Abstract

In Difference and Repetition, Deleuze explores the manner by means of which concepts are implicated in the problematic Idea by using a mathematics problem as an example, the elements of which are the differentials of the differential calculus. What I would like to offer in the present paper is a historical account of the mathematical problematic that Deleuze deploys in his philosophy, and an introduction to the role played by this problematic in the development of his philosophy of difference. One of the points of departure that I will take from the history of mathematics is the theme of ‘power series’ (Deleuze 1994, 114), which will involve a detailed elaboration of the mechanism by means of which power series operate in the differential calculus deployed by Deleuze in Difference and Repetition. Deleuze actually constructs an alternative history of mathematics that establishes a historical continuity between the differential point of view of the infinitesimal calculus and modern theories of the differential calculus. It is in relation to this differential point of view that Deleuze determines a differential logic which he deploys, in the form of a logic of different/ciation, in the development of his project of constructing a philosophy of difference.