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

individuation The principle of individuation, or ', describes the manner in which a thing is identified as distinct from other things. The concept appears in numerous fields and is encountered in works of Leibniz, Carl Jung, Gunther Anders, Gilbert Simondo ...

and his work on the field of

philosophy of technology The philosophy of technology is a sub-field of philosophy that studies the nature of technology and its social effects. Philosophical discussion of questions relating to technology (or its Greek ancestor ''techne'') dates back to the very dawn of ...

. Simondon's work is characterized by his philosophical approach on

information theory Information theory is the mathematical study of the quantification (science), quantification, Data storage, storage, and telecommunications, communication of information. The field was established and formalized by Claude Shannon in the 1940s, ...

communication studies Communication studies (or communication science) is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in differ ...

, technology and the

natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

. Although largely overlooked in his lifetime, the advent of the

Information Age The Information Age is a historical period that began in the mid-20th century. It is characterized by a rapid shift from traditional industries, as established during the Industrial Revolution, to an economy centered on information technology ...

has collaborated to a reappraisal and increased interest in Simondon's books, with him being seen as someone who has precisely predicted and described the social effects and

paradigms In science and philosophy, a paradigm ( ) is a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates, and standards for what constitute legitimate contributions to a field. The word ''paradigm'' is Greek ...

technical objects and technology itself have offered in the 21st century. Despite Simondon's thought having remained largely alienated amidst the effervescent wave of

post-structuralism Post-structuralism is a philosophical movement that questions the objectivity or stability of the various interpretive structures that are posited by structuralism and considers them to be constituted by broader systems of Power (social and poli ...

of his age in his homeland of France and Europe in general, a few colleagues have been pioneers in praising Simondon's writings and demonstrating the influence and weight of his intellectual work in their own, the most notable being

Gilles Deleuze Gilles Louis René Deleuze (18 January 1925 – 4 November 1995) was a French philosopher who, from the early 1950s until his death in 1995, wrote on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes o ...

, whose ''

The Logic of Sense ''The Logic of Sense'' () is a 1969 book by the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. The English edition was translated by Mark Lester and Charles Stivale, and edited by Constantin V. Boundas. Summary An exploration of meaning and meaninglessness o ...

'' is heavily influenced by Simondon's theory of

, and

Herbert Marcuse Herbert Marcuse ( ; ; July 19, 1898 – July 29, 1979) was a German–American philosopher, social critic, and Political philosophy, political theorist, associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory. Born in Berlin, Marcuse studied at ...

, who takes inspiration from Simondon's notions of the effects of technological alienation in society in his book '' One-Dimensional Man''. Today, Simondon's work influence can most clearly be seen in the works of

Bruno Latour Bruno Latour (; ; 22 June 1947 – 9 October 2022) was a French philosopher, anthropologist and sociologist.Wheeler, Will. ''Bruno Latour: Documenting Human and Nonhuman Associations'' Critical Theory for Library and Information Science. Librari ...

Bernard Stiegler Bernard Stiegler (; 1 April 1952 – 5 August 2020) was a French philosopher. He was head of the Institut de recherche et d'innovation (IRI), which he founded in 2006 at the Centre Georges-Pompidou. He was also founder of the political and c ...

and Yuk Hui.

Career

Born in

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

, Simondon was a student of philosopher of science

Georges Canguilhem Georges Canguilhem (; ; 4 June 1904 – 11 September 1995) was a French philosopher and physician who specialized in epistemology and the philosophy of science (in particular, philosophy of biology, biology). Life and work Canguilhem entered t ...

, philosopher Martial Guéroult, and phenomenologist

Maurice Merleau-Ponty Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty. ( ; ; 14 March 1908 – 3 May 1961) was a French phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. The constitution of meaning in human experience was his main interes ...

. He studied at the Ecole Normale Supérieure and the Sorbonne. He defended his doctoral dissertations in 1958 at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

. 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, although the second part, ''L'individuation psychique et collective'' (''Psychic and collective individuation'') was only published by Aubier in 1989. While his main thesis, which laid the foundations of his thinking, was not widely read until it was commented upon by

and, more recently,

and

, his complementary thesis, ''Du mode d'existence des objets techniques'' (''On the mode of existence of technical objects'') was published by Aubier immediately after being completed (in 1958) and had an instant impact on a wide audience. It was only in 2005 that Jérôme Millon published a complete edition of the main thesis.

Thought

In ''L'individuation psychique et collective'', Simondon developed a theory of individual and collective

, 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 never-ending process of individuation. Simondon also conceived of "pre-individual fields" as the resources making individuation itself possible. Individuation is an always incomplete process, always leaving a "pre-individual" left-over, itself making possible future individuations. Furthermore, psychic individuation always creates both an individual and a collective subject, which individuate themselves together. Simondon criticized

Norbert Wiener Norbert Wiener (November 26, 1894 – March 18, 1964) was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and philosopher. He became a professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT). A child prodigy, Wiener late ...

's theory of

cybernetics Cybernetics is the transdisciplinary study of circular causal processes such as feedback and recursion, where the effects of a system's actions (its outputs) return as inputs to that system, influencing subsequent action. It is concerned with ...

, 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 Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (Peirce), a branch of philosophy according to Charles Sanders Peirce (1839� ...

" of machines.

Influence

Simondon's theory of

through transduction in a

metastable In chemistry and physics, metastability is an intermediate energetic state within a dynamical system other than the system's state of least energy. A ball resting in a hollow on a slope is a simple example of metastability. If the ball is onl ...

environment was an important influence on the thought of

, whose '' Différence et répétition'' (1968), '' Logique du sens '' (1969) and ''L'île déserte'' (2002) make explicit reference to Simondon's work. ''Gilbert Simondon: une pensée de l'individuation et de la technique'' (1994), the proceedings of the first conference devoted to Simondon's work, further charts his influence on thinkers such as

François Laruelle François Laruelle (; ; 22 August 1937 – 28 October 2024) was a French philosopher, of the Collège international de philosophie and the University of Paris X: Nanterre. Laruelle began publishing in the early 1970s and had around twenty book-l ...

, Gilles Châtelet, Anne Fagot-Largeau, Yves Deforge,

René Thom René Frédéric Thom (; 2 September 1923 – 25 October 2002) was a French mathematician, who received the Fields Medal in 1958. He made his reputation as a topologist, moving on to aspects of what would be called singularity theory; he became ...

, and

(the latter having placed Simondon's theory of individuation at the very heart of his multi-volume philosophical project). Another contributor to ''Gilbert Simondon: une pensée de l'individuation et de la technique'', Simondon's friend John Hart, was the instigator of the very first translation—from French into English c.1980—of Simondon's work (this at University of Western Ontario in Canada where Hart had founded both a Department of Computer Science and a Simondon-inspired network: the ATN, or Audio Tactile Network in 1964). Jean-Hugues Barthélémy edited the ''Cahiers Simondon'' from 2009 to 2015 with a total of six issues. Currently, Simondon can be seen as a major influence on the work of scholars such as

Paolo Virno Paolo Virno (; ; born 14 May 1952) is an Italian philosopher, semiologist and a figurehead for the Italian Marxist movement. Implicated in belonging to illegal social movements during the 1960s and 1970s, Virno was arrested and jailed in 1979, ...

, Jean-Hugues Barthélémy, Thierry Bardini, Luciana Parisi,

Brian Massumi Brian Massumi (; born 1956) is a Canadian philosopher and social theorist. Massumi's research spans the fields of art, architecture, cultural studies, political theory and philosophy. His work explores the intersection between power, perception, ...

, Adrian Mackenzie, Muriel Combes,

Carl Mitcham Carl Mitcham (born 1941) is a philosopher of engineering and technology, Professor Emeritus of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the Colorado School of Mines and Visiting International Professor of Philosophy of Technology at Renmin Univers ...

Andrew Feenberg Andrew Feenberg (born 1943) is an American philosopher. He holds the Canada Research Chair in the Philosophy of Technology in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. His main interests are philosophy of technology, c ...

, Yuk Hui, Isabelle Stengers, Thomas Lamarre,

and Anne Sauvagnargues.

Bibliography

*''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; reprinted in 2007 with a preface by Bernard Stiegler). Posthumous publications *''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, 2005). *''Cours sur la perception (1964–1965)'', Préface de Renaud Barbaras (Editions de La Transparence). *''Imagination et invention (1965–1966)'' (Editions de La Transparence, 2008). *''Communication et Information. Cours et Conférences'' (Éditions de La Transparence, 2010). *''Sur la technique'' (P.U.F., 2014). *''Sur la psychologie'' (P.U.F., 2015). *''Sur la philosophie'' (P.U.F., 2016). *''La résolution des problèmes'' (P.U.F., 2018). English translations *"Technical Mentality," trans. Arne De Boever, ''Parrhesia'' 07 (2009): 7–2

. *"Techno Aesthetics," trans. Arne De Boever, ''Parrhesia'' 14 (2012): 1–

*"Technical Individualization," in Joke Brouwer & Arjen Mulder (eds.),
Interact or Die!
'' (Rotterdam: NAi, 2007). *"The Essence of Technicity," trans. Ninian Mellamphy, Dan Mellamphy & Nandita Biswas Mellamphy
''Deleuze Studies'' 5 (11.11.2011): 406–424 [2].
*"The Genesis of the Individual," in Jonathan Crary & Sanford Kwinter (eds.), ''Incorporations'' (New York: Zone Books, 1992): 297–319. *"The Position of the Problem of Ontogenesis," trans. Gregory Flanders, ''Parrhesia'' 07 (2009): 4–16

. * "The Limits of Human Progress," trans Sean Cubitt, ''Cultural Politics'', 8(2) (2010): 229–3
''Cultural Politics'', 8(2) (2010): 229–36
*''Two Lessons on Animal and Man'' (Minneapolis: Univocal Publishing, 2012

*''On the Mode of Existence of Technical Objects'' (Minneapolis: Univocal Publishing, 2016

*''Individuation in Light of Notions of Form and Information'' (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 202

* Also see the Simondon#Online translations, ''Online translations'' section (below) for unpublished translations.

References

*Alloa, Emmanuel,
Prégnances du devenir. Simondon et les images
, in ''Critique'' 816 (2015): 356 – 371 . *Alloa, Emmanuel & Judith Michalet
"Differences in Becoming. Gilbert Simondon and Gilles Deleuze on Individuation"
in Philosophy Today vol. 61 no. 3 (2017): 475–502.. *Bardin, Andrea,
Philosophy as Political Technē: The Tradition of Invention in Simondon’s Political Thought
''Contemporary Political Theory'', 2018. *Bardin, Andrea,
Epistemology and Political Philosophy in Gilbert Simondon. Individuation, Technics, Social Systems
' (Springer, 2015). *Barthélémy, Jean-Hugues, ''Life and Technology: An Inquiry Into and Beyond Simondon'' (tr. B. Norman, Meson Press, 2015). *Barthélémy, Jean-Hugues, ''Simondon'' (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2014). *Barthélémy, Jean-Hugues (dir.), ''Cahiers Simondon'' N° 1 to 6 (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2009–2015). *Barthélémy, Jean-Hugues, "Individuation and Knowledge. The refutation of idealism in Simondon's Heritage in France", translated by M. Hayward and A. De Boever, ''SubStance'', Special Issue "Gilbert Simondon", Issue 129, Vol. 41, N°3, 2012. *Barthélémy, Jean-Hugues, "What new Humanism today ?", translated by Chris Turner, ''Cultural Politics'', Vol. 6, Issue 2, Bergs Publishers, 2010. *Barthélémy, Jean-Hugues, "Du mort qui saisit le vif. Simondonian ontology today", trans.

Justin Clemens Justin Clemens (born 22 April 1969) is an Australian academic known for his work on Alain Badiou, psychoanalysis, European philosophy, and contemporary Australian art and literature. He is also a published poet. Background Clemens studied at ...

Parrhesia 7 (2009): 28–35
. *Barthélémy, Jean-Hugues, ''Simondon ou l'encyclopédisme génétique'' (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2008) *Barthélémy, Jean-Hugues, ''Penser l'individuation. Simondon et la philosophie de la nature'' (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2005). . *Barthélémy, Jean-Hugues, ''Penser la connaissance et la technique après Simondon'' (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2005). . *Bidet, Alexandra, Macé, Marielle. "S'individuer, s'émanciper, risquer un style (autour de Simondon)", ''Revue du Mauss'', n°38 – Emancipation, subjectivation, individuation. Psychanalyse, philosophie et science sociale, La Découverte, 2011, pp. 269–284. *Bontems, Vincent (dir.), ''Gilbert Simondon ou l'invention du futur'' (Paris: Klincksieck, 2016). *Caponi, Saverio, ''Gilbert Simondon. La tecnica e la vita'', Lulu.com, 2010. *Carrozzini, Giovanni, ''Gilbert Simondon filosofo della mentalité technique'', Mimesis, Milano 2011. *Carrozzini, Giovanni, ''Gilbert Simondon: per un'assiomatica dei saperi. Dall'"ontologia dell'individuo" alla filosofia della tecnologia'', Manni, San Cesario di Lecce 2006 *Chabot, Pascal, ''La philosophie de Simondon'' (Paris, Vrin, 2003). (English translation :
The philosophy of Simondon.Between technology and individuation
, Bloomsbury, 2013) *Combes, Muriel, ''Gilbert Simondon and the Philosophy of the Transindividual'', translated by Thomas Lamarre, MIT Press 2013 (originally published in French: ''Simondon, Individu et collectivité'', Presses Universitaires de France 1999) * Critique no. 816 (2015), Special Issue on Gilbert Simondon, with texts by Elie During, Emmanuel Alloa, Irlande Saurin, Anne Sauvegnargues and Gilbert Simondo

* Gilles Deleuze, Deleuze, Gilles, "On Gilbert Simondon," in ''Desert Islands and Other Texts, 1953–1974'' (Los Angeles & New York: Semiotext(e), 2004): 86–9. *De Boever, Murray, Roffe & Ashley (eds.),
Gilbert Simondon: Being and Technology
'
Edinburgh University Press
hardback: 2012; paperback: March 2013). *Dumouchel, Paul, "Gilbert Simondon's Plea for a Philosophy of Technology," in ''The Politics of Knowledge'' (Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1995): 255–71. . *During, Elie
Simondon au pied du mur
. * Hottois, Gilbert, ''Simondon et la philosophie de la culture technique'' (Brussels: De Boeck, 1992). . *Mackenzie, Adrian, ''Transductions: Bodies and Machines at Speed'' (Continuum Press, 2002). *Massumi, Brian, ''Technical Mentality" Revisited: Brian Massumi on Gilbert Simondon,'
Parrhesia 7 (2009): 36–45
. *Mills, Simon, ''Gilbert Simondon – Information, Technology and Media'' (Rowman and Littlefield, 2016). *Morizot, Baptiste, ''Pour une théorie de la rencontre. Hasard et individuation chez Gilbert Simondon'' (Paris: Vrin, 2016; foreword by Jean-Hugues Barthélémy). *Revue philosophique de la France et de l'étranger, ''Gilbert Simondon'', n°3/2006. * Sabolius, Kristupas,
Traversing Life and Thought: Gilbert Simondon's Theory of Cyclic Imagination
, in ''Social Imaginaries'' 5.2 (2019): 37–57. * Scott, David, ''Gilbert Simondon's Psychic and Collective Individuation'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2014). * Stiegler, Bernard, ''

Acting Out In the psychology of defense mechanisms and self-control, acting out is the performance of an action considered bad or anti-social. They indirectly express emotions through behavior rather than words. These actions are often used to cope with un ...

'' (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009). *Stiegler, Bernard
The Theater of Individuation: Phase-shift and Resolution in Simondon and Heidegger
trans. Kristina Lebedeva, ''Parrhesia'' 7 (2009): 46–57. *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
. * Tenti, Gregorio, ''Estetica e morfologia in Gilbert Simondon'', Mimesis, 2020 *Thibault, Ghislain, ''Filming Simondon: The National Film Board, Education, and Humanism '', Canadian Journal of Film Studies, vol. 26 n°1/2017, pp. 1–2

*Thibault, Ghislain and Mark Hayward,
Understanding Machines: A History of Canadian Mechanology
', Canadian Journal of Communication, vol. 42 n°3/2017 * Alberto Toscano, 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. *Virno, Paolo, ''Angels and the General Intellect: Individuation in Duns Scotus and Gilbert Simondon,'
Parrhesia 7 (2009): 58–67
. *Olivier Del Fabbro: Philosophieren mit Objekten – Gilbert Simondons prozessuale Individuationsontologie, Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag. 2021.

Further viewing

* François Lagarde and Pascal Chabot have made a movie on Simondon
Simondon of the Desert
with Anne Fagot-Largeault, Arne De Boever, Dominique Lecourt, Gilbert Hottois, Giovanni Carrozzini, Jean-Hugues Barthélémy, Jean Clottes, and music by Jean-Luc Guillonet.

External links

Online translations
Save the Technical Object
link to PDF file of unpublished 2013 translation.
MEOT / METO
link to PDF file of unpublished 2010 translation. * Also see the ''English translations'' section (above) for published translations. Other links
The Gilbert Simondon issue of ''Parrhesia''

Filmed interview of Gilbert Simondon
on the subject of mechanology, 1968 .
On Gilbert Simondon's Unified Theory of Technics and Technology, by François Laruelle''Autour de Simondon:'' List of articles about Simondon, by the revue online ''Appareil''
.
Aud-Sissel-Hoel and Van-der-Tuin on Simondon's link to Ernst CassirerGilbert Simondon Biography by Nathalie Simondon"Simondon au pied du mur" by Elie During
.
Mode of Existence, English translation

On the Essence of Technicity

Simondon biography

List of articles about Simondon
.
Online Issue on Simondon
by Jean-Hugues Barthélémy (dir.)).
"Simondon Week" on TheFunambulist.net

"Penser l'école avec Gilbert Simondon"
.
CIDES (Centre International des Études Simondoniennes) a.k.a. ICSS (International Center for Simondon Studies)Conference-video on Gilbert Simondon and the New Enlightenment
.
Simondon at Monoskop.org
with extensive bibliography.
A short list of Gilbert Simondon's vocabularyA research project (and book in preparation) on the relationship between Gilbert Simondon, mechanology and Canadian intellectuals
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simondon, Gilbert 1924 births 1989 deaths Writers from Saint-Étienne École Normale Supérieure alumni University of Paris alumni 20th-century French philosophers Historians of technology French metaphysicians French philosophers of technology French epistemologists Continental philosophers 20th-century French historians 20th-century French male writers