Yeux

by Michel Serres

Eyes pioneers a radical philosophy that interrogates ways of seeing, thinking and knowing. In this exploratory text, Michel Serres explores the capacities of eyes: how do we see? What is seeing, or being seen? Can we imagine the sight of non-human eyes, and how does this change our perception of the world and ourselves?


Produced in full colour, this visually stunning work creatively interweaves the writing with the images themselves resulting in a truly philosophical art book. In short poetic texts, Michel Serres invites us to enter rather than to leave Plato's cave: in this space the visionary philosopher comes into his own, in the half-light of a 'universe studded with eyes'.

Genres: Philosophy

218 pages, Board Book

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Michel Serres was a French philosopher, theorist and author.

Reviews

[Bob Finch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high expectations for this beautifully presented book. Alas, I found it lacking, but perhaps that is more a reflection of me than the book's worth. Nevertheless I kept hoping for more insight and, yes, profundity. Vague stream-of-conscious musings sometimes touch on deeper meanings, but more often seemed to be trivial observations about similarities in features or concepts; that is, that something is eye-like does not mean it sees, but Serres seems to confuse image with meaning.

Not that there aren't fine and even moving passages. Serres can convey some wonderful concepts in ways that can approach poetry. He also gets a lot of mileage out of etymological allusions and similar digressions that can be both thought provoking and intriguing.

But such tropes can carry only so far. Perhaps I am unable to fully grasp Serres' genius, but I found too much of this effort to border on the banal. Too bad. Much of his other work to (re)heighten the importance of human observation in the history and progress of science has contributed much to the philosophy of science.