As is well-known, Deleuze says in Difference and Repetition that "the task of contemporary philos... more As is well-known, Deleuze says in Difference and Repetition that "the task of contemporary philosophy has been defined: to reverse Platonism" (Deleuze 1994, 59). This task is then continued in Logic of Sense, through its discussion of Stoic logic. Deleuze says there that "the Stoics are the first to reverse Platonism" (Deleuze 1990, 7). And, at the same time, in the big Spinoza book, we see Deleuze present Spinoza's "anti-Cartesian reaction" (Deleuze 1990a, 321). This anti-Cartesian reaction is equivalent to the reversal of Platonism. We can say then that the task of the reversal of Platonism unifies the three books Deleuze published at the end of the Sixties. The thesis of this essay will consist in arguing that ethics we find in Logic of Sensewhich we can call "the ethics of the univocity of being"-completes, in a constructive way, Deleuze's early project of the reversal of Platonism. The ethics centers on the idea of counteractualization. We shall argue that there are four senses of counter-actualization. Here is a summary of the four senses of counter-actualization: (1) beatitude against resentment (against presentist modes of measurement); (2) caring for the sense against neglecting the sense (denouncing any one determinate answer); and (3) the embodiment of plural hopings and rememberings against the embodiment of one hope and one memory (against the character); and (4) "just enough" against "too much" (against suicide). Yet, as we shall see, there is a fifth meaning of counter-actualization, the ultimate meaning. The ultimate sense of counteractualization is universal freedom. This is where my essay will end.
This book explores the future of critique in view of our planetary condition. How are we to inter... more This book explores the future of critique in view of our planetary condition. How are we to intervene in contemporary constellations of finance capitalism, climate change and neoliberalism? To get to the symptoms, the book’s 38 terms ranging from affect and affirmation to world and work provide the reader with a critical toolbox to be continued. Negativity, judgment and opposition as modes of critique have run out of steam. Critique as an attitude and a manner of enquiry has not.
Like everyone here, I am truly honored to be able to participate in the celebration of Edward S. ... more Like everyone here, I am truly honored to be able to participate in the celebration of Edward S. Casey's career. Clearly his philosophical thinking influenced all of us. But perhaps more importantly, his style of living influenced all of our lives, our very manner of being. And with
As the title indicates, this essay discusses power and intensity in Deleuze's Difference and Repe... more As the title indicates, this essay discusses power and intensity in Deleuze's Difference and Repetition. After Foucault, it is a commonplace to say that power is productive. However, we can understand the claim about power being productive only if we understand what Deleuze calls 'power' through the French word 'puissance'. But what is 'power' (in the sense of potency, puissance)? Now, unlike 'power', which appears so centrally in Foucault, 'intensity' is a term that seems to be strictly Deleuzian. Because the term 'intensity' appears countless times in Deleuze's writing, it appears that Deleuze is advocating a life of more and more intensity. However, this impression is clearly mistaken if one takes account of the difference in tone between Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus; it is a difference between reckless abandon and prudence. But I think the tone of prudence in A Thousand Plateaus must mean that Deleuze (or Deleuze and Guattari) is not advocating a more and more intense lifestyle. Therefore, like power, we must ask: what is intensity? Power and intensity are the two central concepts of chapters four and five respectively in Deleuze's 1968 Difference and Repetition. 1 Indeed, it is possible to think that chapters four and five are the most original and therefore the most important chapters in Difference and Repetition. After having criticised the history of philosophy in relation to difference, repetition, and thought (chapters one, two, and three respectively), chapters four and five amount to Deleuze's attempt to do philosophy, to create concepts as he would say in What is Philosophy?, with the two concepts created being power and intensity. But while both the concepts of intensity and power seem theoretical or non-ethical, in chapter five, Deleuze provides us with 'an ethics of intensive quantity', an
Naas outlines two possible paths concerning the "source" of persuasion. On the one hand, there is... more Naas outlines two possible paths concerning the "source" of persuasion. On the one hand, there is the path he took in Turning: From Persuasion to Philosophy, that of analyzing persuasion in texts prior to Plato, and in particular in Homer's Iliad. e other path lies in analyzing the gures of persuasion in the Platonic corpus itself (Naas 1995: 8-9). It is as if Michael had to wait almost twenty-ve years to go down this other path of the Platonic corpus. 2 While Plato and the Invention of Life is not an analysis of persuasion in the Plato, it is an analysis of that corpus, or, more precisely, one speci c dialogue in Plato's corpus, the Stateman.
This article tries to show the irreducible connection between vulnerability and violence. This co... more This article tries to show the irreducible connection between vulnerability and violence. This connection leads us back to the ethical level of experience. If vulnerability makes violence irreducible, then at least two reactions to violence are possible. On the one hand, a reaction is possible in which one attempts to negate vulnerability in order to close down the very thing within us that allows violence to enter. This negative reaction is actually the worst violence. On the other hand, a reaction is possible in which one attempts to affirm vulnerability, even though its affirmation opens us to the violence that will happen. Affirming vulnerability is the least-violent reaction. If the formula for the worst violence is apocalypse without remainder, then the least violence is the maintenance of the remainder. The maintenance would happen only by not possessing the remainders, which places us in a new situation of poverty.
is a reference tool that provides clear and incisive defi nitions and descriptions of all of Mich... more is a reference tool that provides clear and incisive defi nitions and descriptions of all of Michel Foucault's major terms and infl uences, including history, knowledge, language, philosophy, and power. It also includes entries on philosophers about whom Foucault wrote and who infl uenced his thinking, such as Deleuze, Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Canguilhem. The entries are written by scholars of Foucault from a variety of disciplines such as philosophy, gender studies, political science, and history. Together, they shed light on concepts key to Foucault and to ongoing discussions of his work today.
This is the transitional lecture from ancient philosophy to modern. It is one of the most importa... more This is the transitional lecture from ancient philosophy to modern. It is one of the most important lectures in the course.
This is the list of abbreviations and some other materials for my translation of Bergson's course... more This is the list of abbreviations and some other materials for my translation of Bergson's course on freedom. The volume is supposed to be published by Bloomsbury Academic. In this document what is most important is the descriptive table of contents.
The Legacy of Husserl’s “Ursprung der Geometrie”: The Limits of Phenomenology in Merleau-Ponty and Derrida
Contributions to Phenomenology
In this essay, I attempt to clarify an obvious confusion, the confusion between the late philosop... more In this essay, I attempt to clarify an obvious confusion, the confusion between the late philosophy of Merleau-Ponty and the early philosophy ofDerrida. This confusion has become particularly obvious recently with the publication in 1998 of Merleau-Ponty course notes from 1959–60 on Husserl v “Ursprung der Geometrie.” I argue that the confusion between Merleau-Ponty and Derrida is justified, since Merleau-Ponty stresses the role of writing in the institution of ideal objects. More precisely, I think that both see a concept of necessity at work in Husserl, a necessity that leads beyond phenomenology to ontology, and even beyond ontology to ethics.
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