Heidegger and Deleuze: the Groundwork of Evental Ontology James Scott Ahohb
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Spring 5-6-2016 Heidegger and Deleuze: The Groundwork of Evental Ontology James Scott ahohB Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Bahoh, J. (2016). Heidegger and Deleuze: The Groundwork of Evental Ontology (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1520 This One-year Embargo is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. HEIDEGGER AND DELEUZE: THE GROUNDWORK OF EVENTAL ONTOLOGY A Dissertation Submitted to the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By James Scott Bahoh May 2016 Copyright by James Scott Bahoh 2016 HEIDEGGER AND DELEUZE: THE GROUNDWORK OF EVENTAL ONTOLOGY By James Scott Bahoh Approved April 6, 2016 ________________________________ ________________________________ Dr. Daniel Selcer Dr. Fred Evans Associate Professor of Philosophy Professor of Philosophy (Committee Chair) (Committee Member) ________________________________ Dr. Andrew Mitchell Associate Professor of Philosophy (External Committee Member: Emory University) ________________________________ ________________________________ Dr. James Swindal Dr. Ronald Polansky Dean, McAnulty College and Graduate Chair, Department of Philosophy School of Liberal Arts Professor of Philosophy Professor of Philosophy iii ABSTRACT HEIDEGGER AND DELEUZE: THE GROUNDWORK OF EVENTAL ONTOLOGY By James Scott Bahoh May 2016 Dissertation supervised by Professor Daniel Selcer This dissertation examines the concept of event, as found in the ontologies developed by Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) and Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995). The texts I focus on are Heidegger’s Sein und Zeit (1927), “Vom Wesen des Grundes” (1928), “Vom Wesen der Wahrheit” (lecture 1930, print 1943), Beiträge zur Philosopie (vom Ereignis) (written 1936-38, but not published until 1989), and Deleuze’s Différence et répétition (1968). My focus is on the way each philosopher advances an account of the event in relation to a set of key fundamental themes. For Heidegger, these are truth, difference, ground, and time-space. For Deleuze I also discuss ground and time, but focus especially on difference. Deleuze’s account of difference entails a distinction between a “virtual” register of dialectical Ideas and an “actual” register of systems of simulacra, and clarifying his concept of event in relation to these plays a dominant role in my analysis. Deleuze’s account of dialectical Ideas is profoundly influenced by that of the iv early twentieth century mathematician and philosopher, Albert Lautman (1908-1944). Lautman, in turn, developed his account through an engagement with Heidegger’s early work. In Chapter V, I reconstruct the Heideggerian line of influence on Deleuze via Lautman. Beginning in the mid-1930s Heidegger understands being to be evental in nature, while difference constitutes an essential dimension of the event, though the latter point is often neglected in the scholarship. Truth, ground, and time-space articulate the structure and dynamics of being as event. For Deleuze, being is difference, but difference differentiates by way of events. Ground, time, systems of simulacra, and dialectical Ideas articulate the structure of being’s evental differentiation and the genesis of worlds of beings possessing quasi-stable identities modulated by their complex relations. v DEDICATION For my grandmother, Kay, whose intellect, humor, and elegance continually inspire me. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... vi Frequently Cited Works ................................................................................................................. xi Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Thematic Focus ........................................................................................................................... 1 Textual Focus .............................................................................................................................. 3 Statement of Basic Programmatic Consonance in Heidegger and Deleuze ................................ 4 Statement of Comparative Methodology .................................................................................... 7 Note on the Term “Event” ........................................................................................................... 8 Introduction to Heidegger’s Concept of Event ......................................................................... 10 Introduction to Deleuze’s Concept of Event: ............................................................................ 13 Overview of Major Literature ................................................................................................... 16 Statement of Scholarly Contributions ....................................................................................... 18 Part 1: Heidegger’s Evental Ontology .......................................................................................... 20 Chapter I........................................................................................................................................ 21 Chapter Overview ......................................................................................................................... 21 1: Methodological Concerns: The Structure of the Movement of Heidegger’s Ontology and Its Impact on Interpretive Approaches to his Corpus (Generally) and the Concept of Event (Specifically) ................................................................................................................................. 22 1.1: Syngenic and Diagenic Axes ............................................................................................. 25 1.2: Heidegger’s Productive Logic: An Analysis of the Complex Evolution of His Ontology 27 1.3: Diagenic Analysis .............................................................................................................. 37 1.4: The Place of Beiträge in Heidegger’s Corpus.................................................................... 45 2: An Outline of the Two Key Senses of “Event” for Heidegger ................................................. 50 2.1: The “Historical” Sense of “Event” ..................................................................................... 50 2.2: The “Ontological” Sense of “Event”.................................................................................. 54 2.3: A Note on Radical Critique ................................................................................................ 58 vii 2.4: A Note on the Methodological and Ontological Relation of the Historical and Ontological Senses of the Event ................................................................................................................... 60 3: Critical Review of Two Dominant Interpretations of Ereignis ................................................ 62 3.1: The Position that Ereignis is the Mutual Appropriation of Human Existence to Being and Being to Human Existence (Sheehan and Meillassoux) ........................................................... 63 3.2: The Position that Ereignis is Being itself as Anwesen, Ἀλήθεια, Φύσις, or the Giving of What is Given (Capobianco and Polt) ....................................................................................... 69 4: The Groundwork of Sein und Zeit ............................................................................................ 75 4.1: Dasein as the Condition for the Possibility of Doing Ontology......................................... 77 4.1.1: The Seinsfrage, Existentially Situated ......................................................................... 86 4.2: The Ontological Groundwork of the Problematic of the History of Metaphysics ............. 88 4.2.1: The Historical Character of Dasein’s Existence .......................................................... 90 4.2.2: The Problematic of History in Fundamental Ontology ............................................... 95 4.2.3: An Outline of the Historical Failure Regarding the Question of Being ...................... 98 4.2.4: Statement of Methodological Continuity between the Historical and Ontological Problematics of Event .......................................................................................................... 102 Chapter II .................................................................................................................................... 104 Chapter Overview ....................................................................................................................... 104 1: Dasein and the Precursory Question of Truth ......................................................................... 104 1.1: Truth and Dasein in Sein und Zeit ...................................................................................