ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the concept of emagination by using a bizarre pair of glasses: the thought of a mostly unknown French thinker, Robert Estivals, who wrote a General Theory of Schematization, published in three volumes between 2001 and 2003. It deals with the distinction between engineers and bricoleurs, first introduced by Claude Levi-Strauss. The chapter focuses on the similar distinction Michel de Certeau has suggested between “strategy” and “tactic.” The archetypes of the line and the feedback gave way to that of the network. Among others, Estivals proposes a schema by the electrical engineer Abraham Moles, who was also professor of sociology and social psychology at the University of Strasbourg, and is today considered one of the pioneers of communication studies in France. For instance, J. Derrida says that “the engineer, whom Levi-Strauss opposes to the bricoleur, should be the one to construct the totality of his language, syntax, and lexicon.
