This paper argues for a sceptical approach to the political promise of Web 2.0. In particular it ... more This paper argues for a sceptical approach to the political promise of Web 2.0. In particular it examines critically the claims made about participation and the ‘network public sphere’ in Yochai Benkler’s The Wealth of Networks. Moreover it argues that the work of Bernard Stiegler and that of others in the Ars Industrialis group cofounded by Stiegler can help inform a more nuanced account of the relationship between politics, participation and technics. It looks specifically at the arguments in Marc Crépon and Bernard Stiegler’s recent book De la démocratie participative, written during the recent French presidential campaign, and examines how the idea of participation articulates with key themes in Stiegler’s philosophy of technics. Finally it suggests some ways in which this debate on participation might be moved on.
This paper examines the relationship between Derrida’s work and that of Bernard Stiegler. Stiegle... more This paper examines the relationship between Derrida’s work and that of Bernard Stiegler. Stiegler’s thinking can be seen as radicalisation of the idea of the supplement in Derrida. Stiegler differentiates his thinking of technics from Derrida's thinking around the supplement by arguing that, whereas Derrida is interested in a logic of supplementarity, he is interested in the historical differentiations of the technical supplement. Having established the basic terrain of Stiegler’s argument in the first volume of Technics and Time the paper moves on to discuss its relationship to Derrida’s work. Here it exposes various problems concerning Stiegler’s use of what he seems fairly determined to regard as the concept of différance. Stiegler himself sees a problem between his analysis of technics and Derrida’s thinking in that the latter doesn't have an account of the emergence of the human as the point at which the ‘living articulates itself upon the non-living’. Here the paper elucidates this difference with reference to Derrida’s own responses to Stiegler in the interviews between the two published as Echographies of Television.
This article critically examines the reading of Rousseau by the French philosopher Bernard Stiegl... more This article critically examines the reading of Rousseau by the French philosopher Bernard Stiegler. In the first volume of Stiegler's influential multi-volume work La technique et le temps (Technics and Time) he argues that the origin of the human is inseparable from that of technical prosthesis (what he calls organised inorganic matter or ‘technics’). Stiegler takes up this question initially in relation to the problem of anthropology. The immediate starting point for this discussion of anthropology is Rousseau who is, as Stiegler puts it, ‘. . . the pivot between the anthropological question promoted to philosophical rank and the beginning of scientific anthropological theory’. Stiegler’s discussion is focused on the conjectural history provided by the Discourse on the Origin and the Foundations of Inequality Among Men and especially Rousseau's claim that originally man has no need for tools. This article outlines Stiegler's reading of Rousseau and offers some criticism of Stiegler's argument about the aporetic origin of the human.
This paper argues for a sceptical approach to the political promise of Web 2.0. In particular it ... more This paper argues for a sceptical approach to the political promise of Web 2.0. In particular it examines critically the claims made about participation and the ‘network public sphere’ in Yochai Benkler’s The Wealth of Networks. Moreover it argues that the work of Bernard Stiegler and that of others in the Ars Industrialis group cofounded by Stiegler can help inform a more nuanced account of the relationship between politics, participation and technics. It looks specifically at the arguments in Marc Crépon and Bernard Stiegler’s recent book De la démocratie participative, written during the recent French presidential campaign, and examines how the idea of participation articulates with key themes in Stiegler’s philosophy of technics. Finally it suggests some ways in which this debate on participation might be moved on.
This paper examines the relationship between Derrida’s work and that of Bernard Stiegler. Stiegle... more This paper examines the relationship between Derrida’s work and that of Bernard Stiegler. Stiegler’s thinking can be seen as radicalisation of the idea of the supplement in Derrida. Stiegler differentiates his thinking of technics from Derrida's thinking around the supplement by arguing that, whereas Derrida is interested in a logic of supplementarity, he is interested in the historical differentiations of the technical supplement. Having established the basic terrain of Stiegler’s argument in the first volume of Technics and Time the paper moves on to discuss its relationship to Derrida’s work. Here it exposes various problems concerning Stiegler’s use of what he seems fairly determined to regard as the concept of différance. Stiegler himself sees a problem between his analysis of technics and Derrida’s thinking in that the latter doesn't have an account of the emergence of the human as the point at which the ‘living articulates itself upon the non-living’. Here the paper elucidates this difference with reference to Derrida’s own responses to Stiegler in the interviews between the two published as Echographies of Television.
This article critically examines the reading of Rousseau by the French philosopher Bernard Stiegl... more This article critically examines the reading of Rousseau by the French philosopher Bernard Stiegler. In the first volume of Stiegler's influential multi-volume work La technique et le temps (Technics and Time) he argues that the origin of the human is inseparable from that of technical prosthesis (what he calls organised inorganic matter or ‘technics’). Stiegler takes up this question initially in relation to the problem of anthropology. The immediate starting point for this discussion of anthropology is Rousseau who is, as Stiegler puts it, ‘. . . the pivot between the anthropological question promoted to philosophical rank and the beginning of scientific anthropological theory’. Stiegler’s discussion is focused on the conjectural history provided by the Discourse on the Origin and the Foundations of Inequality Among Men and especially Rousseau's claim that originally man has no need for tools. This article outlines Stiegler's reading of Rousseau and offers some criticism of Stiegler's argument about the aporetic origin of the human.
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This article outlines Stiegler's reading of Rousseau and offers some criticism of Stiegler's argument about the aporetic origin of the human.
This article outlines Stiegler's reading of Rousseau and offers some criticism of Stiegler's argument about the aporetic origin of the human.