Title: Rethinking language within the larger biosemiosic web of communication in Michel Serres's late philosophy

Authors: Keith Moser

Addresses: Mississippi State University, 1505 Lee Hall, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA

Abstract: This essay explores Michel Serres's rethinking of human language in his late philosophy. Adopting a biosemiotic, interdisciplinary approach, this investigation of Serres's radical reworking of language highlights the profound linguistic and philosophical implications of his recent texts such as Le Mal propre (2008), Biogée (2010), Yeux (2014), and Le Gaucher boiteux (2015). Delving into the principles of modern science and the rich field of biosemiotics, Serres compellingly posits that we have underestimated the complexity of the 'signs' being exchanged all around us by other sentient and non-sentient beings. Specifically, the radical paradigm shift that Serres proposes urges us to (re-)conceptualise language within the larger biosemiosic web of communication in which it occurs. Moreover, this unconventional philosopher of science issues a rending, urgent plea, which demonstrates why this last bastion of human exceptionalism in the form of language is not only scientifically inaccurate but it is also emblematic of the kind of outdated, anthropocentric ideology that represents the nexus of the current ecological crisis in the Anthropocene epoch.

Keywords: Michel Serres; biosemiotics; semiosis; other-than-human communication; Anthropocene; sign systems; anthropocentrism; human exceptionalism; literature and science; interdisciplinary studies.

DOI: 10.1504/IER.2018.095734

Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, 2018 Vol.19 No.3/4, pp.266 - 288

Received: 29 May 2018
Accepted: 27 Jul 2018
Published online: 18 Oct 2018 *

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