Abstract

This article will maintain that the onset of Simondon’s interest in the philosophy of Nature, examined in his thèse principale, “L’individuation à la lumière des notions de forme et d’information” and for philosophy of technics, analysed in his thèse complémentaire, “Du mode d’existence des objets techniques”, lies in his personal acquaintance with Canguilhem and in particular the reading of his Knowledge of Life, published in 1952. I will demonstrate that the element connecting Simondon’s interest in individuality and his interest in the philosophy of technics can be found in the influence of the following Canguilhemian subjects: 1) the role of vitalist anti-reductionism; 2) the necessity to inaugurate a “biological philosophy of technics”; and 3) the understanding of the concept of milieu in relation to individuality.