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Three Difference, repetition

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Gilles Deleuze
This chapter is in the book Gilles Deleuze
THREEDifference, repetitionMelissa McMahonIntroductionDeleuze's notions of difference and repetition are developed within aproject that has both a negative and a positive component. The nega-tive or "critical" aspect is the argument that philosophy, in its veryconception, has laboured under a "transcendental illusion", whichsystematically subordinates the concepts of difference and repetition tothat of identity, mostly within what Deleuze calls the "regime of repre-sentation". The illusion is "transcendental" (the term comes from Kant)in so far as it is not simply an historical accident that can be correctedwith the right information, but forms a necessary and inevitable part ofthe operation of thought, and thus requires a perpetual work of critique.Part of Deleuze's project consists in diagnosing this illusion, and show-ing how it falsifies the "true" movement of thought. In this movement,difference and repetition, in and for themselves, would be appreciatedas the ultimate elements and agents of a thought "of the future": not ahistorical future, but the future as the essential object of a vital andliberated philosophy, implicit even in philosophies of the past.The positive component of Deleuze's project can already be glimpsedhere, if only by default. We find a more direct expression in Deleuze'sessay on Bergson's concept of difference, where the stakes of a philoso-phy of difference are firmly tied to a definite vision of the true goal ofphilosophy: "If philosophy is to have a positive and direct relation withthings, it is only to the extent that it claims to grasp the thing itself inwhat it is, in its difference from all that is not it" (DI: 32). It is the goalof precision that Deleuze assigns to philosophy here: that of grasping42
© Editorial matter and selection, Charles J. Stivale; individual contributions, the contributors

THREEDifference, repetitionMelissa McMahonIntroductionDeleuze's notions of difference and repetition are developed within aproject that has both a negative and a positive component. The nega-tive or "critical" aspect is the argument that philosophy, in its veryconception, has laboured under a "transcendental illusion", whichsystematically subordinates the concepts of difference and repetition tothat of identity, mostly within what Deleuze calls the "regime of repre-sentation". The illusion is "transcendental" (the term comes from Kant)in so far as it is not simply an historical accident that can be correctedwith the right information, but forms a necessary and inevitable part ofthe operation of thought, and thus requires a perpetual work of critique.Part of Deleuze's project consists in diagnosing this illusion, and show-ing how it falsifies the "true" movement of thought. In this movement,difference and repetition, in and for themselves, would be appreciatedas the ultimate elements and agents of a thought "of the future": not ahistorical future, but the future as the essential object of a vital andliberated philosophy, implicit even in philosophies of the past.The positive component of Deleuze's project can already be glimpsedhere, if only by default. We find a more direct expression in Deleuze'sessay on Bergson's concept of difference, where the stakes of a philoso-phy of difference are firmly tied to a definite vision of the true goal ofphilosophy: "If philosophy is to have a positive and direct relation withthings, it is only to the extent that it claims to grasp the thing itself inwhat it is, in its difference from all that is not it" (DI: 32). It is the goalof precision that Deleuze assigns to philosophy here: that of grasping42
© Editorial matter and selection, Charles J. Stivale; individual contributions, the contributors

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Contributors vii
  4. Acknowledgements x
  5. Abbreviations xi
  6. Introduction: Gilles Deleuze, a life in friendship 1
  7. Philosophies
  8. Force 19
  9. Expression 31
  10. Difference, repetition 42
  11. Desire 53
  12. Encounters
  13. Sense, series 65
  14. Assemblage 77
  15. Micropolitics 88
  16. Becoming-woman 98
  17. The Minor 110
  18. Style, stutter 121
  19. Logic of sensation 131
  20. Cinema movement-image-recognition-timee 141
  21. Folds
  22. From affection to soul 159
  23. Folds and folding 170
  24. Critical, clinical 182
  25. Chronology 194
  26. References 196
  27. Index 206
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9780773584884-007

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Contributors vii
  4. Acknowledgements x
  5. Abbreviations xi
  6. Introduction: Gilles Deleuze, a life in friendship 1
  7. Philosophies
  8. Force 19
  9. Expression 31
  10. Difference, repetition 42
  11. Desire 53
  12. Encounters
  13. Sense, series 65
  14. Assemblage 77
  15. Micropolitics 88
  16. Becoming-woman 98
  17. The Minor 110
  18. Style, stutter 121
  19. Logic of sensation 131
  20. Cinema movement-image-recognition-timee 141
  21. Folds
  22. From affection to soul 159
  23. Folds and folding 170
  24. Critical, clinical 182
  25. Chronology 194
  26. References 196
  27. Index 206
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