The Becoming of Being: Process Ontology of Whitehead and Transductive Individuation of Simondon
- Authors: Sayapin V.O.1
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Affiliations:
- Issue: No 7 (2025)
- Pages: 57-75
- Section: Articles
- URL: https://ogarev-online.ru/2409-8728/article/view/365415
- EDN: https://elibrary.ru/CUVUFN
- ID: 365415
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Abstract
The article conducts a comparative analysis of two fundamental projects of processual ontology of the 20th century. While Alfred North Whitehead's philosophy of process is centered on the concept of "actual occasions" as primary units of becoming reality, Gilbert Simondon's theory of "individuation" understands being as a continuous transductive process of resolving pre-individual tensions, generating physical, biological, technical, and psychosocial realities. The article demonstrates that both thinkers radically reject substantialist metaphysics, placing at the foundation of being not static entities, but dynamic, relational, and creative processes of becoming. The main difference lies in the following position: Whitehead constructs a comprehensive speculative cosmology that describes the universal conditions of experience and the interrelation of events, while Simondon focuses on the specific mechanisms of ontogenesis (individuation) of various modes of existence, paying special attention to technical objects and collective (trans-individual) formations as full-fledged results of processuality. The methodological toolkit of the article is based on the sequential application of four complementary methods that ensure the depth of analysis and systematic comparison: historical-philosophical reconstruction and hermeneutics, conceptual analysis and comparativism, system approach, and creative synthesis (constructive interpretation). The sequence of application is logical: reconstruction ensures the authenticity of understanding, conceptual analysis and comparativism reveal similarities and differences at the structural level, the system approach evaluates the explanatory power and scope of each ontology, while creative synthesis uses the results of previous stages to generate new knowledge and relevant philosophical perspectives. The research is highly relevant in the context of contemporary philosophical and interdisciplinary inquiries that strive to overcome dualisms (nature/culture, subject/object, living/non-living) and to understand the complexity, variability, and interdependence of the modern technosocial reality. The ontologies of Whitehead and Simondon offer adequate non-reductionist frameworks for understanding the dynamics of becoming at all levels—from quantum processes to social systems and technological environments. The novelty of the work lies in the systematic comparison of these two influential yet rarely analyzed together processual models. The article reveals both their profound resonances and important differences. Such a comparative analysis not only deepens the understanding of each system individually but also productively synthesizes their intuitions, offering a richer conceptual foundation for comprehending the dynamic, heterogeneous, and becoming reality of the 21st century.
About the authors
Vladislav Olegovich Sayapin
Email: vlad2015@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-6588-9192
References
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