The Deleuze Connections [Paperback]

John Rajchman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2000

This book is a map of the work of Gilles Deleuze--the man Michel Foucault would call the "only real philosophical intelligence in France." It is not only for professional philosophers, but for those engaged in what Deleuze called the "nonphilosophical understanding of philosophy" in other domains, such as the arts, architecture, design, urbanism, new technologies, and politics. For Deleuze's philosophy is meant to go off in many directions at once, opening up zones of unforeseen connections between disciplines.Rajchman isolates the logic at the heart of Deleuze's philosophy and the "image of thought" that it supposes. He then works out its implications for social and cultural thought, as well as for art and design--for how to do critical theory today. In this way he clarifies the aims and assumptions of a philosophy that looks constantly to invent new ways to affirm the "free differences" and the "complex repetitions" in the histories and spaces in which we find ourselves. He looks at the particular realism and empiricism that this affirmation implies and how they might be used to diagnose new forces confronting us today. In the process, he explores the many connections that Deleuze himself constructs in working out his philosophy, with the arts, political movements, even the neurosciences and artificial intelligence.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Anyone who thinks Deleuze is difficult should read this extraordinarybook. With language as clear as it is concise, Rajchman shows howDeleuze—the self-styled most naïve of philosophers—has alsobeen the most revolutionary in his reinvention of the twentiethcentury's image of thought with respect to logic, ethics, and art. Forthose new to Deleuze, this is the first book they should read. And forthose who already follow the path of philosophy, Rajchman has shown usthat it is not the past century that is Deleuzian, but the one we arebeginning." D. N. Rodowick, Chair in Film Studies, King's College, London,and author of Gilles Deleuze's Time Machine

About the Author

John Rajchman is Visiting Professor of Art History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at Columbia University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 175 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (October 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 026268120X
• ISBN-13: 978-0262681209
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #770,738 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Necessary Reading for Understanding Deleuze, March 12, 2001

By 

Duane Larson (Southern California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Deleuze Connections (Paperback)

Before reading this articulate and concise book that covers the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, I had only a rather vague conception of the central ideas inherent in the work of Deleuze. Although I thought I understood many of the implicit ideas communicated in works such as 'Anti-Oedipus', 'What is Philosophy?', and 'A Thousand Plateaus', I still acknowledged my mental discomfort that seemed only to increase exponentially after each successive book I read in the corpus of Deleuze. That is, Deleuze's thought is not as tractable as most philosophers, whose works are easily comprehended and accessible once compared to the tradition of thinkers whose intellectual footsteps they have followed. Deleuze is in no way traditional, save for his unremitting reflection on the past ideas of philosophers. Thus, acquiring an insight of Deleuze's methodology is necessary for a genuinely inquiring philosopher, for his method is not readily apparent, and moreover often seems impenetrable. 'The Deleuze Connections' provides a lucid and comprehensive analysis of Deleuze's fairly idiosyncratic method. The highlight of Rajchman's exposition is the chapter entitled 'Multiplicity', in which he delicately unveils the rather unconventional logic that Deleuze often applies when theorizing. As a PhD candidate in Philosophy, I found Rajchman's 'The Deleuze Connections' to be absolutely essential for understanding the often cited, yet scarcely explained philosophy of Gilles Deleuze.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Awkward Introduction, July 14, 2001

By 

Eliphas Levi "eliphas" (Baton Rouge, LA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Deleuze Connections (Paperback)

When writing a critical introduction to a philosopher's work--especially work that advances a system of thought that avoids systemization and courts confusion--one is faced with a choice: either one attempts to court the admiration of one's colleagues by being anti- or non-reductive in her account, pitching the introduction to the initiated and actively avoiding what is looked upon as unfaithful simplification, or one shuffs-off the "reductionist" charge and writes an introduction that is meant for the truly uninitiated. Rajchman's book attempts to avoid this choice, and consequently, the book is a muddled: At times clear "connections" are made between Deleuze's thought and common standards of clarity, but more often than not the book presumes a knowledge of philosophical ideas that even a philosophy student (such as myself) finds difficult. Rajchman assumes the reader is familar with Frege, Turing, and Russell. He assumes a passing knowledge of Quine (in particular *The Ways of Paradox*, although this is never expressed), and more than a passing knowledge of cinema studies. While elegantly organized, Rajchman's book too often courts the admiration of philosophers at the expense of the non-philosopher; flights of clarity are enjoyed only to come to a screeching halt with some obscure reference to the art of Man Ray. Finally, although Deleuze's "experimentalism" and "pragmatism" has much in common with the views of Richard Rorty, Rajchman too easily dismisses Rorty as "mired" in rhetoric. Had he a better grasp of the history of rhetoric, sentences like the following would not be necessary: "One might then say there is a sense in which the image of thought, and of what thought is called on to combat, is prior to "argument" in a philosophy, such that one might analyze styles of argument in relation to the orientations they receive trhough such images" (guess what Rorty does?!). Overall, a quick read of how Rachman makes sense of Deleuze, but not necessarily one that will make sense to you.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars another piece of the puzzle, January 5, 2003

By 

Budd Boetticher "buddboetticher" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Deleuze Connections (Paperback)

It's true that this book is missing the kind of rich examples that make Deleuze such a pleasure to read, but Rajchman is doing something else here. Unlike those who carefully police "what deleuze means," and pounce on "mis-interpretations" of his work, Rajchman opens up Deleuze rather than closing him off. This is a little book--to be read over a week on the subway--that expands our idea of what Deleuze can mean, rather than attempting to nail down what he DOES mean. I would respectfully disagree with the reader who suggests Massumi's book as an intro instead. BM's best work--and it's truly lovely--is his brief intro to "1000 Plateaus." His "Users Guide" is, alas, a mess. It falls into the same trap that the (formerly light-hearted) Delanda seems to have ensnared himself in. Why can't we take Deleuze as lightly as Deleuze took himself? Delanda used to drive the getaway car for Joe Coleman; what happened?