Deleuze's becoming-subject : difference and the human individual

PDF WRAP_THESIS_Stagoll_1998.pdf - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (16MB)

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

This study argues that a theory of the distinctively human Individual lies latent within Deleuze's
readings of Hume and Bergson and his two major metaphysical treatises. This evolving theory
derives from efforts to re-think the concept of 'the subject' In terms of 'difference', 'becoming',
'repetition' and 'event'. Using critical exegesis, the study shows that Deleuze's model is precise
and workable, capable of supplanting discredited accounts of the subject and nullifying charges
that Deleuze is an 'anti-humanist'.
Deleuze's subject is neither pre-existent nor stable, but always in the process of becoming-other,
Individuated by Inherent differences. Chapter 1 argues that Deleuze's account (and
several theoretical resources) can be traced to an early engagement with empiricism, where he
uses Humean atomism to define a field of difference 'within which' associationist psychological
tendencies define the subject as a 'fiction'. As Chapter 2 shows, weaknesses in this model lead
Deleuze to Bergson. Having adopted Bergsonlan Intuition as his method, Deleuze seeks after
the preconditions of the flow and temporality of consciousness. He determines that the
subjects constitutive moment is the virtual point of intersection between the physicality of
material objects and the 'inner life' of consciousness.
Chapter 3 turns to questions of ontology and ethics, arguing that Deleuze's theory of internal
difference accounts for the role of contingent circumstances In subject-formation whilst his
theory of the event establishes each lived moment as unique. Deleuze Interprets Nietzsche's
eternal return as an ontological device entailing the recurrence of difference in the lived time of
the subject's 'becoming', and as the means for coherence between the moments of a life. This
theory leads Deleuze to an 'ethics of the event' with the goal of transforming human thinking
from a concentration on unity and identity towards a more creative and fulfilling life of
becoming.

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item