L'invention de la technologie: Une histoire intellectuelle avec André Leroi-Gourhan [The invention of technology: An intellectual history with André Leroi-Gourhan] by Nathan Schlanger (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by:

• L'invention de la technologie: Une histoire intellectuelle avec André Leroi-Gourhan [The invention of technology: An intellectual history with André Leroi-Gourhan] by Nathan Schlanger
• Philippe Soulier (bio)

L'invention de la technologie: Une histoire intellectuelle avec André Leroi-Gourhan [The invention of technology: An intellectual history with André Leroi-Gourhan] By Nathan Schlanger. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 2023. Pp. 460.

This book lives up to its subtitle. Throughout its seven chapters, the author follows the sequence of Leroi-Gourhan's positions, particularly on technology. André Leroi-Gourhan was a twentieth-century anthropologist, archaeologist, paleontologist, zoologist, prehistorian, historian of art, and technologist. Throughout his life, Leroi-Gourhan tried to address and then clarify what new aspects he intended to bring to the concept of technology. In fact, from his earliest writings in the 1930s, Leroi-Gourhan illustrated technology abundantly, while announcing that he could assert his positions as much on the basis of his manual experience as an archeologist as on his proposals for a system based on the logic of material constraints.

What's more, he wanted his ideas to be backed up by strictly "objective" observations, so that the lessons he drew from them could have the character of "real fact," giving them a "universal" dimension. He subsequently adopted this intellectual stance in his other research (notably in archaeology and the history of Paleolithic art). For Leroi-Gourhan, understanding the foundations and methods of the technology used by a human group was the basis of any understanding of populations, past or present.

Far from being a straight line, Leroi-Gourhan's intellectual career was often meandering, particularly in light of his professional circumstances and field experiences. He sometimes developed his arguments in correspondence (positive or negative) with other thinkers on technology. However, apart from a few researchers who served as references at the start of his career (in particular his teacher Marcel Mauss), he most often moved forward without explicit reference to the thoughts and theories of his contemporaries.

And therein lies the major interest of Nathan Schlanger's book. While the author, himself a specialist in Mauss's work, follows Leroi-Gourhan's thought chronologically, each of the successive chapters delves deeper into Leroi-Gourhan's key ideas, which are then developed more thematically. In this way, not only does he succeed in unraveling many of Leroi-Gourhan's sometimes circuitous paths, he also supports his account with an abundance of references, both past and present, to Leroi-Gourhan (including by Simondon, Ellul, and Lévi-Strauss, for example). These references are sometimes suggested by Leroi-Gourhan himself in his developments, but they are also selected by the author on the basis of his in-depth knowledge of the literature on technology. He thus analyzes the intellectual context of each stage in [End Page 748] Leroi-Gourhan's career. In all, over 600 references—in addition to the sixty or so from Leroi-Gourhan's own publications—are indexed in the body of the text. This gives his study added interest and suggests many stimulating avenues for further research throughout the book.

Furthermore, far from contenting himself with a systematic analysis of the published writings of Leroi-Gourhan (including any changes made as a result of reprints) or of his contemporaries, Schlanger bases his work on the many archives held at the CNRS, Collège de France, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, etc. These archives make it possible, by revealing unpublished works such as drafts of texts, corrections made to proofs, and correspondence containing comments on other researchers or questions about certain problems, to analyze the work of Leroi-Gourhan and make it more relevant, profound, and nuanced.

As a result, this book presents two complementary facets in constant interaction. First, there is a welcome deepening of Leroi-Gourhan's thinking on technology, with advances, extensions, and revivals. This dimension allows us to delve deeper into this essential part of his work and to gain a better understanding of his thinking, in relation to other thinkers and theorists whom he may have inspired or from whom he himself may have drawn inspiration. Second, the book offers a history of the intellectual, philosophical...