Contemporary French Environmental Thought in the Post-COVID-19 Era

Keith Moser is Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Mississippi State University, USA. He is the author of eight full-length book projects including J.M.G. Le Clézio: A Concerned Citizen of the Global Village, The Encyclopedic Philosophy of Michel Serres, Imagination and Art, and The Metaphor of the Monster.

“Drawing on his extensive knowledge of French Theory, Moser reconsiders courageously the philosophical thinking of five great contemporary French philosophers … in light of the theories of numerous scientists and biosemiotics scholars … . The interdisciplinary approach proposed by the author is certainly able to contribute to a radical paradigm shift for imagining a sustainable future and a methodological tactic to study the essence of communication and of life itself. Moser’s book is a well-documented and rigorous analysis … .” (Carlo Caccia, Enthymema, vol. 32, 2023)“Moser fleshes out the arguments of several key figures whose philosophies have been ‘cemented’ (96, 138) into French environmental thought and whose convergence could help contemporary scholars across the humanities and hard sciences find solutions to the increasing ‘ecocidal trajectory’ … we find ourselves in. … Contextualizing and gleaning the most salient and convergent arguments from Serres, Morin, Derrida, Onfray, and Lestel, Moser argues a way forward is through the ‘interdiscipline of biosemiotics,’ … .” (Abbey Carrico, The French Review, Vol. 96 (4), May, 2023)“The book provides a valuable lesson in the obvious public health crisis that might help us in understanding what science and philosophy could teach us about our place in the biosphere. … The obvious purpose of the book … is to make us aware of the possible future pandemics and, at the same time, provide a unique biosemiotic perspective of the world. … Keith Moser’s remarkable work is a tour de force … .” (Dan Manolescu, Journal of Critical Studies in Language and Literature, Vol. 3 (3), 2022)

• Introduction.- Chapter 1: Michel Serres’s Biosemiotic Thought: Writing the “Immense Rhapsody” or “Great Story” of Life.- Chapter 2: Edgar Morin’s Complex, “Ecologized” Thought: The Ubiquity of “Informational Capital” on the Battlefield of Life in the COVID-19 Era.- Chapter 3: The Biosemiosic Gaze of the “Wholly Other” and the Philosophical Exercise of “Limitrophy” in Jacques Derrida’s Posthumous Philosophy.- Chapter 4: Michel Onfray’s Biosemiotic, Materialistic, and Post-Monotheistic Reworking of Human and Other-Than-Human Semiosis.- Chapter 5: Dominique Lestel’s Pioneering Biosemiotic Vision of “The Enchanted Space of Trans-Specific Communication” Within Hybrid Societies.