Table Of ContentLaurent de Sutter
Translated by Nils F. Schott
Deleuze’s Philosophy of Law
Plateaus – New Directions in Deleuze Studies
‘It’s not a matter of bringing all sorts of things together under a single concept but rather of
relating each concept to variables that explain its mutations.’
Gilles Deleuze, Negotiations
Series Editors
Ian Buchanan, University of Wollongong
Claire Colebrook, Penn State University
Editorial Advisory Board
Keith Ansell Pearson, Ronald Bogue, Constantin V. Boundas, Rosi Braidotti, Eugene Holland,
Gregg Lambert, Dorothea Olkowski, Paul Patton, Daniel Smith, James Williams
Titles available in the series
Christian Kerslake, Immanence and the Vertigo of Philosophy: From Kant to Deleuze
Jean- Clet Martin, Variations: The Philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, translated by Constantin
V. Boundas and Susan Dyrkton
Simone Bignall, Postcolonial Agency: Critique and Constructivism
Miguel de Beistegui, Immanence – Deleuze and Philosophy
Jean- Jacques Lecercle, Badiou and Deleuze Read Literature
Ronald Bogue, Deleuzian Fabulation and the Scars of History
Sean Bowden, The Priority of Events: Deleuze’s Logic of Sense
Craig Lundy, History and Becoming: Deleuze’s Philosophy of Creativity
Aidan Tynan, Deleuze’s Literary Clinic: Criticism and the Politics of Symptoms
Thomas Nail, Returning to Revolution: Deleuze, Guattari and Zapatismo
François Zourabichvili, Deleuze: A Philosophy of the Event with The Vocabulary of Deleuze
edited by Gregg Lambert and Daniel W. Smith, translated by Kieran Aarons
Frida Beckman, Between Desire and Pleasure: A Deleuzian Theory of Sexuality
Nadine Boljkovac, Untimely Affects: Gilles Deleuze and an Ethics of Cinema
Daniela Voss, Conditions of Thought: Deleuze and Transcendental Ideas
Daniel Barber, Deleuze and the Naming of God: Post-Secularism and the Future of Immanence
F. LeRon Shults, Iconoclastic Theology: Gilles Deleuze and the Secretion of Atheism
Janae Sholtz, The Invention of a People: Heidegger and Deleuze on Art and the Political
Marco Altamirano, Time, Technology and Environment: An Essay on the Philosophy of
Nature
Sean McQueen, Deleuze and Baudrillard: From Cyberpunk to Biopunk
Ridvan Askin, Narrative and Becoming
Marc Rölli, Gilles Deleuze’s Transcendental Empiricism: From Tradition to Difference,
translated by Peter Hertz- Ohmes
Guillaume Collett, The Psychoanalysis of Sense: Deleuze and the Lacanian School
Ryan J. Johnson, The Deleuze-Lucretius Encounter
Allan James Thomas, Deleuze, Cinema and the Thought of the World
Cheri Lynne Carr, Deleuze’s Kantian Ethos: Critique as a Way of Life
Alex Tissandier, Affirming Divergence: Deleuze’s Reading of Leibniz
Barbara Glowczewski, Indigenising Anthropology with Guattari and Deleuze
Koichiro Kokubun, The Principles of Deleuzian Philosophy, translated by Wren Nishina
Felice Cimatti, Unbecoming Human: Philosophy of Animality After Deleuze,
translated by Fabio Gironi
Ryan J. Johnson, Deleuze, A Stoic
Jane Newland, Deleuze in Children’s Literature
D. J. S. Cross, Deleuze and the Problem of Affect
Laurent de Sutter, Deleuze’s Philosophy of Law, translated by Nils F. Schott
Forthcoming volumes
Justin Litaker, Deleuze and Guattari’s Political Economy
Nir Kedem, A Deleuzian Critique of Queer Thought: Overcoming Sexuality
Sean Bowden, Expression, Action and Agency in Deleuze: Willing Events
Andrew Jampol- Petzinger, Deleuze, Kierkegaard and the Ethics of Selfhood
Visit the Plateaus website at edinburghuniversitypress.com/series/plat
DELEUZE’S PHILOSOPHY
OF LAW
2
Laurent de Sutter
Translated by Nils F. Schott
Edinburgh University Press is one of the leading university presses in the UK.
We publish academic books and journals in our selected subject areas across the
humanities and social sciences, combining cutting- edge scholarship with high
editorial and production values to produce academic works of lasting importance.
For more information visit our website: edinburghuniversitypress.com
Originally published in France under the title Deleuze. La Pratique du droit
Copyright © Laurent de Sutter, Michalon Éditeur, 2009
www.michalon.fr
English translation © Nils F. Schott, 2022
Cover image: Sharelle Ulrich, 2021 © @sharelleulrich
Cover design: riverdesignbooks.com
Edinburgh University Press Ltd
The Tun – Holyrood Road, 12(2f) Jackson’s Entry, Edinburgh EH8 8PJ
Typeset in 11/13 Sabon LT Std by
Cheshire Typesetting Ltd, Cuddington, Cheshire
printed and bound in Great Britain.
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 4744 0832 5 (hardback)
ISBN 978 1 4744 0833 2 (webready PDF)
ISBN 978 1 4744 0834 9 (epub)
The right of Laurent de Sutter to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and the
Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 (SI No. 2498).
Contents
Note vii
Preface to the English Edition ix
1 Reconstruction, ix— 2 Use, x— 3 System, x—
4 Tradition, xi— 5 Coherence, xii — 6 Language, xiii
Acknowledgements xv
List of Abbreviations xvii
Introduction 1
1 Philosophy, 1— 2 Law, 2— 3 Problem, 2—
4 Alternative, 3— 5 Literalness, 4— 6 Betrayal, 5
I Critique 7
1 Thesis I, 7 — 2 Taxonomy, 8 — 3 Plato, 9
— 4 Socrates, 9 — 5 Kant I, 10 — 6 Kant II, 11 — 7 Freud,
12 — 8 Sade I, 13 — 9 Sade II, 14 — 10 Ost, 15 — 11 Sacher-
Masoch I, 16 — 12 Sacher- Masoch II, 17 — 13 Lacan,
18 — 14 Kant III, 19 — 15 Irony I, 20 — 16 Irony II,
21 — 17 Humour I, 21 — 18 Humour II, 22 — 19 Satire,
23 — 20 Kafka I, 24 — 21 Kafka II, 25 — 22 Kafka III,
26 — 23 Kafka IV, 27 — 24 Kafka V, 27 — 25 Cacciari,
28 — 26 Bartleby I, 29 — 27 Bartleby II, 30 — 28 Bartleby
III, 31 — 29 Agamben, 32 — 30 Zourabichvili, 33
— 31 Exfoliation, invagination, 34 — 32 Critique I,
35 — 33 Critique II, 36 — 34 The Law, 37 — 35 Daddy–
Mommy, 38 — 36 Young girls, 39
II Clinic 43
1 Thesis II, 43— 2 Discipline, 44— 3 Control,
44— 4 Crisis, 45— 5 Clinic, 46— 6 Axiomatics, 47—
7 Code, 48— 8 Problem, 49— 9 Legalism, 49
v
deleuze’s philosophy of law
— 10 Intervention, 50 — 11 Diagram, 51
— 12 Naturalism I, 52 — 13 Naturalism II, 53 —
14 Subvention, 54 — 15 Tarde, 55 — 16 Composition,
55 — 17 Consensualism, 56 — 18 Convention,
57 — 19 Property, 58 — 20 Institutionalism, 59 —
21 Invention, 60 — 22 Legislation, 61 — 23 Practice,
61 — 24 Logos, 63 — 25 Nomos, 64 — 26 Schmitt,
65 — 27 Law, 65 — 28 Topic, 66 — 29 Association, 67
— 30 Case I, 68 — 31 Case II, 69 — 32 Jurisprudence,
70 — 33 Principles, 70 — 34 Leibniz, 71 — 35 Rome,
72 — 36 Existence, 73
Conclusion 77
1 Personae, 77 — 2 Judgement, 78 — 3 Errors, 78
— 4 Continuations, 79 — 5 Politics, 80 —
6 Deception, 81
Appendices 83
1 The Young Girls in Deleuze’s Philosophy of Law 83
1 Precursor, 83 — 2 Surface, 84 — 3 Interiority,
85 — 4 Perturbation, 85 — 5 Disturbance, 86
— 6 Tekhnē, 87 — 7 Obscenity, 88 — 8 Phantasm
I, 89 — 9 Phantasm II, 90 — 10 Viewer, 91 —
11 Image, 92 — 12 Outside, 93 — 13 Philosophy,
93 — 14 Pornology, 94 — 15 Theorems, 95
2 On Some Interpretations of Deleuze’s Philosophy
of Law 97
1 Habit, 97 — 2 Boundas I, 97 — 3 Boundas II, 98
— 4 Politics, 99 — 5 Lefebvre I, 100 — 6 Lefebvre
II, 101 — 7 Mussawir I, 101 — 8 Mussawir II, 102
Bibliography 105
vi
Note
This book contains a complete exposition of Gilles Deleuze’s
philosophy of law. Since, as will become apparent, this
philosophy is characterised by its great autonomy from the
axioms of Deleuze’s system in general, the present volume
does not offer an introduction to Deleuze’s system. For inter-
ested readers, the bibliography lists works that offer such an
introduction.
vii
