Intellectica 2010/1-2, n° 53-54

Philosophy, Technology and Cognition

 

Bernard STIEGLER

The Concept of "Idiotext": Outlines

Abstract: This article, which constitutes  a sort of document of  a thought process in the course of elaboration, proposes a theory of memory - and afundamentally  mnemonic  view of the mind -  according to which memory is always both supported by prosthetic resources which lie beyond it, but at the same time included in mnemonic fields which are wider and sometimes incompatible with these same prosthetic resources. This memory is termed "idio-textual" because it is always singular (idios) and because, as memory, it is textually interpretable and continually in the course of self-interpretation in a movement of self-differentiation that can be related to what Simondon describes as a process of individuation. Starting from these purely theoretica considerations, this article attempts to deploy this theoretical apparatus in the contemporary context of digital prosthetic devices.

Key words: Memory, Prosthetic, Program, Individuation, Idiom,  Technological Condition, Consistency, Act, Power, Within/without, Aristotle, Sense, Sensitive, Interpretation, Environment, Instrument, Locality, Instrumental Culture, Reflexivity