Vyjasňování

The interviews, summarized under the title Clarifying Together, were conducted by Michel Serres (1930–2019) and Bruno Latour (1947–2022) in the early 1990s. In them, Latour, a generation younger, respectfully interrogates the older philosopher about the background of his work and life, while insistently demanding clarification of his vast and complex thought world. What emerges is a riveting dialogue that moves from an initial circling around the foundations of Serres' thought and its relation to epistemology and contemporary philosophical currents to a penetrating look at the contemporary world, touching on questions of evil and morality, and still retaining its vibrancy and relevance today. Michel Serres represents a particular figure in French thought who stood apart from central tendencies and debates. The Conversation was first published in 1992, after Michel Serres had published two of his central books, The Natural Contract (1990) and The Learned Third (1991). In the first of these, he explores ecological issues in a revelatory way and in many ways foreshadows later ecological thinking; in the second, he stresses the importance of a well-rounded education that does not neglect the exact sciences or the humanities and builds on the interconnections between them. Bruno Latour's work is in many ways a continuation of these impulses of Serres.