Dibben, Colin (1994) Influence and infection : Georges Bataille and the fate of critique. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The thesis argues for the pertinence of the Kantian 'topography' of the mental
faculties and the power of critical thought in assessing the philosophical
importance of Georges Bataille' s writing. Such an argument runs counter to
the received tradition of interpretation of Bataille's work, which has, given
the influence of Derrida, construed these texts as works of phenomenological
philosophy. The thesis shows that Derrida's interpretation must, by virtue
of its exclusivity, be incorrect. Bataille is concerned with the trajectory
of thought - that is with the dynamics or energetics of thought - rather than
with the articulation of the logic of representation, an articulation which
characterises phenomenological thinking. The thesis argues that Bataille's
concern with the energetics of thought represents an extension of Kant's
critical project. This relation is borne out by the new uses to which he puts
the Kantian terminology of continuity, transcendence, subjectivity and
communication. Rather than simply exaggerating the power of critique, which
Kant countenanced as an influence on the mental processes, Bataille dissolves
the critical difference and fuses the status of all thought with its energetic
and thermic trajectory. For Bataille, thought is associated with the free
contagions or infections of thermic communication. Thus Bataille's relation
to Kojeve and Hegel is -only part of a wider move in designating the energetic
nature of critique over and above its restricted and conceptual uses.
Critique does not survive this definition. The thesis shows the nature of the
critical project as it is articulated by Kant in the critiques of pure reason
and judgement and how Bataille's major concepts come to inhabit this terrain
whilst subjecting themselves and it to the dissolution which is the result of
the rational groundlessness of critique. Bataille's treatment of this
topography shows that it can be used to infer the attributes of a philosophy
of intensities and change.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Bataille, Georges, 1897-1962 -- Criticism and interpretation, Thought and thinking, Criticism (Philosophy)
Official Date:	May 1994
Dates:	Date Event May 1994 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Philosophy
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Extent:	iv, 236 p.
Language:	eng

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