Date: Thu, 03 Dec 1998 19:33:31 -0500
From: Patrick Hayden <phkm-AT-totalnetnh.net>
Subject: Re: Deleuze the empiricist




amd wrote:

> hi Patrick
>
> I will be grateful if you list the table content of your book.
>
> best regards and appreciation
> amdib

*

Here's the table of contents:

Introduction

Chapter 1: Transcendental Empiricism and the Critique of Representation
        - Situating Repetition and Difference
        - Difference and Representation
        - Repetition and Representation
        -Thought Without Image: Transcendental Empiricism

Chapter 2:  Immanence and Multiplicity
        - Bergson
        - Nietzsche
        - Spinoza
        - Philosophy, Constructivism, and Immanence

Chapter 3: Relations and the Radicalization of Empiricism
        - Relations in William James' Radical Empiricism
        - Deleuze on Relations
        - Radical Empiricism and Rhizomatics

Chapter 4: From Naturalism to Ecological Politics
        - Deleuze on Naturalism in the History of Philosophy
        - Deleuze's Geophilosophy: A Radical Naturalism
        - Radical Naturalism and Ecological Politics

Concluding Remarks


Basically, the point of the book is to examine what Deleuze might have
in mind when he claims to be an empiricist, a claim which I found to be
quite striking--almost a deliberate provocation to "postmodern"
sensibilities.  It seemed clear to me that a few concepts are
particularly important for gaining a perspective on D's empiricism,
namely, external relations, immanence, multiplicity, and becoming.
Therefore the core of the book consists of an examination of these
concepts as they operate in D's texts.  While working through the
material on the externality of relations I noticed a strong similarity
(as have others here on the list) between D's position and that of W.
James--a fantastic radical empiricist in his own right--which actually
helped me to deepen my understanding (well, at least in my mind) of how
D could plausibly be characterized as an empiricist; and there is much
more creative work that can be done, I think, in exploring that link.

In addition, the first chapter tries to provide a context or entry into
the question of D and empiricism through a discussion of Difference and
Repetition, and the idea of transcendental empiricism given there.  The
final chapter is perhaps the riskiest.  D's comments on naturalism are
as provocative as those on empiricism and, given the connection I
perceived with James' radical empiricism and its legacy in American
naturalism, I thought it worth extending my reading of D in that
direction.  This also fit in nicely with my own ethical-political
concern with environmental degradation, so I try to give a reading of
D's work that connects it to enviro. ethics/politics.

Well, that's the "sound bite" summary of the book's argument. . . .

P.

(Chris--thanks for the comments.  I spent my first year of grad. studies
at the New School and took a class on modernism and postmodernism with
Bernstein.  Hope it's going well for you)