Self-Organizing Life: Michel Serres and the Problem of Meaning

Massimiliano Simons*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterAcademic

Abstract

Within continental philosophy of biology the work of Michel Serres has not received a lot of attention. Nonetheless, this chapter wants to argue that Serres was part of a group of thinkers – together with Jacques Monod and Henri Atlan – that started to think about biology in terms of second-order cybernetics and information theory. Therefore, this chapter aims to do four things. First of all, it maps the relation between Serres and Canguilhem, one that was mediated by authors such as Louis Althusser or Jacques Monod. Secondly, it fleshes out Serres’s own ‘biophilosophy’. I label this alternative tradition as a ‘biophilosophy without a subject’. Finally, this chapter explores the consequences of this alternative biophilosophy through a brief examination of two authors whose work lies in line of this tradition: René Girard and Bruno Latour. Though at first sight different, they both draw inspiration from this biophilosophy to develop a framework that, paradoxically, ‘jumps over’ the subject. Hence, the reason why biology is not a prominent theme in neither Girard’s or Latour’s work. This is not because of a lack of biophilosophy, but because of an implicit one: a biophilosophy without a subject.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCanguilhem and Continental Philosophy of Biology
EditorsGiuseppe Bianco, Charles T. Wolfe, Gertrudis Van de Vijver
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media B.V.
Pages209-232
Number of pages24
Edition1
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-031-20529-3
ISBN (Print)978-3-031-20528-6, 978-3-031-20531-6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2023

Publication series

SeriesHistory, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences
Volume31
ISSN2211-1948

Keywords

  • Michel Serres
  • Georges Canguilhem
  • Bruno Latour
  • Jacques Monod
  • René Girard
  • Henri Atlan

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