Tecnologia e Magia

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Gilbert Simondon: magic, images and technology

by Drago Fabian

PhD Candidate

Centre for Cultural Studies

Goldsmiths, University of London

mail: cu!"#bd$gold%ac%u&

(...) vous n'attendez pas la mort, vous l'accompagner perptuellement. C'est vous-mme votre

mort. La mort comme mouvement en train de se faire c'est l'me. (...) C'est que vous appeler mourir

c'est acev a vivre, c'est que vous appeler na!tre c'est commencer a mourir. 'Gilles Deleu(e)

"#stract$ *he follo+ing essay is an attem!t to o!en the uestion of 'neo)!aganism through the

conce!ts of magic and technology% -t is by no means a te.t on the !hiloso!hy of religions, nor can itbe !ositioned +ithin the anthro!ology of culture% -t is ho+ever an attem!t to o!en u! a //clearing//

from +hich one can understand contem!orary forms of !aganism as a nostalgia of the lost unity 'the

homogeneity of human beings and nature)% *he single aim of this !a!er is to sho+ ho+ technology

and its emergence are the fundamental s!lit bet+een the //magical +orld// and //human history//% *his

ty!e of argument follo+s from Derrida/s +or& %f &ramatolog 'Derrida #012), Deleu(e/s

ifference and epetition'Deleu(e #003) and 4ernard Stiegler/s *ecnics and *ime 'Stiegler #005),

but more im!ortantly on Gilbert Simondon/s %n te mode of e+istence of tecnical o#ects

'Simondon #020)% *his last boo&, +hich is Simondon/s minor thesis of his doctorat d'tat, is a

uniue //!henomenology// of technical ob6ects and at the same time a general anthro!ology and

history of the universe 'Pascal Chabot, !%#75)% *he first section of the !a!er +ill be an introduction

into the !hiloso!hy of Gilbert Simondon, both his general !hiloso!hy of individuation and his more

!o!ular !henomenology of technology '+ith Deleu(e/s contributions on the metallic and 8usserl

references to vague essences)% *he second section +ill deal +ith Simondon notion of //magical

unity// by investigating his account of the genesis of the imaginary 'heavily influenced by 4ergson

and liade)% *he third section +ill loo& into Simondon/s uto!ia of a future harmony bet+een

humans, nature and technology and dra+ some conclusions for contem!orary 'neo)!agan

movements%

e-/ords: 9ostalgia of agic, religion, technology, ;ntogenesis, etafter being largely ignored for decades, his +or& has attracted attention recently both in

France and in the >nglo


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struggles to e.ist% -n this sense, he is interested in the !rocess of individuation and not so much the

already finished individual% ?hat is im!ortant is ho+ do various !rocesses of individuation evolve

'!hysical, chemical, biological, !sychic or collective, technical) and the tas& of his !hiloso!hy is to

trac& this ontogenesis '4arthelemy 7""5)%

8is main critiue is directed against hylomor!hism, +hich is to say to the binary o!!osition

bet+een form and matter, +hich leads us to !ut the !rinci!le of individuation before the !rocess of

individuation 'Simondon #050b: 0)% *he !rocess of individuation is not a sim!le and un!roblematicim!rinting of a form unto a material su!!ort% 4efore one can s!ea& of form and matter, there is a

!rocess of individuation, the stabili(ation of a flu. of matterny !rocess of individuation is

a !artial resolution that manifests itself in a system oversaturated +ith !otentials e.isting in a

certain degree of incom!atibility +ith itself 'the !re


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Flusser/s o+n dyad of imageBte.t%

Part 2:

The genesis of the imaginary

-t might be curios to have a discussion about the imaginary in the conte.t of magic andtechnology% 4ut it +ould be interesting to thin& about imagination and technology as being !art of

the !hase transition from the living 'biological) individuation to the !sychosocial 'socio


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be said to e.cel in the last t+o, namely symboli(ation and invention% *his is consistent +ith the

understanding of human beings as handica!!ed animals% Follo+ing certain strands of cultural

anthro!ology, +e could say that the human is born !rematurely and needs more care and attention

as o!!osed to other mammals%

Genesis of the imaginary:

#% -n the first !hase, the image is a bundle of moving tendencies 'light, heat, tro!isms, etc)antici!ation of the signals coming from the milieu% -n this sense, locomotion !recedes

sensibility !recisely because the most !rimitive stage of imagination is the s!ontaneous

e.!loration of the milieu% -mages first start +ith s!ontaneous movements% ovements

inform !erce!tions, +ho come after them% -t is through this !rocess that the living ta&es hold

of the milieu% >t this !oint, Simondon is fully bergsonian, in as much as his notion of

locomotive images are +hat 4ergson called !ure !erce!tion% For 4ergson, !ure !erce!tion is

+hen there is an immediate intuition of the ob6ect 'the (ero degree of memory)% >t this

!oint, mind is in fact matter 'atter and memory, ! 701)% oreover, similarly to Simondon,

4ergson understands this situation as being characteri(ed by action 'the brain is not an

instrument of re!resentation but an instrument of action)

7% Secondly +e have !erce!tion, +hich is a res!onse to the signals coming from the milieu%Under the effect of e.!erience, the image becomes a mode of !rocessing signals from the

milieu and a source of schematics in order to res!ond to these stimuli% Gradually all the

various images organi(e themselves in subny image is a sub;b6ects are remar&able !oints, e.treme transitions, hot


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become more //technical//, ob6ects gradually come to be recruited as symbols% ?e have already

tal&ed about !oints of the territory as being good e.am!les of !rimitive ob6ects% 4ut beyond the

mar&ing of trees, more advanced organisms modify their s&in, hair or nails as ob6ect +orthy of

symbolic meaning% *he s&in is a natural surface for im!rinting information@ tattoos or body !ainting

could be considered as the first ty!es of symbols%

oreover, it is +ell &no+n that in archaic societies everything that can be !erceived in the

milieu can find a !lace in the +orld of symbolic meaning 'Chabot 7"": #3)% ;ne can recallircea liade/s analysis of nomadic !eo!le% *he >chil!as had a sacred !ole, +hich +as an ob6ect

se!arating the cosmos from the chaos% > sacred ob6ect is a ru!ture in the homogeneity of s!ace%

?hen the community +ould setu! cam!, the first o!eration +ould be the !ositioning of a !ole, the

a+us mundi% *he !ole ensured that +herever they +ere, they had their +orld around them% ?hen

they !osition the !ole, the chaos of the ne+ environment becomes a centered +orld, a teritory% *his

ob6ect had reached the state of a symbol due to collective action and !erce!tion% -t symboli(ed the

collective insertion in the milieu% oreover, it +as a technical ob6ect, their //global !ositioning

system//'GPS)% *he !ole +as al+ays the centre of the milieu and allo+ed for the instant ma!!ing of

the surroundings% -t +as the reference !oint for the simulation of the milieu, a collective !rocess of

imagination% -f the !ole +as lost or bro&en the grou! +ould disintegrate, as they couldn/t live+ithout it%

Conseuently, +ithin the !rocess of imagination, symboli(ation is the !assing of the threshold

to+ards the !sychosocial individuation% *he symbol stabili(es the social because it has a multi!le

o+ners and allo+ing the ordering and the ma!!ing of the milieu% *he evolution to+ards symbols is

a !rocess of abstraction and tension bet+een various !erce!tive individuals% -t is a !rocess of

collective formali(ation, in as much as the successive becomes simultaneous and the !articular

ta&es a universal meaning% *he images of others become mine and - donate my o+n images to the

rest of the grou!% 4ut all of this is not !ossible +ithout the material su!!ort, the gradual

develo!ment of technology% Symboli(ation and the invention of ne+ symbols are the ultimate

outcome of the !rocess of imagination% 4ut this //infrastructure// is crucial, as it is the oil tat 2eeps

te uman macine going. ?hat +e have described so far is the !re

individual !otential for ne+ individuation, for ne+ !hases of becoming%

Technical individation

*he technical ob6ectis a !rocess of becoming, a seuence of technical functionalities, a!hylogenetic line of artifacts% *he technical ob6ect is it/s o+n genesis and at the limit, one could say

that the technical ob6ect is one more stage in the unfolding of being as such% *he technical is a

crucial !hase transition that occurs bet+een the living and the !sychosocial individuation% *his is

some+hat similar to arcel auss/s statement that +e have never seen a human grou! that +ould

be +ithout tools or some sort of //e.osomatic// organs% *he technical ob6ect is +hat ma&es !ossible

the stabili(ation of a !sychosocial individuation%

-t can easily be said that for Simondon, the individuation that is the technical is only im!ortant

after the advent of industry, that for him, !re


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sm#ol of tis relation tat /e /ould call transindividual. 3...4 *roug te intermediar of te

tecnical o#ect an interuman relation tat is te model of transindividualit is created 'Simondon

#050a: 731

-n order to get more !ers!ective on this account, it +ould be useful to insert it +ithin the

structural classification of modes of intellection !ro!osed by Phili!!e Descola 'Descola #003@

Descola and GIsli #002@ Descola 7""H)% -n this sense, one can s!ea& of, totemism, naturalism,

animism and analogism% ?hat is most interesting from the !oint of vie+ of our discussion istotemism, +here you have a moral and material continuit of psicalit and interiorit'uniesa

7"#"), the continuum of nature as such% >nimism is the first sign of a s!lit% -t states that all things


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have a soul, so in a sense they share a common interiority and are not strictly s!ea&ing

distinguishable from each other, but there is there is a differentiation of !hysicality)% 1n animism,

tere is certaint a#out te universalit of spirit, #ut tere is uncertaint a#out te universalit of

#od and matter 'Descola #003)% -t could be interesting to vie+ naturalism as the dee!ening of this

s!lit% -t has been argued that naturalism is one of the distinctive features of +estern thought, as a

mode of thin&ing that relates singular and distinct interiorities to univocal and e+terior

nature'uniesa 7"#"). -t is a vie+ according to +hich human beings can be clearly distinguishedfrom other modes of e.istence 'sub6ect


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organi(ers of information 'engineersBentre!reneurs) se!arate from the organi(ers of machines

'+or&ersBo!erators)% >t the limit, the /!erfect/ industrial machine is the one that attains informational

and energetic inde!endence from the o!erator% >ny+ay, throughout the /modern/ !eriod, an

asymmetrical relationshi! emerges, +hich leads to the cultural understanding of machines as

alienating structures that e.!loit man/s authenticity% Finally, +e have the information


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%eferences:

Barth&l&my" 'ean-(ges )2**+," . mort /i saisit le vif: 0imondonian OntologyToday" P%%(03" )4," 25-#6

Barthelemy" 'ean-(ges7 )2**5," 5imondon ou l'encclopdisme gntique)0cience"histoire et soci&t&8 Paris: Presses niversitaires de 9rance, 1 vol7 )3-1;6 ,7

Barth&l&my" 'ean-(ges )2**+," . mort /i saisit le vif: 0imondonian OntologyToday"0"651",)4," 25-#67

$habot" Pascal )2**#,"La pilosopie de 5imondon)Por demain"8 Paris: viii" #42 p7

--- )2**6,"0ar-del7 nature et culture)BibliothD/e des sciences hmaines8 ParisE: A%9 :Gallimard, ;2# p7

.escola" Philippe and GFsli" Plsson )1++;,"8ature and societ $ antropologicalperspectives)ropean ssociation of 0ocial nthropologists8 " #1* p7

9lsser" il&m )2***," *o/ards a pilosop of potograp)


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Paris: bier, >iv" ### p7" 16 p7 of plates7

--- )1+5+b,"

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