Deleuze, The Image of Thought and Virtue Ethics (original) (raw)

Symptoms, Encounters and Interpretation: Deleuze and the beginnings of philosophy

At the beginning of Dialogues, Deleuze insists that "[m]ovement" in philosophy-he avoids any more teleological framing-does not go by way of a return to questions with which we are already familiar, "going back over" them in hopes of generating a new or better answer: "[. . .] getting out never happens like that. Movement always happens behind the thinker's back, or in the moment when he blinks. Getting out is already achieved, or else it never will be." 1 For our purposes, it will be crucial to note right away that this signals a repudiation of the voluntary, self-consciously rational thinking that is usually the hallmark of philosophical activity. 2 And more, it is at least strongly implied that such a repudiation is justified on the grounds that such thinking is ineffective. If movement (or getting out)-and yes, we are returning to a sort of teleology here-is a basic goal philosophy or something valuable in-1 D 1. 2 If we wished, we could cite exemplary instances of this 'voluntariness'-what Deleuze calls the 'good will' of the thinker-in three principle cases: 1) Plato's demand in dialogues like the Meno or the Republic, where philosophy is made to involve deliberate, good faith participation in the collective project of rational inquiry-Thrasymachus' expulsion and Meno's failed education in proper philosophical conduct through the example of his own slave being the most pertinent aspects of each test; 2) Augustine's insistence in On Free Choice of the Will that it is precisely the good will of the thinker that is the most necessary precondition for both reaching the truth and living well; and 3) Kant's insistence on the willful engagement in self-governance via rational inquiry in 'What is Enlightenment?'

The Cambridge Companion to Deleuze

Each volume of this series of companions to major philo s o p h e rs co n tains s p ec iall y co mmis s i o n e d es s a y s b y an international team of scholars, together with a substantial bibliography, and will serve as a reference work for students and non-specialists. One aim of the series is to dispel the intimidation such readers feel when faced with the work of a difficult and challenging thinker.

Introduction to "Deleuze and Ethics"

Deleuze and Ethics, 2011

This introductory chapter discusses the relevance of this volume. It contends that there is a deeply ethico-normative dimension to Deleuzian–Guattarian philosophy but that it has tended to be ignored, overlooked, downplayed, and misunderstood in the literature. This book makes a preliminary contribution to the task of uncovering and elucidating that dimension, not only for the sake of enriching Deleuze–Guattari scholarship, but also in the hope of promoting a more engaged philosophical practice based in, and responding to, Deleuzian–Guattarian ethics.