What is philosophy?

271 Pages·1994·4.38 MB·English

by  Gilles Deleuze

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What Is Philosophy?
European Pcrspectivcs
European Perspectives
A Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism
Lawrence D. Kritzman, Editor
European Pe1:';pectives presents outstanding books by
leading European thinkers. With both classic and
contemporary works, the series aims to shape the
major intellectual controversies of our day and to
facilitate the tasks of historical understanding.
A complete series list follows the index.
Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari
What Is Philosophy?
Translated by Hugh Tomlinson and Graham Burchell
Columbia University Press New York
Columbia University Press wishes to express its
appreciation of assistance given by the government
of France through Le Ministere de la Culture in the
preparation of this translation.
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW YORK CHICHESTER, WEST SUSSEX
Qu'est-ce que la philosophie? © 1991 by Les Editions de
Minuit. Translation © 1994 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Deleuze, Gilles.
[Qu'est-ce que la philosophie? English]
What is philosophy? / Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari;
translated by Hugh Tomlinson and Graham Burchell.
p. cm.-(European perspectives)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-07989-1
I. Philosophy. 2. Science. 3. Logic. 4. Aesthetics.
I. Guattari, Felix. II. Title. III. Series.
B243o.D453Q4713 1994
100-dC20 93-40801
CIP
Casebound editions of
Columbia University Press books
are printed on
permanent and durable
acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
c109876S432
p 20 19 18 17
Contents
Translators'Introduction VII
Introduction: The Question Then ... I
Part One Philosophy
I: What Is a Concept? 15
2: The Plane of Immanence 35
3: Conceptual Personae 61
4: Geophilosophy 85
Part Two Philosophy. Science. Logic. and Art
5: Functives and Concepts 117
6: Prospects and Concepts 135
7: Percept, Affect, and Concept 163
Conclusion: From Chaos to the Brain 201
Notes 219
Index 235

Translators' Introduction
For nearly twenty years, the jointly signed works
of Gilles DehlZe and Felix Guattari1 have made
an extraordinary impact. This book, which was
published in France in 1991, was at the top of
the best-seller list for several weeks. But despite
its popular success, What Is philosophy? is not a
primer or a textbook. It more closely resembles a
manifesto produced under the slogan "Philoso
phers of the world, create!" It is a book that
speaks about philosophy, and about philosophies
and philosophers, but it is even more a book that
takes up arms for philosophy. Most of all, per
haps, it is a book of philosophy as a practice of
the creation of concepts."
Felix Guattari died on August 29, 1992, at
the age of sixty-two. The production of this book
1. In order of original publication these are Anti-Oedipus,
trans. Robert Hurley, Mark Seem, and Helm R. Lane (Min
neapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 198:3): Kafka: To
ward a Minor Litemture, trans. Dana Polan (Minneapolis:
University of Milllwsota Press, 1986); A Thousand }JIlltcaUS,
trans. Brian MasslIllli C\linneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press, 1987).
2. For a general disclissioll of this book see Eric Allif'z,
La Signature dll ;vlrmdc: (JU, qU'l'st-ce que la philosophic de Oe
leuze et Guattari? (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1993).
Translators' Introduction Vlll
was therefore the last achievement of a form of experimental "author
ship" that has few precedents in philosophy.3 Deleuze has spoken of
their way of working on a number of occasions: "We do not work
together, we work between the two .... We don't work, we negoti
ate. We were never in the same rhythm, we were always out of
step."4 The interaction with Guattari the non philosopher brought
the philosopher Deleuze to a new stage: from thinking the multiple
to doing the multiple.
This process of "a parallel evolution" is exemplified in the "con
ceptual vitalism" of this book. Deleuze and Guattari are the thinkers
of "lines of flight," of the openings that allow thought to escape
from the constraints that seek to define and enclose creativity. This
conception and practice of philosophy as conceptual creation poses
some special difficulties for the translator, as
some concepts must be indicated by an extraordinary and
sometimes even barbarous or shocking word, whereas others
make do with an ordinary, everyday word that is filled with
harmonics so distant that it risks being imperceptible to a
nonphilosophical ear. Some concepts call for archaisms, and
others for neologisms, shot through with almost crazy etymo
logical exercises.5
In translating such words our first aim has been consistency.
We have sought to use the same English word on each occasion.
Furthermore, we have tried to avoid departure from other recent
translations of Deleuze and Guattari's works. The translation of these
key terms is marked with translators' notes. We have tried to keep
3. Deleuze's own production shows no sign of diminishing after forty years of
writing. His latest work, Critique et Clinique (Paris: Minuit, 1993) was published on
September 8, 1993. He is at present writing a work on "the greatness of Marx."
4. Gilles Deleuze and Claire Parnet, Dialogues, trans. Hugh Tomlinson and Bar
bara Habberjam (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987), p. 17·
5· Ibid., pp. 7-8.
IX Translators' Introduction
such notes to a minimum; they are indicated by an asterisk and
appear at the bottom of the page.
A number of terms used throughout the book present particular
difficulties. There are various English translations of ('hZ/Ire, for ex
ample. These include "figure," "nunwral," "sum total," "initials" or
"monogram," "secret code" or "cipher." None of these capture the
philosophical use of the word in the present work. In most instances,
we have renckred chi!fr£' as "combination" to indicatf' an identifying
numeral (in the sense ofthe combination of a safe or an opus number,
as in music) of a multiplicity, but which is not, howeler, a llumber in
the sen Sf' of a measure.
The word voisinage here has the general sense of "neighborhood"
but also its mathematical Sfnse, as in "neighborhood of a point,"
which in a linear set (for example, thf' points of a straight line) is an
open segment containing this point. Orc!onnet' can have the general
sense of "ordered." Deleuze and Guattari also use the Ilord in the
more technical sense of "ordinatf" (as in thf vertical, or y-coordinatr
of Cartesian geometry) in contrast with "abscissa" (the horizontal or
x-coordinate).
It is difficult to find a singk English equivalent for the word
.l'llrvol. The word derives from sur-voler, "to fly oyrr" or "to skim or
rapidly run one's eyes over something." Hown"er, the present usc
derives from the philosopher Raymond Ruyer." Ruyer Ilses the notion
of an absolute or non dimensional "survol" to describe the relationship
of the "I-unity" to the suhjecti\e sensation of a visual field. This
sensation, he says, tempts us to imagine the "I" as a kind of invisible
center outside, and situated in a supplementary dimen:;ion perpendic
ular to, the "hole of tlw visual 11t>ld that it surn'ys from a distancc.
HO'vvever, this is an error. The imnwdiate survey of the unity of the
visual field made up of many dillermt details takes place within the
dillwnsion of the lisLlal sensatioll itself; it is a kind of "self-cl1joy-
6. III N"o-FiIW/islllt' (Paris: PUF, I 'ISol), "'lwei"ll) chap. !I.