Michel has taught at a number of institutions in France, including the Sorbonne. He was elected to l'Académie Francaise in 1990. He has been a visiting faculty member of Stanford University since 1984, teaching there usually in the spring quarter. A former sailor, then a mathematician, his reflection on his experiences and observations turned him to philosophy, where he has made outstanding contributions. He is a longtime friend of René Girard, with whom he has had a friendship and friendly conversations for several decades. He is not a "mimetic theory" thinker or a "Girardian" in the strict sense of adhering to one approach or methodology, but his perspective and work are friendly to that of Girard and aspects of his research support the mimetic theory. We see this clearly in Rome: The Book of Foundations , where he documents the sacrificial violence lying at the foundation of Rome, and in The Parasite, where he examines the French notion of "parasite" (both hanger-on or sponger and static) as the "third" or undesirable other that is to be eliminated…

Especially relevant to the theme of COV&R 2004 is his essay on The Natural Contract (tr. E. MacArthur and W. Paulson; University of Michigan, 2000). Here is part of the statement about it on the back cover of the English translation:
"World history is often referred to as the story of human conflict. That history, according to Serres, must now include the violence humans perpetrate upon the earth and the violence Earth poses to human life in response… Serres sees humanity as a spacecraft that with the help of science and technology has cast off from familiar moorings. Instead we find a network of relations both stranger and stronger than any we have ever known, binding us to one another and to the world. The philosopher's harrowing and joyous task, Serres tells us, is that of comprehending and experiencing the bonds of violence and love that unites us in a spacewalk to Mother Earth."