Philosophy of/as Information

In this chapter, I will explore the nature and function of philosophy in Simondon from a single perspective, that of information. The recent development of a branch of philosophy named “Philosophy of Information” allows the framing of this perspective: it permits us to take a retrospective look at Simondon’s work from our current situation, and to appreciate what, in this remarkable work, continues to speak to us with great force and urgency today.1 Simondon, of course, who died at the end of the 1980s, did not see the recent fruits of the information revolution, but his writings were deeply inspired by cybernetics and the theory of information at its heart. Accordingly, we can readily see Simondon as one of the earliest philosophers of information, who reformed philosophy on the basis of the notion of information in multiple key areas. In what follows, after a first discussion of Simondon’s notion of information and its place in his thought, I will focus on reforms in two main areas: a new image of philosophy (thought as individuation), and a new task for philosophy (the integration of philosophy and culture). Throughout, what I wish to emphasize – as my title indicates – is that for Simondon, information is not simply an object for philosophical study, but a notion that comes to reform what philosophy itself is and how it is done. In other words, for Simondon, philosophy of information is also philosophy as information.