Program, Prostheses and Other Extensions

From the very first pages of the album The Seven Crystal Balls1 1  - Hergé, The Seven Crystal Balls (London, UK: Methuen, 1962). by Hergé, Tintin is surprised that captain Haddock needs to put on his monocle in order to recognize him. Not that this old seadog has suddenly become short-sighted, but is does appear that this prosthesis is necessary for him to become (to act as) the lord of the manor. The irony of the situation resides in the contradiction of captain Haddock’s gesture with what one could call his initial program2 2  - The word program is here understood as the “plan of intended proceedings and political projects of an individual or a group,” and as “a series of actions carried out in order to obtain a result.” [Translated from the French definition in Le Nouveau Petit Robert (2001).]: you can not change your status from sailor to lord of a manor by way of a prosthesis, and attempting to do is enough to expose the guilty party to ridicule. Clearly, the role of prosthesis is to carry out the initial program and not to change it out of the blue. Let us also point out that further on, when the captain finds himself in a difficult situation, and rather than calling on the authorities decides to take things into his own hands, he for the first time goes back to using his cap and pipe...

In order to continue with our analysis it is important that we establish a distinction between two types of objects that involve different uses: the tool and the prosthesis. The distinction between tool and prosthesis not only resides in the degree to which the object is integrated into the user’s body, but also into his/her initial program. While the tool is a manufactured object that one takes, and which serves to work matter, to do work, the prosthesis is a device, an apparatus which one wears, which serves to replace a limb, part of an amputated limb, or a seriously deficient or destroyed organ. The tool is an object that is independent of the body, while the prosthesis is an extension of it. Hence most will agree that a hammer is a tool and a wooden leg a prosthesis. What about glasses? That depends on their role: glasses that serve to correct deficient eyesight will be considered a prosthesis, while those that enable one to see further than what is included in a normal human program (binoculars) are taken to be a tool.