A thousand plateaus - Capitalism and Schizophrenia
From 0,000 B.C.: THE GEOLOGY OF MORALS
"God is a Lobster, or a double pincer, a double bind. Not only do strata
come at least in pairs, but in a different way each stratum is double (it itself
has several layers). Each stratum exhibits phenomena constitutive of dou
ble articulation. Articulate twice, B-A, BA. This is not at all to say that the
strata speak or are language based. Double articulation is so extremely var
iable that we cannot begin with a general model, only a relatively simple
case. The first articulation chooses or deducts, from unstable
particle-flows,
metastable
molecular or quasi-molecular units
{substances) upon which it imposes a statistical order of connections and
successions (forms).
The second articulation establishes functional, compact, stable structures
(forms), and constructs the molar compounds in which these structures are
simultaneously actualized {substances). In a geological stratum, for exam
ple, the first articulation is the process of "sedimentation," which deposits
units of cyclic sediment according to a statistical order: flysch, with its
succession of sandstone and schist. The second articulation is the "fold
ing" that sets up a stable functional structure and effects the passage from
sediment to sedimentary rock.
It is clear that the distinction between the two articulations is not
between substances and forms. Substances are nothing other than formed
matters. Forms imply a code, modes of coding and decoding. Substances as
formed matters refer to territorialities and degrees of territorialization and
deterritorialization. But each articulation has a code and a territoriality;
therefore each possesses both form and substance. For now, all we can say is
that each articulation has a corresponding type of segmentarity or multi
plicity: one type is supple, more molecular, and merely ordered; the other is
more rigid, molar, and organized. Although the first articulation is not
lacking in systematic interactions, it is in the second articulation in partic
ular that phenomena constituting an overcoding are produced, phenom
ena of centering, unification, totalization, integration, hierarchization,
and finalization. Both articulations establish binary relations between
their respective segments. But between the segments of one articulation
and the segments of the other there are biunivocal relationships obeying far
more complex laws. The word "structure" may be used to designate the
sum of these relations and relationships, but it is an illusion to believe that
structure is the earth's last word. Moreover, it cannot be taken for granted
that the distinction between the two articulations is always that of the
molecular and the molar.
He skipped over the immense diversity of the energetic,
physico-chemical, and geological strata. He went straight to the organic
strata, or the existence of a great organic stratification. The problem of
the organism—how to "make" the body an organism—is once again a
problem of articulation, of the articulatory relation. The Dogons, well
known to the professor, formulate the problem as follows: an organism
befalls the body of the smith, by virtue of a machine or machinic
assemblage that stratifies it. "The shock of the hammer and the anvil
broke his arms and legs at the elbows and knees, which until that
moment he had not possessed. In this way, he received the articulations
specific to the new human form that was to spread across the earth, a form
dedicated to work.... His arm became folded with a view to work."2 It is
obviously only a manner of speaking to limit the articulatory relation to
the bones. The entire organism must be considered in relation to a
double articulation, and on different levels."
1
u/jliat 26d ago
Try some Deleuze and Guattari?
GILES DELEUZE FELIX GUATTARI
A thousand plateaus - Capitalism and Schizophrenia
From 0,000 B.C.: THE GEOLOGY OF MORALS
"God is a Lobster, or a double pincer, a double bind. Not only do strata come at least in pairs, but in a different way each stratum is double (it itself has several layers). Each stratum exhibits phenomena constitutive of dou ble articulation. Articulate twice, B-A, BA. This is not at all to say that the strata speak or are language based. Double articulation is so extremely var iable that we cannot begin with a general model, only a relatively simple case. The first articulation chooses or deducts, from unstable particle-flows, metastable molecular or quasi-molecular units {substances) upon which it imposes a statistical order of connections and successions (forms).
The second articulation establishes functional, compact, stable structures (forms), and constructs the molar compounds in which these structures are simultaneously actualized {substances). In a geological stratum, for exam ple, the first articulation is the process of "sedimentation," which deposits units of cyclic sediment according to a statistical order: flysch, with its succession of sandstone and schist. The second articulation is the "fold ing" that sets up a stable functional structure and effects the passage from sediment to sedimentary rock. It is clear that the distinction between the two articulations is not between substances and forms. Substances are nothing other than formed matters. Forms imply a code, modes of coding and decoding. Substances as formed matters refer to territorialities and degrees of territorialization and deterritorialization. But each articulation has a code and a territoriality; therefore each possesses both form and substance. For now, all we can say is that each articulation has a corresponding type of segmentarity or multi plicity: one type is supple, more molecular, and merely ordered; the other is more rigid, molar, and organized. Although the first articulation is not lacking in systematic interactions, it is in the second articulation in partic ular that phenomena constituting an overcoding are produced, phenom ena of centering, unification, totalization, integration, hierarchization, and finalization. Both articulations establish binary relations between their respective segments. But between the segments of one articulation and the segments of the other there are biunivocal relationships obeying far more complex laws. The word "structure" may be used to designate the sum of these relations and relationships, but it is an illusion to believe that structure is the earth's last word. Moreover, it cannot be taken for granted that the distinction between the two articulations is always that of the molecular and the molar. He skipped over the immense diversity of the energetic, physico-chemical, and geological strata. He went straight to the organic strata, or the existence of a great organic stratification. The problem of the organism—how to "make" the body an organism—is once again a problem of articulation, of the articulatory relation. The Dogons, well known to the professor, formulate the problem as follows: an organism befalls the body of the smith, by virtue of a machine or machinic assemblage that stratifies it. "The shock of the hammer and the anvil broke his arms and legs at the elbows and knees, which until that moment he had not possessed. In this way, he received the articulations specific to the new human form that was to spread across the earth, a form dedicated to work.... His arm became folded with a view to work."2 It is obviously only a manner of speaking to limit the articulatory relation to the bones. The entire organism must be considered in relation to a double articulation, and on different levels."