This paper aims to clarify the program of Deleuze’s work on Hume’s philosophy. Also, I plan to make clear the operational meaning of Deleuze’s own hallmark regarding his approaches to philosophy. I start to follow Deleuze’s plot by engendering three functions of his interpretation of Hume’s Treatise that will be the area of three thematic chapters. The first tries to sort the polemical function of empiricism that is launched through Deleuze’s Hume; the second attempts to figure the domain of subjectivity (...) as the inventive function of the book; the third searches the creative function by describing the role of the institutional theory. (shrink)

In a calculation involving imaginary numbers, we begin with real numbers that represent concrete measures and we end up with numbers that are equally real, but in the course of the operation we find ourselves walking “as if on a bridge that stands on no piles”. How is that possible? How does that work? And what is involved in the as-if stance that this metaphor introduces so beautifully? These are questions that bother Törless deeply. And that Törless is bothered by (...) such questions is a central question for any reader of Törless. Here I offer my interpretation, along with a reconstruction of the philosophical intuition that lies behind it all. (shrink)

There was a wide range of in memoriam and homages published in the years following Deleuze's suicide. However, none of them succeeded in grasping ‘the evential’ aspect of his death. This paper identifies a series of errors in the literature on Deleuze's death. It also suggests a way to overcome them by considering a singular encounter between Alice's passage through the looking glass and Deleuze's defenestration, which both took place on 4 November. We will show how a new conception of (...) death as event comes out of this unseen connection. (shrink)

In his essay on Herman Melville, Gilles Deleuze writes about an affirmation of the world as process and as archipelago. What does this mode of affirmation mean not only for the philosophy of Deleuze, but also for us all who live in this world today? This is the principal issue which I try to take up in my paper. Already in his text on David Hume, the young Deleuze was obliged to confront the problematics of the becoming-system of collection, which (...) would accompany him throughout his life. This essay discusses the ways in which Deleuze's central concepts including ‘transcendental empiricism', ‘difference/repetition', ‘schizophrenia’, ‘chaosmos', ‘thousand plateaus', ‘and’ and ‘line of flight’ are interconnected within his notion of archipelagic system. (shrink)

This paper aims to clear two regular misunderstandings when comparing the thoughts of Gilles Deleuze and Martin Heidegger: firstly, the alleged opposition between Heideggerian negativity and Deleuzian positivity; secondly, the assumed contrariety between Deleuzian immanence and Heideggerian transcendence. In this fashion, the proposal is not so much to point at coincidences as to underline the fact that the differences are not where they are usually sought. The method used consists in taking Deleuze’s mentions to Heidegger in Difference and Repetition as (...) a common thread for tracking the Deleuzian use of Heideggerian concepts. We will attempt to show that both aspects of the Deleuzian transcendental field, the virtual and the intensive, hold a certain “negativity” and “concealment”, respectively, which runs against the picture of Deleuze as a philosopher of thorough and unconcealed manifestation. We will likewise argue that Heideggerian transcendence is not necessarily opposed to Deleuzian immanence, and that the Heideggerian concepts of Zwiefalt and Selbe are used by Deleuze in order to think of immanence. We contend that the distinction between the negative and the problematic allows Deleuze to speak of being even while accepting ontological difference. (shrink)

An important part of David Hume’s work is his attempt to put the natural sciences on a firmer foundation by introducing the scientific method into the study of human nature. This investigation resulted in a novel understanding of the mind, which in turn informed Hume’s critical evaluation of the scope and limits of the scientific method as such. However, while these latter reflections continue to influence today’s philosophy of science, his theory of mind is nowadays mainly of interest in terms (...) of philosophical scholarship. This paper aims to show that, even though Hume’s recognition in the cognitive sciences has so far been limited, there is an opportunity to reevaluate his work in the context of more recent scientific developments. In particular, it is argued that we can gain a better understanding of his overall philosophy by tracing the ongoing establishment of the enactive approach. In return, this novel interpretation of Hume’s ‘science of man’ is used as the basis for a consideration of the current and future status of the cognitive sciences. (shrink)

La siguiente propuesta de lectura es, en muchos sentidos, el resultado del encuentro con la obra de Norberto Bobbio. Este pensador italiano se dedicó a estudiar a los clásicos de la filosofía política y, entre ellos, especialmente a Thomas Hobbes, y fue. mostrando, de un modo cada vez más convincente, la presencia de la obra de: Hobbes en el desarrollo de la filosofía política moderna, hasta el punto de considerarla: como el gran modelo que reemplaza ala tradición aristotélica. Su tesis (...) es muy clara: ese modelo está formado por un con- junto de conceptos en cuya estructuración predomina la racionalidad; en ese modelo existe un doble y compatible camino intelectual: el de la fundamentación racional del Estado y el de la fundamentación de un Estado racional. Estas fórmulas han tenido mucho éxito en el campo de la historiografía, pero creemos que pueden modificarse sustantivamente si se muestra que el peso fundamental del pensamiento político de Hobbes recae no sólo en la razón sino también, y antes que nada, en la imaginación. Es precisamente el sentido básico de ese descubrimiento el que nos ha llevado, distanciados de Bobbio, a proponer el presente estudio. (shrink)

re s u m o O pre s e nte artigo se inic ia com uma cláusula interna à filosof ia de l e u z e a na, a de que todo pens a me nto pode ser carc t e r i z a do pelo grau de ima n ê nc ia que o me s mo realiza. O pens a me nto de Hu me, como “e m p i r i s mo superior”, segundo ex (...) p ressão de Deleuze, pro mo v e r ia a ima n ê nc ia, ou seja, ele não se re nde r ia a ne n hum tra ns c e nde nt e. Ao me s mo tempo, como s u p e r i o r, se trata de um empirismo que não se pre nde ao ime d ia - t a me nte da do, como suporia um “e m p i r i s mo ing ê nuo”. Por isso, o empirismo seria um p e ns a me nto da ima n ê nc ia que apre s e nta certa alçada tra ns c e ndental, permitindo a Deleuze falar em “e m p i r i s mo tra ns c e nde nt a l ”. A complexa fórmula filosófica re s u m ida nessa ex p ressão de l e u z e a na será por nós, aqui, tratada sob o ponto de vista Hume, de mo do que o ceticismo humeano será tomado como um operador de imanência que of e - rece ao empirismo sua dimensão transcendental. Tal tra t a mento será levado a cabo em duas etapas, quais sejam: a) ceticismo e pro b l e ma da disjunção inclusiva na int e ra ç ã o das fa c u l da des ; b) ceticismo e tra ns c e ndent a l ida de dos juízos empíric o s. palavras-chave Ceticismo; Empirismo; Hume; Deleuze; Transcendental; Imanência. (shrink)

David Hume; Enactivism; Cognitive Science; Phenomenology; Philosophy of mind.

Este artigo procura desenvolver o âmbito da assim chamada ontopolítica como contribuição original do pensamento do G. Deleuze para a filosofia política contemporânea. Com este objetivo, veremos que Deleuze toma o conceito de poder em Foucault e lhe confere alçada ontológica. Este conceito de poder dá acesso a outro elemento importante da filosofia política deleuzeana, ou seja, o estudo dos diagramas históricos do poder nas denominadas sociedades disciplinar e de controle. Com o diagrama de funcionamento das mesmas podemos entender qual (...) o retrato deleuzeano para a democracia em sociedades contemporâneas. Adentrando a ontopolítica deleuzeana, nos dedicaremos aos conceitos de maioria, minoria e devir-minoritário. É neste ponto que se faz o encontro da ontopolítica de Deleuze com a ontologia matemática de Ch. Sanders Peirce. Acontece que os conceitos ontopolíticos de Deleuze, além de sua vinculação com uma ontologia do poder, recebem também um tratamento matemático, tendo em vista certas noções aritméticas (contável e não contável) e geométricas (linhas). As maiorias e minorias são conjuntos contáveis que são atravessados por devires não contáveis. Com isso, chegaremos ao ponto central do presente artigo, onde realizamos uma incursão inicial à imagem dos conceitos de maioria e minoria em Deleuze, com base na teoria das coleções e multidões de C. S. Peirce, principalmente com relação à ontologia matemática nela incluída. Quanto a isso, a principal operação será mostrar de que forma a distinção deleuzeana entre maiorias/minorias contáveis e devir-minoritário não contável pode ser escandida em termos de coleções discretas denominadas enumeráveis, denumeráveis e abnumeráveis ou pós-numeráveis, de acordo com a terminologia de Peirce. (shrink)

This article is an analysis of a collection of articles published by Gilles Deleuze in 1953 under the direction of Georges Canguilhem. This collection, which has been little read and commented upon, sheds light on the intellectual trajectory of its author by underlining the theoretical hesitations that were his. I show that Deleuze then outlined an ambitious “psycho-sociological” project that he never fully realized. To do this, I reconstitute the psychological and ethological subtext of the book by following his sources; (...) I thus bring to light real theoretical positions often unnoticed in his work (in particular with respect to Henri Bergson, Jakob von Uexküll, and gestaltpsychology). I then argue that the difficulties linked to the theory of perception lead Deleuze to turn away from this project in order to devote himself to more specifically ontological problems. However, I suggest that these difficulties persist throughout Deleuze's works, where notions such as “sign” and “semiotics” both cover and avoid specifically perceptual problems. (shrink)

La monnaie symbolise la valeur, le souverain, ou le Peuple, bref la Totalité. Mais quelle fonction a cette symbolisation? Au plus strict, la fonction symbolique de la monnaie c’est de quantifier. Or la quantification est déjà épaisse de nombreux problèmes philosophiques. Alors, le propos tentera ici de montrer une problématisation foucaldienne de la fonction symbolique de la monnaie, en termes de pouvoir-savoir. Car la considération de la fonction symbolique de la monnaie ouvre, au niveau théorique, le problème de l’articulation de (...) la valeur (intensive) à sa manifestation (extensive), et au niveau épistémologique, un problème d’objectivation de l’objectivation, un problème réflexif de valeur de vérité des jugements de valeurs (bulle spéculative). (shrink)

Eternal return is the paradox that accounts for the interplay between difference and repetition, a dynamic at the heart of Deleuze's philosophy, and Blanchot's approach to this paradox, even and especially through what it elides, further illuminates it. Deleuze draws on Blanchot's characterisations of difference, forgetting, and the unlivable to depict the ‘sense’ produced via eternal return, which, for Blanchot, is where repetition implicates or ‘carries’ pure difference. However, for Deleuze, difference and the unlivable are also developed by the living (...) repetition or ‘contraction’ of habit, which results in his distinctive characterization of ‘force’, ‘levity’, and sense in eternal return. (shrink)

resumo: O texto visa valorizar aspectos promissores do encontro filosófico entre Gilles Deleuze e Gilbert Simondon em torno da recriação do problema da individuação e da ênfase na problemática das disparações intensivas. abstract: The text aims to enrich promising aspects of the philosophical encounter between Gilles Deleuze and Gilbert Simondon around the recreation of the individuation problem and the emphasis in the intensive disparitions problematic.

This paper examines the role of performance in law and music as a structural means of their self-programming construction. Music and law are considered as parallel social practices or performative doings. The paper begins with a critical analysis of the special aesthetical features of present-day juridical practice as exemplified by legal trial and legal expertise. Drawing upon reflections on the modern discourse on aesthetics and art, the article then examines in greater detail the specific traits of performance in law and (...) jazz music. Performative processes move from representation to presentation, from a preoccupation with rules and controlling to induced self-programming. Both law and jazz regard the unknown future as a resource for present decisions by “inventing” new possibilities; both require, expand and promote a responsibility that does not follow from statutes nor can be expressed in a code of ethics. Finally, the article addresses the performance situation in jazz. Jazz being polyphonic and improvisational by nature, improvisation makes explicit tradition by staging the context dependency of its performance. It is mediated by the knowledge, the operational history and the communication of the participants. Jazz is an exercise in the possibilities of an “aesthetics of imperfection” which can open up new ways of seeing law and politics. (shrink)

Este artículo propone una explicación e interpretación del contenido y estructura de Différence et répétition de Gilles Deleuze. La obra expone un sistema de filosofía contemporánea cuyo objetivo es determinar las condiciones de la experiencia real. El sistema se compone de varias partes: crítica de la forma y contenido del concepto filosófico; métodos filosóficos; estesiología trascendental; dialéctica de las Ideas; estética de las intensidades. Esta interpretación muestra el recorrido y función de la razón suficiente en varios descubrimientos: el método como (...) procedimiento de determinación filosófica, la afectividad diferencial, las nociones no-categoriales, la función de los imperativos ontológicos, la triple figura de la determinación, la determinación individuante, la apertura a la ética de las cantidades intensivas. Esta manera de interpretar la obra incorpora la filosofía de Deleuze a preocupaciones ontológicas, gnoseológicas, éticas, estéticas, de la filosofía tradicional. Además, puede ser útil para dar un sentido al conjunto de su obra posterior. (shrink)

A ‘way out’ expresses a movement which looks completely different depending on whether one views it prospectively or retrospectively: in the first instance, it signifies ‘to emerge from’, which suggests a relationship of continuity; in the second it signifies ‘to breach a threshold’, a distancing, that is to say, a rupture. Which of these two meanings should we ascribe to the expression ‘Foucault’s way out of Hegel’ – that of a connection, which emerges when we look behind us, or that (...) of a disjunction, which appears when we look ahead? That of a line of descent, which obliges us to contend with a legacy, or that of rejection, thus a refusal to accept it? This is the very question that we want to confront. (shrink)

Deleuze's ethics constitutes the core of his philosophy, which proposes a post-humanistic but robust nomadic vision of the subject that respects the complexity of our times while avoiding the pitfalls of postmodern and other forms of relativism. Deleuze's neo-Spinozist ethics rests on an active relational ontology that looks for the ways in which otherness prompts, mobilises and allows for flows of affirmation of values and forces which are not yet sustained by the current conditions. Insofar as the conditions need to (...) be brought about or actualised by collective efforts to induce qualitative transformations in our interactions, it requires the praxis of affirmative ethics. The process of becoming-minor, which necessarily involves becoming-woman, is central to this pragmatic ethical project that includes human as well as non-human actors. This paper addresses this ethics in terms of ontological relationality, affectivity and endurance. (shrink)

Cet article consiste en une analyse critique de la notion de sympathie dansles deuxièmes et troisièmes tomes du *Traité de la Nature Humaine* de DavidHume. Il s’agit plus particulièrement de l’étude du passage de la sympathierestreinte à la sympathie étendue comme concept clé dans la philosophiepolitique de Hume. La lecture deleuzienne de Hume, telle qu’elle se donnedans *Empirisme et Subjectivité* est particulièrement mobilisée pour montreren quoi ce passage est représentatif des difficultés d’une philosophiepolitique qui, se voulant demeurer *empiriste*, doit passer (...) par une théoriede la croyance et des fictions. C’est-à-dire que l’effort théorique de Hume,consistant à ne pas sortir du donné, doit donner droit de cité àl’imaginaire dans ce donné. La philosophie politique de Hume est ainsicomprise comme une des premières de l’histoire de la philosophie à ne pasinvoquer la raison comme gestionnaire du passionnel. Au contraire, ellefonde l’institution politique sur une *extension* du mode même decirculation des passions : une extension de la sympathie. La sympathie estdonc à comprendre non seulement comme le mécanisme d’échange des passions, àla fois interne au sujet et intersubjectif, mais comme principed’universalisation de la croyance en un vivre-ensemble. L’institutionpolitique est donc une fiction, qui doit être l’objet de croyance pour êtreeffective, et ainsi recevoir l’investissement affectif de la multitude de lamême manière que s’il s’agissait d’une sympathie de proximité naturelle. Lesmoyens d’une extension de la sympathie communément restreinte àl’environnement immédiat, vers l’institution politique représentantl’intérêt commun, constituent ainsi la trame de l’étude. (shrink)