Abstract

The essay aims to investigate whether it is possible to use the concept of regulation in the study of society, taking as main reference the analyses that the French epistemologist Georges Canguilhem devoted to the matter. He uses the term ‘regulation’ to designate a biological concept; from this perspective, the question relates to the possibility of extension of the field of life sciences to the study of society. First, the concept of biological regulation in Canguilhem will be determined. Secondly, we will follow the attempt of its extension to the social through a biological understanding of technology. Finally, we will point out the epistemological reasons for the impossibility of such an extension and the inevitable emergence of a political problem.