Hylomorphism, the doctrine
that the order displayed by material systems is due to the form projected
in advance of production by an external producer, a form which organizes
what would otherwise be chaotic or passive matter.
In Basic Problems of Phenomenology
(1929) Heidegger describes the architect’s vision of form (eidos)
as a drive beyond the flow of moments to a constantly present appearance.
For Heidegger, the ‘metaphysics of presence’ thence arises through the
unthematized transfer of this sense of being to all regions of beings.
In A Thousand Plateaus (1980) Deleuze
and Guattari pick up the critique of hylomorphism in the work of Gilbert
Simondon and follow him in developing a non-hylomorphic or ‘artisanal’
theory of production. In this theory, forms are developed by artisans out
of suggested potentials of matter rather than being dreamed up by architects
and then imposed on a passive matter. In artisanal production, the artisan
must therefore ‘surrender’ to matter, that is, follow its potentials by
attending to its implicit forms, and then devise operations that bring
forth those potentials to actualize the desired properties.
Deleuze and Guattari also follow Simondon
in analyzing the political significance of hylomorphism. For Simondon,
hylomorphism is ‘a socialized representation of work,’ the viewpoint of
a master commanding slave labor. For Deleuze and Guattari, hylomorphism
also has an important political dimension, as a hylomorphic representation
of a body politic resonates with fascist desire, in which the leader comes
from on high to rescue his people from chaos by his imposition of order.
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