File spoon-archives/deleuze-guattari.archive/deleuze-guattari_1996/96-10-27.132, message 106


From: Goodchild P <p.goodchild-AT-ucsm.ac.uk>
Subject: Eric Alliez
Date: Mon, 21 Oct 96 11:58:00 BST



Eric Alliez wrote his doctoral thesis under the supervision of Deleuze, and 
the first half of this has now appeared in English under the title Capital 
Times.  It purports to be an 'archaeology' (in the Foucaultian sense) of the 
concept of time in the Western philosophical tradition, and explores the 
layers of accretion of this concept through Aristotle, Plotinus, Augustine, 
and Medieval Scholasticism.   The differing components of the concept will 
be added together to culminate in the Kantian conception of time, explored 
in the second volume, to be published in French shortly.  While there is 
some reference to cultural factors that might be associated with the 
differing conceptions of time, it is mainly a work of the history of 
philosophy - perhaps a little misplaced under the series title 'theory out 
of bounds'.  It is a difficult read - I abandoned it in French, and read the 
new English translation on a flight to Melbourne - but the complexity of 
thought and style is also difficult in English.

Alliez is an extremely insightful and sophisticated thinker - perhaps one of 
the leading representatives of Deleuzean thought - and this account of 
familiar figures has some interesting and original interpretations of their 
work.  But, in spite of the frequent references and footnotes, I found it 
hard to see where Deleuzean thought informed his methodology - indeed, it 
seemed to rely too heavily on Foucault, showing the historical formation of 
this conception of time, but not its contemporary power or interest.  In 
terms of breadth and depth of scholarship, it is a model doctoral thesis 
(putting many English language doctorates to shame) - but it therefore might 
not be of interest to all readers.  Readers without any Latin and Greek 
might find some parts of the book difficult.

The part I found most rewarding was the early chapter on Aristotle's 
chrematistics: where time is associated with exchange, and a 'time off its 
hinges' emerges.  This has been fundamental for my recent work.  The other 
chapters move in differing directions - intensification, subjectivation as 
conceptions of time - but it is the second volume that promises to show the 
links between time and capital most clearly.  I'm eagerly awaiting its 
publication.

Phil


   

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