The “Material Turn” and the “Anthropocenic Turn” from a History of Science Perspective 1

The chapter is a contribution to an archaeology of the Anthropocene. It focuses on the late Michel Serres’ The Natural Contract. Serres was a pioneer of the Anthropocene concept avant la lettre. The chapter presents a close reading of Serres’ book and relates it to the work of biologist Lynn Margulis on the bio-geosphere and the role of symbiosis in evolution. Finally, it seeks a common ground for conceptualizing our relation to the world in its materiality, and for conceptualizing the historical development of the sciences along the lines of their material practices.