Inventivism and Constructivism

RELATED TERMS:

Boever et al. (2012: x) suggest that intellectual currents in the humanities in recent decades have moved towards a context that is more receptive to the thought of Gilbert Simondon. This shift has been characterised by Brian Massumi as turning away from a prevailing acceptance of ‘constructivism’ towards what he calls ‘inventivism’. The distinction is defined in the following way: constructivism focuses on the cultural construction of reality, while remaining sceptical towards the claims of the natural sciences; inventivism, on the other hand, seeks to think the natural processes involved in any and all constructions.”

Elizabeth Grosz argues that that the constructivism associated with structuralism and poststructuralism, while necessary as a corrective to essentialist forms of thought, in the end overcompensated. In any case, contemporary philosophical thought is increasingly engaged in explicitly ontological investigations, which is more in line with Simondon’s approach to ‘being’ and ‘technology’.

Reference

Boever, A. De et al. (2012) ‘Editors’ introduction: Simondon, finally’, in Boever, A. De et al. (eds) Gilbert Simondon: Being and Technology. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press, pp. vii–xi.