Abstract

This article explores the influence of Bergsonian ideas on Simondon’s thought. In his main thesis Individuation in Light of Notions of Form and Information, Simondon parts ways with Bergson, in spite of parallel ideas, insofar as he favours a physical paradigm of individuation, applicable to all kinds of dynamic systems. Hence it is not just life that manifests a tendency toward individuation. The Bergsonian influence becomes manifest in Simondon’s complementary thesis On the Mode of Existence of Technical Objects, where he applies a quasi-biological, evolutionary schema to technical development. The idea of technical evolution is Simondon’s attempt to bestow a certain autonomy and dignity to technical reality, too often depreciated in his view as a simple tool or extension of organic life. This article pursues the question of how this account of technical evolution fits within the broader schema of the theory of individuation.