Sense and Circumstance: Michel Serres on the Transcendental

Abstract

ABSTRACT In Les Cinq Sens (1985) Michel Serres proposes an oblique but suggestive history of the transcendental in Western philosophy. Within this context he also proposes a transformation of the transcendental in order to think the difference between the conditions and the conditioned without resorting to a theological anchor point. In brief, Serres argues that the transcendental is nothing other than local circumstances that (sometimes) coalesce into contingent stabilities. This article will examine both Serres’s proposal for the transcendental as well as the history that leads to it in order to assess the value of Serres’s contribution to the longstanding problem of the transcendental in Western philosophy. The author will argue that in his analysis of the transcendental Serres make a unique and valuable contribution to philosophy.