The Project of "Information Ontology" in Gilbert Simondon's Theory of Individuation

Social researcher Gilbert Simondon (1924–1989) was one of those recognized as a philosopher of information. Simondon’s lifelong philosophical project was to explain what we today call “information ontology”, a subject that deserves to be explored in detail. This article argues that Simondon’s “information ontology” was created not only in the context of the cybernetic tradition, but also within the framework of the positioning of a new materialism that was intended to change contemporary debates around issues related to information, communication and technology. Furthermore, the article explores the concepts of “organization” and “information”, the combination of which considers the science of the individual as a process of not only living but also psychosocial individuation, constituted by transindividual relations. The research methodology includes such general scientific approaches as the descriptive method, the method of categorization, the method of analysis, observation and synthesis. As a result, it was established that in Simondon's theory, information is a formula for individuation. And moreover, for Simondon, it is a tension, not a term; it is based on a minimally heterogeneous problem and affects the future in order to resolve emerging states. Information always implies not only a change of phase or heterogeneity, which may seem decisive, but it is also a semantic content, thanks to which the system is individualized. Therefore, information is the basis of individuation, a requirement for individuation, it is never something given. This is why the appeal to the concept of "information" as the "information potential" of the organization of the system, and not as a form, emphasizes that the emerging meaning requires something unsaturated, namely, incomplete formation.

Simondon, individuation, transduction, cybernetics, information, organization, communication, hylomorphism, metastability, transindividual