Deleuze, Simondon and the problem of psychological life

This paper draws on the concept of affect in the writings of Deleuze (via Spinoza), and Simondon, to develop an ontogenetic version of psychology. The value of this approach is its focus on becoming rather than form, which makes it well placed to navigate the specific conditions of the genesis of human activity in contemporary socio-technical worlds. Psychology can then be thought of as emerging through processes of movement and transformation that simultaneously grow “from the inside and the outside” (Deleuze, 2001: 45). A psychology of this kind can potentially open up to the ideas of distributed agency that have emerged from critical theory in recent years (e.g. Galloway & Thacker, 2007). For example, the view that human capacities (e.g. cognition) are increasingly operating as much through technology as human brains, presenting new ontological questions (Hayles, 2012). Often, the focus has been on cognition and digital media, although that is changing now towards greater critical theory regarding digital media and emotion (Sampson, 2017). In this paper I seek to address these questions through the work of Gilbert Simondon, who offers a concept of affectivity that helps to theoretically isolate the genesis of individual activity without becoming trapped by the idea of a finished product. This speaks to the role of emotion and affect in contemporary socio-technical worlds, as core processes through which psychological experience manifests.