The Philosophy of Simondon Between technology and individuation [Hardcover]

The last two decades have seen a massive increase in the scholarly interest in technology, and have provoked new lines of thought in philosophy, sociology and cultural studies. New disciplines such as cyber-culture studies and Informatics have been sprung up, and the ideas of Simondon are central to these debates.

Organized into three parts, the first provides introductory material on Simondon, and positions him a philosopher of technology. The second part describes Simondon's theory of individuation, including his crystalline ontology, and the third offers a bridge between these two concerns, and explores how they are related.

Simondon is an essential reference point for anyone seeking to understand the shape of contemporary thinking in relation to the most pressing issues of our time - technology, nature and the future of humanity.

Pascal Chabothas a doctorate in philosophy from the Free University of Brussels. He is a researcher at the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research.

Graeme Kirkpatrickis Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Manchester, UK. He is the author ofCritical Technology(2004) which won the 2005 Philip Abrams Memorial Prize from the British Sociological Association;Technology and Social Power(2008) and the co-editor ofHistorical Materialism and Social Evolution(2002).

Simondon: An Introduction opens up the work of the influential French philosopher, Gilbert Simondon to an English-speaking audience for the first time, providing an accessible guide to students and scholars seeking a way in to Simondon's important but difficult work.

Part One: Philosophy of Technology:

1.Objects;
2. The Encyclopaedic Character of Technique;
3. Marx and Simondon on Alienation
4. Cybernetics

Part Two: Individuation: an Essay; Part Three: Bridges:
1: Simondon and Depth Psychology
2. An Ideal World
3. Three Philosophies and The Matrix

Index