Deleuze and Philosophy
Deleuze was always a friend of wisdom, although he cultivated a strange and dangerous wisdom, forever the outsider, the lodger, the uncanny guest at the courthouse of reason who dared disturb the peace and derange the proceedings. He was chameleon, Corinthian and caricature all rolled into a multiplicity, an irrational number, an abstract machine.
Keith Ansell Pearson
Over a period of thirty years, Gilles Deleuze (19251995) has had a profound influence on the direction of philosophical and social thought. His presence is felt in contemporary debates in feminism, political theory and continental philosophy where he has challenged and overturned many theoretical dogmas. His work marked a significant turn toward the poststructuralist movement as a whole and its influence increases as it unfolds.
The essays presented in Deleuze and Philosophy explore both the classical and radical aspects of Deleuzes work. Essays on Kant and Spinoza reflect on Deleuzes earlier work on the history of philosophy; there is exploration of his highly influential notion of minor literature; the implications of his writing for philosophys relation to biology and machinic thinking is explored with a view to the future of philosophy. The final two essays consider Deleuzian notions of art and wildstyle.
The contributors assembled here approach Deleuze from a wide range of perspectives and in so doing complement Deleuzes own work, which defies assimilation into tidy categories. Working both inside Deleuzes thought and looking at it critically from without, Deleuze and Philosophy is an invaluable addition to contemporary philosophical and social thought.
Contributors: Keith Ansell Pearson, Diane Beddoes, Aurelia Armstrong, Tim Clark, Daniel W.Conway, Iain Hamilton Grant, Judy Purdom, Deepak Narang Sawhney, Howard Caygill, Robert OToole, Alistair Welchman, James Williams, Robin Mackay.
Keith Ansell Pearson is Senior Lecturer and Director of Graduate Research in Philosophy at the University of Warwick. He is the author and editor of a number of books on Nietzsche.
Warwick Studies in European Philosophy
Edited by Andrew Benjamin Professor of Philosophy, University of Warwick
This series presents the best and most original work being done within the European philosophical tradition. The books included in the series seek not merely to reflect what is taking place within European philosophy, rather they will contribute to the growth and development of that plural tradition. Work written in the English language as well as translations into English are to be included, engaging the tradition at all levelswhether by introductions that show the contemporary philosophical force of certain works, or in collections that explore an important thinker or topic, as well as in significant contributions that call for their own critical evaluation.
Deleuze and Philosophy
The Difference Engineer
Edited by Keith Ansell Pearson
First published 1997
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002.
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
1997 Keith Ansell Pearson; individual chapters their authors Keith Ansell Pearson hereby asserts his moral right to be identified as the editor.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Deleuze and philosophy: the difference engineer/edited by Keith Ansell Pearson.
p. cm. (Warwick studies in European philosophy) Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-415-14269-5. ISBN 0-415-14270-9 (pbk.)
1. Deleuze, Gilles. I. Ansell-Pearson, Keith, 1960 II. Series.
B2430.D454D45 1997
194dc20 9636570
C I P
ISBN 0-415-14269-5 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-14270-9 (pbk)
ISBN 0-203-00236-9 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-20357-7 (Glassbook Format)
For Catherine D. and Greg A., two beautiful ones
Contributors
Keith Ansell Pearson is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Warwick, where he is also Director of Graduate Research and Programme Director of the Centre for Research in Philosophy and Literature. He has authored and edited several books on Nietzsche. His latest book, Viroid Life: Perspectives on Nietzsche and the Transhuman Condition, is also being published by Routledge in 1997.
Aurelia Armstrong is a doctoral student of the Department of General Philosophy at the University of Sydney, carrying out research on Deleuzes interpretation of Spinoza.
Diane Beddoes recently completed a Ph.D. thesis on Kant and Deleuze in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. She is the author of Mapping V, in K.R.Jones (ed.) Mapping Woman (University of Warwick, Centre for Research in Philosophy and Literature, 1994).
Howard Caygill is Professor of Historical and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths College London. He is the author of The Art of Judgement (Blackwell, 1989) and A Kant Dictionary (Blackwell, 1995). His book Walter Benjamin: The Colour of Experience will be published by Routledge in 1997.
Tim Clark recently completed a Ph.D. thesis on Deleuze and Whitehead in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Warwick.
Daniel W.Conway is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Ethics and Value Inquiry at Pennsylvania State University. He has published widely on topics in continental philosophy and political theory. His book Nietzsche and the Political (1996) is published by Routledge.
Iain Hamilton Grant wrote his Ph.D. thesis on Kant and Lyotard in the Department of Philosophy, at the University of Warwick, and teaches at the University of the West of England. He is the translator into English of Lyotards Libidinal Economy and Baudrillards Symbolic Exchange and Death.
Robin Mackay is a postgraduate student in Continental Philosophy at the University of Warwick, and editor of the journal *** collapse.
Robert OToole is a graduate of the Universities of Warwick and Sussex, trained in philosophy, cognitive science and artificial life. He is a member of the University of Warwick Institute of Education and contributor to the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit.
Judy Purdom is working on a Ph.D. thesis on Deleuze and the Visual Arts in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Warwick.
Deepak Narang Sawhney completed a Ph.D. thesis on Deleuze and Guattaris reading of Marx and complexity theory in economics in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Warwick, and is currently editing a book on the Marquis de Sade entitled Must We Burn Sade?, to be published by Humanities Press in 1997.
Alistair Welchman completed his Ph.D. thesis on negative and positive modes of Critique in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. He is the author of several published essays, including The Logogram, published in