
Le temps des crises (Le Pommier «Manifestes!», Paris). 2009
and Michel Polacco. Petites chroniques du dimanche soir. Tome 2, Février 2006 - mars 2007. Paris: Le Pommier.
_____. Petites chroniques du dimanche soir. Tome 3, Mars 2007 - décembre 2008. Paris: Le Pommier.
and Bertrand Poirot-Delpech. Discours de reception de Michel Serres à l’Académie française et réponse de Bertrand Poirot-Delpech. Paris: François Bourin. 1991
and Pascal Picq and Jean-Didier Vincent. Qu'est-ce que l'humain? Paris : Le Pommier. ('Le temps humain: de l'évolution créatrice au créateur d'évolution', pp. 69–105) 2003
and Jean-Paul Dekiss. Jules Verne: La science et l'homme contemporain. Paris: Le Pommier. 2003
and Jean Pierre Dupuy, Monique Canto-Sperber. Les limites de l'humain: XXXIXes Rencontres internationales de Genève, 2003: textes des conférences et des débats. Lausanne: L'Age d'homme. 2004
and René Girard. Le Tragique et la pitié: Discours de reception de René Girard à l’Académie française et réponse de Michel Serres. Paris: Le Pommier. 2007
and Pierre Léna. Ciel! mon étoile. Paris: Elytis. 2009
and Mark-R Anspach, Jean-Pierre Dupuy, Pierre Pachet. René Girard. Paris: L’Herne.
and Claude Lévi-Strauss, Jean-Marie Benoist and Françoise Héritier. L’identité. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. 2007
and Cécil Guitart, Yves Coppens. Transmettre le savoir: Des âges préhistoriques au monde numérique. Paris: Pensée sauvage. 2009
and Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent. Eléments d'histoire des sciences. Paris: Bordas. 1993
A History of Scientific Thought: Elements of a History of Science. Oxford: Blackwell. 1995
and Nayla Farouki. Le trésor: Dictionnaire des sciences. Paris: Flammarion. 1998
_____. Trésor de la science. Paris: Flammarion. 1989
and François Dagognet, Allal Sinaceur. Auguste Comte, Cours de philosophie positive. Paris: Hermann. 1998
‘Le Retour Eternel.’ Annales:Histoire, Sciences Sociales, 30, 999-1006. 1975
‘Peter-Stephen Isomorphisms, 2.’ Trans. H. B. von Ohlen. Diacritics, 5, 39-48 (translation of a chapter from Esthétiques : Sur Carpaccio (Paris: Hermann, 1975) ). 1975
‘Michelet: The Soup.’ Trans. Suzanne Guerlac. Clio, 6, 181–91. 1977
‘Jules Verne's Strange Journeys.’ Trans. Maria Malanchuk. Yale French Studies, 52, 174-88 1975
'Exact and Human.' Trans. Winnie Woodhull and John Mowitt. SubStance, 6, 9-19 (translation of 'Exacte et humaine', Hermès V: Le passage du nord-ouest (Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1980), pp. 30–9) 1978
‘Origin of Geometry, IV.’ Diacritics, 8, 24-30 1978
‘Stakes, Fetishes, Merchandise.’ Trans. Raymond Federman. SubStance, 14, 3-31. 1985
‘The Natural Contract.’ Trans. Felicia McCarren. Critical Inquiry, 19, 1-21 (translation of chapter 2 of Le Contrat naturel (Paris: François Bourin) ). 1992
‘Noise.’ Trans. Lawrence R. Schehr. SubStance, 12, 48-60. 1993
‘Anaximander: A Founding Name in History.’ Trans. Roxanne Lapidus. SubStance, 22, 266-273. 1993
‘Science and the Humanities: The Case of Turner.’ SubStance, 83, 6-21. 1997
‘La nature dans les ecrits.’ Courrier de la nature, 170, 40. 1998
‘Enseignement des sciences: Vive la crise ?’ Québec science, 36, 41-4. 1998
‘La leçon de philosophie: La force du recit.’ Monde de l’éducation, 257, 7. 1999
‘La leçon de philosophie: Mais ou sont les infrastructures d'antan?’ Monde de l’éducation, 266, 7. 1999
‘La leçon de philosophie: Le serment du scientifique.’ Monde de l’éducation, 267, 7. 1999
‘Le corps inventé.’ Revue des deux mondes, 7/8, 151-5. 2000
‘New Technologies.’ Mousaion (Pretoria), 19, 25-34. 2001
‘Le concept de nature.’ Bulletin de l’Académie nationale de médecine, 186, 1683-88. 2002
‘La simulation, technique nouvelle, ancienne tradition; avant-propos.’ Clefs CEA (Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique), 47, 2-5. 2003
'Bryce-Hell' and 'Fontenelle, Troubadour of Knowledge'. Trans. Roxanne Lapidus. SubStance, 32, 56-7, 57-9 2003
‘Nature Seen Through Culture.’ Naturopa, 102, 6. 2004
‘Le concept de nature.’ Etudes, 400, 67-74. 2004
'Ego Credo.' Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture, 12-13, 1-11 (extract from Rameaux) 2006
‘La science peut-elle disparaitre?’ Sciences et avenir, 729, 94-5. 2007
‘Culture générique.’ Debat, 145, 40-52. 2007
‘Feux et Signaux de Brume: Virginia Woolf’s Lighthouse.’ Trans. Judith Adler. SubStance, 37, 110-31. 2008
‘Preface’, Jean de Cayeux. Hubert Robert et les jardins. Paris: Herscher. 1987
‘Preface’, Maurice Capul, Abandon et marginalite: les enfants placés sous l'Ancien Regime. Toulouse: Privat. 1989
‘Preface’, Jean-Marc Drouin, L' ecologie et son histoire: réinventer la nature. Paris: Flammarion. 1993
‘Preface’, La controverse entre Stahl et Leibniz sur la vie, l'organisme et le mixte: doutes concernant la vraie théorie médicale du célèbre Stahl, avec les répliques de Leibniz aux observations stahliennes, ed. Sarah Cavallo. Paris: Vrin. 2004
‘Preface’, Lol@. Paris: Les 3 Orangers. 2009
1987
and Francois-Bernard Huyghe. UNESCO Courier, Dec, 1993. Online at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1310/is_1993_Dec/ai_15142922/
‘La rédemption du savoir.’ L'Agora. Online at http://www.agora.qc.ca/textes/serres.html 1997
‘Le malaise des medecins? Une crise due a la complexité du systeme de santé et à l’évolution de la médecine. Entretien avec un philosophe de l'histoire des sciences.’ Concours medical, 125, 300-1. 2003
and Peter Hallward. ‘The Science of Relations: An Interview.’ Angelaki, 8, 227-38. 2003
and Francois-Bernard Huyghe. Online at http://www.huyghe.fr/actu_665.htm 2009
in conversation with Georg Diez and Christopher Roth, 'The Neolithic Age Is Over!'. 032c
, Issue #20, Winter 2010/2011 http://032c.com/2011/the-neolithic-age-is-over/
_____. “Michel Serres: In Search of a Tropography.” In Chaos and Order: Complex Dynamics in Literature and Science. Ed. N. Katherine Hayles. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.
Adamson, Gregory Dale. ‘Serres Translates Howe.’ SubStance, 26, 110-124. 1997
Antonello, Pierpaolo. ‘Celebrating a Master: Michel Serres.’ Configurations, 8, 165-169. 2000
Assad, Maria L. ‘From Order to Chaos: Michel Serres's Field Models.’ SubStance, 20, 33-43. 1991
_____. ‘Portrait of a Nonlinear Dynamical System: The Discourse of Michel Serres, SubStance, 22, 141-52. 1993
_____. Reading with Michel Serres: An Encounter With Time. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press. 1999
_____. 'Language, Nonlinearity, and the Problem of Evil.' Configurations, 8, 165-9. 2000
Auzias, Jean-Marie. Michel Serres: philosophe occitan. Eglise-Neuve-d'Issac: Federop/ Montpeyroux : Jorn. 1992
Berressem, Hanjo. ‘Serres Reads Pynchon/Pynchon Reads Serres.’ Postmodern Culture, 11. 2001
Brown, S.D. “Michel Serres : Science, Translation and the Logic of the Parasite.” Theory, Culture & Society: Explorations in Critical Social Science (June 2002) Volume 19 Issue 03.
Connor, Steven. Michel Serres: The Hard and the Soft. 2009
_____.'Introduction', Michel Serres, The Five Senses: A Philosophy of Mingled Bodies (I), trans. Margaret Sankey and Peter Cowley (London: Continuum), pp. 1–16. 2008
_____. Wherever: The Ecstasies of Michel Serres. 2008
_____. Topologies: Michel Serres and the Shapes of Thought. Anglistik, 15: 105-17. 2004
_____. 'Michel Serres's Les Cinq Sens', in Mapping Michel Serres, ed. Niran Abbas (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press), pp. 153–69. 2005
_____. Michel Serres's Milieux. 2002
Crahay, Anne. Michel Serres: la mutation du cogito; genese du transcendental objectif. Paris: Editions Universitaires Bruxelles/De Boeck Université. 1988
Crawford, T. Hugh. “An Interview with Bruno Latour.” Configurations 1. 1993. 247
Delcò, Alessandro. Morfologie: cinque studi su Michel Serres. Milan: F. Angeli. 1995
_____. ‘Michel Serres: Philosophy as an Indeterminate Essence to be Invented.’ Trans. Matthew Tiews and Trina Marmarelli. Configurations, 8, 229-234. 2000
Egholm, Jesper and Niels Lyngsø, eds. Mangfoldighed og syntese: perspektiver i Michel Serres' filosofi. Copenhagen: Kgl. Danske Kunstakademi. 1998
Ferenczi, Thomas. “Les cinq sens, de Michel Serres.” Review. Le Monde 15 (November): 27-30. 1985
Frémont, Christiane. ‘Michel Serres, ou l'art d'inventer.’ Critique, 380, 56- 1979
Gardeil, Pierre. ‘Considérations sur l'Auteur de la Nature. A propos de Michel Serres.’ Etudes, 376, 231-8 1992
Girard, René. 'From Ritual to Science.' Trans. Trina Marmarelli and Matthew Tiews. Configurations, 8, 171-85. 2000
Giusti, Ada. “L’Académie française et l’évolution de la langue. Entietien avec Michel Serres.” Contemporary French Civilization 20, No. 1 (Winter/Spring), 106-122. 1996
Harris, Paul A.. ‘The Itinerant Theorist: Nature and Knowledge/Ecology and Topology in Michel Serres.’ SubStance, 26, 37-58. 1997
Hayles, N. Katherine. ‘Two Voices, One Channel: Equivocation in Michel Serres.’ SubStance, 17, 3-12. 1988
Hénaff, Marcel. ‘Of Stones, Angels and Humans: Michel Serres and the Global City.’ Trans. Anne-Marie Feenberg. SubStance, 26, 59-80. 1997
Hertz-Ohmes, Peter. “Serres and Deleuze: Hermes and Humour.” Canadian Review of Comparative Literature. 14, No. 2 (June): 239-250. 1987
Isaac, Bonnie J.. ‘ “Du fond d'un naufrage”: Notes on Michel Serres and Mallarmé's “Un Coup de dés.” ’ MLN, 96, 824-38. 1981
Jacquot-David, Sophie. ‘Controverse: Le Contrat naturel de Michel Serres, une nouvelle mystique?’ Esprit, NS 15, 150- 1991
James, Geneviève. “Entretien avec Michel Serres.” The French Review 60.6 (May): 788-796. 1987
Jochum, Richard. Komplexitatsbewaltigungsstrategien in Der Neueren Philosophie: Michel Serres. Frankfurt am Main etc.: Peter Lang. 1998
Kavanagh, Thomas M. “Michel Serres, Les cinq sens.” Book Discussion. MLN 101.4 (September): 937-941. 1986
Lassithiotakis, Hélène-Lizy. ‘Deux pensées “parallèles” de notre temps: Michel Serres, Wim Wenders.’ Temps modernes, 38, 1737- 1978
Latour, Bruno. ‘The Enlightenment Without the Critique: An Introduction to Michel Serres’ Philosophy.’ In Contemporary French Philosophy, ed. J. Griffith (Cambridge, Mass. Cambridge University Press), 83-98. 1988
Laszlo, P.: entries 'Alcool', 'Analyse', 'Chimie', 'Chromatographie', 'Laboratoire', in the Trésor, dictionnaire des sciences, sous la direction de Michel Serres et Nayla Farouki, Flammarion, Paris. 1997.
Lévy, Sydney. ‘Introduction: An Ecology of Knowledge: Michel Serres.’ SubStance, 26, 3-5. 1997
Literature and the Exact Sciences. Special Issue of Substance: A Review of Theory and Literary Criticism 18:2: 3-34. 1988
L'Yvonnet, François & Frémont, Christiane, Cahier de l'Herne Michel Serres, éditions de l'Herne, Paris, 2010.
Ma, Ming-Qian. ‘ "The Past Is No Longer Out-of-Date": Topological Time and Its Foldable Nearness in Michel Serres's Philosophy.’ Configurations, 8, 235-44 2000
Maziére, Marie-Noëlle. “Michel Serres le ‘sans-famillé.” Globe. No. 24, January 1988.
Michel Serres, Discours de reception de Michel Serres a l'Académie française et réponse de Bertrand Poirot-Delpech : suivi de allocution pour la remise de l'épée de George[s] Duby et réponse de Michel Serres. Paris : F. Bourin, 1991.
“Michel Serres: Il faut apprendre aux enfants à désobéir.” Le Courrier français. [Volume and date unknown. This is a Quebec magazine that published an interview of Michel Serres.]
“Michel Serres: Interférence et Turbulences.” Special Issue of Critique (Janvier) Tome 35, No. 380. 1979
Paulson, William R. “Le Cousin Parasite: Balzac, Serres et le démon de Maxwell.” Stanford French Review 9, No. 3 (Winter 1985): 397-414.
______. ‘Michel Serres's Utopia of Language.’ Configurations, 8, 215-28. 2000
Peinzger, Peter. Parasitismus als philosophisches Problem: Michel Serres' Theorie der Relationen zwischen Kommunikationstheorie und Sprachkritik. Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovac. 2007
Perloff, Marjorie. ‘ “Multiple Pleats”: Some Applications Of Michel Serres's Poetics.’ Configurations, 8, pp. 187-200. 2000
Polizzi, Gaspare. Michel Serres: per una filosofia dei corpi miscelati. Napoli: Liguori, 1990.
Polizzi, Gaspare. ‘Hermetism, Messages, and Angels.’ Trans. Trina Marmarelli. Configurations, 8, 245-69. 2000
Posthumous, Stephanie. “Translating Ecocriticism: Dialoguing with Michel Serres.” Reconstruction. Special Issue: Eco-Cultures: Culture Studies and the Environment. 7.2 (2007). 1-24. http://reconstruction.eserver.org/072/posthumus.shtml
Salisbury, Laura. "Michel Serres: Science, Fiction, and the Shape of Relation." Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 33, No. 1, Technoculture and Science Fiction (Mar., 2006), pp. 30–52.http://www.jstor.org/pss/4241407
Sommet, Jacques. ‘Michel Serres à mi-parcours.’ Etudes,360, 369-84. 1984
Sandoval, Ciro A.. ‘Michel Serres’ Philosophy of the “Educated Third”: Hermesian Confluences Among the Humanities, Science, and Technology.’ Philosophy Today, 39, 107- . 1995
Shortland, Michael. ‘Michel Serres, Passe-partout.’ British Journal for the History of Science, 31, 335-353. 1998
Sokal, Allan. Social Text. Spring/Summer issue, 1996. 217-252.
_____. And Jean Briamont. Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals'Abuse of Science. Picador: 1999. Serres is cited on pages 3n, 8, 176, 178-80, 262.
Wesling, Donald. ‘Michel Serres, Bruno Latour, and the Edges of Historical Periods.' Clio, 26, 189-204 1997
Wolfe, Cary. 'Bring the Noise: The Parasite and the Multiple Genealogies of Posthumanism.' In Michel Serres, The Parasite, trans. Lawrence R. Schehr (London and Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press), pp. xi-xxviii 2007
Zournazi, Mary. “The Art of Living.” Interview of Michel Serres in Hope: New Philosophies for Change. New York: Routledge, 2002. 192-208.
Agen
Agen is a commune in the Lot-et-Garonne department in Aquitaine in south-western France. It lies on the river Garonne southeast of Bordeaux. It is the capital of the department.-Economy:The town has a higher level of unemployment than the national average...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) is a French philosopher and author, celebrated for his unusual career.
Life and career
Born the son of a barge man, Serres entered France's naval academy, the École NavaleÉcole Navale
The École Navale is the French Naval Academy in charge of the education of the officers of the French Navy.The academy was founded in 1830 by the order of King Louis-Philippe...
, in 1949 and the École Normale Supérieure
École Normale Supérieure
The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...
("rue d'Ulm") in 1952. He aggregated
Agrégation
In France, the agrégation is a civil service competitive examination for some positions in the public education system. The laureates are known as agrégés...
in 1955, having studied philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
. He spent the next few years as a naval officer before finally receiving his doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in 1968, and began teaching in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
As a child, Serres witnessed firsthand the violence and devastation of war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
. "I was six for my first dead bodies," he told Bruno Latour
Bruno Latour
Bruno Latour is a French sociologist of science and anthropologist and an influential theorist in the field of Science and Technology Studies...
. He studied mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and science in the shadow of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
. These formative experiences led him to consistently eschew scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
based upon models of war, suspicion, and criticism.
Over the next twenty years, Serres earned a reputation as a spell-binding lecturer and as the author of remarkably beautiful and enigmatic prose so reliant on the sonorities of French that it is considered practically untranslatable. He took as his subjects such diverse topics as the mythical Northwest Passage
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
, the concept of the parasite, and the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger
Space Shuttle Challenger
Space Shuttle Challenger was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Columbia having been the first. The shuttle was built by Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division in Downey, California...
. More generally Serres is interested in developing a philosophy of science
Philosophy of science
The philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the use and merit of science and sometimes overlaps metaphysics and epistemology by exploring whether scientific results are actually a study of truth...
which does not rely on a metalanguage
Metalanguage
Broadly, any metalanguage is language or symbols used when language itself is being discussed or examined. In logic and linguistics, a metalanguage is a language used to make statements about statements in another language...
in which a single account of science is privileged and regarded as accurate. To do this he relies on the concept of translation
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
between accounts rather than settling on one as authoritative. For this reason Serres has relied on the figure of Hermes
Hermes
Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and...
(in his earlier works) and angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
s (in more recent studies) as messengers who translate (or: map) back and forth between domains (i.e., between maps).
In 1990, Serres was elected to the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
, in recognition of his position as one of France's most prominent intellectuals. In the English-speaking world, Serres teaches regularly at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
and is an influence on intellectuals such as Bruno Latour
Bruno Latour
Bruno Latour is a French sociologist of science and anthropologist and an influential theorist in the field of Science and Technology Studies...
and Steven Connor
Steven Connor
Steven Connor is the Academic Director of the London Consortium and Professor of Modern Literature and Theory at Birkbeck, University of London.- Biography :* Born: Bognor Regis, Sussex, in 1955....
.
Serres is a vocal enthusiast for freely accessible knowledge, especially Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
.
Concise Bibliography
- 1968 Le Système de Leibniz et ses modèles mathématiques, 2 vol. (PUF)
- 1969 Hermès I. La communication (Minuit)
- 1972 Hermès II. L’interférence (Minuit)
- 1974 Hermès III. La traduction (Minuit)
- 1974 Jouvences. Sur Jules Verne (Minuit)
- 1975 Auguste Comte. Leçons de philosophie positive, vol. I (Hermann)
- 1975 Feux et signaux de brume. Zola (Grasset)
- 1975 Esthétiques. Sur Carpaccio (Hermann)
- 1977 Hermès IV. La distribution (Minuit)
- 1977 La Naissance de la physique dans le texte de Lucrèce. Fleuves et turbulences (Minuit) (tr. Jack Hawkes The Birth of Physics, 2000)
- 1980 Hermès V. Le passage du Nord-Ouest (Minuit)
- 1980 Le Parasite (Grasset)
- 1982 Genèse (Grasset)
- 1983 Détachement (Flammarion)
- 1983 Rome. Le livre des fondations (Grasset)
- 1985 Les Cinq Sens, Médicis de l’Essai Prize (Grasset)
- 1987 L’Hermaphrodite. Sarrasine sculpteur (Flammarion)
- 1987 Statues (François Bourin)
- 1989 Éléments d’histoire des sciences (in collaboration) (Bordas)
- 1990 Le Contrat naturel, Blaise Pascal Prize (François Bourin )
- 1991 Le Tiers-Instruit (François Bourin) (published in English as The Troubadour of Knowledge, 1997)
- 1992 Éclaircissements (François Bourin)
- 1993 Les Origines de la géométrie (Flammarion)
- 1993 La Légende des Anges (Flammarion)
- 1994 Atlas (Julliard)
- 1995 Éloge de la philosophie en langue française (Fayard)
- 1997 Nouvelles du monde (Flammarion)
- 1997 Le Trésor. Dictionnaire des sciences (coll.) (Flammarion)
- 1997 À visage différent (coll.) (Hermann)
- 1998 Paysages des sciences (Le Pommier)
- 1999 Variations sur le corps (Le Pommier)
- 2000 Hergé mon ami (Éd. Moulinsart)
- 2001 Le Livre de la médecine (coll.) (Le Pommier)
- 2001 Hominescence (Le Pommier)
- 2002 En amour, sommes-nous des bêtes ? (Le Pommier)
- 2002 Jules Verne : la science (Le Pommier)
- 2002 L'Homme contemporain (Le Pommier)
- 2003 L'Incandescent (Le Pommier)
- 2003 Qu'est-ce que l'humain ? (coll.) (Le Pommier)
- 2004 Rameaux (Le Pommier)
- 2006 Récits d'humanisme (Le Pommier)
- 2006 L'art des ponts (Le Pommier)
- 2006 Petites chroniques du dimanche soir (Le Pommier)
- 2007 Le tragique et la pitié. Discours de réception de René Girard à l'Académie française et réponse de Michel Serres (Le Pommier)
- 2007 Petites chroniques du dimanche soir 2 (Le Pommier)
- 2007 Carpaccio, les esclaves libérés (Le Pommier)
- 2008 Le mal propre : polluer pour s'approprier ? (Le Pommier coll. « Manifestes », Paris)
- 2008 La guerre mondiale (Le Pommier) Paris
- 2009 Écrivains, savants et philosophes font le tour du monde (Le Pommier « Les Essais », Paris)
- 2009 Le temps des crises (Le Pommier « Manifestes ! », Paris)
- 2010 Biogée (Le Pommier, Paris)
Detailed bibliography of sources
Hermès. Vol 1: La Communication. Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1984. [1969]Hermès. Vol 2: L’Interférence. Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1972.
Hermès. Vol 3: La Traduction. Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1974.
Hermès. Vol 4: La Distribution. Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1981. [1977]
Hermès. Vol 5: Le Passage du nord-ouest. Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1980.
Translation of Selections of the above: Hermes: Literature, Science and Philosophy. ed. Josué V. Harari and David F. Bell. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982.
Le Messager. Bulletin de la Société Française de Philosophie. 62:2 (1968): 33-71. This paper was originally presented to The Société Française de la Philosophie on November 25, 1967 at 4:30pm in the Michelet Auditorium at the Sorbonne.
“La Formazione della teoria dell’informazione.” La Teoria dell’informazione. Ed J. Roger, Bologna: il Mulino. 1974.
Jouvences sur Jules Verne. Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1974.
Feux et signaux de brume: Zola. Paris: Grasset, 1975.
Esthétiques sur Carpaccio. Paris: Hermann. 1975.
La naissance de la physique dans le texte de Lucrèce. Paris: Minuit, 1977.
The Algebra of Literature. Textual Strategies: Perspectives in Post-Structuralist Criticism. Ed. Josué V. Harari. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 1979.
Le Parasite. Paris: Grasset, 1980.
Translation: The Parasite. trans. Lawrence R. Schehr. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982.
Genèse. Paris : B. Grasset, 1982.
Translation: Genesis. trans. Genevieve James and James Nielson. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995.
“L’homme est un loup pour l’homme.” In René Girard: et le problème du mal. Ed. M. Deguy and J. P. Dupuy. Paris: Grasset, 1982. 301-309
Le Système de Leibnitz et ses modèles mathématiques: étoiles, schémas, points. 2nd Edition. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1982.
Détachement: apologue. Paris: Flammarion, 1983.
Translation: Detachment. trans. Genevieve James and Raymond Federman. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1989.
Rome: le livre des fondations. Paris: B. Grasset, 1983.
Translation: Rome, the Book of Foundations, trans. Felicia McCarren. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991.
L'hermaphrodite: Sarrasine sculpteur. Paris: Flammarion, 1983.
Les cinq sens: philosophie des corps mêlés. Paris: Grasset, 1985.
“Corruption-The Antichrist: A Chemistry of Sensations and Ideas.” Stanford Italian Review 6:1-2 (1986): 31-52
Eléments d'histoire des sciences, sous la direction de Michel Serres. Paris: Bordas, 1989.
Translation: A History of Scientific Thought: Elements of a History of Science. Oxford: Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1995.
Statues : le second livre des fondations. Paris: Flammarion, 1989.
Eclaircissements: cinq entretiens avec Bruno Latour. Paris : Flammarion, 1994.
Translation: Conversations on Science, Culture, and Time. With Bruno Latour. trans. Roxanne Lapidus. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995.
Le Contrat naturel. Paris: Francois Bourin: 1990.
Translation: The Natural Contract. trans. Elizabeth MacArthur and William Paulson. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995.
Le Tiers-instruit. Paris : Gallimard, 1991.
Translation: Troubadour of Knowledge. trans. Sheila Faria Gloser and William Paulson. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997.
Les origines de la géométrie: tiers livre des fondations. Paris: Flammarion, 1993.
La Légende des anges. Paris : Flammarion, 1993.
Translation: Angels: A Modern Myth. trans. Francis Cowper, ed. Phillippa Hurd. New York: Flammarion, 1995.
Atlas. Paris: Julliard, 1994.
Eloge de la philosophie en langue française. Paris: Fayard, 1995.
Les messages à distance. Saint-Laurent: Fides, 1995. This is a published lecture delivered on March 29, 1994 at the University of Montreal and on March 31, 1994 at the Musée de la Civilisation in Quebec City.
Nouvelles du monde. Paris: Flammarion, 1997.
The Birth of Physics. trans. Jack Hawkes. Clinamen Press Ltd: March 2001.
Paysages des sciences. Paris: Le Pommier. 1998
Variations sur le corps. Paris: Le Pommier-Fayard. 1999
Hergé mon ami : études et portrait. Brussells: Moulinsart. 2000
Hominescence. Paris: Le Pommier. 2001
En amour, sommes-nous des bêtes? Paris: Le Pommier. 2002
Jules Verne : La science et l’homme contemporain. Paris: Le Pommier. 2002
L'Homme contemporain. Paris: Le Pommier. 2002
L'Incandescent. Paris: Le Pommier. 2003
Rameaux. Paris: Le Pommier. 2004
Récits d'Humanisme. Paris: Le Pommier. 2006
L'Art des ponts: Homo pontifex. Paris : Le Pommier. 2006
Petites chroniques du dimanche soir : Entretiens avec Michel Polacco. Paris: Le Pommier. 2006
Carpaccio: Les esclaves libérés. Paris: Le Pommier. 2007
Le Mal Propre: Polluer pour s’approprier? Paris: Le Pommier. 2008
La Guerre mondiale. Paris: Le Pommier. 2008
Ecrivains, savants et philosophes font le tour du monde. Paris: Le Pommier. 2009
Temps des crises. Paris: Le Pommier. 2009
Le temps des crises (Le Pommier «Manifestes!», Paris). 2009
Edited or Co-authored
and A.R. Chancholle. Á visage différent: Ľalliance thérapeutique autour de l’enfent meurtri. Paris: Hermann, 1997.and Michel Polacco. Petites chroniques du dimanche soir. Tome 2, Février 2006 - mars 2007. Paris: Le Pommier.
_____. Petites chroniques du dimanche soir. Tome 3, Mars 2007 - décembre 2008. Paris: Le Pommier.
and Bertrand Poirot-Delpech. Discours de reception de Michel Serres à l’Académie française et réponse de Bertrand Poirot-Delpech. Paris: François Bourin. 1991
and Pascal Picq and Jean-Didier Vincent. Qu'est-ce que l'humain? Paris : Le Pommier. ('Le temps humain: de l'évolution créatrice au créateur d'évolution', pp. 69–105) 2003
and Jean-Paul Dekiss. Jules Verne: La science et l'homme contemporain. Paris: Le Pommier. 2003
and Jean Pierre Dupuy, Monique Canto-Sperber. Les limites de l'humain: XXXIXes Rencontres internationales de Genève, 2003: textes des conférences et des débats. Lausanne: L'Age d'homme. 2004
and René Girard. Le Tragique et la pitié: Discours de reception de René Girard à l’Académie française et réponse de Michel Serres. Paris: Le Pommier. 2007
and Pierre Léna. Ciel! mon étoile. Paris: Elytis. 2009
and Mark-R Anspach, Jean-Pierre Dupuy, Pierre Pachet. René Girard. Paris: L’Herne.
and Claude Lévi-Strauss, Jean-Marie Benoist and Françoise Héritier. L’identité. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. 2007
and Cécil Guitart, Yves Coppens. Transmettre le savoir: Des âges préhistoriques au monde numérique. Paris: Pensée sauvage. 2009
and Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent. Eléments d'histoire des sciences. Paris: Bordas. 1993
A History of Scientific Thought: Elements of a History of Science. Oxford: Blackwell. 1995
and Nayla Farouki. Le trésor: Dictionnaire des sciences. Paris: Flammarion. 1998
_____. Trésor de la science. Paris: Flammarion. 1989
and François Dagognet, Allal Sinaceur. Auguste Comte, Cours de philosophie positive. Paris: Hermann. 1998
Essays
‘India (The Black and the Archipelago) on Fire.’ Trans. Carl R. Lovitt. SubStance, 3, 49-60. 1973‘Le Retour Eternel.’ Annales:Histoire, Sciences Sociales, 30, 999-1006. 1975
‘Peter-Stephen Isomorphisms, 2.’ Trans. H. B. von Ohlen. Diacritics, 5, 39-48 (translation of a chapter from Esthétiques : Sur Carpaccio (Paris: Hermann, 1975) ). 1975
‘Michelet: The Soup.’ Trans. Suzanne Guerlac. Clio, 6, 181–91. 1977
‘Jules Verne's Strange Journeys.’ Trans. Maria Malanchuk. Yale French Studies, 52, 174-88 1975
'Exact and Human.' Trans. Winnie Woodhull and John Mowitt. SubStance, 6, 9-19 (translation of 'Exacte et humaine', Hermès V: Le passage du nord-ouest (Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1980), pp. 30–9) 1978
‘Origin of Geometry, IV.’ Diacritics, 8, 24-30 1978
‘Stakes, Fetishes, Merchandise.’ Trans. Raymond Federman. SubStance, 14, 3-31. 1985
‘The Natural Contract.’ Trans. Felicia McCarren. Critical Inquiry, 19, 1-21 (translation of chapter 2 of Le Contrat naturel (Paris: François Bourin) ). 1992
‘Noise.’ Trans. Lawrence R. Schehr. SubStance, 12, 48-60. 1993
‘Anaximander: A Founding Name in History.’ Trans. Roxanne Lapidus. SubStance, 22, 266-273. 1993
‘Science and the Humanities: The Case of Turner.’ SubStance, 83, 6-21. 1997
‘La nature dans les ecrits.’ Courrier de la nature, 170, 40. 1998
‘Enseignement des sciences: Vive la crise ?’ Québec science, 36, 41-4. 1998
‘La leçon de philosophie: La force du recit.’ Monde de l’éducation, 257, 7. 1999
‘La leçon de philosophie: Mais ou sont les infrastructures d'antan?’ Monde de l’éducation, 266, 7. 1999
‘La leçon de philosophie: Le serment du scientifique.’ Monde de l’éducation, 267, 7. 1999
‘Le corps inventé.’ Revue des deux mondes, 7/8, 151-5. 2000
‘New Technologies.’ Mousaion (Pretoria), 19, 25-34. 2001
‘Le concept de nature.’ Bulletin de l’Académie nationale de médecine, 186, 1683-88. 2002
‘La simulation, technique nouvelle, ancienne tradition; avant-propos.’ Clefs CEA (Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique), 47, 2-5. 2003
'Bryce-Hell' and 'Fontenelle, Troubadour of Knowledge'. Trans. Roxanne Lapidus. SubStance, 32, 56-7, 57-9 2003
‘Nature Seen Through Culture.’ Naturopa, 102, 6. 2004
‘Le concept de nature.’ Etudes, 400, 67-74. 2004
'Ego Credo.' Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture, 12-13, 1-11 (extract from Rameaux) 2006
‘La science peut-elle disparaitre?’ Sciences et avenir, 729, 94-5. 2007
‘Culture générique.’ Debat, 145, 40-52. 2007
‘Feux et Signaux de Brume: Virginia Woolf’s Lighthouse.’ Trans. Judith Adler. SubStance, 37, 110-31. 2008
Prefaces
‘Preface’, Jacques Testart, L' oeuf transparent. Paris: Flammarion. 1986‘Preface’, Jean de Cayeux. Hubert Robert et les jardins. Paris: Herscher. 1987
‘Preface’, Maurice Capul, Abandon et marginalite: les enfants placés sous l'Ancien Regime. Toulouse: Privat. 1989
‘Preface’, Jean-Marc Drouin, L' ecologie et son histoire: réinventer la nature. Paris: Flammarion. 1993
‘Preface’, La controverse entre Stahl et Leibniz sur la vie, l'organisme et le mixte: doutes concernant la vraie théorie médicale du célèbre Stahl, avec les répliques de Leibniz aux observations stahliennes, ed. Sarah Cavallo. Paris: Vrin. 2004
‘Preface’, Lol@. Paris: Les 3 Orangers. 2009
Interviews
and Geneviève James. ‘Entretien avec Michel Serres.’ French Review, 60, 788-796.1987
and Francois-Bernard Huyghe. UNESCO Courier, Dec, 1993. Online at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1310/is_1993_Dec/ai_15142922/
‘La rédemption du savoir.’ L'Agora. Online at http://www.agora.qc.ca/textes/serres.html 1997
‘Le malaise des medecins? Une crise due a la complexité du systeme de santé et à l’évolution de la médecine. Entretien avec un philosophe de l'histoire des sciences.’ Concours medical, 125, 300-1. 2003
and Peter Hallward. ‘The Science of Relations: An Interview.’ Angelaki, 8, 227-38. 2003
and Francois-Bernard Huyghe. Online at http://www.huyghe.fr/actu_665.htm 2009
in conversation with Georg Diez and Christopher Roth, 'The Neolithic Age Is Over!'. 032c
032c
032c magazine is an English-language, bi-annual contemporary culture magazine that covers art, fashion, and politics. The magazine is published in Berlin....
, Issue #20, Winter 2010/2011 http://032c.com/2011/the-neolithic-age-is-over/
Secondary sources
Abbas, Niran, ed. Mapping Michel Serres. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 2005_____. “Michel Serres: In Search of a Tropography.” In Chaos and Order: Complex Dynamics in Literature and Science. Ed. N. Katherine Hayles. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.
Adamson, Gregory Dale. ‘Serres Translates Howe.’ SubStance, 26, 110-124. 1997
Antonello, Pierpaolo. ‘Celebrating a Master: Michel Serres.’ Configurations, 8, 165-169. 2000
Assad, Maria L. ‘From Order to Chaos: Michel Serres's Field Models.’ SubStance, 20, 33-43. 1991
_____. ‘Portrait of a Nonlinear Dynamical System: The Discourse of Michel Serres, SubStance, 22, 141-52. 1993
_____. Reading with Michel Serres: An Encounter With Time. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press. 1999
_____. 'Language, Nonlinearity, and the Problem of Evil.' Configurations, 8, 165-9. 2000
Auzias, Jean-Marie. Michel Serres: philosophe occitan. Eglise-Neuve-d'Issac: Federop/ Montpeyroux : Jorn. 1992
Berressem, Hanjo. ‘Serres Reads Pynchon/Pynchon Reads Serres.’ Postmodern Culture, 11. 2001
Brown, S.D. “Michel Serres : Science, Translation and the Logic of the Parasite.” Theory, Culture & Society: Explorations in Critical Social Science (June 2002) Volume 19 Issue 03.
Connor, Steven. Michel Serres: The Hard and the Soft. 2009
_____.'Introduction', Michel Serres, The Five Senses: A Philosophy of Mingled Bodies (I), trans. Margaret Sankey and Peter Cowley (London: Continuum), pp. 1–16. 2008
_____. Wherever: The Ecstasies of Michel Serres. 2008
_____. Topologies: Michel Serres and the Shapes of Thought. Anglistik, 15: 105-17. 2004
_____. 'Michel Serres's Les Cinq Sens', in Mapping Michel Serres, ed. Niran Abbas (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press), pp. 153–69. 2005
_____. Michel Serres's Milieux. 2002
Crahay, Anne. Michel Serres: la mutation du cogito; genese du transcendental objectif. Paris: Editions Universitaires Bruxelles/De Boeck Université. 1988
Crawford, T. Hugh. “An Interview with Bruno Latour.” Configurations 1. 1993. 247
Delcò, Alessandro. Morfologie: cinque studi su Michel Serres. Milan: F. Angeli. 1995
_____. ‘Michel Serres: Philosophy as an Indeterminate Essence to be Invented.’ Trans. Matthew Tiews and Trina Marmarelli. Configurations, 8, 229-234. 2000
Egholm, Jesper and Niels Lyngsø, eds. Mangfoldighed og syntese: perspektiver i Michel Serres' filosofi. Copenhagen: Kgl. Danske Kunstakademi. 1998
Ferenczi, Thomas. “Les cinq sens, de Michel Serres.” Review. Le Monde 15 (November): 27-30. 1985
Frémont, Christiane. ‘Michel Serres, ou l'art d'inventer.’ Critique, 380, 56- 1979
Gardeil, Pierre. ‘Considérations sur l'Auteur de la Nature. A propos de Michel Serres.’ Etudes, 376, 231-8 1992
Girard, René. 'From Ritual to Science.' Trans. Trina Marmarelli and Matthew Tiews. Configurations, 8, 171-85. 2000
Giusti, Ada. “L’Académie française et l’évolution de la langue. Entietien avec Michel Serres.” Contemporary French Civilization 20, No. 1 (Winter/Spring), 106-122. 1996
Harris, Paul A.. ‘The Itinerant Theorist: Nature and Knowledge/Ecology and Topology in Michel Serres.’ SubStance, 26, 37-58. 1997
Hayles, N. Katherine. ‘Two Voices, One Channel: Equivocation in Michel Serres.’ SubStance, 17, 3-12. 1988
Hénaff, Marcel. ‘Of Stones, Angels and Humans: Michel Serres and the Global City.’ Trans. Anne-Marie Feenberg. SubStance, 26, 59-80. 1997
Hertz-Ohmes, Peter. “Serres and Deleuze: Hermes and Humour.” Canadian Review of Comparative Literature. 14, No. 2 (June): 239-250. 1987
Isaac, Bonnie J.. ‘ “Du fond d'un naufrage”: Notes on Michel Serres and Mallarmé's “Un Coup de dés.” ’ MLN, 96, 824-38. 1981
Jacquot-David, Sophie. ‘Controverse: Le Contrat naturel de Michel Serres, une nouvelle mystique?’ Esprit, NS 15, 150- 1991
James, Geneviève. “Entretien avec Michel Serres.” The French Review 60.6 (May): 788-796. 1987
Jochum, Richard. Komplexitatsbewaltigungsstrategien in Der Neueren Philosophie: Michel Serres. Frankfurt am Main etc.: Peter Lang. 1998
Kavanagh, Thomas M. “Michel Serres, Les cinq sens.” Book Discussion. MLN 101.4 (September): 937-941. 1986
Lassithiotakis, Hélène-Lizy. ‘Deux pensées “parallèles” de notre temps: Michel Serres, Wim Wenders.’ Temps modernes, 38, 1737- 1978
Latour, Bruno. ‘The Enlightenment Without the Critique: An Introduction to Michel Serres’ Philosophy.’ In Contemporary French Philosophy, ed. J. Griffith (Cambridge, Mass. Cambridge University Press), 83-98. 1988
Laszlo, P.: entries 'Alcool', 'Analyse', 'Chimie', 'Chromatographie', 'Laboratoire', in the Trésor, dictionnaire des sciences, sous la direction de Michel Serres et Nayla Farouki, Flammarion, Paris. 1997.
Lévy, Sydney. ‘Introduction: An Ecology of Knowledge: Michel Serres.’ SubStance, 26, 3-5. 1997
Literature and the Exact Sciences. Special Issue of Substance: A Review of Theory and Literary Criticism 18:2: 3-34. 1988
L'Yvonnet, François & Frémont, Christiane, Cahier de l'Herne Michel Serres, éditions de l'Herne, Paris, 2010.
Ma, Ming-Qian. ‘ "The Past Is No Longer Out-of-Date": Topological Time and Its Foldable Nearness in Michel Serres's Philosophy.’ Configurations, 8, 235-44 2000
Maziére, Marie-Noëlle. “Michel Serres le ‘sans-famillé.” Globe. No. 24, January 1988.
Michel Serres, Discours de reception de Michel Serres a l'Académie française et réponse de Bertrand Poirot-Delpech : suivi de allocution pour la remise de l'épée de George[s] Duby et réponse de Michel Serres. Paris : F. Bourin, 1991.
“Michel Serres: Il faut apprendre aux enfants à désobéir.” Le Courrier français. [Volume and date unknown. This is a Quebec magazine that published an interview of Michel Serres.]
“Michel Serres: Interférence et Turbulences.” Special Issue of Critique (Janvier) Tome 35, No. 380. 1979
Paulson, William R. “Le Cousin Parasite: Balzac, Serres et le démon de Maxwell.” Stanford French Review 9, No. 3 (Winter 1985): 397-414.
______. ‘Michel Serres's Utopia of Language.’ Configurations, 8, 215-28. 2000
Peinzger, Peter. Parasitismus als philosophisches Problem: Michel Serres' Theorie der Relationen zwischen Kommunikationstheorie und Sprachkritik. Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovac. 2007
Perloff, Marjorie. ‘ “Multiple Pleats”: Some Applications Of Michel Serres's Poetics.’ Configurations, 8, pp. 187-200. 2000
Polizzi, Gaspare. Michel Serres: per una filosofia dei corpi miscelati. Napoli: Liguori, 1990.
Polizzi, Gaspare. ‘Hermetism, Messages, and Angels.’ Trans. Trina Marmarelli. Configurations, 8, 245-69. 2000
Posthumous, Stephanie. “Translating Ecocriticism: Dialoguing with Michel Serres.” Reconstruction. Special Issue: Eco-Cultures: Culture Studies and the Environment. 7.2 (2007). 1-24. http://reconstruction.eserver.org/072/posthumus.shtml
Salisbury, Laura. "Michel Serres: Science, Fiction, and the Shape of Relation." Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 33, No. 1, Technoculture and Science Fiction (Mar., 2006), pp. 30–52.http://www.jstor.org/pss/4241407
Sommet, Jacques. ‘Michel Serres à mi-parcours.’ Etudes,360, 369-84. 1984
Sandoval, Ciro A.. ‘Michel Serres’ Philosophy of the “Educated Third”: Hermesian Confluences Among the Humanities, Science, and Technology.’ Philosophy Today, 39, 107- . 1995
Shortland, Michael. ‘Michel Serres, Passe-partout.’ British Journal for the History of Science, 31, 335-353. 1998
Sokal, Allan. Social Text. Spring/Summer issue, 1996. 217-252.
_____. And Jean Briamont. Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals'Abuse of Science. Picador: 1999. Serres is cited on pages 3n, 8, 176, 178-80, 262.
Wesling, Donald. ‘Michel Serres, Bruno Latour, and the Edges of Historical Periods.' Clio, 26, 189-204 1997
Wolfe, Cary. 'Bring the Noise: The Parasite and the Multiple Genealogies of Posthumanism.' In Michel Serres, The Parasite, trans. Lawrence R. Schehr (London and Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press), pp. xi-xxviii 2007
Zournazi, Mary. “The Art of Living.” Interview of Michel Serres in Hope: New Philosophies for Change. New York: Routledge, 2002. 192-208.
Web Resources
- Michel Serres Messengers. A blog maintained by Milton Friesen. http://www.michelserres.com
- Dailymotion Videos http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/michel+serres
- YouTube Videos http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=michel+serres&search_type=&aq=f
- ‘Science et culture: une seule réalité.’ Interview with Jacques Véronneau for Téléquébec's Chasseurs d'idées, 11 November 2001. Online at http://real.telequebec.qc.ca/ramgen/idees/idees_2562_082.rm
- ‘Qu'est-ce que la moi?’ Three lectures by Michel Serres at the Collège de la Cité des sciences, 7, 14, 21 December 2002. Online at http://www.cite-sciences.fr/francais/ala_cite/college/02-03/cours/09-02-cerveau/12-serres/index.htm
- ‘Gnomon: les débuts de la géométrie en Grèce.’ Extract from Éléments d'Histoire des Sciences (Paris, Bordas, 1986). Online at http://www.archipress.org/episteme/gnomon.htm
- A good introduction in English to Michel Serres's writings by Anna Botta: http://web.sls.ufl.edu/abstracts/botta.html
- An article by Michel Serres about the painter Turner: http://www.substance.org/83/83serres.html
- An interview of Michel Serres and Gregory Ulmer by Laurence Rickels : http://www.arts.ucsb.edu/~tvc/v09/interviews/v09int.ser_ulm.html
- An article about "ancient art and new technologies" by the French computer scientist Philippe Codognet which starts with an extract from a book by Michel Serres : http://pauillac.inria.fr/~codognet/newweb.html
- L’Heritage de la chouette: a thirteen-part documentary series which examines the legacy of Greek culture to the world. Michel Serres appears in the series. Produced and Directed by Chris Marker. 338min total run-time.http://www.hollywood.com/movies/detail/movie/181054
External links
- Online Collaboration regarding Serres work
- art, writing: michel serres (1995) Interview with Serres by Hari Kunzru including a brief exchange on the relationship of Serres work to Deleuze.
- Steven Connor's website, with links to his writing on Serres Radio Interview by Robert P. HarrisonRobert P. HarrisonRobert P. Harrison is the Rosina Pierotti Chair of Italian Literature at Stanford University.He was born in Izmir, Turkey, and raised in Rome. He is the host of the podcast Entitled Opinions . He plays lead guitar for the cerebral rock band Glass Wave.- External links :* * *...
L'Académie française Serres speaking about wikipedia very enthusiastically - Michel Serres, one of France's 'immortels,' tells the 'grand récit' at Stanford by Cynthia Haven, Stanford Report, May 27, 2009.