Abstract

This study explores the ecocidal ramifications of the ecological "world war" pitting humanity against the remainder of the biosphere outlined by Michel Serres and Jacques Derrida. Clearly influenced by Serres's environmentally engaged essays beginning with Le Contrat Naturel, Derrida decries the "war without mercy" epitomizing our current unsustainable relationship with the universe in his late philosophy. In The Animal That Therefore I am and The Beast and the Sovereign series, Derrida reinforces Serres's bold philosophical claim that our mistreatment of the planet is emblematic of an overt declaration of war against all other life forms. Despite the fact that several passages of Derrida's...