French Literature Reviews - 2026

B. Morizot, Manières d'être vivant. Enquêtes sur la vie à travers nous
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas

Baptiste Morizot

Manières d'être vivant. Enquêtes sur la vie à travers nous

Actes Sud

ISBN : 978-2-330-12973-6

22.00 €

336 p.

OVERVIEW

Imagine this fable: a species secedes. It declares that the Earth's ten million other species, its kin, constitute "nature." Meaning: not beings, but things; not actors, but mere scenery; resources ready at hand. One species on one side, ten million on the other, yet only a single family, a single world. This fiction is our inheritance. Its violence has contributed to ecological upheaval. That is why we face a cultural battle to restore the proper significance to the living world. This book aims to contribute its strength to that cause. It sets out to track animals in the field, as well as the ideas we hold about them within the forest of knowledge. Can we learn to feel alive, to cherish ourselves as living beings? How can we envision a politics of interdependencies that combines coexistence with other forms of life with the fight against whatever destroys the fabric of the living world? It is a matter of getting acquainted once more: approaching the inhabitants of the Earth, humans included, as ten million ways of being alive.

This work addresses the urgent need to reconsider humanity's relationship with the millions of other species that inhabit the Earth, challenging the historical fiction that separates humankind from its natural surroundings. Within the broader tradition of environmental philosophy and ecological thought, the text examines how prevailing ideas about animals have shaped our understanding of the living world. By combining field observations of animals with an investigation into intellectual history, the book reflects on contemporary ecological upheaval and the philosophical foundations required to rethink our place within the biosphere, while questioning how we might cultivate a renewed sense of kinship with other living beings and foster a politics rooted in ecological interdependencies. Readers interested in contemporary environmental philosophy and human-animal studies may find this exploration of coexistence and planetary stewardship relevant to ongoing discussions surrounding the ecological crisis.