More-than-human geographies: an encounter with Serres’ universality

Abstract

The aim of this article is to demonstrate that some pertinent questions posed by diverse forms of more-than-human geographies can be explored innovatively and imaginatively by an encounter with Michel Serres’ philosophy. I explore some central ideas that run through more-than-human geographies, with a particular emphasis on those generated by feminist new materialists and decolonial thought. A snapshot of three potentially productive encounters with Serres’ investigations is explored: the audacious alignment of modern physics with Lucretian atomism; a non-representational philosophy of sensations that teases out the intimate relations between the body and thought; and diverse lessons from recent discoveries in science of the commonality of all living and inert matter. I argue that all three contribute to a philosophy that increasingly turns towards the formation of a decentred universal humanism. To clarify Serres’ distinctiveness, I contrast the latter with those who advocate a decolonial pluriversality. Overall, I indicate ways in which Serres’ thought confirms and challenges more-than-human approaches to geography and discloses inventive trajectories of thought.