The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change (Hindi Edition)

From Democritus’s atomism to Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, from Aristotle’s reflections on the individual to Husserl’s call for a focused return to things, from the philosophical advent of the Cartesian ego and the Leibnizian monad to Heidegger’s notion of Dasein, the question concerning the constitution of the individual has continued to loom large over the preoccupations of philosophers and scholars of scientific disciplines for thousands of years. Initially published in the 1950s, Gilbert Simondon’s groundbreaking work is based upon a radical point of departure: the question of the individual. Comprised of a transdisciplinary approach into the study of all aspects of the real—the physical as much as the technical, the biological as much as the psychical—Simondon attempts to show how it’s only through an ongoing mutual engagement between science and philosophy, whereby the rigours and vitality of both areas of knowledge can be recognized and remain in dialogue, that any significant sustainable progress can be achieved. Bridging both science and philosophy, Simondon will then take to constructing a radically new manner of understanding the individual in regards to the living and the collective, our technological inventions, and the environments constructed in relation with them. To do this, Simondon will posit a new conception of the individual in relation to what he describes as the transindividual, the dynamic field of the pre-individual milieu, and the process of transduction out of which, by way of continuous dynamic tensions and mutations, the individual arises. More than fifty years after its original publication in French, this groundbreaking work of philosophical theory is now available in its first complete English language translation. Publisher's Note Foreword: Introduction to the Problematic of Gilbert Simondon by Jacques Garelli Introduction PART I: PHYSICAL INDIVIDUATION 1. Form and Matter I. Foundations of the Hylomorphic Schema: Technology of Form-Taking 1. The Conditions of Individuation 2. Validity of the Hylomorphic Schema; the Dark Zone of the Hylomorphic Schema; Generalization of the Notion of Form-Taking; Modeling, Molding, Modulation 3. Limits of the Hylomorphic Schema II. Physical Signification of Technical Form-Taking 1. Physical Conditions of Technical Form-Taking 2. Qualities and Implicit Physical Forms 3. Hylomorphic Ambivalence III. The Two Aspects of Individuation 1. Reality and Relativity of the Foundation of Individuation 2. The Energetic Foundation of Individuation: Individuation and Milieu 2. Form and Energy I. Structures and Potential Energy 1. The Potential Energy and the Reality of the System; Equivalence of Potential Energies; Dissymmetry and Energetic Exchanges 2. Different Orders of Potential Energy; Notions of Phase Changes and of the Stable and Metastable Equilibrium of a State. Tammann's Theory II. Individuation and System States 1. Individuation and Crystalline Allotropic Forms; Being and Relation 2. Individuation as the Genesis of Crystalline Forms Starting from an Amorphous State 3. Epistemological Consequences: Reality of Relation and the Notion of Substance 3. Form and Substance I. Continuous and Discontinuous 1. Functional Role of Discontinuity 2. The Antinomy of the Continuous and the Discontinuous 3. The Analogical Method II. Particle and Energy 1. Substantialism and Energeticism 2. The Deductive Process 3. The Inductive Process III. The Non-substantial Individual: Information and Compatibility 1. Relativistic Conception and the Notion of Physical Individuation 2. Quantum Theory: Notion of the Elementary Physical Operation That Integrates the Complementary Aspects of the Continuous and the Discontinuous 3. The Theory of the Double Solution in Wave Mechanics 4. Topology, Chronology, and Order of Magnitude of Physical Individuation PART II: THE INDIVIDUATION OF LIVING BEINGS 1. Information and Ontogenesis: Vital Individuation I. Principles toward a Study of the Individuation of the Living-Being 1. Information and Vital Individuation; Levels of Organization; Vital Activity and Psychical Activity 2. Successive Levels of Individuation: Vital, Psychical, Transindividual II. Specific Form and Living Substance 1. Insufficiency of the Notion of Specific Form; Notion of the Pure Individual; Non-univocal Nature of the Notion of the Individual 2. The Individual as Polarity; Functions of Internal Genesis and of External Genesis 3. Individuation and Reproduction 4. Undifefrentiation and Dedifferentiation as Conditions of Reproductive Individuality III. Information and Vital Individuation 1. Individuation and Regimes of Information 2. Regimes of Information and Rapports between Individuals 3. Individuation, Information, and the Structure of the Individual IV. Information and Ontogenesis 1. Notion of an Ontogenetic Problematic 2. Individuation and Adaptation 3. Limits of the Individuation of the Living. Central Characteristic of the Being. Nature of the Collective 4. From Information to Signification 5. Topolology and Ontogenesis 2. Psychical Individuation I. Signification and the Individuation of Perceptive Units 1. Segregation of Perceptive Units; the Genetic Theory and the Theory of Holistic Grasping; Determinism of Good Form 2. Psychical Tension and Degrees of Metastability. Good Form and Geometrical Form; the Different Types of Equilibrium 3. Relation between the Segregation of Perceptive Units and the Other Types of Individuation. Metastability and Information Theory in Technology and Psychology 4. Introduction of the Notion of Quantum Variation into the Representation of Psychical Individuation 5. The Perceptive Problematic; Quantity of Information, Quality of Information, Intensity of Information II. Individuation and Affectivity 1. Consciousness and Individuation; the Quantum Nature of Consciousness 2. Signification of Affective Subconsciousness 3. Affectivity in Communication and Expression 4. The Transindividual 5. Anxiety 6. The Affective Problematic: Affection and Emotion III. Psychical Individuation and the Problematic of Ontogenesis 1. Signification as Criterion of Individuation 2. The Relation to the Milieu 3. Individuation, Individualization, and Personalization. Bi-substantialism 4. Insufficiency of the Notion of Adaptation to Explain Psychical Individuation 5. The Problematic of Reflexivity in Individuation 6. The Necessity of Psychical Ontogenesis 3. Collective Individuation and the Foundations of the Transindividual I. The Individual and the Social, Group Individuation 1. Social Time and Individual Time 2. Interiority Groups and Exteriority Groups 3. Social Reality as a System of Relations 4. Insufficiency of the Notion of the Essence of Man and of Anthropology 5. Notion of Group Individual 6. Role of Belief in the Group Individual 7. Group Individuation and Vital Individuation 8. Pre-individual Reality and Spiritual Reality: The Phases of Being II. The Collective as Condition of Signification 1. Subjectivity and Signification; the Transindividual Character of Signification 2. Subject and Individual 3. The Empirical and the Transcendental. Ontogenesis and Pre-critical Ontology. The Collective as Signification That Overcomes a Disparation 4. The Central Operational Zone of the Transindividual: Theory of Emotion Conclusion Unique access to archival material of a major thinker, including presentations, early drafts, and a thorough introduction to the history of the philosophical notion of the individual The second volume of Individuation in Light of Notions of Form and Information presents archival documents detailing both the preliminary research conducted by Gilbert Simondon as well as sketches of early drafts and presentations of his work throughout the intellectual era of his eventual magnum opus. Volume II provides an erudite and important overview of a unique history of both the role the individual has played throughout history in philosophy, religion, and society as well as insight into the contemporary machinations and exciting milieu in which Simondon dared to tread as an interdisciplinary thinker in philosophy and psychology, as well as the new burgeoning fields of computer science and cybernetics. This companion volume provides insight into Simondons primary thesis, for which he is renowned by scholars in a wide range of academic disciplines. Readers across the humanities and the sciences, information theory, philosophy of technology, and many other fields now have a vital resource for intellectual exploration into the humans ongoing relationship with the technological universe. A Long-awaited Translation On The Philosophical Relation Between Technology, The Individual, And Milieu Of The Living From Democritus's Atomism To Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, From Aristotle's Reflections On The Individual To Husserl's Call For A Focused Return To Things, From The Philosophical Advent Of The Cartesian Ego And The Leibnizian Monad To Heidegger's Notion Of Dasein, The Question Concerning The Constitution Of The Individual Has Continued To Loom Large Over The Preoccupations Of Philosophers And Scholars Of Scientific Disciplines For Thousands Of Years. Through Conceptions In Modern Scientific Areas Of Research Such As Thermodynamics, The Fabrication Of Technical Objects, Gestalt Theory, Cybernetics, And The Dynamic Formation At Work In The Creation Of Crystals, Gilbert Simondon's Unique Multifaceted Philosophical And Scholarly Research Will Eventually Lead To An Astounding Reevaluation And Questioning Of The Historical Methods For Posing The Very Question And Notion Of The Individual. More Than Fifty Years After Its Original Publication In French, This Groundbreaking Work Of Philosophical Theory Is Now Available In Its First Complete English Language Translation. Unique access to archival material of a major thinker, including presentations, earlydrafts, and a thorough introduction to the history of the philosophical notion of the individual From thermodynamics to gestalt theory to cybernetics, Gilbert Simondon's multifaceted philosophical and scholarly research will lead to an astounding reevaluation and questioning of the historical methods for posing the very question and notion of the individual. More than fifty years after its publication in French, this groundbreaking work of philosophical theory is now available in its first complete English language translation