Buy new:
$32.99
Temporarily out of stock.
Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon as we have more information. Your account will only be charged when we ship the item.
$$32.99 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$32.99
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Delivery cost, delivery date and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon AU
Ships from
Amazon AU
Sold by
Amazon AU
Sold by
Amazon AU
Returns
Eligible for change of mind returns within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for change of mind returns within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition within 30 days of receipt for change of mind. If this item is damaged or defective, you may be entitled to a remedy after 30 days. Visit Returning Faulty Items for more information.
Read our returns policies
Returns
Eligible for change of mind returns within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition within 30 days of receipt for change of mind. If this item is damaged or defective, you may be entitled to a remedy after 30 days. Visit Returning Faulty Items for more information.
Read our returns policies
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
New (9) from
$32.99  FREE Delivery on first order.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer—no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera, scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the authors

Gilles Deleuze
Follow
Felix Guattari
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

What is Philosophy? Paperback – 24 August 1994

by Deleuze (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars 117
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$32.99","priceAmount":32.99,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"32","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"99","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"fHhl2mvpCkMTreDxdt6IIhiAItg4p2S4ujj60F1cZ5uBsNYTfdU5y73SS0IKmnVlzO6cfB4ccIhWws7Jw4j6nB3HUtpM8kxWbNpZJ1up7ACUY74z2JGZ%2FH%2BmmLBnS%2BoIRgjo96yT4s5RPFWTYaa%2F2jXjDOYinWBl","locale":"en-AU","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

This work examines what it means to be a philosopher and attacks the sterility of modern philosophy. Part One explores the nature and scope of philosophy and its relation to social and economic development. Part Two considers other forms of thought: science, art, literature and music.
Previous page
  1. Part of series
    European Perspectives: A Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism
  2. Print length
    1 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Verso Academic
  5. Publication date
    24 August 1994
  6. Dimensions
    15.3 x 1.73 x 23.4 cm
  7. ISBN-10
    0860916863
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0860916864
  9. See all details
Next page

Frequently bought together

What is Philosophy?
$32.99
Temporarily out of stock.
Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon as we have more information. Your account will only be charged when we ship the item.
Ships from and sold by Amazon AU.
+
Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia
$27.96
In stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon AU.
+
Difference and Repetition
$34.61
Only 3 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon AU.
Total Price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Some of these items dispatch sooner than the others.
Show details Hide details
Choose items to buy together.

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start againPage 1 of 1
Previous page
  1. Difference and Repetition
Next page

Product description

Review

A very great book ... one of the rare ones which compel us to se things differently ... it will very soon become a classic. -- Didier Eribon ― Le nouvel observateur

About the Author

Giles Deleuze was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris VIII until his retirement in 1987. Felix Guattari worked for many years at the psychiatric clinic of La Borde, near Paris. He died in 1992.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Verso Academic; 1st edition (24 August 1994)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 1 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0860916863
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0860916864
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.3 x 1.73 x 23.4 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 out of 5 stars 117

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Previous page
  1. Gilles Deleuze

    Gilles Deleuze

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Gilles Deleuze (1925–1995) was professor of philosophy at the University of Paris, Vincennes–St. Denis. He coauthored Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus with Félix Guattari. These works, as well as Cinema 1, Cinema 2, The Fold, Proust and Signs, and others, are published in English by Minnesota.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Felix Guattari

    Felix Guattari

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs, and more

    See more on the author's page
Next page

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
117 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from Australia

There are 0 reviews and 0 ratings from Australia

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Una obra visionaria
Reviewed in Mexico on 1 October 2020
Verified Purchase
Visión panorámica de nuestra época.
Report
Lars Wang
5.0 out of 5 stars Mindstretching
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 April 2019
Verified Purchase
If you ever want to stretch your mind in all directions, this is the book. Remarkable !
Report
TD
5.0 out of 5 stars Deleuze and Guattari
Reviewed in Canada on 4 August 2016
Verified Purchase
A must read for all serious scholars....!
Report
Brian C.
5.0 out of 5 stars Chaos first, order later...
Reviewed in the United States on 6 February 2012
Verified Purchase
I have only read the first section of this book so far (the section on philosophy) so my review will be limited to that section. I will be reading the rest of the book soon (hopefully) and will be adding to my review after I do. Before I get into the discussion of what D&G understand by philosophy I should say a few general words that I think will help in understanding the aim of this book.

Deleuze's ontology is based on a distinction between the virtual and the actual. In the simplest terms possible the virtual is a tendency and the actual are the various actualizations of that tendency. So to take an everyday example, love is a tendency, and its various actualizations include marriage, friendship, etc.. Deleuze's philosophical method is based on tracing tendencies back to the virtual rather than trying to define them in terms of their actualizations. So rather than trying to take all the particular forms of love that exist and trying to "abstract" something common about them all and using that to define the concept of love, Deleuze attempts to get a hold of the tendency which is expressed in all the different actualizations of a tendency which will exceed those actualizations.

It is necessary to understand that general ontology if you want to understand what D&G are up to in this book. They are attempting to determine what philosophy, science, and art are. What is the tendency that they express? Which also means, what can they become? Something like philosophy is not defined purely in terms of its past and present actualizations. Philosophy is creative. But D&G's decision to divide philosophy, science, and art from each other is based on their belief that they all express different tendencies (they can overlap with each other but they are essentially distinct). Similarly, when D&G distinguish philosophy from thought based on Figures (89) they are attempting to distinguish two different tendencies. They believe that philosophy is a distinct tendency which differs in nature from the wisdom traditions of the East. This is not necessarily a value judgment (Greek philosophy is better than Eastern religion; though D&G do favor the immanence of concepts over the transcendence of figures) but is simply an attempt to distinguish two things that are different in nature.

The fact that virtual tendencies are often "covered" by their actualizations means that we often do not divide reality up correctly. We lump some things together that do not belong together. D&G would argue that anyone who lumps Eastern wisdom traditions up with philosophy as it originated in Greece is not dividing reality up properly.

PHILOSOPHY

So what is philosophy for D&G? What defines it as a tendency? Philosophy is, for D&G, the creation of concepts. Philosophers have given various interpretations of their own activity over the years and most philosophers in the history of philosophy would probably take some issue with D&G's definition, but whether they THINK it is what they are doing or not, D&G would argue creating concepts is what philosophers are ACTUALLY doing when they are doing philosophy. D&G wonder, "What would be the value of a philosopher of which one could say, 'He has created no concepts; he has not created his own concepts'?" (6)

Philosophers may think they are discovering the truth, a truth that was already there, but what they are in fact doing is creating concepts which respond to specific problems. Plato invented the concept of the concept, or the Idea, but he then turned it into a transcendent truth which it was merely the duty of philosophers after him to "contemplate". It is a good thing for the history of philosophy that philosophers did not take Plato's advice and instead continued with the process of inventing concepts. Plato's concept of the Idea was actually a response to a specific problem, how to validate specific truth claims within a democratic society, how to tell impostors from the real thing, etc. but it was elevated to a transcendent truth.

The most radical claim that D&G make is that concepts must not be evaluated in terms of their "truth" but in terms of their ability to solve problems and open up new problems and avenues for thought. A concept is evaluated in terms of whether it is interesting, important, etc. and not in terms of whether it is true. This is an extremely radical claim. This means, for example, that when evaluating Plato's concept of Ideas we do not attempt to decide whether it is a true picture of reality or not but whether it solved the problems it was meant to solve, whether it was interesting, whether it opened up new avenues of thought, etc. (and from that standpoint Plato's invention was indeed a success on a monumental scale).

It is also important to realize that the concept does not pre-exist its creation. This is what D&G mean when they say, "The first principle of philosophy is that Universals explain nothing but must themselves be explained" (7). Philosophers have a tendency to project their concepts into the past as having some kind of priority. For example, Edmund Husserl invents the concept of the Transcendental Ego (which took over elements from the cogito of Descartes, the transcendental unity of apperception of Kant, etc.) but attempted to then turn the Transcendental Ego into the foundation of all knowledge. D&G are arguing that this kind of move is an illegitimate move. The Transcendental Ego is not a foundation of experience but was created from experience and other concepts and then projected as a foundation. The Universal (the concept of the Transcendental Ego) does not explain experience but itself has to be explained (i.e. the genesis of the concept has to be explained). D&G attempt to explain the process of concept formation rather than using concepts to explain.

Basically D&G argue that there are three elements to philosophy as the creation of concepts. 1) Concepts, which are always combinations of other concepts. This view is similar, in a way, to Hegel's view since Hegel also derives concepts from the combinations of other concepts (i.e. becoming is a combination of being and nothing, etc.) except that Hegel combines concepts in higher syntheses which sublate the previous concepts so that each new concept is in some sense "higher" than the previous concepts. Each concept becomes more concrete and more real as Hegel progresses in his Logic. D&G also believe that concepts are made from other concepts but there is no process of sublation or moving to a higher level. Everything happens on the same plane.

2) The Plane of Immanence. This is something like the presuppositions that are taken for granted in any philosopher's creation of concepts (something like Heidegger's pre-ontological understanding of Being). They also compare it to what they call the image of thought. There is a certain image of thought that is taken for granted. Concepts are created from out of this plane of immanence but it is not itself a concept. It is something like a necessary presupposition for concept creation but cannot be identified with concepts.

3) Conceptual personae. I am not quite as clear on the why a conceptual persona is necessary for the creation of concepts (if anyone can help enlighten me in that regard please feel free to respond to my review) but D&G seem to think that it is necessary to have some kind of "dramatic actor" for the dramatization of concepts (think of Socrates for Plato, Zarathustra for Nietzsche, etc.).

Before I bring this section to a close (I want to leave some room to discuss art and science after I read the relevant sections) I want to just say that D&G's vision of philosophy is a radically creative one which, I think, is why I like it so much. Philosophy is a process of creation just like art but it works in concepts rather than affects. That means the highest goal for the philosopher is not a mere "reflection" of the truth but is a creation of new, interesting, exciting concepts. It is a radical vision of philosophy and there are aspects I have some questions about (I am not sure if I am entirely willing to throw out "truth" as a normative concept for philosophy, or "reference" as a possibility for philosophical concepts) but it is a very exciting read.
41 people found this helpful
 Report
barryb
5.0 out of 5 stars deleuze's best presentation of his full position
Reviewed in the United States on 28 April 2013
Verified Purchase
Deluze is one of my favorite thinkers and I was already familiar with his work. This volume was supposed to be something that evolved just before his death and represented his comprehensive thought. I found it to be very comprehensive, presented in a logical order, and very accessible .

he doesn't give a vague answer; he tells us exactly what philosophy is; it has three specific steps: the pre-philosophical plane of immanence; the conceptual-persona; and finally, construction of the "constellation-event". He fills each area with substantial content and links the areas together.

one exciting aspect of the presentation is the way he enlists Hegel's concept of "counter-blow". With his theory of an extended plane; he articulates the eventual curves that evolve along this plane, and the "folding-back", that is a built-in function of the concept. These folds align borders that previously were separated. The fold creates retro-active zone-overlaps that modify structure. A great idea. Also, his idea of vertical and horizontal intersections of the plane are discussed towards the end of the book and also address the folding-back aspect (or being driven-back by moments that are outside "territory" or point-of-view. This is a very creative and powerful presentation that I felt offered significant "new" material that I'm glad I did not miss. Of course 5 stars. This presentation is superior to others who share the same motivational plane of immanence.
10 people found this helpful
 Report