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The Technical Ob-ject at Its Limit: Derrida, Reader of Husserl

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Abstract

Bernard Stiegler was the first distinguished critic to have recognized that Derrida’s deconstruction is, concurrently, a philosophy of techniques. Stiegler’s perceptive thesis is widely endorsed by Derrida's recent commentators. It is possible to locate in Derrida’s earliest writings a reflection on the genesis of the “technical supplement,” which allows us to situate Derridan philosophy in a specific tradition concerned with the philosophy of techniques. By thinking of Life—and not Man—as a producer of “technical objects,” Derrida joins a well-established philosophical lineage, subsuming (among other examples) Bergson’s “vital impulse”’ the “general organology” of Canguilhem, Simondon and Stiegler; and Leroi-Gourhan’s “technical life.” In this article, I attend to the genesis of the technical object in Derrida’s philosophy, in order to show how and why it is possible to rethink it within the horizon of “vitalist” philosophies of techniques.

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Notes

  1. B. Stiegler, « Genèse d’une philosophie du dilemme phénoménologique. Sur Le problème de la genèse dans la philosophie de Husserl de Jacques Derrida», Paris, Papiers du CIPH, n° 14, 2007.

  2. J. Derrida, The problem of genesis in Husserl’s philosophy, trans. Mariane Hobson, the University of Chicago Press, 2003.

  3. In J. Derrida, Writing and difference, trans. Alan Bass, Routledge, 2001.

  4. J. Derrida, Edmund Husserl’s Origin of Geometry: an Introduction by J. Derrida, trans. John P. Leavey, Jr., University of Nebraska Press, 1989.

  5. J. Derrida, Voice and Phenomenon: Introduction to the Problem of the Sign in Husserl’s Phenomenology, trans. Leonard Lawlord, Northwestern University Press, 2011.

  6. E. Husserl, The Crisis of European sciences and transcendental phenomenology, trans. David Carr., Northwestern University Press, 1970 (abbreviated in Krisis).

  7. J. Derrida, Voice and Phenomenon, op. cit., p. 65.

  8. J. Derrida, Of Grammatology, trans. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, John Hopkins University Press, 1976.

  9. E. Husserl, Philosophy as a Rigorous Science, trans. Marcus Brainard, in The New Yearbook for Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy, Vol. II (2002), pp. 249–295.

  10. E. Husserl, Logical Investigations, trans. Dermot Moran, International Library of Philosophy, 2006.

  11. E. Lamy-Rested, Excès de vie, Derrida..., Paris, Kimé, 2017.

  12. S. Freud, Beyond the pleasure principle, ed. Todd Dufresne, trans. Gregory C. Richter, Broadview editions, 2011.

  13. J. Derrida, Monolinguism of the Other; Or, the prosthesis of Origin, trans. Patrick Mensah, Stanford University Press, 1998.

  14. Let us note that Derrida explicitly entered into dialogue with Bergson in Faith and Knowledge: the two sources of “Religion” at the sources of Reason “alone” in Acts of Religion, ed. Anidjar G., trans. Weber, S., New York: Routledge, 2002, pp. 42–101; with Canguilhem in Life Death, edited by Pascale-Anne Brault and Peggy Kamuf, translated by Pascale-Anne Brault and Michael Naas, University of Chicago Press, 2020; and with Leroi-Gourhan in Of Grammatology, op. cit. For the dialogue between Derrida and Leroi-Gourhan, see my article*

  15. On this point, it is illuminating to read the article by Don Ihde and Lambros Malafouris, “Homo faber Revisited: Postphenomenology and Material Engagement Theory”, Philos. Technol. 32, 195–214 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-018-0321-7. Their interpretation is based on the idea that technique is a vital trend. The specificity of homo Faber comes from his capacity to incorporate the technical objects that he manufactures and that end up transforming him. As the authors note, the term was invented by Bergson, but as the authors point out, it does not entail that there is an essential difference between Human and Animal.

  16. In G. Canguilhem, Knowledge of Life, introduction Paola Marrati, trans. Todd Meyers, Stefanos Geroulanos, Daniela Ginsburg, Fordham University Press, 2008.

  17. A. Leroi-Gourhan, Milieu et technique, Paris, Albin Michel, 1945.

  18. H. Bergson, Creative Evolution, introduction Keith Ansell-Pearson, trans. Arthur Mitchell, edited by Keith Ansell-Pearson, Michael Kokman, Michael Vaugan, Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2007.

  19. G. Simondon, On the Mode of Existence of Technical Objects, trans. Cécile Malaspina and John Rogove, Minneapolis: Univocal Publishing, 2016.

  20. A definition of this term can be found on the site of Stiegler’s association, Ars Industrialis. I reproduce it here: “This term is derived from the Greek "organon": tool, apparatus. General Organology” is a method of joint analysis of the history and fate of physiological organs, artificial organs and social organizations. It describes a transductive relationship between three types of “organs”: physiological, technical and social. The relationship is transductive insofar as the variation of a term of one type always engages the variation of terms of the other two types. A physiological organ—including the brain, seat of the psychic apparatus—does not evolve independently of the technical and social organs. This way of thinking is inspired by the work of Georges Canguilhem in The Normal and the Pathological (http://arsindustrialis.org/organologie-g%C3%A9n%C3%A9rale (accessed on 06/01/2021, in the present author’s translation).

  21. My comparative reading of Derrida and Simondon is therefore not at the same level as that of Anne Alombert who has already done such a work in her PhD defended in November 2021 at the University Paris-Nanterre: Simondon and Derrida facing the questions of Human and technique: ontogenesis and grammatology in the philosophical moment of the 1960s (title translated by the present author).

References

  • Alombert, Anne (2021). Simondon and Derrida facing the questions of Human and technique: ontogenesis and grammatology in the philosophical moment of the 1960s, PhD defended in November 2021 at the University Paris-Nanterre (title translated by the present author).

  • Bergson, Henri (2007). Creative evolution, introduction Keith Ansell-Pearson, trans. Arthur Mitchell, edited by Keith Ansell-Pearson, Michael Kokman, Michael Vaugan, Palgrave Macmillan UK.

  • Canguilhem, Georges (2008). Knowledge of life, introduction Paola Marrati, trans. Stefanos Geroulanos, Daniela Ginsburg, Fordham University Press.

  • Derrida, Jacques (2003). The problem of genesis in Husserl’s philosophy, trans. Mariane Hobson, the University of Chicago Press

  • Derrida, Jacques (1989). Edmund Husserl’s Origin of Geometry: An Introduction by J. Derrida, trans. John P. Leavey, Jr., University of Nebraska Press.

  • Derrida, Jacques (2001). Writing and difference, trans. Routledge.

  • Derrida, Jacques (2011). Voice and Phenomenon: Introduction to the Problem of the Sign in Husserl’s Phenomenology, trans. Northwestern University Press.

  • Derrida, Jacques (1976). Of Grammatology, trans. John Hopkins University Press.

  • Derrida, Jacques (1998). Monolinguism of the Other; Or, the prosthesis of Origin, trans. Stanford University Press.

  • Derrida, Jacques (2002). Faith and Knowledge: The two sources of “Religion” at the sources of Reason “alone”. In Acts of Religion (ed.) Anidjar G., trans. Weber, S., New York: Routledge, pp. 42–101.

  • Derrida, Jacques (2020). Life Death, edited by Pascale-Anne Brault and Peggy Kamuf, translated by Pascale-Anne Brault and Michael Naas, University of Chicago Press.

  • Freud, Sigmund (2011). Beyond the pleasure principle, ed. Todd Dufresne, trans. Gregory C. Richter, Broadview editions

  • Husserl, Edmund (2006). Logical Investigations, trans. Dermot Moran, International Library of Philosophy

  • Husserl, Edmund (2002). Philosophy as a rigorous science, trans. Marcus Brainard, in The New Yearbook for Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy, II.

  • Husserl, Edmund (1970). The Crisis of European sciences and transcendental phenomenology, trans. David Carr., Northwestern University Press, (abbreviated in Krisis).

  • Idhe, Don, and Malafouris, Lambros (2019). “Homo faber Revisited: Postphenomenology and material engagement theory”. Philos Technol, 32, 195–214. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-018-0321-7

  • Lamy-Rested, Elise (2017). Excès de vie, Derrida..., Paris, Kimé.

  • Leroi-Gourhan, André (1945). Milieu et technique (p. 1945). Albin Michel.

  • Simondon, Gilbert (2016). On the mode of existence of technical objects, trans. Univocal Publishing.

  • Stiegler, Bernard (2007). « Genèse d’une philosophie du dilemme phénoménologique. Sur Le problème de la genèse dans la philosophie de Husserl de Jacques Derrida », Paris, Papiers du CIPH, n° 14.

  • Website of Stiegler’s association (accessed in 2021). Ars Industrialis: http://arsindustrialis.org/organologie-g/C3/A9n/C3/A9rale

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Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to the Marie-Curie grant and the Université Libre de Bruxelles, thanks to which I was able to realize this work. I also thank the University of Buffalo (USA) and especially David Johnson and Rodolphe Gasché who initiated this work.

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I, ELR, certify that this work was funded by the Marie-Curie grant (H2020-MSCA-COFUND).

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Lamy-Rested, E. The Technical Ob-ject at Its Limit: Derrida, Reader of Husserl. Philos. Technol. 35, 16 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-022-00513-7

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