This article will maintain that the onset of Simondon’s interest in the philosophy of Nature, examined in his thèse principale, “L’individuation à la lumière des notions de forme et d’information” and for philosophy of technics, analysed in his thèse complémentaire, “Du mode d’existence des objets techniques”, lies in his personal acquaintance with Canguilhem and in particular the reading of his Knowledge of Life, published in 1952. I will demonstrate that the element connecting Simondon’s interest in individuality and his (...) interest in the philosophy of technics can be found in the influence of the following Canguilhemian subjects: 1) the role of vitalist anti-reductionism; 2) the necessity to inaugurate a “biological philosophy of technics”; and 3) the understanding of the concept of milieu in relation to individuality. (shrink)

This article explores the links between the philosophies of Georges Canguilhem and Gilbert Simondon. It highlights their shared emphasis on the difficult character of human life, framing this difficulty in terms of an existential encounter with problems and their resolutions. It shows how the notion of ‘problem’ which grounds both of their thinking presupposes a neo-vitalist conception of life as purposive behaviour, extended to forms of collective, technical and symbolic activity. The consequences of this conception for Canguilhem's and (...) Simondon's engagement with questions of pedagogy, and the role of philosophical education in particular, are then examined. The article concludes by considering the ambiguous place of anxiety in their work and its significance for thinking about the conditions of knowledge and action. Following Canguilhem and Simondon, I argue for the importance of helping the human organism develop relatively autonomous interior and exterior milieus to cope with life's fundamental difficulty. (shrink)

Le regain progressif d'intérêt dont a bénéficié depuis 1990 la pensée de Gilbert Simondon s'est encore renforcé, depuis 2006, par la publication de textes inédits du philosophe français, ainsi que par celle, enfin unifiée, du grand œuvre de Simondon, jusque-là publié en deux parties : sa thèse principale pour le doctorat d'État, intitulée L'individuation à la lumière des notions de forme et d'information. La présente étude se propose de revenir sur ce texte fondateur, origine de L'individu et sa (...) genèse physico-biologique comme ensuite de L'individuation psychique et collective, pour en dégager à la fois l'originalité et l'actualité, mais aussi pour mieux comprendre finalement le classique de l'auteur, sa thèse complémentaire : Du mode d'existence des objets techniques. On découvrira la portée du " nouvel encyclopédisme " dont Simondon se voulait l'initiateur. Il apparaîtra alors que dans le sillage de son directeur de thèse, Georges Canguilhem, avec d'autres modalités et insistances que lui, Simondon ne rejette le " facile humanisme " que par exigence d'un humanisme difficile qui sache d'une part faire dériver l'homme du vivant, d'autre part intégrer la technique à la culture. [Source : d'après la 4e de couverture]. (shrink)

Este artigo tem como objetivo principal analisar o pensamento desenvolvido por Georges Canguilhem e Gilbert Simondon sobre dois conceitos principais: o conceito de organismo e de máquina. A intenção é de reconstruir, a partir das continuidades e descontinuidades entre os dois conceitos, o raciocínio desenvolvido pelos dois autores sobre esses temas na história da filosofia francesa do século passado. Assim, tomamos como escopo as obras La connaissance de la vie, publicada por Canguilhem em 1952 e a tese complementar (...) de doutoramento de Simondon, orientada por Canguilhem, Du mode d’existence des objets techniques, de 1958. A partir disso, o texto se divide em seis partes: uma introdução, onde damos as especificações de escopo e de análise, seguida pela primeira parte, onde analisamos os conceitos de pensamento, conhecimento, sujeito e objeto. Em seguida, na parte dois, analisamos os conceitos de máquina, mecanismo e motor, como utilizadas em Canguilhem, e os conceitos de indivíduo, elemento e conjunto técnico desenvolvidas por Simondon. A terceira parte se dedica a analisar a questão do autômato, bem como os conceitos de mecanismo e finalismo. A quarta parte desenvolve o conceito de organismo-máquina e os conceitos de potencialidade e de teleologia desenvolvidos principalmente em Canguilhem. Por fim, na conclusão, analisamos as aproximações e distâncias entre os dois autores, bem como a imagem do monstro e do robô. (shrink)

Il ne s'agit pas seulement ici de rendre compte de la philosophie de la technique que l'on trouve chez Platon et chez Simondon, et de quelques autres parmi les plus importantes, mais d'affronter véritablement la question : qu'est-ce que la technique? On voudrait faire apparaître d'abord le caractère exemplaire et décisif de Platon pour la compréhension de ce qu'a été la réalité technique de son temps aussi bien que pour la compréhension, aujourd'hui encore, de la réalité technique actuelle, des (...) problèmes qui sont liés à son identification comme telle et à la démarche qui convient pour son étude. C'est aller contre la tradition qui en fait un ignorant et un ennemi de la technique, préoccupé avant tout d'un monde d'Idées 'coupées' du monde sensible. Cette tradition, quasiment aussi ancienne que Platon lui-même, est toujours vivante, fondée désormais sur une représentation de la technique qui se voudrait moderne (la technique comme 'application de la science'). C'est un des intérêts de la pensée de la technique de Gilbert Simondon (prolongeant et systématisant une tradition qui passe en France notamment par Henri Bergson et Georges Canguilhem), que de délivrer de l'idée précipitée selon laquelle l'essence de la technique serait d'être une application de la science, idée dont la faiblesse est la plus évidente quand il s'agit d'une époque où la science n'existait pas encore au sens actuel. La lecture de Platon n'est pas seulement libérée par la compréhension de la technique que propose Simondon, elle est elle-même une préparation très utile à la lecture de ce dernier, reposant sur des exemples plus simples. Ce qu'apprend une philosophie de la technique, on le voit exemplairement chez Platon et chez Simondon, n'est pas seulement comment organiser des concepts et des idées (dont l'importance politique et sociale est évidente), c'est comment regarder précisément le réel, penser son existence et son évolution."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Simondon’s philosophy of individuation attacks the opposition between liberty and necessity, a key institution of the supposed ontological “difference” between the human being and nature in most of modern political thought. Distinguishing between ontological and epistemological determinism, I will show the political significance of Simondon’s refusal to either reduce human beings to natural determinism or save their alleged metaphysical nature. Simondon inherits part of his critical programme and a good deal of the tools he uses to construct (...) it from Georges Canguilhem. My reading starts from an enigma concerning quantum mechanics that Canguilhem jotted down on paper while involved in the Second World War antifascist struggle. I will suggest that Simondon’s philosophy exposes the two equally anthropomorphic understandings of nature shared by fascism and technocracy. This will allow me to explain the ideological function that voluntarism and human engineering can jointly perform by reinforcing and exploiting the apparent opposition between liberty and necessity, on the basis of their complementary teleological justification for political action. (shrink)

We see new technologies changing how we live, and seemingly set to do so at a rising pace. How should we describe these changes, and what exactly is changing? I discuss the theory of technical change in Simondon, On the Modes of Existence of the Technical Object. Once we understand precisely what sort of change qualifies as “technical,” we see that the changes in question today have little to do with technology as such, more with a new infrastructure for (...) its deployment. (shrink)

This unique collection of reports encompasses a wide range of challenges and activities of business ethics in most parts of the world. In the introduction, after a brief explanation of the sixfold questionnaire and its assumptions, I try to highlight a number of striking features contained in these reports, which may help to delineate the state-of-the-art of business ethics at national and regional levels. As a result of this international comparison, the following features deserve particular attention: the relevance of semantics, (...) corruption, leadership, corporate responsibilities, the need for case studies, business ethics as a social institution, and the question as to how important international issues really are. (shrink)

This chapter contains section titled: Introduction Chomsky's Commitment to CRTT Prospects and Problems of CRTT Technical Notions? Does Chomsky Need Intentionality? Chomsky's Dilemma.

The article examines the state of research on Michael of Ephesus as a probable author of the Commentaries on Metaphysics E–N, mainly the works of Leonardo Tarán and Concetta Luna. In spite of their opposed views, they both agree on the mediocrity of the Byzantine author. The article questions the criteria for this negative appraisal and offers some material for reconsidering Michael of Ephesus’ idea of philo­sophical culture.

This paper proposes a series of theoretical considerations on the performing styles used in contemporary theatre, according to the relationship the actor establishes with the audience. If Diderot was the first to question frontal relationship, and asked the performer to ignore the spectator, this programme will only be accomplished one hundred years later, with the emergence of the director. Later on, theoreticians such as Meyerhold, Vakhtangov or Copeau will ask for a partial return to performing facing the audience, as a (...) sign of the return to the theatrical tradition dominated by the exigencies of the stage and not by those of the truth. With Piscator and Brecht theatre rediscovered frontality, as a sign of the wish to engage the auditorium as an active partner of dialogue. The author discusses several avatars that this new frontality acquires in presentday theatre. (shrink)

Georges Rey presents a much-needed philosophical defense of Noam Chomsky's famous view of human language, as an internal, innate computational system. But he also offers a critical examination of problematic developments of this view, to do with innateness, ontology, intentionality, and other issues of interdisciplinary interest.

In her recent (2009) book, The Origins of Concepts, Susan Carey argues that what she calls ‘Quinean Bootstrapping’ and processes of analogy in children show that the expressive power of a mind can be increased in ways that refute Jerry Fodor's (1975, 2008) ‘Mad Dog’ view that all concepts are innate. I argue that it is doubtful any evidence about the manifestation of concepts in children will bear upon the logico-semantic issues of expressive power. Analogy and bootstrapping may be ways (...) to bring about the former, but only by presupposing the very expressive powers Carey is claiming they explain. Analogies must be understood, and bootstrapping involves confirmation of hypotheses already expressible; otherwise they can't select among an infinitude of hypotheses compatible with the finite data the child has encountered, a fact rendered vivid by Goodman's ‘grue’ paradox and Chomsky's poverty of stimulus argument. The problems have special application to minds, since there is no reason to expect a child's concepts to be ‘projectible’ or to correspond to mind-independent natural kinds. I conclude with an ecumenical view that concepts are reasonably regarded as both innate and often learned, and that what is learned can in fact increase what really concerns Carey, the functioning psychological expressive power of the child, even if it leaves untouched what concerns Fodor, the semantic expressive power. Less ecumenically: maybe Fodor (2008) miscast the debate, and the real issue that bothers people concerns not nativism, but an issue on which Carey and Fodor surprisingly agree, his conceptual Atomism, or the view that all mono-morphemic concepts are primitive and unanalyzable. The issue deserves further discussion independently of Mad-doggery. (shrink)