3,122 definitions
Affectivity (n.) is a relation between an individualized being and the preindividual milieu.
The Associated milieu (n.) is invention running backwards in time: the inventor designs parts for a surround that will exist only once the machine runs, so a condition from the future shapes the present design.
Craft (n.) made the worker himself the machine: he was the living body that carried the tools, which is why the factory, by handing the tools to a machine, felt like a dethronement.
Dephasing (n.) is on our radar. Try again later or consider contributing!
Fashion (n.) makes a machine old before its parts wear out: a car that still runs perfectly is aged by last year's chrome and colour, a death by society rather than by friction.
Form (n.) is, in social organizations, completely active, and matter is fully passive.
Inference (n.) fetches its answer from outside — deduction borrows a principle from above, induction keeps only what cases share — whereas invention draws the solution out of the problem's own tensions and throws nothing away.
Language (n.) is what lets technical knowledge grow up: what an artisan absorbed as a child stays wordless habit, but knowledge put into words and diagrams can be argued over, corrected and taught to adults.
Magic (n.) maps the world as a net of key points — the summit, the ford, the threshold of the house — places where one gesture can grip the whole surrounding land at once.