Simondon's Paradigmatic Ethics

Abstract

In the conclusions of ILFI, Simondon very briefly outlines the rudiments of an ethics of becoming, which, despite appearing at the end of the text, would be fundamental to the philosophy of individuation. Ethics would be the inherent or immanent normativity in the operation of individuation. The theory of the act then explains ethical reality and defines it as the constructive and productive relationship of norms and values in the act of individuation that we call the moral act, always corresponding to a certain human‑machine coupling. Ethics, as the very reflection on the act and about the act, should be understood as the development and refinement of praxeological technologies that are concrete, always in contact with reality, and are, by definition, provisional. In my book 'Campos de forma', I sought to show the consequences of this for the critique of structural finalism, or teleology, in Simondon. As METO highlights, the introduction of technique as a symbol for psychic individualization points to a continuity, however granular it may be, between ethics and politics, with the direction from the former to the latter being the objective and social correlate of the transindividual. Simondonian reformism has metaphysical roots and points toward a techno‑politology (political technology and technical politology). Nevertheless, there seems to be a rather overlooked aspect here. What would the implications of what has just been said be for the ethical strand of this framework? It is well known, although sometimes not sufficiently emphasized, that analogical reasoning and ontogenetic paradigmatism hold a central place in Simondon’s thought. If axiomatizing the ethics of individuation is fundamentally axiomatizing the individuation of ethics, we must consider the role of paradigms in moral reflection. A paradigmatic ethics would consist of an ethics of (human and machinic) models that, insofar as it is rooted in the core of the act, can embrace the intuitions of the ethical theories that, from different angles, occupy that same in‑between (virtue ethics, care ethics, capability ethics, etc.), attempting to invent/discover the very fabric that is stretched and neglected between principles and consequences, in the shadow of hylomorphism. Therefore, now, it would be a matter of examining some of the basic notions that would come into play from such an ethical perspective.

Full text

BOOK OF ABSTRACTS
SIMONDON
INDIVIDUATING
SIMONDON
100 YEARS AND BEYOND

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
INDIVIDUATING SIMONDON: 100 YEARS AND BEYOND
School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon
12-14 November 2024

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Organizing Committee
RICARDO MENDOZA-CANALES (Praxis-CFUL, University of Lisbon) – Coordinator
MAURA CECI (Praxis-CFUL, University of Lisbon)
ANTONIO ORALDI (Praxis-CFUL, University of Lisbon)
ERIK LIND (HPhil, University of Lisbon)
Managerial and Technical Support
MOIRIKA REKER (CFUL)
PEDRO NATÁRIO (FLUL)
This event is funded by Portuguese national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P.,
in the scope of the project UIDB/00310/2020. Event organized as part of the activities of Praxis-CFUL

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LUIS G. MÉRIDA
Autonomous University of Barcelona
gonzalez.merida.luis@gmail.com
SIMONDON’S PARADIGMATIC ETHICS [ES]*
In the conclusions of ILFI, Simondon very briey outlines the rudiments of an ethics of becoming,
which, despite appearing at the end of the text, would be fundamental to the philosophy of
individuation. Ethics would be the inherent or immanent normativity in the operation of
individuation. The theory of the act then explains ethical reality and denes it as the constructive
and productive relationship of norms and values in the act of individuation that we call the moral
act, always corresponding to a certain human-machine coupling. Ethics, as the very reection on
the act and about the act, should be understood as the development and renement of praxeological
technologies that are concrete, always in contact with reality, and are, by denition, provisional. In
my book Campos de forma, I sought to show the consequences of this for the critique of structural
nalism, or teleology, in Simondon. As MEOT highlights, the introduction of technique as a
symbol for psychic individualization points to a continuity, however granular it may be, between
ethics and politics, with the direction from the former to the latter being the objective and social
correlate of the transindividual. Simondonian reformism has metaphysical roots and points toward
a techno-politology (political technology and technical politology). Nevertheless, there seems to be
a rather overlooked aspect here. What would the implications of what has just been said be for the
ethical strand of this framework? It is well known, although sometimes not suciently emphasized,
that analogical reasoning and ontogenetic paradigmatism hold a central place in Simondon’s thought.
If axiomatizing the ethics of individuation is fundamentally axiomatizing the individuation of
ethics, we must consider the role of paradigms in moral reection. A paradigmatic ethics would
consist of an ethics of (human and machinic) models that, insofar as it is rooted in the core of the
act, can embrace the intuitions of the ethical theories that, from dierent angles, occupy that same
in-between (virtue ethics, care ethics, capability ethics, etc.), attempting to invent/discover the
very fabric that is stretched and neglected between principles and consequences, in the shadow of
hylomorphism. Therefore, now, it would be a matter of examining some of the basic notions that
would come into play from such an ethical perspective.
* Presentation in Spanish with English
BIO
Luis G. Mérida holds a PhD in Philosophy from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). As
specialist in the works of Arthur Schopenhauer, Gilbert Simondon and Bernard Stiegler, his main
areas of research are the philosophy of technique, epistemology, metaphysics and philosophical
pessimism. He is the author of Campos de forma. La axiomatización de la ontogénesis en Gilbert
Simondon (2023), in which he proposes an unprecedented and unitary interpretation of the
philosophy of individuation, starting from the question of the axiomatization of ontogenesis and the
notion of morphogenetic eld. He is co-coordinator of the seminars on contemporary pessimism
held fortnightly at the University of Barcelona (UB).

This work is funded by Portuguese national funds through
FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., within the project UIDB/FIL/00310/2020
Praxis