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Parasites, principles and the problem of attachment to place

Department of Sociology, School of Social and Political Studies, Adam Ferguson Building, George Square, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9LL, Scotland, UK Stanley.Raffel{at}ed.ac.uk

This article is concerned with exploring the idea of places as providing persons with nourishment. This version of person–place relations is displayed in a paper by McHugh and, in provocative fashion, in Michel Serres’s analysis of the human condition as a parasitic one. Unlike McHugh, Serres combines his analysis of parasites with a concern that principled actors may be insufficiently attached to places. His views are revealed in his interpretations of works by Molière and Plato. By reinterpreting these works, I try to suggest that Serres’s well-founded scepticism as to the level of commitment of principled actors to the places that, as he rightly points out, are nourishing them, may not apply to the sub-set of principled actors who deserve to be called particular.

Key Words: parasites • particularity • place • principles • Serres

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