Gilbert Simondon

Gilbert Simondon
Era	20th-century philosophy
Region	Western Philosophy
School	Continental philosophy
Main interests	Technology
Notable ideas	Individuation

Gilbert Simondon (October 2 1924 – February 7 1989) was a French philosopher best known for his theory of individuation.

Career

Born in Saint-Étienne, Simondon was a student of philosopher of science Georges Canguilhem, Martial Guéroult, and phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty. He studied at the Ecole Normale Supérieure and the Sorbonne. He defended his doctoral dissertations in 1958. His main thesis, L'individuation à la lumière des notions de Forme et d'Information (Individuation in the light of the notions of Form and Information), was published in two parts, the first in 1964 under the title L'individu et sa génèse physico-biologique (Individuation and its physical-biological genesis) at the Presses Universitaires de France, while it is only in 1989 that Aubier published the second part, L'individuation psychique et collective" (Psychic and collective individuation). While the main thesis, in spite of laying the foundations to his thinking, had not been widely read until it was commented by Gilles Deleuze and, more recently, Bruno Latour, his complementary thesis, Du mode d'existence des objets techniques (On the mode of existence of technical objects) was published by Aubier right after it had been written (in 1958) and had an instant impact on a wide audience. It is only in 2005 that Jérôme Millon published a complete edition of the main thesis.

Individuation and technology

In L'individuation psychique et collective, Simondon developed a theory of individual and collective individuation, in which the individual subject is considered as an effect of individuation, rather than as a cause. Thus the individual atom is replaced by the neverending process of individuation. Simondon also conceived of "pre-individual fields" as the funds making individuation itself possible. Individuation is an always incomplete process, always leaving a "pre-individual" left-over, itself making possible future individuations. Furthermore, individuation always creates both an individual and a collective subject, which individuate themselves together.

Gilbert Simondon criticized Norbert Wiener's theory of cybernetics, arguing that, "Right from the start, Cybernetics has accepted what all theory of technology must refuse: a classification of technological objects conducted by means of established criteria and following genera and species." Simondon aimed to overcome the shortcomings of cybernetics by developing a "general phenomenology" of machines.

Influence

Simondon's theory of individuation through transduction in a metastable environment was an important influence on the thought of Gilles Deleuze. Simondon's work has also been adopted by Bernard Stiegler, who places the theory of individuation at the very heart of his philosophical project. Stiegler nevertheless argues that, paradoxically, Simondon failed to think the constitutive role that technical individuation plays in psychic and collective individuation.

Bibliography

Primary literature

• Du mode d'existence des objets techniques (Méot, 1958; second ed. Paris: Aubier, 1989).
• L'individu et sa genèse physico-biologique (l'individuation à la lumière des notions de forme et d'information) (Paris: PUF, 1964; second ed. J.Millon, coll. Krisis, 1995).
• L'individuation psychique et collective (Paris: Aubier, 1989; thesis).

Published 2005–2006

• L’Invention dans les techniques, Cours et conferences (Éd. du Seuil, coll. "Traces écrites").
• L’Individuation à la lumière des notions de forme et d’information (Jérôme Millon, coll. Krisis).
• Cours sur la perception (1964-1965), Préface de Renaud Barbaras (La Tansparence).

English translations

• "The Genesis of the Individual," in Jonathan Crary & Sanford Kwinter (eds.), Incorporations (New York: Zone Books, 1992): 297–319.
• "Technical Individualization," in Joke Brouwer & Arjen Mulder (eds.), Interact or Die! (Rotterdam: NAi, 2007).

Secondary literature

• Barthélémy, Jean-Hugues, Penser l'individuation. Simondon et la philosophie de la nature (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2005). Template:Fr icon.
• Barthélémy, Jean-Hugues, Penser la connaissance et la technique après Simondon (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2005). Template:Fr icon.
• Deleuze, Gilles, "On Gilbert Simondon," in Desert Islands and Other Texts, 1953–1974 (Los Angeles & New York: Semiotext(e), 2004): 86–9. ISBN 1-58435-018-0
• During, Elie, Simondon au pied du mur. Template:Fr icon.
• Hottois, Gilbert, Simondon et la philosophie de la culture technique (Brussels: De Boeck, 1992). Template:Fr icon.
• Mackenzie, Adrian, Transductions: Bodies and Machines at Speed (Continuum Press, 2002). ISBN 0-8264-5883-1
• Stiegler, Bernard, Nanomutations, Hypomnemata, and Grammatisation.
• Stiegler, Bernard, Technics and Time, 1: The Fault of Epimetheus (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998).
• Stiegler, Bernard, Temps et individuation technique, psychique, et collective dans l’oeuvre de Simondon. Template:Fr icon.
• Toscano, Alberto, "Technical Culture and the Limits of Interaction: A Note on Simondon," in Joke Brouwer & Arjen Mulder (eds.), Interact or Die! (Rotterdam: NAi, 2007): 198-205.
• Revue philosophique, Gilbert Simondon, n°3/2006, (Paris: P.U.F., 2006). Template:Fr icon.

External links

Online translations

• On the Mode of Existence of Technical Objects, Part 1, link to PDF file of 1980 translation.
• The Individual and Its Physico-Biological Genesis, Part 1, link to HTML file of unpublished 2007 translation.
• The Individual and Its Physico-Biological Genesis, Part 2, link to HTML file of unpublished 2007 translation.

Other links

• « Simondon au pied du mur », by Elie During Template:Fr icon.
• List of papers accessible on PDF by Adrian MacKenzie, related to Canguilhem's concepts of individuation, transductions, etc (under Creative Commons copyleft licence).
• List of 20 definitions of Simondonian concepts.