Times of Crisis: What the Financial Crisis Revealed and How to Reinvent our Lives and Future

Description

For Michel Serres, economic crises are earthquakes caused by societal tectonic plates. The current crisis erupted because of the widening discrepancy between major social changes and institutions that have remained the same since WWII. Serres, one of the first to bring nature into the political, writes, "To destroy, kill, exploit is worthless. In the long run, it means destroying ourselves." At a time when the world population has grown so much that it is exhausting natural resources and the environment, we need to rethink cultural, social, and political dynamics. Serres argues that geopolitics and economics will no longer be a two-player game, between West and East, for example, but a three-player one, in which the Earth will be the third partner. This book is one of hope as it calls for a new world and extols the importance of science for our future and political institutions. Here, Serres demonstrates an optimistic outlook in a clear and luminous language that offers new paths for reflection and, ultimately, a better life for Earth and its inhabitants.

Michel Serres is a Professor in the History of Science at Stanford University and a member of the Academie Francaise. A renowned and popular philosopher, he is a prize-winning author of essays and books, such as The Five Senses (Grasset/Continuum), Genesis (Grasset/U. of Michigan Press), and Biogee (Le Pommier/Univocal Press).

For this great French philosopher, the financial crisis is but a superficial fault line in the Humanity earthquake. He demonstrates this in Le Temps des Crises, a manifesto that humbly wishes to save the planet. * Trends-Tendances * The book does not hand deliver miracle cures, but many paths for reflecting are laid out in Le Temps des Crises, a (small) book that one can devour and easily digest. I must add that to see an 80 year old man keep his eyes wide open on the world around him with such clarify and perspicacity is admirable. * Petit Journal * Michel Serres is a modern sage who opens up skills, knowledge, and responsibilities. Trained in science and philosophy, his lucid enthusiasm believes that humankind can transform itself with the help of Earth as a new partner. * L'Echo *