Gilles Deleuze and the Genesis of Real Experience
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Gilles Deleuze and the Genesis of Real Experience Mitchell Harper This thesis is submitted to the School of Humanities and Languages at the University of New South Wales in fulfilment of the requirements of a PhD in Philosophy School of Humanities and Languages Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences June 2018 Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname/Family Name : Harper Given Name/s : Mitchell Eden Abbreviation for degree as give in the University calendar : PhD Faculty : Arts and Social Sciences School : Humanities and Languages Thesis Title : Gilles Deleuze and the Genesis of Real Experience Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE) This thesis investigates Deleuze’s genetic account of real experience in Difference and Repetition (hereafter DR) as a systematic form of metaphysics. While there is broad agreement on the aims of DR as a thesis in metaphysics, there is significant disparity in accounts of how this is accomplished. The overall goal of this thesis is to examine and clarify the processes involved in Deleuze’s metaphysical account of genesis in DR (the three syntheses of time and space, differentiation, individuation, differenciation, and dramatisation), how these processes involve a metaphysics of difference (intensive quantity), how they form a system (the relationship between the virtual, the actual, and the intensive), and how this has been understood in the secondary scholarship. Chapter 1 examines Deleuze’s reading of Kantian critique for two reasons. Firstly, it outlines Kant’s account of the conditioning of possible experience in order to provide a framework from which to understand how Deleuze radically transforms transcendental philosophy. Secondly, it critically examines Deleuze’s reading of Kant’s genetic account of real experience in order to outline its philosophical limitations. Chapter 2 explores Deleuze’s reconstructive reading of Nietzsche’s metaphysics of becoming as a rewrite of Kantian critique in order to show, on the one hand, that a metaphysical account of transcendental genesis necessitates a theory of time that attempts to grasp the perpetual emergence of the absolutely new, and on the other, that it provides a preliminary sketch of Deleuze’s own metaphysical system in DR. Chapter 3 aims to illuminate the three syntheses of time in Chapter 2 of DR by examining both how they form an interdependent unity and how they have been interpreted in the secondary scholarship. Chapter 4 analyses the secondary scholarship on DR and puts forward a novel interpretation of Deleuze’s metaphysics by arguing, on the one hand, that individuation signifies a process of intensive quantity split between differentiation (the virtual) and differenciation (the actual), such that, intensities comprise both the virtual and the actual, and on the other, that this entails a metaphysical (or panpsychist) conception of thought that involves a parallelism between Ideas and sensibility. Declaration relating to disposition of project thesis/dissertation I hereby grant to the University of New South Wales or its agents a non-exclusive licence to archive and to make available (including to members of the public) my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known. 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Publications can be used in their thesis in lieu of a Chapter if: • The candidate contributed greater than 50% of the content in the publication and is the “primary author”, ie. the candidate was responsible primarily for the planning, execution and preparation of the work for publication • The candidate has approval to include the publication in their thesis in lieu of a Chapter from their supervisor and Postgraduate Coordinator. • The publication is not subject to any obligations or contractual agreements with a third party that would constrain its inclusion in the thesis Please indicate whether this thesis contains published material or not: This thesis contains no publications, either published or submitted for publication ý (if this box is checked, you may delete all the material on page 2) Some of the work described in this thesis has been published and it has been documented in the relevant Chapters with acknowledgement ☐ (if this box is checked, you may delete all the material on page 2) This thesis has publications (either published or submitted for publication) ☐ incorporated into it in lieu of a chapter and the details are presented below CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION I declare that: • I have complied with the UNSW Thesis Examination Procedure • where I have used a publication in lieu of a Chapter, the listed publication(s) below meet(s) the requirements to be included in the thesis. Candidate’s Name Signature Date (dd/mm/yy) Mitchell Harper 01/02/2020 Acknowledgements I would like to thank, first and foremost, both my supervisors, Paul Patton and Anne Sauvagnargues, for their assistance and support throughout the duration of this project. Over the years Paul Patton’s guidance has been invaluable, and this project would not have come to fruition without his countless suggestions, countless edits, and all-round patience for the twists and turns this project took. Anne Sauvagnargues’s support has also been most appreciated, and her clear and detailed seminars on Deleuze engendered a number of ideas in this project. Moreover, I was fortunate to receive an Australian Postgraduate Scholarship, and this material necessity made this project possible. Finally, of course, I would like to thank Aniela for her loving support over the last couple of years. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................ III Abbreviations ............................................................................................................... VI Introduction. Gilles Deleuze and the Genesis of Real Experience ............................ 1 Chapter One. Kantian Critique ................................................................................. 13 Section One. Kantian Critique: The Conditioning of Possible Experience ................ 14 1.1. A Critique of Reason ......................................................................................... 14 1.2. Kant and Metaphysics ........................................................................................ 17 1.3. Kant’s Metaphysics of Experience .................................................................... 20 1.3.1. Receptive Sensibility: The Pure Forms of Intuition (Space and Time) ....... 21 1.3.2. Active Understanding: The Categories .......................................................