Gilbert Simondon
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The Return of Vitalism: Canguilhem and French Biophilosophy in the 1960S
The Return of Vitalism: Canguilhem and French Biophilosophy in the 1960s Charles T. Wolfe Unit for History and Philosophy of Science University of Sydney [email protected] Abstract The eminent French biologist and historian of biology, François Jacob, once notoriously declared ―On n‘interroge plus la vie dans les laboratoires‖1: laboratory research no longer inquires into the notion of ‗Life‘. Nowadays, as David Hull puts it, ―both scientists and philosophers take ontological reduction for granted… Organisms are ‗nothing but‘ atoms, and that is that.‖2 In the mid-twentieth century, from the immediate post-war period to the late 1960s, French philosophers of science such as Georges Canguilhem, Raymond Ruyer and Gilbert Simondon returned to Jacob‘s statement with an odd kind of pathos: they were determined to reverse course. Not by imposing a different kind of research program in laboratories, but by an unusual combination of historical and philosophical inquiry into the foundations of the life sciences (particularly medicine, physiology and the cluster of activities that were termed ‗biology‘ in the early 1800s). Even in as straightforwardly scholarly a work as La formation du concept de réflexe aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles (1955), Canguilhem speaks oddly of ―defending vitalist biology,‖ and declares that Life cannot be grasped by logic (or at least, ―la vie déconcerte la logique‖). Was all this historical and philosophical work merely a reassertion of ‗mysterian‘, magical vitalism? In order to answer this question we need to achieve some perspective on Canguilhem‘s ‗vitalism‘, notably with respect to its philosophical influences such as Kurt Goldstein. -
Panel Proposal: the Necessity of Critique II Organizer: Darryl Cressman, Maastricht University
Panel Proposal: The Necessity of Critique II Organizer: Darryl Cressman, Maastricht University Functionalization and the World – Causality, Culture, and Planetary Technology Jochem Zweer University of Twente My contribution focusses on Feenberg’s recent rearticulation of his widely discussed instrumentalization theory, in which the pairing of primary and secondary instrumentalization is addressed in terms of causal and cultural functionalization. First, I show how this conceptualization of functionalization aligns with existing approaches in contemporary philosophy of technology and STS inasmuch as it departs from technological artefacts, but contrasts with such approaches inasmuch as it attends to how such artefacts reveal a world, which is to say a political world of formal biases, operational autonomy, and democratic potential. Secondly, in following Feenberg’s explicit association of philosophy of technology and environmental thought, I inquire after his understanding of the technological world as an outcome of social conditions. Via a phenomenological interpretation of the Anthropocene and associated planetary functionalization, I argue that Feenberg’s treatment of causal functionalization tends to reduce to cultural functionalization. While the resulting critical constructivist account of is both urgent and worthwhile in light of today’s ecological emergency, I suggest that it does not exhaust the implications of the advent of the Anthropocene. I therefore conclude by discussing causal functionalization in light of the analysis of causality that Heidegger develops in the Question concerning Technology, thereby drawing attention to the ontological conditioning of functionalization. I suggest that attending to such ontological conditioning must have a place in the critical constructivist project of uncovering the biases of contemporary functional rationality. -
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Gilbert Simondon and the Philosophy of Information An Interview with Jean-Hugues Barthélémy Jean-Hugues Barthélémy Andrew Iliadis Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy - Revue de la philosophie française et de langue française, Vol XXIII, No 1 (2015) pp 102-112. Vol XXIII, No 1 (2015) ISSN 1936-6280 (print) ISSN 2155-1162 (online) DOI 10.5195/jffp.2015.679 www.jffp.org This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. This journal is operated by the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh as part of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program, and is co-sponsored by the UniversityJournal of Pittsburgh of French and Press Francophone Philosophy | Revue de la philosophie française et de langue française Vol XXIII, No 1 (2015) | www.jffp.org | DOI 10.5195/jffp.2015.679 Gilbert Simondon and the Philosophy of Information An Interview with Jean-Hugues Barthélémy Jean-Hugues Barthélémy Centre international des études simondoniennes Andrew Iliadis Purdue University Jean-Hugues Barthélémy is a French philosopher and a leading authority on the philosophy of Gilbert Simondon (1924-1989). Barthélémy is Director of the Centre international des études simondoniennes (CIDES – MSH Paris-Nord), Professor of philosophy, Doctor in epistemology of the University Paris VII – Denis Diderot, Editor and Director of Cahiers Simondon, and Research Associate at the University Paris Ouest – Nanterre La Défense. He is the author of Penser l’individuation. Simondon et la philosophie de la nature (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2005), Penser la connaissance et la technique après Simondon (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2005), Simondon ou l’encyclopédisme génétique (Paris: P.U.F., 2008), and Simondon (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2014 – translation forthcoming: Bloomsbury, 2016). -
THE PAST of a DELUSION by Warren Sturgis Mcculloch
Winter-Edition 2007 THE PAST OF A DELUSION by Warren Sturgis McCulloch Englisch Deutsch Editorial Editorial By Joachim Paul, editor of von Joachim Paul, Hrsg.: www.vordenker.de www.vordenker.de To make Warren McCulloch's essay Den aus dem Jahr 1953 stammenden Aufsatz "THE PAST OF A DELUSION" from the "THE PAST OF A DELUSION" von Warren year 1953 now available in a German McCulloch als Arbeitstext auch in deutscher translation is in need to be explained. Sprache zugänglich zu machen, bedarf einer erläuternden Anmerkung. Undoubtedly Warren Sturgis McCulloch Warren Sturgis McCulloch ist unbestritten is one of the leading scientists of the einer der wichtigsten Wissenschaftler des 20. 20th century. His influence ranges from Jahrhunderts. Sein Einfluß reicht von den the early days of the Macy-Conferences frühen Tagen der Macy-Konferenzen über das over MIT and Biological Computer Lab in MIT und das Biological Computer Lab in Urbana, Illinois to the foundation of the Urbana, Illinois, bis hin zur Gründung des renowned "Santa Fe Institute for renommierten "Santa Fe Institute for Sciences Sciences of Complexity", where one of of Complexity", zu dessen bekannteren Mitar- the more prominent collaborators was beitern der Mediziner, Biochemiker und Biophy- the physician, biochemist and biophysi- siker Stuart Kauffman gehörte, zeitweilig ein cist Stuart Kauffman, a temporary Schüler McCullochs. 1927 bis 1934, bevor disciple of McCulloch. Before McCulloch McCulloch, einer der Väter von Kybernetik und returned to the academic world and Neuroinformatik, -
On Cosmotechnics: for a Renewed Relation Between Technology And
Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology ISSN: 1091-8264 21:2–3 (2017): 1–23 DOI: 10.5840/techne201711876 On Cosmotechnics: For a Renewed Relaton between Technology and Nature in the Anthropocene Yuk Hui Abstract: This article aims to bring forward a critical refection on a renewed relation between nature and technology in the Anthropocene, by contextualizing the question around the recent debates on the “ontological turn” in Anthropology, which attempts to go beyond the nature and culture dualism analysed as the crisis of modernity. The “politics of ontologies” associated with this movement in anthropology opens up the question of participation of non-humans. This article contrasts this anthropological attempt with the work of the philosopher Gilbert Simondon, who wants to overcome the antagonism between culture and technics. According to Simondon, this antago- nism results from the technological rupture of modernity at the end of the eighteenth century. This paper analyses the differences of the oppositions presenting their work: culture vs. nature, culture vs. technics, to show that a dialogue between anthropology of nature (illustrated through the work of Philippe Descola) and philosophy of tech- nology (illustrated through the work of Simondon) will be fruitful to conceptualize a renewed relation between nature and technology. One way to initiate such a conversa- tion as well as to think about the reconciliation between nature and technology, this article tries to show, is to develop the concept of cosmotechnics as the denominator of these two trends of thinking. Key words: ontological turn, Gilbert Simondon, Philippe Descola, cosmotechnics, modernity Introducton It is scarcely deniable that the Anthropocene, beyond its obvious signifcation as a new geological era, also represents a crisis that is the culmination of two- Yuk Hui, Institut für Kultur und Ästhetik Digitaler Medien, Leuphana University, Scharnhorststraße 1, 21335, Lüneburg, Germany; [email protected]. -
Simondon: Investigating the Pre-Organizational
Fichier auteur. Une version ultérieure est parue : Letiche Hugo & Moriceau Jean-Luc, 2017, "Simondon. Investigating the pre-organizational", Culture and Organization, Vol. 23, n°1, pp.1-13; Doi: 10.1080/14759551.2016.1240358. Simondon: Investigating the Pre-Organizational 1 2 Hugo Letiche & Jean-Luc Moriceau 1 The University of Leicester School of Business, Leicester UK; 2 Institut Mines-Télécom / Télécom Ecole de Management, France. Gilbert Simondon (1924-1989) was a radical process thinker; forms of relatedness and not objects were his focus. This is all the more remarkable as he was not a vitalist prioritizing Gaia or autopoesis. He based his thought on analyses of technology / technics and communication / cybernetics, and in both cases rejected the perspective of the machine or message as in-itself objectifiable. Life objects, machines and societies, according to Simondon, individuate; that is, they are self-evolving, self-generating, and self-differentiating in what he calls processes of ‘transduction’. Simondon, in fact, is more a thinker of transindividuation than of individuation. His is a theory of how the pre-individual leads to the transindividual, without the individual ever really playing much of a role. The motor of change and activity is 'transduction' – or a force of form taking that operates on the pre- individual level. Transduction is, thus, the life-force of Simondon’s becoming. It is the energy that propels action, change, event and occurrence. No one in particular is the subject of transduction; transduction is the pre-individual manifestation of an all-encompassing process of genesis. Simondon attends to the genesis of the person, society, information, collective, technology, organization, whatever. -
The Cybernetic Brain
THE CYBERNETIC BRAIN THE CYBERNETIC BRAIN SKETCHES OF ANOTHER FUTURE Andrew Pickering THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO AND LONDON ANDREW PICKERING IS PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER. HIS BOOKS INCLUDE CONSTRUCTING QUARKS: A SO- CIOLOGICAL HISTORY OF PARTICLE PHYSICS, THE MANGLE OF PRACTICE: TIME, AGENCY, AND SCIENCE, AND SCIENCE AS PRACTICE AND CULTURE, A L L PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, AND THE MANGLE IN PRAC- TICE: SCIENCE, SOCIETY, AND BECOMING (COEDITED WITH KEITH GUZIK). THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, CHICAGO 60637 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, LTD., LONDON © 2010 BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PUBLISHED 2010 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5 ISBN-13: 978-0-226-66789-8 (CLOTH) ISBN-10: 0-226-66789-8 (CLOTH) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pickering, Andrew. The cybernetic brain : sketches of another future / Andrew Pickering. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-226-66789-8 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-226-66789-8 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Cybernetics. 2. Cybernetics—History. 3. Brain. 4. Self-organizing systems. I. Title. Q310.P53 2010 003’.5—dc22 2009023367 a THE PAPER USED IN THIS PUBLICATION MEETS THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OF THE AMERICAN NATIONAL STANDARD FOR INFORMATION SCIENCES—PERMA- NENCE OF PAPER FOR PRINTED LIBRARY MATERIALS, ANSI Z39.48-1992. DEDICATION For Jane F. CONTENTS Acknowledgments / ix 1. The Adaptive Brain / 1 2. Ontological Theater / 17 PART 1: PSYCHIATRY TO CYBERNETICS 3. -
42 LS08 Abstracts
42 LS08 Abstracts IP0 plasticity, whereas a breakdown in trafficking appears to be Public Lecture: Reinventing the Sacred: Science, a contributory factor to a number of neurodegenerative dis- Faith and Complexity eases associated with memory loss including Alzheimer’s. I propose to discuss three topics. Several alternative the- ories and experimental work bear on the origin of molecu- Paul C. Bressloff lar reproduction (here we at least think we know what we University of Utah are talking about). Second, we discuss agency, the capac- Department of Mathematics ity of organisms to act on their own behalf, hence doing bressloff@math.utah.edu (here molecular reproduction causes value to enter the bio- sphere). Third, I discuss the evolution of the biosphere by Darwinian preadaptations, which, I believe, is partially IP2 beyond natural law. On the first topic I will discuss the Magnetic Resonance Elastography classical view that life must be based on template repli- cated DNA, RNA or their cousins, the RNA world, the Many disease processes such as cancer cause profound membrane-cell first world, my own work on the emergence changes in the mechanical properties of tissues, yet none of collectively autocatalytic sets of organic molecules and of the conventional medical imaging techniques such as polymers, experimental evidence for collectively autocat- CT, MRI, and ultrasound are capable of delineating this alytic sets of DNA and peptide sequences, and our own and property. Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) is an other workers’ evidence that random peptides fold, at least emerging diagnostic imaging technology that uses a special to molten globules, hence may well have catalytic activity. -
Against Biopoetics
Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2004 Against biopoetics: on the use and misuse of the concept of evolution in contemporary literary theory Bradley Bankston Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Bankston, Bradley, "Against biopoetics: on the use and misuse of the concept of evolution in contemporary literary theory" (2004). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 1703. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1703 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. AGAINST BIOPOETICS: ON THE USE AND MISUSE OF THE CONCEPT OF EVOLUTION IN CONTEMPORARY LITERARY THEORY A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English By Bradley Bankston B.A., New College, 1990 M.A., Louisiana State University, 1999 May 2004 Table of Contents Abstract................................................iii Introduction..............................................1 Part I: Evolutionary Psychology -
A Review of Stuart Kauffman's a World Beyond Physics and Its Parallel
Available online at https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/nexj Visit our blog at newexplorations.net Vol 1 № 1 (Spring 2020) A Review of Stuart Kauffman’s A World Beyond Physics and Its Parallel with McLuhan’s Reversal of Cause and Effect. Robert K. Logan University of Toronto ABSTRACT A review of Stuart Kauffman’s A World Beyond Physics is made and its parallels with McLuhan’s reversal of cause and effect is made. KEYWORDS: McLuhan; physics; enablement; general systems; extensions of man; media; technology; tool Robert K. Logan [email protected] 2 New Explorations: Studies in Culture & Communication In A World Beyond Physics, Stuart Kauffman (2019, 10) critiques the “physics-based view of the world” and the notion that physics can ultimately explain all phenomena of the universe including biology and cognition. He wrote, Brilliant physicist Steven Weinberg voiced the physicist thoughts: (1) the explanatory arrow always points downwards from social systems to people to organs to cells, to biochemistry to chemistry and finally physics; (2) the more we know of the universe, he wrote, the more meaningless it appears (ibid.). Kauffman (2019, 12-13) states that Weinberg is categorically wrong and points out, “One thing missing in the world according to physics is the crucial idea of agency… Given agency, meaning exists in the universe.” He then asks "How did the universe get from matter to mattering? In the meaningless, numb universe of Weinberg, where does mattering come from?” Mattering, in Kauffman’s play on words, is simply meaning or information and information is about the informing of a living agent that is able to propagate its organization. -
Exploring the Science of Complexity: Ideas and Implications for Development and Humanitarian Efforts
Overseas Development Institute Exploring the science of complexity: Ideas and implications for development and humanitarian efforts Ben Ramalingam and Harry Jones with Toussaint Reba and John Young Foreword by Robert Chambers Working Paper 285 Results of ODI research presented in preliminary form for discussion and critical comment Working Paper 285 Exploring the science of complexity Ideas and implications for development and humanitarian efforts Second Edition Ben Ramalingam and Harry Jones with Toussainte Reba and John Young Foreword by Robert Chambers October 2008 Overseas Development Institute 111 Westminster Bridge Road London SE7 1JD ISBN 978 0 85003 864 4 © Overseas Development Institute 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers. ii Contents Foreword by Robert Chambers vii Executive summary viii Introduction viii Key concepts of complexity science viii Conclusions viii 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Aims and overview of the paper 1 1.2 Background: The RAPID programme and the focus on change 2 2. Putting complexity sciences into context 4 2.1 Origins 4 2.2 Applications in the social, political and economic realms 5 3. Concepts used in complexity sciences and their implications for development and humanitarian policy and practice 8 3.1 Unpacking complexity science: Key concepts and implications for international aid 8 3.2 -
Literary Theory and Critical Thought, Lectures MT17 on The
Literary Theory and Critical Thought, Lectures MT17 On the following pages you find a presentation of the lecture-series on ‘Literary Theory and Critical Thought’. You also find a number of bibliographical references. Please note that these references are not the prescribed readings for ‘Paper 12: Literary Theory’ or for the graduate module ‘Key Questions in Critical Thought’. These two courses each have their own bibliographies. What is listed below is material we will be engaging with in the lectures. Texts (Weeks 1 and 2, Ian Maclachlan) The idea that in studying literature we’re involved with texts may seem like just about the most unilluminating ‘no-brainer’ imaginable. But in the latter part of the 20th century the resonances of a lexicon of textuality, writing and difference were bound up with a radical reconception of the literary work, its meaning, and its cultural role and value. This reconception may be summarised in terms of the movement from structuralism to post-structuralism and beyond, and these two lectures will offer an account of those intellectual developments, focusing on such figures as Roland Barthes, Julia Kristeva, Jacques Derrida and Jacques Rancière, and discussing notions of semiology, intertextuality, deconstruction, and différance. They will also explore the idea that Derrida’s famous proclamation ‘Il n’y a pas de hors-texte [There is no outside-text]’ in no way implies a schism between text and world, but rather heralds their ceaseless interweaving and, therefore, an essentially political dimension of the literary text, as we see, for example, in the later work of Barthes and in Rancière’s thinking of the politics of literature.