Bernard Stiegler

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Bernard Stiegler
Bernard Stiegler in The Ister
Full name	Bernard Stiegler
Born	1 April 1952 (1952-04-01) (age 58)
Era	21st-century philosophy
Region	Western Philosophy
School	Continental philosophy
Main interests	Philosophy of technology · Individuation
Influenced by Sigmund Freud , Nietzsche · Valéry · Husserl · Heidegger · Leroi-Gourhan · Simondon · Derrida
Influenced Ross

Bernard Stiegler (born 1 April 1952) is a French philosopher and Director of the Department of Cultural Development at the Centre Georges-Pompidou. His best known work is Technics and Time, 1: The Fault of Epimetheus.

1 Influences and themes
2 Incarceration
3 Career
4 Works
5 Politics
6 Cinema and television
7 Barbara Stiegler
8 See also
9 Bibliography
10 External links

Influences and themes

Stiegler's work is influenced by, among others, Sigmund Freud, André Leroi-Gourhan, Gilbert Simondon, Friedrich Nietzsche, Paul Valéry, Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, and Jacques Derrida.

Key themes are technology, time, individuation, consumerism, consumer capitalism, technological convergence, digitization, Americanization, and the future of politics and human society.

Incarceration

Between 1978 and 1983 Stiegler was incarcerated for armed robbery, first at the Prison Saint-Michel in Toulouse, and then at the Centre de détention in Muret. It was during this period that he became interested in philosophy, studying it by correspondence with Gérard Granel at the Université de Toulouse-Le-Mirail. His transformation in prison is recounted in his book, Passer í l'acte (2003; the English translation of this work is included in the 2009 volume, Acting Out).

Career

In 1987-88, with Catherine Counot, Stiegler commissioned an exhibition at the Centre Georges-Pompidou, entitled Mémoires du futur: bibliothí¨ques et technologies. Stiegler defended his thesis at the í‰cole des Hautes í‰tudes en Sciences Sociales in 1992. He has been a Director at the Collí¨ge international de philosophie, and Professor at the Université de Technologie at Compií¨gne. He has held the positions of Director General at the Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (INA), and Director General at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM).

On 1 January 2006 he commenced as Director of the Department of Cultural Development at the Centre Georges-Pompidou. He is also Director of the Institut de recherche et d'innovation (IRI), which was created at his initiative in April 2006. The IRI is affiliated with the Department of Cultural Development.

Stiegler has, since 2009, been a Professorial Fellow at the Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London.

Works

Stiegler has been prolifically publishing books, articles, and interviews since 1994, and in particular in the last several years. His works include several ongoing series of books:

La technique et le temps (3 vols.). This series outlines the heart of Stiegler's philosophical project, and in particular his theses that the role of technics has been repressed throughout the history of philosophy, and that technics, as organised inorganic matter, and as essentially a form of memory, is constitutive of human temporality. The series contains extensive readings of the works of André Leroi-Gourhan, Martin Heidegger, Edmund Husserl, and Immanuel Kant. It also contains his explication of the "cinematic constitution of consciousness," as well as his thesis that human beings are essentially "adoptive" creatures.
De la misí¨re symbolique (2 vols.). This series is concerned in particular with the ways in which cultural, symbolic and informational technologies have become a means of industrialising the formation of desire in the service of production, with destructive consequences for psychic and collective individuation. Stiegler outlines his concepts of "general organology" (a way of thinking the co-individuation of human organs, technical organs, and social organisations) and "genealogy of the sensible" (a way of thinking the historicity of human desire and aesthetics). It contains extensive readings of Sigmund Freud and Gilles Deleuze, as well as of the works of Alain Resnais, Bertrand Bonello, Andy Warhol, and Joseph Beuys.
Mécréance et Discrédit (3 vols.). This series is concerned with the way in which the industrial organisation of production and then consumption has had destructive consequences for the modes of life of human beings, in particular with the way in which the loss of savoir-faire and savoir-vivre (that is, the loss of the knowledge of how to do and how to live), has resulted in what Stiegler calls "generalised proletarianisation." In this series Stiegler makes clear his view that, in the light of the present state of the global technical system, it is not a matter of overcoming capitalism but rather of transforming its industrial basis to prevent the loss of spirit from which it increasingly suffers. In the second volume Stiegler introduces the concept of the "Antigone complex," to describe the psychosocial effects of the destruction of authority-that is, the destruction of the superego-on politics and youth. The series contains extensive readings of Paul Valéry, Max Weber, Aristotle, and Herbert Marcuse, as well as analyses of the crisis of May 1968 and the crime of Patricia and Emmanuel Cartier.
Constituer l'Europe (2 vols.). In this series Stiegler is concerned with the effects of the destruction of psychic and collective individuation on Europe. He argues for the necessity of inaugurating a new individuation process at the continental level, itself embedded in an individuation process operating at a global level. At stake, he says, is the creation of a new European "motive" which will enable the reinvention of industrial civilisation.

Politics

Stiegler has founded a political group, Ars Industrialis, the manifesto of which calls for an "industrial politics of spirit." The manifesto is signed by Stiegler and the other co-founders of the group, George Collins, Marc Crépon, Catherine Perret and Caroline Stiegler.

Cinema and television

Stiegler features prominently in a number of works of film and television, and has appeared on French television numerous times. Among his most significant appearances are the following:

The Ister (2004), directed by Daniel Ross and David Barison, a feature documentary about Heidegger in which Stiegler plays an important part.
An Organization of Dreams (2009), directed by Ken McMullen, an experimental thriller inspired by Stiegler's work, and in which he appears.
Le temps de cerveau disponible (2010), directed by Jean-Robert Viallet, a documentary about television in which Stiegler is the main participant.

Barbara Stiegler

Stiegler's daughter Barbara (born 1971) is also a philosopher. She attended the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Fontenay-St-Cloud, and in 2003 obtained her doctorate from the University of Paris IV: Paris-Sorbonne. Barbara Stiegler is the author of Nietzsche et la biologie (2001) and Nietzsche et la critique de la chair: Dionysos, Ariane, le Christ (2005). She is not to be confused with the German sociologist of the same name.

Bibliography

Books in French

(1994) La technique et le temps. Tome 1: La faute d'Epiméthée. ISBN 2-7186-0440-9
(1996) La technique et le temps. Tome 2: La désorientation. ISBN 2-7186-0468-9
(1996) í‰chographies de la télévision. Entretiens filmés (with Jacques Derrida). ISBN 2-7186-0480-8
(2001) La technique et le temps. Tome 3: Le temps du cinéma et la question du mal-íªtre. ISBN 2-7186-0563-4
(2003) Passer í l'acte. ISBN 2-7186-0616-9
(2003) Aimer, s'aimer, nous aimer: Du 11 septembre au 21 avril. ISBN 2-7186-0629-0
(2004) De la misí¨re symbolique: Tome 1, L'époque hyperindustrielle. ISBN 2-7186-0635-5
(2004) De la misí¨re symbolique: Tome 2, La Catastrophí¨ du sensible. ISBN 2-7186-0634-7
(2004) Philosopher par accident: Entretiens avec Elie During. ISBN 2-7186-0648-7
(2004) Mécréance et Discrédit: Tome 1, La décadence des démocraties industrielles. ISBN 2-7186-0660-6
(2005) Constituer l'Europe: Tome 1, Dans un monde sans vergogne. ISBN 2-7186-0689-4
(2005) Constituer l'Europe: Tome 2, Le motif européen. ISBN 2-7186-0690-8
(2005) L'attente de l'inattendu. ISBN 2-9700474-8-9
(2006) Mécréance et Discrédit: Tome 2, Les sociétés incontrolables d'individus désaffectés. ISBN 2-7186-0706-8
(2006) Mécréance et Discrédit: Tome 3, L'esprit perdu du capitalisme. ISBN 2-7186-0715-7
(2006) Des pieds et des mains: Petite conférence sur l'homme et son désir de grandir. ISBN 2-227-47566-8
(2006) Le théí¢tre, le peuple, la passion (with Jean-Christophe Bailly & Denis Guénoun). ISBN 2-84681-170-9
(2006) La télécratie contre la Démocratie. ISBN 2-08-210569-5
(2006) Réenchanter le monde : La valeur esprit contre le populisme industriel (with Marc Crépon, George Collins & Catherine Perret). ISBN 2-08-210585-7
(2007) De la démocratie participative: Fondements et limites (with Marc Crépon). ISBN 2-7555-0033-6
(2007) Avril-22 : Ceux qui préfí¨rent ne pas (with Alain Jugnon, Alain Badiou & Michel Surya). ISBN 2-916492-31-3
(2008) Economie de l'hypermatériel et psychopouvoir. ISBN 2-84205-945-X
(2008) Prendre Soin: Tome 1, De la jeunesse et des générations. ISBN 2-08-120736-2
(2009) Pour une nouvelle critique de l'économie politique ISBN 2-7186-0797-1
(2009) Pour en Finir avec la Mécroissance. ISBN 2-08-122492-5
(2009) Faut-il interdire les écrans aux enfants? (with Serge Tisseron). ISBN 2-918414-12-3

Online texts

Other translations

(1993) "Questioning Technology and Time," Tekhnema 1: 31-44.
(1996) "Persephone, Oedipus, Epimetheus," Tekhnema 3: 69-112.
(1998) "The Time of Cinema. On the 'New World' and 'Cultural Exception'," Tekhnema 4: 62-114.
(1998) Technics and Time, 1: The Fault of Epimetheus (Stanford: Stanford University Press). ISBN 0-8047-3041-9
(2001) "Derrida and Technology: Fidelity at the Limits of Deconstruction and the Prosthesis of Faith," in Tom Cohen (ed.), Jacques Derrida and the Humanities (Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press). ISBN 0-521-62565-3
(2001) "New Industrial Temporal Objects," in Rae Earnshaw, Richard Guedj, Andries van Dam, & John Vince (eds.), Frontiers of Human-Centred Computing, Online Communities and Virtual Environments (London: Springer-Verlag). ISBN 1-85233-238-7
(2002) Echographies of Television: Filmed Interviews (Cambridge: Polity Press), with Jacques Derrida. Including Stiegler, "The Discrete Image." ISBN 0-7456-2036-1
(2002) "Transcendental Imagination in a Thousand Points," New Formations 46: 7-22.
(2003) "Technics of Decision: An Interview," Angelaki 8: 151-67.
(2006) "Anamnesis and Hypomnesis: The Memories of Desire," in Louis Armand & Arthur Bradley (eds.), Technicity (Prague: Litteraria Pragensia, 2006): 15-41.
(2006) "Philosophising By Accident," Public 33: 98-107, an extract from Passer í l'acte.
(2007) "Technics, Media, Teleology: Interview with Bernard Stiegler," Theory, Culture & Society 24 (7-8): 334-41.
(2007) "Technoscience and Reproduction," Parallax 13 (4): 29-45.
(2007) "The True Price of Towering Capitalism: Bernard Stiegler Interviewed," Queen's Quarterly 114: 340-350.
(2009) "The Magic Skin; or, The Franco-European Accident of Philosophy after Jacques Derrida," Qui Parle 18: 97-110.
(2009) "Teleologics of the Snail: The Errant Self Wired to a WiMax Network," Theory, Culture & Society 26 (2-3): 33-45.
(2009) Technics and Time, 2: Disorientation (Stanford: Stanford University Press). ISBN 0-8047-3014-8
(2009) Acting Out (Stanford: Stanford University Press). ISBN 0-8047-5869-7
(2010) "Knowledge, Care, and Trans-Individuation: An Interview with Bernard Stiegler," Cultural Politics 6: 150-70.
(2010) "Telecracy Against Democracy," Cultural Politics 6: 171-80.
(2010) Taking Care of Youth and the Generations (Stanford: Stanford University Press). ISBN 0-8047-6273-2

Secondary literature (English)

Stephen Barker, "Threshold (pro-)positions: Touch, Techné, Technics," Derrida Today 2 (2009): 44-65.
Stephen Barker, Transformation as an Ontological Imperative: The [Human] Future According to Bernard Stiegler.
Richard Beardsworth, "From a Genealogy of Matter to a Politics of Memory: Stiegler's Thinking of Technics," Tekhnema 2 (1995): 85-115.
Richard Beardsworth, Towards a Critical Culture of the Image.
Richard Beardsworth, "Technology and Politics: A Response to Bernard Stiegler," Cultural Politics 6: 181-99.
Geoffrey Bennington, "Emergencies," Oxford Literary Review 18 (1996): 175-216. Collected in Interrupting Derrida (New York: Routledge, 2000): 162-79.
Patrick Crogan, Essential Viewing: Review of Stiegler, La technique et le temps 3.
Patrick Crogan, Thinking Cinema(tically) and the Industrial Temporal Object: Schemes and Technics of Experience in Bernard Stiegler's Technics and Time series.
Patrick Crogan, "Bernard Stiegler: Philosophy, Technics, and Activism," Cultural Politics 6: 133-56.
Ulrik Ekman, "Of Transductive Speed-Stiegler," Parallax 13, 4 (2007): 46-63.
Michael Gallope, Heidegger, Stiegler, and the Question of a Musical Technics.
Mark B. N. Hansen, "Realtime Synthesis" and the Différance of the Body: Technocultural Studies in the Wake of Deconstruction.
Mark B. N. Hansen, "Media Theory," Theory, Culture & Society 23 (2006): 297-306.
Ian James, "Bernard Stiegler and the Time of Technics," Cultural Politics 6: 207-27.
John Lechte, "Technics, Time and Stiegler's 'Orthographic Moment'," Parallax 13, 4 (2007): 64-77.
Ben Roberts, "Stiegler Reading Derrida: The Prosthesis of Deconstruction in Technics," Postmodern Culture 16, 1 (2005).
Ben Roberts, "Cinema as Mnemotechnics: Bernard Stiegler and the 'Industrialization of Memory'," Angelaki 11 (2006): 55-63.
Ben Roberts, "Rousseau, Stiegler and the Aporia of Origin," Forum for Modern Language Studies 42 (2006): 382-94.
Ben Roberts, "Introduction to Bernard Stiegler," Parallax 13, 4 (2007): 26-28.
Mark Robson, "An Other Europe," Paragraph 31 (2008): 375-88.
Daniel Ross, Democracy, Authority, Narcissism: From Agamben to Stiegler.
Daniel Ross, "Traumas of the Image," theory@buffalo 10 (2005): 81-102.
Daniel Ross, The Cinematic Condition of the Politico-Philosophical Future.
Daniel Ross, "Politics, Terror, and Traumatypical Imagery," in Matthew Sharpe, Murray Noonan & Jason Freddi (eds.), Trauma, History, Philosophy (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007): 230-46.
Daniel Ross, Politics and Aesthetics, or, Transformations of Aristotle in Bernard Stiegler.
Nathan Van Camp, "Stiegler, Habermas and the Techno-logical Condition of Man," Journal for Cultural Research 13 (2009): 125-41.
Nathan Van Camp, "Animality, Humanity and Technicity," Transformations 17 (2009).[1]
David Wills, An Interview with David Wills (1999).
David Wills, "Thinking Back: Towards Technology, via Dorsality," Parallax 10, 3 (2004): 36-52.
David Wills, "Techneology or the Discourse of Speed," in Marquard Smith & Joanne Morra (eds.), The Prosthetic Impulse: From a Posthuman Present to a Biocultural Future (Cambridge, Massachusetts & London: MIT Press, 2006).

Secondary literature (French)

Jean-Hugues Barthélémy, "De la finitude rétentionnelle. Sur La technique et le temps de Bernard Stiegler", in P-E. Schmit et P-A. Chardel (dir.), Phénoménologie et technique(s), Le Cercle Herméneutique Editeur (2008).
Jean-Hugues Barthélémy, "Penser aprí¨s Simondon et par-delí Deleuze", Cahiers Simondon N°2, Paris, L'Harmattan, 2010.
Online paper about Stiegler's link to Simondon, by Jean-Hugues Barthélémy et Vincent Bontems
Pierre-Antoine Chardel, "De l'écriture aux téle-technologies (ou le jeu de la difference en question)", in P-E Schmit et P-A Chardel (dir.), Phénoménologie et technique(s), Le Cercle Herméneutique Editeur (2008).

Barbara Stiegler

Nietzsche et la biologie (2001). ISBN 2-13-050742-5
Nietzsche et la critique de la chair: Dionysos, Ariane, le Christ (2005). ISBN 2-13-054376-6
La raison dévoilée: Etudes schopenhaueriennes (with Christian Bonnet, Vincent Stanek, & Peter Welsen, 2005). ISBN 2-7116-1779-3
Dionysos on condition: Apollo's knife and Ariadne's ear.
"On the Future of Our Incorporations: Nietzsche, Media, Events," Discourse 31 (2009): 124-39.

Bernard Stiegler