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International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Book | Chapter

186692

Hermes contra Dionysus

Michel Serres's critique of Nietzsche

Duncan Large

pp. 151-159

Abstract

Michel Serres is one of the most prolific and increasingly influential contemporary thinkers who has analysed developments in philosophy, literature, and across the arts against the backdrop of the history of science in a series of highly original interdisciplinary studies which collectively represent one of the most illuminating contributions to bridging the divide between "the two cultures." One of the many ways in which Serres stands out among philosophers of his generation in France is by his antipathy to Nietzsche, for where Nietzsche styles himself "the last disciple of the philosopher Dionysus,"1 Serres places his own work under the sign of a different deity, Hermes, and devotes five volumes to his celebration, the first of which (1968) concludes with an opposition of the two gods — respectively, "the father of Tragedy" and "the father of Comedy"2 — which sets Serres programmatically at odds with "Nietzsche's French Moment."3

Publication details

Published in:

Babich Babette (1999) Nietzsche, epistemology, and philosophy of science II: Nietzsche and the sciences. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 151-159

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-2428-9_12

Full citation:

Large Duncan (1999) „Hermes contra Dionysus: Michel Serres's critique of Nietzsche“, In: B. Babich (ed.), Nietzsche, epistemology, and philosophy of science II, Dordrecht, Springer, 151–159.