Plasticity names the dialectical union of form-seizure and form-annihilation.

Evidence

The dialectical process is ‘plastic’ because, as it unfolds, it makes links between the opposing moments of total immobility (the ‘fixed’) and vacuity (‘dissolution’), and then links both in the vitality of the whole, a whole which, reconciling these two extremes, is itself the union of resistance (Widerstand) and fluidity (Flüssigkeit). The process of plasticity is dialectical because the operations which constitute it, the seizure of form and the annihilation of all form, emergence and explosion, are contradictory. — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 247

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precise definition of plasticity as the union of resistance and fluidity — the book’s central concept.
• SEED: This two-sided plasticity — taking form and exploding form — is a strong essay angle on how the same concept underpins both neurological plasticity and revolution.
• XREF: connects to: Destructive plasticity forms identity through deconstitution, not preservation — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded: From Neurosis to Brain…, 202; Destructive plasticity creates new identity precisely through annihilation of the old — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded: From Neurosis to Brain…, 1495; Plasticity means both receiving and giving form, unlike mere malleability — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 39 (+15 more)

Broader Connections

• Plasticity spans a spectrum from fixed form to total malleability #expands (0.95) — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 109
• Plasticity spans both the creation and the explosive annihilation of form. #corroborates (0.90) — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 231
• Plasticity holds origin and self-abandonment together in one capacity #corroborates (0.90)
• Plasticity means formative change through rupture, not smooth continuous adaptation #expands (0.80) — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 258
• Brain plasticity includes a capacity to destroy form, not only create it #exemplifies (0.75)
• The word plasticity etymologically spans both sculpting and explosion #expands (0.70)