The word ‘plastic’ spans from form-giving sculpture to the annihilation of form in explosives
Evidence
Plasticity’s range of meanings is not yet exhausted, and it continues to evolve with and in the language. Plastic material is a synthetic material which can take on different shapes and properties according to the functions intended. ‘Plastic’ on its own is an explosive material with a nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose base that can set off violent detonations. The plasticity of the word itself draws it to extremes, both to those concrete shapes in which form is crystallized (sculpture) and to the annihilation of all form (the bomb). — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 227
Categorization
- SEED: The word itself spanning from sculpture to plastic explosive is a strong essay hook on the double-edge of plasticity.
- XREF: The annihilation-of-form pole of plasticity prefigures Malabou’s later ‘destructive plasticity’ concept and connects to the reader’s interest in how form can be undone. — connects to: Plastic individuals become what they essentially were and wanted to be; The word plasticity etymologically spans both sculpting and explosion; The word plastic denotes a dynamism of receiving and giving form — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 1246 (+6 more)
Broader Connections
- Plasticity spans both the creation and the explosive annihilation of form.
#corroborates(0.98) — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 231 - The word plasticity etymologically spans both sculpting and explosion
#corroborates(0.95) - Plasticity names the dialectical union of form-seizure and form-annihilation.
#corroborates(0.90) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 247 - The plastic operation is a new discursivity explosive enough to destroy centuries of discourse
#expands(0.85) - The word plastic denotes a dynamism of receiving and giving form
#qualifies(0.80) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 1246 - Destructive plasticity creates new identity precisely through annihilation of the old
#expands(0.80) — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded, 1495 - Destructive plasticity forms identity through deconstitution, not preservation
#expands(0.80) — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded, 202 - Brain plasticity includes a capacity to destroy form, not only create it
#exemplifies(0.75)