'Our body invents a thousand unexpected figures': Michel Serres's philosophy of the body, movement, and sport

Michel Serres (1930-2019) was a French philosopher and historian of science known for his original way of thinking across disciplinary boundaries. Rather than staying within a single field, he continually sought connections between different forms of knowledge. From the 1960s onward, he developed a distinctive philosophy that wove together technological, scientific, and social developments into a revision of what it means to be human. Over the last years, interest in his work has grown, especially because he addresses issues that are highly relevant today: interdisciplinarity, globalization, ecological crisis, and the expanding influence of communication technologies.

A striking feature of Serres’s thought is his constant attention to the corporal condition. For him, our bodily existence forms the foundation of how we think, move, and relate to the world. This dissertation explores Serres's corporal condition through three interconnected domains: a philosophy of the body, a philosophy of movement, and an independent philosophy of sport.

By applying Serres’s ideas to current challenges such as climate change, urbanization, and digitalization, this study offers a new framework for both the philosophy of sport and medical ethics. It shows how Serres’s focus on the body can inform concrete practices and provide original insights into contemporary problems.