La Télé-commande

Gilonne, Yves

Abstract

This paper looks at the way the choice of the term ‘cybernetics’ places thought at the heart of a fundamental anology (kybernètes) between ‘piloting’ (a ship) and ‘governing’, thus reducing the conceptual field of ‘command’ to that of ‘control’, which in turn has a determining influence on our conception of what ‘thinking’ means. This nautical analogy is situated in the context of its rich philosophical heritage, which can be traced back at least as far as Plato, in order to evaluate how the cybernetic treatment of the source concept of pilot is characterized paradoxically by the erasure of its technological apparatus (captain, rudder, ship), leading to the virtualization of its symbolic apparatus (thought, language, body) and consequently the reduction of the target concept (governing) to the notion of ‘control’. In this way, cybernetics carries out a transfer of materiality between source and target which reduces ‘governing’ to a simple technological apparatus, forgetting the differential value of all analogy which relies precisely on the non-coincidence of its terms. ‘Télé-commande’ refers to the ‘control’ of the programme of Reason, reduced to an ‘artificial’ intelligence and the integrism of its mode of operation which can but capture a world in its own image. The article looks at the way in which this mode of thought is characterized by the reduction of the gap between input and output, source and target, symbolized by new technologies that allow control at a distance (‘télé-commande’). The idea of ‘control’ thus proves to be inadequate for modelling the concepts of ‘government’ (of the self, of others and the world), pointing to the need for a redefinition of the notion of ‘command’ and its ethical significance.

Citation

Gilonne, Y. (2020). La Télé-commande. Nottingham French Studies, 59(3), 289-310. https://doi.org/10.3366/NFS.2020.0292

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 10, 2019
• Publication Date: Nov 26, 2020
• Deposit Date: Dec 18, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 20, 2021
• Journal: Nottingham French Studies
• Print ISSN: 0029-4586
• Electronic ISSN: 2047-7236
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 59
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 289-310
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3366/NFS.2020.0292
• Keywords: cybernetics, télé-commande, reason, control, artificial intelligence, technology, analogy
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3587185
• Publisher URL: https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/nfs.2020.0292