[DRAFT] Paper presented at Congress for Doctoral Researchers in Philosophy, Tampere University, 25.–27.10. 2021. The Paper strives to flesh out Gilbert Simondon's notion of information as a multifaced process (transduction-modulation-organization) from the viewpoint of living (/biological) beings.

El artículo se propone poner en relación las concepciones sobre lo viviente en las obras de Hans Jonas y Gilbert Simondon. Como principales puntos de convergencia entre los dos autores se destacan la intención por superar los dualismos que han marcado las discusiones sobre este tema y la consideración del carácter problemático de la existencia del ser vivo. En ambos casos, la tensión que surge de este ser problemático de lo viviente se revela como el resultado de su propio devenir. (...) Esta caracterización de lo viviente se da en el caso de Jonas mediante su concepción de libertad y, en el caso de Simondon, en su consideración de la vida como conservación de un estado metaestable. La comparación de estos dos autores se concentrará en tres aspectos: (1) la distinción entre lo viviente y lo no-vivo; (2) el rol de la afectividad en los seres vivos; y (3) la forma en la que es entendida la muerte. Finalmente se pondrá en relación estas concepciones sobre el fenómeno de la vida con sus implicancias ético-políticas. (shrink)

Summary Based on Clausius’ phrasing of a “transformational content” and the resulting 2nd law of thermodynamics, I demonstrated that Gilbert Simondon’s On the Mode of Existence of Technical Objects is historically situated at the threshold of understanding open systems thermodynamics and the related concepts of balance. Furthermore, I showed that Gestalt theory, as represented by Wolfgang Köhler, at least reproduced, if not partially anticipated or even prepared this development of 20th century thinking. Finally, I gave some short examples of how (...) Simondon applied the figure/ground distinction to human perception, memory, and a general theory of becoming and I introduced his proposal to analyse “the grounds” just as thoroughly as the laws of figuration. (shrink)

This essay takes from Gilbert Simondon's work some elements of political philosophy, developing the implications of a pathway where the problem of technique turns out to be essential. Through a constant comparison with the present debate, this dissertation takes into account the entire corpus of Simondon’s work and its sources, inherited mainly from the phenomenological (Merleau-Ponty) and epistemological tradition (Canguilhem). The first section analyzes the way Simondon tries to re-configure the conceptual apparatus of philosophy according to some instruments given by (...) the scientific and epistemological thought, especially the physics of quanta, thermodynamics and cybernetics. The second section shows in particular the impact of biological patterns into the theorization of social systems’ genesis and functioning, and analyzes its Bergsonian source. The third section eventually follows Simondon in his drawing up a theory of the political function, which implies a dynamic conception on what forms the social bond, and the problematisation of the idea of human nature. The programming of an intervention on technological infrastructures involving directly the constituent frames of the social system entails - beside a questioning of the ontological constitution of society - a meditation on the epistemological constitution and the predictive power of the sciences dealing with it; and, most of all, it brings up the issue of the actual efficacy of the cultural universe in which such sciences are formulated and the intervention is programmed. Precisely at this point the question about the political effectualness of philosophical thought arises. (shrink)

Two key themes structure the work of French philosopher of science Gilbert Simondon: the processes of individuation and the nature of technical objects. Moreover, these two themes are also at the heart of contemporary debates within Ethics and Bioethics. Indeed, the question of the individual is a key concern in both Virtue Ethics and Feminist Ethics of Care, while the hyper-technical reality of the present stage of medical technology is a key reason for both the urgency for and the success (...) of the field of Bioethics. And yet, despite its potential for thinking about these issues, Simondon’s philosophy remains largely unknown. Rather than exploring Simondon’s complex ontology for itself, the aim of this paper is to establish what contribution his work can make in Ethics and Bioethics on two essential questions: the relational structure of the self and the nature of the human-technology relation. I argue that Simondon’s re-conceptualization of the individual harmonizes with perspectives in Feminist Bioethics (particularly the Ethics of Care) and points toward what I call an “open” Virtue Ethics that takes relations to be essential. In order to establish this connection, I explore at length the relational approach to Feminist Bioethics offered by Susan Sherwin’s work. I argue that a Simondonian account of technology and of the individual furthers the relational understanding of the self, offers a characterization of Virtue Ethics that is in harmony with the Ethics of Care, and clarifies a notion of responsibility that is implicated in the complex reality of the modern technological milieu. (shrink)

A posição filosófica chamada de externismo semântico caracteriza-se pela tese segundo a qual a individuação do conteúdo de estados mentais deve recorrer a fatores que não podem ser localizados na região geralmente circunscrita pela noção mesma de mente. Tal tese implica, em todo caso, que a suposta interioridade da vida psicológica não se basta para tornar inteligível as condições de possibilidade que o pensamento conceitual requer. Assim, se fatores externos aos indivíduos são vistos como desempenhando uma contribuição decisiva na própria (...) determinação de seu conteúdo mental, isto é algo que torna necessário compreender em que sentido mente e mundo podem ser tomados como intrinsecamente relacionados. A aposta teórica do presente trabalho é a de que apenas uma concepção da individuação liberada dos grilhões substancialistas permite fornecer um solo ontológico fértil para uma teoria externista do conceito. Daí que a noção de triangulação, que Donald Davidson forjou para dar conta de alguns fatores cruciais na gênese da conceitualidade, seja lida a partir de filosofias que ressaltam o caráter decisivo da vida como referencialidade fundamental do conceito. Logo, é na ordem vital que se busca dissolver os impasses ligados à origem da normatividade e à dualidade entre interno e externo, oposição a partir da qual a subjetividade desde muito tempo tem sido pensada. (shrink)

Normal 0 21 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 La filosofía de Simondon esboza, sobre la base de las ciencias de su época, una nueva metafísica de la naturaleza que engloba los niveles materiales, orgánicos y antropomórficos. El concepto de naturaleza es objeto de una profunda renovación en ella. La naturaleza ya no aparece como un conjunto de cosas hechas, definidas eternamente por su esencia. Ella es más bien la invención de procesos de individuación encajados los unos en los otros, y los (...) cuales forman tantas dimensiones diferentes. Contrariamente al reduccionismo fisicalista que traza un mismo plano físico y determinista para todas las cosas, la naturaleza aparece en Simondon como multidimensional e inventiva. El conocimiento y la ética también son modificados por una concepción tal de la naturaleza: nosotros no conocemos y no actuamos más que participando en la naturaleza. Esta metafísica de la naturaleza es también una teoría renovada de la Participación. No estamos jamás en superposición, separados de las cosas, sino que participamos con nuestro conocimiento y nuestra acción en el movimiento íntimo de la naturaleza, en la resonancia que se establece entre sus diferentes dimensiones. (shrink)