CONCEPT
Hylomorphism
The ancient form-matter dualism — the assumption that creation imposes active form on passive matter — which Simondon identified as the founding error of Western metaphysics and the conceptual source of every misunderstanding of human-machine relations.
Hylomorphism is the Aristotelian doctrine that beings are composed of hyle (matter) and morphe (form), with form as the active principle imposed on passive material. For Simondon, this was not merely a philosophical position but the operating system of Western thought about creation: the sculptor shapes clay, the programmer writes code for inert hardware, the human uses the tool. The model is always the same — active mind encounters passive material and forces it into shape. Simondon argued that this assumption fails even for bricks, let alone for the complex processes by which organisms develop, minds emerge, and technical objects evolve. The clay has its own properties; the mold has its own constraints. What actually occurs is a transductive interaction between two active terms.
In The You On AI Field Guide
The hylomorphic assumption is so deeply embedded in Western common sense that it feels less like a philosophical position than like obvious reality. The entire humanist tradition — from