Gilles Deleuze facts for kids

Gilles Deleuze (/dəˈluːz/ DƏ-looz, French: [ʒil dəløz]; 18 January 1925 – 4 November 1995) was an important French philosopher. He wrote many books from the 1950s until his death in 1995. His writings covered philosophy, literature, film, and fine art.

His most famous books are Anti-Oedipus (1972) and A Thousand Plateaus (1980). These two books are part of a series called Capitalism and Schizophrenia. He wrote them with a psychoanalyst named Félix Guattari. Many experts also consider his book Difference and Repetition (1968) to be his most important work.

Deleuze spent a lot of time studying other philosophers. These included Spinoza, Hume, Kant, and Nietzsche. Some thinkers believe Deleuze is one of the "greatest philosophers" of his time. He once called himself a "pure metaphysician". His ideas have influenced many areas, like art, literary theory, post-structuralism, and postmodernism.

Life of Gilles Deleuze

Early Years and Education

Gilles Deleuze was born in Paris, France, on January 18, 1925. He lived in Paris for most of his life. His father, Louis, was an engineer, and his mother was Odette Camaüer.

He went to school during World War II. He attended the Lycée Carnot and later the Lycée Henri IV. During the war, his older brother, Georges, was arrested for being part of the French Resistance. Georges died while being moved to a concentration camp.

In 1944, Deleuze began studying at the Sorbonne. He learned from famous teachers who specialized in the history of philosophy. These teachers included Georges Canguilhem and Jean Hyppolite. They greatly influenced Deleuze's interest in important modern philosophers.

Academic Career and Writings

Deleuze became a philosophy teacher in 1948. He taught at different high schools until 1957. Then, he started working at the University of Paris.

In 1953, he published his first book, Empiricism and Subjectivity. This book was about the philosopher David Hume. From 1960 to 1964, he worked at the National Center for Scientific Research. During this time, he wrote Nietzsche and Philosophy (1962). He also became friends with Michel Foucault.

From 1964 to 1969, he was a professor at the University of Lyon. In 1968, he completed his two main university theses. These were later published as Difference and Repetition and Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza.

In 1969, Deleuze joined the University of Paris VIII. This was a new, experimental school. Michel Foucault suggested hiring Deleuze there. He taught at Paris VIII until he retired in 1987.

Personal Life and Views

Deleuze believed in ideas similar to Transcendentalism, which sees "nature as god." He also liked the idea of Monism, which suggests everything is connected. He thought that pluralism (many different things) could also be a form of monism (one underlying reality).

He was very interested in the philosopher Spinoza. Deleuze called Spinoza the "prince" of philosophers. He married Denise Paul "Fanny" Grandjouan in 1956, and they had two children.

Deleuze preferred a private life. He once said that academics' lives are "seldom interesting." He believed that true journeys happen inside a person, measured by their feelings. He expressed these ideas indirectly in his writings.

Later Life and Death

Deleuze had breathing problems from a young age. He developed tuberculosis in 1968 and had a lung removed. His breathing issues became worse over time. In his last years, even simple tasks like writing were very difficult for him.

Before he died, Deleuze planned to write a book called The Greatness of Marx. He also left behind parts of an unfinished project. He passed away on November 4, 1995.

Deleuze's Philosophy

Deleuze's writings can be split into two main types. First, he wrote books that explained the ideas of other philosophers and artists. These included Spinoza, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, and Foucault. He also wrote about artists like Marcel Proust and Franz Kafka.

Second, he wrote his own philosophical books. These books explored big ideas like difference, events, and desire. Many people see these two types of works as connected. This is because of his unique writing style and how his books are structured.

Understanding Metaphysics

Deleuze's main philosophical goal was to change how we think about identity and difference. Traditionally, people thought that things first had an identity. Then, differences came from those identities. For example, "X is different from Y" assumes X and Y are already distinct things.

Deleuze argued the opposite. He said that all identities come from differences. He believed that no two things are ever exactly the same. Even the categories we use to identify things come from differences. He said that difference goes "all the way down."

He believed that to truly understand reality, we must see things as they are. Concepts of identity, like forms or categories, do not capture what he called "difference in itself." He said that philosophy should try to understand a thing in its "internal difference." This means seeing how it is different from everything else.

Deleuze also thought that our usual ideas of space and time are ways our minds organize things. He concluded that pure difference exists beyond space and time. He called this "the virtual." This "virtual" is real but not actual. It is ideal but not abstract. It creates the conditions for our actual experiences.

Because of these ideas, Deleuze sometimes called his philosophy "transcendental empiricism." This means that experience goes beyond our usual ideas. New experiences can force us to think in new ways.

Deleuze also believed that "being is univocal." This idea comes from the medieval philosopher Duns Scotus. Scotus argued that when we say "God is good," the goodness is the same kind of goodness as when we say "Jane is good." Deleuze adapted this. He said that being itself is difference. Everything that exists is a part of an always-changing process. He summarized this idea as "pluralism = monism."

His book Difference and Repetition (1968) explains these ideas in detail. Other works also explore similar concepts. For example, in Anti-Oedipus (1972), reality is seen as a "body without organs."

How We Learn and Think

Deleuze's unique ideas about reality led to new ways of thinking about epistemology. Epistemology is the study of how we know things. He believed that traditional ways of thinking, like those from Aristotle or René Descartes, misunderstood how thinking works.

These older ideas suggested that finding truth was mostly straightforward. You might need to think hard, but your mind could correctly grasp facts. Deleuze disagreed. He said that real thinking is a powerful meeting with reality. It breaks apart our old ways of thinking. Truth changes what we believe is possible.

He argued that we should not assume our minds naturally recognize truth. Instead, we should aim for "thought without image." This kind of thought is always shaped by problems, not just solving them. He said, "Underneath all reason lies delirium."

In The Logic of Sense (1969), Deleuze explored these ideas through language. He looked at Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. He noted that when words about fixed things disappear, identities also disappear.

Deleuze believed that reading other philosophers is not about finding one correct meaning. Instead, it's about seeing how they tried to understand reality's difficult nature. He said that the history of philosophy should reveal what a philosopher took for granted, what they didn't say directly.

He also defined philosophy as the creation of concepts. For Deleuze, concepts are not just ideas. They are like tools that help us understand a range of thinking. He thought philosophy was more like creating art or building something. It is not just describing a world that already exists.

In his later work, Deleuze separated art, philosophy, and science. He saw them as three different ways of understanding reality.

• Philosophy creates concepts.
• Art creates new feelings and sensations (he called these "percepts" and "affects").
• Science creates theories based on fixed points, like the speed of light.

Deleuze believed none of these is more important than the others. They are all creative ways to organize the changing nature of reality. Instead of asking "is it true?" or "what is it?", Deleuze suggested asking "what does it do?" or "how does it work?"

Ethics and Society

In his ideas about ethics and politics, Deleuze was inspired by Spinoza and Nietzsche. Traditional ideas often start with individuals who have rights or duties. Deleuze, however, questioned the idea of a fixed individual. He saw individuals and their moral rules as products of desires and powers.

In Capitalism and Schizophrenia, Deleuze and Guattari described history. They saw it as a process where "desiring-production" (a mix of Freudian drives and Marxist labor) becomes organized. This organization creates the modern individual, the nation-state, and capitalism. Deleuze believed capitalism destroyed old social structures, which he saw as good. But he criticized how capitalism makes everything about market value.

Deleuze also wrote about "societies of control." He built on Michel Foucault's idea of "societies of discipline." Discipline societies used enclosed places like schools and factories. Control societies, however, use technology to track people everywhere. This includes transaction records and mobile location tracking.

Deleuze believed that living well means fully expressing one's power. It means reaching your full potential. He thought modern society still stops people from being truly different. To accept reality, which is always changing, we must challenge old identities. This allows us to become all that we can be. For Deleuze, the highest form of practice is creativity. He said, "Herein, perhaps, lies the secret: to bring into existence and not to judge."

Documentaries

• L'Abécédaire de Gilles Deleuze, with Claire Parnet, produced by Pierre-André Boutang. Éditions Montparnasse.

Audio (lectures)

• Deleuze, Gilles: Spinoza: Immortalité et éternité [double CD]. (Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 2001)
• Deleuze, Gilles: Spinoza: The Velocities of Thought: Lecture 1, 2 December 1980. (Purdue University Research Repository, 2017)
• Deleuze, Gilles: Spinoza: The Velocities of Thought: Lecture 2, 9 December 1980. (Purdue University Research Repository, 2017)
• Deleuze, Gilles: Spinoza: The Velocities of Thought: Lecture 3, 16 December 1980. (Purdue University Research Repository, 2017)
• Deleuze, Gilles: Spinoza: The Velocities of Thought: Lecture 4, 6 January 1981. (Purdue University Research Repository, 2017)
• Deleuze, Gilles: Spinoza: The Velocities of Thought: Lecture 5, 13 January 1981. (Purdue University Research Repository, 2017)
• Deleuze, Gilles: Spinoza: The Velocities of Thought: Lecture 6, 20 January 1981. (Purdue University Research Repository, 2017)
• Deleuze, Gilles: Spinoza: The Velocities of Thought: Lecture 7, 27 January 1981. (Purdue University Research Repository, 2017)
• Deleuze, Gilles: Spinoza: The Velocities of Thought: Lecture 8, 3 February 1981. (Purdue University Research Repository, 2017)
• Deleuze, Gilles: Spinoza: The Velocities of Thought: Lecture 9, 10 February 1981. (Purdue University Research Repository, 2017)
• Deleuze, Gilles: Spinoza: The Velocities of Thought: Lecture 10, 17 February 1981. (Purdue University Research Repository, 2017)
• Deleuze, Gilles: Spinoza: The Velocities of Thought: Lecture 11, 10 March 1981. (Purdue University Research Repository, 2017)
• Deleuze, Gilles: Spinoza: The Velocities of Thought: Lecture 12, 17 March 1981. (Purdue University Research Repository, 2017)
• Deleuze, Gilles: Spinoza: The Velocities of Thought: Lecture 13, 24 March 1981. (Purdue University Research Repository, 2017)
• Deleuze, Gilles: Spinoza: The Velocities of Thought: Lecture 14, 31 March 1981. (Purdue University Research Repository, 2017) . «Spinoza: The Velocities of Thought» («Spinoza: Des vitesses de la pensée») was a 14-lecture seminar given by Deleuze at the University of Paris 8 from December 1980 to March 1981. Deleuze had previously published two books on Spinoza, including Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza (Spinoza et le problème de l'expression, 1968), and Spinoza: Practical Philosophy (Spinoza: Philosophie pratique, 1970, 2nd ed. 1981). The majority of these lectures were given the same year as the publication of the second edition of the latter title.

See also

In Spanish: Gilles Deleuze para niños