Gilbert Simondon and the Philosophy of the Transindividual

Gilbert Simondon (1924--1989), one of the most influential contemporary Frenchphilosophers, published only three works: L'individu et sa genese physico-biologique(The individual and its physico-biological genesis, 1964) and L'individuationpsychique et collective (Psychic and collective individuation, 1989), both drawn from hisdoctoral thesis, and Du mode d'existence des objets techniques (On the mode ofexistence of technical objects, 1958). It is this last work that brought Simondon into the publiceye; as a consequence, he has been considered a "thinker of technics" and cited often inpedagogical reports on teaching technology. Yet Simondon was a philosopher whose ambitions lay in anin-depth renewal of ontology as a process of individuation--that is, how individuals come intobeing, persist, and transform. In this accessible yet rigorous introduction to Simondon's work,Muriel Combes helps to bridge the gap between Simondon's account of technics and his philosophy ofindividuation. Some thinkers have found inspiration in Simondon's philosophy of individuation,notably Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. Combes's account, first published in French in 1999, isone of the only studies of Simondon to appear in English. Combes breaks new ground, exploring anethics and politics adequate to Simondon's hypothesis of preindividual being, considering throughthe lens of transindividual philosophy what form a nonservile relation to technology might taketoday. Her book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand Simondon's work.