The Concept of Human Wholeness in B. Stiegler’s Philosophy: Technics as an Originary Anthropological Prosthesis
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The article explores a philosophical and anthropological reconstruction of the concept of human wholeness in B. Stiegler’s philosophy. Although B. Stiegler does not explicitly formulate it as a standalone theory, the corre-sponding model can be identified through various interconnected analyses, including the concepts of the Epi-methean lack, originary prosthesis, epiphylogenetic memory, general organology, and pharmakon. Technics is shown not to be a later addition to an already constituted human being but a condition for the formation of bodi-ly skills, temporality, and historical memory. The article introduces the notion of “prosthetic wholeness”, which is interpreted as an open coherence of the bodily, psychic, technical, and collective dimensions of individuation. From the anthropogenic viewpoint, this model proceeds from the constitutive incompleteness of the human being. Its temporal dimension unfolds through the appropriation of tertiary retentions, while the general organ-ology allows for the connection between the wholeness and the conjunction of bodily organs, technical instru-ments, and social organizations. It is substantiated that this wholeness is distinct from mere functional integra-tion with a technical system as it requires the adoption and possible transformation of external organs, implying a responsibility for the transmitted memory forms and modes of action.
Authors: Matvey V. Pataev, Dmitriy A. Belyaev
Institution: Lipetsk State Pedagogical University
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7203489340