Biogea

2012
Author:

Michel Serres
Translated by Randolph Burks
Distributed for Univocal Publishing

Presents a philosophy that merges the humanities with all creation

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.

Biogea deserves a place in your back pocket; biographical generosity and poetic fluidity should satisfy most textual fetishes. For lay philosophers who want to refresh their acumen, Biogea deserves a place on the book shelf, one already reads a sorely needed postmodern tuneup here. . . Serres’ text moves toward dwelling, as noted, in masterful and accessible ways.

continent.

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.” Serres asks 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.”

Michel Serres is one of the rare contemporary philosophers to propose an open vision of the world founded on an alliance between the humanities and science.

Randolph Burks is a Michel Serres scholar and translator.

Biogea deserves a place in your back pocket; biographical generosity and poetic fluidity should satisfy most textual fetishes. For lay philosophers who want to refresh their acumen, Biogea deserves a place on the book shelf, one already reads a sorely needed postmodern tuneup here. . . Serres’ text moves toward dwelling, as noted, in masterful and accessible ways.

continent.

Serres is a very special writer— poetic or mythopoetic, one could say quickly.

Zeteo Journal