Angels and General Intellect

Résumé 0

More than any other philosopher, Duns Scotus and Simondon both gave extensive consideration to the relation between what is primarily common and what is pri m a rily singular. Pointing to certain resonances between their ideas can help us to develop a theoretical model to decipher the mode of being of the contemporary multitude. This article deals with: 1. The critique that Duns Scotus and Simondon address to everyone who believes that the matter-form pair can account for the process of individuation; 2.The gap separating the notion of the “universal” from that of the “common,” and therefore, the need to precisely define the ontological and logical status of the “common” without any surreptitious use of categories linked to the “universal”; 3 .The para d oxical relation” involving both addition and subtraction” between the individuated individual and “common nature”; and 4 . The question of angels (are they or are they not individuals?), a source of enduring fame in school textbooks for Duns Scotus, re-examined here in the light of Simondon’s concepts of “transindividuality” and of “collective individuation.”