Video & Audio
Lectures, interviews, panel discussions, and recorded appearances.
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Towards a Comprehensive Michel Serres primary bibliography (4): single-authored and co-written articles
As before, let me know if you spot anything I’ve missed… (1961). “Descartes et Leibniz dans les deux manières de penser le réel et la science.” Critique no. 164. Hors série. (1962). “Géométrie de la folie.” Mercure de France 1188: 683-96. (1963). “La Querelle des anciens et des modernes en mathématiques et en épistémologie.”
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Towards a Comprehensive Michel Serres primary bibliography (3): archival material
Here is the latest instalment of the comprehensive Michel Serres primary bibliography: archival material. Archival material about but not written by Michel Serres is not included in this list, which gives a tantalizing glimpse into Serres’ early thought and intellectual formation. Serres, Michel. (Undated). “Essai sur le concept épistémologique d’interférence”. Thèse complémentaire présentée à la
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Anzac Day reflection: “I have a body of war… And so I have a soul of peace”. Translation of a passage by Michel Serres from Le Sens de l’info
On Anzac day, here is a personal reflection on war from the philosopher Michel Serres. It comes from the very first edition of Le Sens de l’info, his weekly 6 minute live radio broadcast with Serres and Michel Polacco every Sunday on national French radio. The first episode was broadcast on September 5, 2004, entitled “Les États-Unis de George
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Towards a Comprehensive Michel Serres primary bibliography (2): prefaces, edited books and book chapters
Here is the second instalment of the comprehensive Michel Serres primary bibliography: prefaces, edited books and book chapters/sections. As before, if you spot a mistake or an omission please let me know and I will make the change. (1975). Comte, Auguste. Philosophie première, Cours de philosophie positive, leçons 1 à 45. Edited by François Dagonet
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Towards a Comprehensive Michel Serres primary bibliography (1): single-authored and co-written books
I’m continuing work on the Michel Serres project and am currently compiling a primary bibliography, filmography, and list of TV appearances. Blimey, he’s written a lot! I have synthesized the bibliographies provided by Steven Connor, the EGS, amazon.fr, the Institut Michel Serres (who copy the EGS list), his Stanford page the IMDB, ina.fr, the Librairie
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We have always been plastic: Catherine Malabou with Gregory of Nyssa and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
With much coffee and the huge kindness and indulgence of my wife I have just finished the first complete draft of my book on figures of the human in contemporary French thought. The project formerly known as The Human Remains has evolved into the argument that one of the most comprehensive and productive ways to
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Article on Jean-Luc Nancy and dance now available in Korean
My article on Jean-Luc Nancy and dance entitled “When I think, I dance” has been translated into Korean and appears serialised in issues 243 and 244 of Dance Magazine MOMM. Many thanks to Philipa Rothfield and Yewoon at DanceMOMM for their collaboration. A longer title for the article would be “When I think I dance I don’t
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Bookending the crisis of modernity: Latour is finishing what Nietzsche mistakenly started
I’m currently writing the final chapter of The Human Remains, addressing Bruno Latour’s modes of existence project and work on Gaia in relation to Serres, Malabou, Meillassoux and Badiou’s accounts of the human. It’s all hands to the pump and there is little time to expatiate on this blog, but I couldn’t resist quickly drawing attention to
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New interview with Jean-Luc Nancy available online, along with “Quando penso, danzo”: Italian translation of my short essay on Nancy
The Italian translation of my piece on Nancy and dance, originally written for Melbourne’s Dancehouse Diary, is now available at logoi.ph, a new online philosophy journal. The inaugural issue also contains an interview with Jean-Luc Nancy entitled “Art Singular Plural”, available in Italian and English. My thanks to Annalisa Caputo for inviting me to be
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Interview with Leemon McHenry about his forthcoming book The Event Universe
Recently I interviewed Leemon McHenry about his book The Event Universe: The Revisionary Metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead (UK) (US), the newest addition to the Crosscurrents series. The book is available for pre-order and scheduled for publication in July. Leemon’s other books can be found here. Chris Watkin: You write in the preface that
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Stob lecture 2025 Video. The Human Remains: Fragility and Fulfilment in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Here is a video of my 2025 Stob lecture, exploring the philosophical and theological implications of AI. My title was “The Human Remains: Fragility and Fulfilment in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”. I set out to argue that this is a very exciting time to be a philosopher or theologian, because AI is forcing on…
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Armitage Lecture 2025: “Custodians of the Common Good: Christian Education in a Post-Christian World”
In June I had the honour of delivering the annual Isaac Armitage Lecture at the Shore School, Sydney. My title was “Custodians of the Common Good: Christian Education in a Post-Christian World”. The video is now available: More information about the lecture can be found here.
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The State of Nature and the Shaping of Modernity: Introduction
An introduction to the book The State of Nature and the Shaping of Modernity: Tracing the Roots of Colonialism, Secularity, and Ecology, forthcoming with Cambridge University Press in 2025. In this video, the first in a new series and rather longer than the others, I read the book’s Introduction, entitled “The State…
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Video: Panel on Biblical Critical Theory at ETS Conference
This panel, held to explore themes raised in Christopher Watkin’s book Biblical Critical Theory, was held at the 2023 conference of the Society for Biblical Literature and the American Academy of Religion, in San Antonio, Texas. The session was the Kirby Laing Centre’s Scripture and University Seminar. Welcome: Dr. Jonathan Arnold, (Cedarville University) Panelists: Dr.…
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Video: Panel on Biblical Critical Theory at ETS Conference
This panel, held to explore themes raised in my book Biblical Critical Theory, was held at the 2023 conference of the Evangelical Theological Society in San Antonio, Texas. Moderator: Dr. Jennifer Powell McNutt (Wheaton College) Panelists: Dr. Kristen Deede Johnson (Western Theological Seminary) Dr. Malcolm Foley (Baylor University) Dr. Greg Forster (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School)…
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AUDIO TALK: Michel Serres and the Parasitic Unmaking of Modernity
This is the audio of a talk I gave at the International Philosophical Seminar (IPS) in June 2022. It begins by showing how Michel Serres rethinks the foundational modern moment of the state of nature, and it then sketches a way of understanding modernity in terms of three recurring moments: a flattening, a division and…
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Podcast: “Renewing our Mental Models With Michel Serres”
In June 2022 I had the privilege of giving a keynote address for the NaturArchy: Towards a Natural Contract conference at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, with the title “Renewing our Mental Models with Michel Serres”. The talk is now available as a podcast below. Abstract: As our understanding of the world changes over…
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VIDEO: Towards a General Theory of Figures
This is a video of a paper I gave to the The Research Unit of Architecture Theory and Philosophy of Technics, part of the Institute for Architectural Sciences in the Department for Architecture Theory and Philosophy of Technics ATTP at Vienna University of Technology, at the invitation of Prof. Vera Bühlmann. In the talk I bring…
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Video: Our fractured state of nature: environment, emancipation, ecnonomy
This is a recording of a paper given at the Australasian Society of Continental Philosophy Conference, December 2021. Paper title “Artificial state of nature: how an aporia of myth shapes our experience of emancipation and the market” Abstract This paper argues that there are two contradictory modern Western understandings of nature, vividly captured in the…
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Video: Where is Rousseau’s state of nature?
This is a recording of a paper I gave at the 2021 Australian Society of French Studies Conference. Paper title: Siting Rousseau’s state of Nature Abstract: Rousseau’s account of the social contract relies, both logically and rhetorically, on his reconstruction of the so-called “state of nature”, a supposed pre-contractual condition of human life. There is…
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SPEP 2020 video and paper: Remembering and Thinking with Michel Serres
This September I had the privilege of taking part in a panel at SPEP 2020 (postponed until 2021) alongside Marjolein Oele and Brian Treanor. “Remembering and Thinking with Michel Serres” ranged over issues related to Serres’s contemporaneity, his natural contract idea, and the distinctiveness of his thought. Here is a recording of Brian’s paper and…
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Video: Advice on securing a large academic grant
I have been asked a few times in recent months what advice I would give to colleagues applying for competitive grants and fellowships, such as the Australian Research Council Discovery Project or Future Fellowship schemes. While my expertise is limited to my own experience and my one-time success in the Future Fellowship scheme, I’m more…
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TALK Rewriting the Social Contract – the Role of Christian Social Institutions
This guest lecture was delivered at Parliament House, Canberra, on 22 February 2021, at the invitation of the Church Community Restoration Project, an alliance of Christian community organisations committed to partnering government, individuals and communities as they face the challenges of a COVID-19 recovery in Australia. The lecture draws on research from the Australian Research…
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YouTube videos of ‘Ends of Autonomy’ colloquium papers: surveillance, neoliberalism, climate
This week my Warwick colleague Prof Oliver Davis and I co-hosted the second ‘Ends of Autonomy’ colloquium, eqploring how freedom is changing today in the light of new technologies, climate change and neoliberalism. Where presenters gave their consent, sessions were recorded and uploaded to the Ends of Autonomy Colloquia YouTube channel. Below are the videos…