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<p>Contemporary microbiome science fundamentally challenges the traditional view of the human organism as a self-enclosed biological entity. By framing the human as a holobiont—a symbiotic assemblage of host and microbial partners—biology introduces a profound ontological tension: <i>how can a multispecies collective maintain the functional unity required for individuality?</i> This paper argues that Gilbert Simondon’s process philosophy provides a framework to resolve this tension, moving beyond substance-based ontologies toward an ontology of ontogenesis. Applying Simondon’s concepts of transduction and metastability, I argue that the human individual is not a static entity but a continuous process of individuation. Within this framework, the biological border is reframed from an exclusionary barrier into a regulatory interface—a Simondonian associated milieu—where heterogeneous microbial elements are integrated into the host’s vital operations. Standard objections regarding the instability and internal conflicts of the holobiont are addressed by arguing that these tensions are not failures of individuality but preindividual conditions that drive the system’s ongoing resolution. Ultimately, this Simondonian approach allows for a minimal self that is inherently plural, demonstrating that the human individuates precisely because it contains multitudes. This perspective offers a philosophical foundation for understanding life’s borders as sites of relational integration rather than absolute separation.</p>

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I Contain Multitudes, yet I Individuate: Simondonian individuation and the human microbiome

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月30日

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  • Rebeca Méndez-Veras

摘要

Contemporary microbiome science fundamentally challenges the traditional view of the human organism as a self-enclosed biological entity. By framing the human as a holobiont—a symbiotic assemblage of host and microbial partners—biology introduces a profound ontological tension: how can a multispecies collective maintain the functional unity required for individuality? This paper argues that Gilbert Simondon’s process philosophy provides a framework to resolve this tension, moving beyond substance-based ontologies toward an ontology of ontogenesis. Applying Simondon’s concepts of transduction and metastability, I argue that the human individual is not a static entity but a continuous process of individuation. Within this framework, the biological border is reframed from an exclusionary barrier into a regulatory interface—a Simondonian associated milieu—where heterogeneous microbial elements are integrated into the host’s vital operations. Standard objections regarding the instability and internal conflicts of the holobiont are addressed by arguing that these tensions are not failures of individuality but preindividual conditions that drive the system’s ongoing resolution. Ultimately, this Simondonian approach allows for a minimal self that is inherently plural, demonstrating that the human individuates precisely because it contains multitudes. This perspective offers a philosophical foundation for understanding life’s borders as sites of relational integration rather than absolute separation.