How should we think about technology philosophically? And why has contemporary theory increasingly turned toward the nonhuman—toward machines, objects, and technological systems—as key actors in shaping our world?
In this interview, I speak with Dr Madeleine Chalmers about her book French Technological Thought and the Nonhuman Turn. The conversation explores a fascinating intellectual genealogy linking nineteenth- and twentieth-century French literature and philosophy with contemporary debates about technology, agency, and the place of the human in a technological world.
You can watch the full conversation below.
Rethinking Technology in French Thought
Chalmers’ book traces a long and unexpected history of reflection on technology in French intellectual culture. Rather than beginning with contemporary debates about digital technologies or artificial intelligence, she looks back to nineteenth- and early twentieth-century writers and thinkers, uncovering a tradition of reflection on technics embedded in literature, philosophy, and even theology.
Her study shows how ideas about technology developed through encounters between avant-garde literary experimentation, philosophical reflection, and religious language. In particular, she explores how older vocabularies of grace, potentiality, and actuality gradually gave way to modern theoretical concepts such as agency, affect, and virtuality.
In doing so, the book suggests that technology has long functioned not only as a practical tool but also as a powerful metaphor for thinking about the nature of thought itself.
The “Nonhuman Turn”
A key theme of the discussion is the so-called “nonhuman turn” in contemporary philosophy and theory.
This intellectual movement seeks to move beyond the assumption that the human being is the sole centre of meaning and agency. Instead, it highlights the role played by animals, machines, objects, infrastructures, and environments in shaping the world we inhabit.
Chalmers argues that many of the ideas associated with this recent shift actually have deeper roots in French intellectual history. Writers connected with Symbolism, Surrealism, and later philosophers such as Gilbert Simondon and Gilles Deleuze developed ways of thinking about technology and material processes that already blurred the boundary between the human and the nonhuman.
Literature, Philosophy, and the Technological Imagination
One of the most intriguing aspects of Chalmers’ work is the way it brings together literature and philosophy.
Rather than treating philosophical concepts as isolated abstractions, she shows how they emerge from a broader cultural imagination that includes novels, poetry, speculative writing, and experimental artistic practices.
In the interview we discuss how figures from the French avant-garde imagined technological futures, sometimes in prophetic and sometimes in unsettling ways. These works reveal technology not simply as an external tool but as something that reshapes how we think about agency, creativity, and the nature of human life.
Why This Matters Today
At a time when artificial intelligence, automation, and digital infrastructures are transforming everyday life, questions about technology are no longer confined to engineering or computer science.
They are philosophical questions.
What counts as agency?
Where does responsibility lie in complex technological systems?
And how should we understand the relationship between human beings and the increasingly powerful technologies we create?
By uncovering a neglected tradition of French technological thought, Chalmers’ work offers valuable historical resources for thinking about these questions today.
Watch the Interview
If you are interested in French philosophy, intellectual history, or the philosophical implications of contemporary technology, I hope you enjoy this conversation.
The full interview is available above.