The plastic individual imprints meaning only by being formed in return

Evidence

Following the example of the Greek statue, the ‘plastic individual’ is not a simple indexical or external sign of the spiritual element which is alive in it. In the plastic individual, spirit makes itself visible not in a transparent way, but through style. Style, the deictic or ostensive aspect of individuality, represents a distinctive manner (façon) of being or acting that represents the universal, that brings the ordinary and general onto the scene in a form appropriate to it. Accordingly, the ‘plastic individual’ has, through the impact of his style, the power to transmit or imprint (imprime) what he expresses (exprime). Speculative expression, in Hegel’s idea of it, must create as its counterpart a power of making impressions. This is the sense in which the ‘plastic individual’ is ‘plastic’, for he can render the universal as a ‘type’. The spiritual bestows form, but only because it is itself formed in return. — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 591

Categorization

• DEFINE: Pins plasticity to the imprint/expression reciprocity: exprimer requires imprime; receiving form is the condition of bestowing it.
• XREF: The double movement of imprinting and being-imprinted resonates with the brain-focused plasticity this reader is tracing in Malabou’s later work. — connects to: The word plastic denotes a dynamism of receiving and giving form — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 1246; Plasticity means both receiving and giving form, unlike mere malleability — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 39; Plasticity designates at once the capacity to receive and to bestow form. (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• The word plastic denotes a dynamism of receiving and giving form #expands (0.90) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 1246
• Plasticity designates at once the capacity to receive and to bestow form. #expands (0.90)
• Plasticity means both receiving and giving form, unlike mere malleability #expands (0.85) — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 39
• Plasticity’s open sense means changing one’s form, not just receiving it. #expands (0.80) — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 65