This combination of historiography and theory offers the growing Anglophone readership interested in the ideas of Gilbert Simondon a thorough and unprecedented survey of the French philosopher's entire oeuvre. The publication, which breaks new ground in its thoroughness and breadth of analysis, systematically traces the interconnections between Simondon's philosophy of science and technology on the one hand, and his political philosophy on the other. The author sets Simondon's ideas in the context of the epistemology of the late 1950s and the 1960s in France, the milieu that shaped a generation of key French thinkers such as Deleuze, Foucault and Derrida. This volume explores Simondon's sources, which were as eclectic as they were influential: from the philosophy of Bergson to the cybernetics of Wiener, from the phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty to the epistemology of Canguilhem, and from Bachelard's philosophy of science to the positivist sociology and anthropology of luminaries such as Durkheim and Leroi-Gourhan. It also tackles aspects of Simondon's philosophy that relate to Heidegger and Elull in their concern with the ontological relationship between technology and society and discusses key scholars of Simondon such as Barthelemy, Combes, Stiegler, and Virno, as well as the work of contemporary protagonists in the philosophical debate on the relevance of technique. The author's intimate knowledge of Simondon's language allows him to resolve many of th e semantic errors and misinterpretations that have plagued reactions to Simondon's many philosophical neologisms, often drawn from his scientific studies.

-Andrea Bardin ricostruisce in modo accurato la terminologia tecnica di Simondon, le sue fonti, il contesto nel quale opera, le fasi della sua riflessione e l'importanza filosofica della sua ricerca, allontanandosi dalle interpretazioni piu diffuse- Il Manifesto (30/12/2010)

This combination of historiography and theory offers the growing Anglophone readership interested in the ideas of Gilbert Simondon a thorough and unprecedented survey of the French philosopher’s entire oeuvre. The publication, which breaks new ground in its thoroughness and breadth of analysis, systematically traces the interconnections between Simondon’s philosophy of science and technology on the one hand, and his political philosophy on the other. The author sets Simondon’s ideas in the context of the epistemology of the late 1950s and the 1960s in France, the milieu that shaped a generation of key French thinkers such as Deleuze, Foucault and Derrida. This volume explores Simondon’s sources, which were as eclectic as they were influential: from the philosophy of Bergson to the cybernetics of Wiener, from the phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty to the epistemology of Canguilhem, and from Bachelard’s philosophy of science to the positivist sociology and anthropology of luminaries such as Durkheim and Leroi-Gourhan. It also tackles aspects of Simondon’s philosophy that relate to Heidegger and Elull in their concern with the ontological relationship between technology and society and discusses key scholars of Simondon such as Barthélémy, Combes, Stiegler, and Virno, as well as the work of contemporary protagonists in the philosophical debate on the relevance of technique. The author’s intimate knowledge of Simondon’s language allows him to resolve many of th e semantic errors and misinterpretations that have plagued reactions to Simondon’s many philosophical neologisms, often drawn from his scientific studies.  

E possibile ricavare dall'opera di Gilbert Simondon non soltanto delle suggestioni, ma anche degli elementi di filosofia politica? Questo libro tenta di farlo considerandone l'intero corpus e scavando nelle sue fonti: da Bergson a Wiener, attraverso le tradizioni fenomenologica ed epistemologica, cui appartengono i suoi maestri Merleau-Ponty e Canguilhem, fino alla sociologia francese letta attraverso le lenti della paleoetnologia di Leroi-Gourhan. La prima parte analizza il modo in cui Simondon riconfigura l'apparato concettuale della filosofia grazie a strumenti tipici del pensiero scientifico ed epistemologico, in particolare la fisica dei quanta, la termodinamica e la cibernetica. La seconda parte mostra quale sia l'incidenza di modelli biologici nella teorizzazione dei processi di genesi e funzionamento dei sistemi sociali e ne analizza la matrice bergsoniana. Tre intermezzi seguono il filo del dibattito suscitato dalla recente riscoperta di Simondon.