Between Hermes, Gaia And Apollo 8: Michel Serres And The Philosophy Of Science As Communication

One of Michel Serres’ major concerns is the social and environmental consequences of the late twentieth century ascendancy of science over the humanities. Serres’ response to the emergence of this ascendancy is conceived in both his sustained interdisciplinarity as a writer and his ontological model of intersections, interrelations and complexity. Like Deleuze, Serres uses the tempo-spatial model of the fold as a means to comprehend complexity, and he envisages the classical figure of Hermes, winged god of messages and communication, as a trope of the task of philosophy. This article seeks to assess the contemporary relevance of the philosophy of Michel Serres, and in particular his view that the primary task of philosophy is communication.