Immanence and Desire: Deleuze and the Political
Keywords:
Deleuze, Guattari, desire, Spinoza, Nietzsche, democracy
Abstract
Spinoza posed the fundamental problem of politics as a question of desire: Why do humans fight for their servitude as if it were their salvation? Why does desire desire its own repression? Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari take up this question in Anti-Oedipusand attempt to provide a rigorous response. Whereas Plato defined desire in terms if lack (if I desire something, it is because I lack it), Kant effected a revolution in thought by defining desire in terms of production (because I desire something, I produce it). It is this productive concept of desire that allows Deleuze and Guattari to effect a synthesis between Freud (libidinal economy) and Marx (political economy), though as I argue Deleuze and Guattari’s deeper points of reference are Spinoza and Nietzsche. We conclude by analyzing Deleuze and Guattari’s relation to the question of a democratic politics.
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Deleuze, Gilles, and Félix Guattari (2004). “On Capitalism and Desire” (interview). In Desert Islands and Other Texts, ed. Sylvre Lotinger, trans. Michael Taormina, 262-73. Los Angeles, CA: Semiotext(e)
Deleuze, Gilles, and Félix Guattari (1983). Anti-Oedipus [1972]. Trans. Robert Hurley, Mark Seem, Helen R. Lane. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Deleuze, Gilles, and Félix Guattari (1987). A Thousand Plateaus [1980]. Trans. Brian Massumi. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Grisoni, Dominique (1982). “Onomatopoeia of Desire.” In Theoretical Strategies, ed. P. Botsman, 169-82. Sydney: Local Consumption.
Kant, Immanuel (1957). Critique of Judgment [1790]. Trans. James Creed Meredith, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kant, Immanuel (1993). Critique of Practical Reason [1788]. Trans. Lewis White Beck. New York: Macmillan.
Klossowski, Pierre (2017). Living Currency (1970). Trans. Vernon Cisney, Nicolae Morar, Daniel W. Smith. London: Bloomsbury.
Leibniz, Gottfried (1969 [1698]). “Clarification of the Difficulties which Mr. Bayle has Found in the New System of the Union of Soul and Body.” In Philosophical Papers and Letters, 2d ed., ed. Leroy E. Loemker, 492-97. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.
Mengue, Philippe (2003). Deleuze et la question de la démocratie. Paris: Editions L’Harmattan.
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1966). Beyond Good and Evil [1886]. Trans. Walter Kaufmann. New York: Random House.
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1967). Will to Power [1901]. Trans. Walter Kaufmann and R. J. Hollingdale. New York: Random House.
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1968). “Genealogy of Morals.” In Basic Writings of Nietzsche I, 2, ed. and trans. Walter Kaufmann, 499–599. New York: Modern Library.
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1974). The Gay Science [1882]. Trans. Walter Kaufmann. New York: Vintage.
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1997). Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality [1881]. Eds. Maudemarie Clark and Brian Leiter, trans. R. J. Hollingdale. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Parkes, Graham (1996). Composing the Soul: The Reaches of Nietzsche’s Psychology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Patton, Paul (2000). Deleuze and the Political. New York: Routledge.
Patton, Paul (2010). Deleuzian Concepts: Philosophy, Colonization, Politics. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Patton, Paul (2011). “What is Deleuzean Political Philosophy?” In Crítica Contemporánea. Revista de Teoría Politica 1: 115–26.
Patton, Paul (2014). “Deleuze and Democratic Politics.” In Radical Democracy: Politics Between Abundance and Lack, eds. Lars Tønder and Lasse Thomassen, 50-67. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Plato (1925). Symposium. Trans. W. R. M. Lamb. Loeb Classical Library No. 166. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Rossett, Clement (1971). Logique du pire. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Sibertin-Blanc, Guillaume (2016). State and Politics: Deleuze and Guattari on Marx. Trans. Ames Hodges. Los Angeles, CA: Semiotext(e).
Spinoza, Baruch (1996). Ethics [1677]. Trans. Edwin Curley. London: Penguin.
Spinoza, Baruch (1985). “The Emendation of the Intellect” [1677]. In The Collected Works of Spinoza, ed. and trans. Edwin Curley, 3–45. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Spinoza, Baruch (1998). Theological-Political Treatise [1670]. Trans. Samuel Shirley. Indianapolis: Hackett.
Tønder, Lars (2005). Experiences of Tolerance: Immanence, Transcendence, Hilaritas. PhD Dissertation submitted to Johns Hopkins University, USA.
Wilson, Sarah (2006). “Pierre Klossowski: Epiphanies and Secrets.” In Pierre Klossowski, ed. Anthony Spira and Sarah Wilson, 4–17. London: Hatje Cantz.
Published
2019-07-13
How to Cite
Smith, D. W. (2019). Immanence and Desire: Deleuze and the Political. Stasis, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.33280/2310-3817-2019-7-1-124-138
Section
Articles
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