Gilbert Simondon and the Philosophy of the Transindividual (Technologies of Lived Abstraction)
"This book is highly recommended to all of those wishing to better understand the radical importance of Simondon in current debates about networked affectivity, nonhuman agency, and the politics of nature. Muriel Combes combines a rare talent for theoretical clarification with a sharp sense for social relevance. Her lucid presentation of key concepts such as 'individuation,' 'dephasing,' and 'transduction' goes well beyond an introduction to Simondon's philosophy. Combes constructs an innovative form of multiplied materialism." --Henning Schmidgen, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science"Published in 1999, Muriel Combes's succinct book remains to this day the best introduction to Simondon's opus. But it does better: it introduces through Simondon the most contemporary stakes of an ontology of relation turned toward a politics of individuation. It shows in what sense we can be called 'subjects' of a collective in becoming that participates in a biotechnical critique of labor. A great Little Big Book, indeed!" --Eric Alliez, Professor of Contemporary French Philosophy, CRMEP-Kingston University, London; author ofCapital TimesandThe Signature of the World: What is Deleuze and Guattari's Philosophy?"Tom LaMarre's fluid and faithful translation makes this tremendously important book available, at long last, to an English-reading audience.Gilbert Simondon and the Philosophy of the Transindividualremains simply the best introduction to Simondon in either English or French. With remarkable concision, Combes covers the entirety of Simondon's work, from his breathtaking theory of individuation to his philosophy of technology and technical objects, while LaMarre's afterword helpfully links Combes's account of Simondon to the work of authors such as Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, Bruno Latour, and Isabelle Stengers." --Robert Mitchell, Duke University"Gilbert Simondon was one of the most ambitious and inventive thinkers of twentieth-century philosophy but has for too long been unjustly neglected. Muriel Combes's insightful book unquestionably ends this phase." --Didier Debaise, University of Brussels, Belgium