The Question Concerning the Beginning in the Philosophy of Technics

Through an analysis of the relations between life and machine in Canguilhem and Simondon, I argue that by using analogy in its speculative or epistemic function, cybernetics unleashes a specular circulation without beginning or end. Along with Derrida’s analysis of the biologist Françoise Jacob, I argue that this makes it impossible to speak of epistemic “models” and, therefore, to settle on a starting point for their speculation on technology and its relation to life. On this basis I conclude that, despite Canguilhem’s intention to begin with life and Simondon’s—or that of his commentators—to set the starting point of analogical speculation (allagmatics), a whole economy of imitation operates at and as the basis of cybernetics. This insight is generative, I argue, for current problems in the philosophy of technology and philosophy in general.