From: Kalapsyche-AT-aol.com
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1998 11:52:53 EST
Subject: Serres


I read and enjoyed the Serres piece as well.  I can't really remember who made
the claim that Serres returns to a subject centered philosophy, but I was a
little surprised by that assertion.  When I think of the agenda of overcoming
the subject and the declaration of the death of the subject, I don't take
these claims to mean that there will no longer be talk of selves and subjects,
but that the subject will no longer be treated as a center or the absolute
foundation upon which all philosophizing proceeds.  The project of overcoming
the subject would then consist in decentering it in such a way that "I am no
longer where I think I am".  But again, this doesn't mean that we give up all
talk of subjects and selves.  Why else would Deleuze be so concerned to give a
generative account of the subject in the closing pages of chapter 5 of DR and
again in his essay "Tournier and a World Without Others"...  Not to mention
WIP in the chapter on concepts.  To my thinking, Serres also seems to
accomplish this maneuver by showing how the subject is something of an
epiphenomenal (in the biological sense) result of repetition patterns of
information complexification.  Further, if Serres were coming back to the
subject as the foundation of philosophizing, why would he affirm the Freudian
unconscious?  At any rate, the tacit claim that we need to forego all talk of
selves and subjects seems a bit reactionary and perhaps misunderstands what
the project of overcoming the subject means.  After all, when have the French
ceased talking about the subject?...  They really are quite fond of it.

Paul