We Still Do Not Know What a Body Can Do: Rereading Deleuze's Spinozist Ethology Toward a Non-Ontological Interpretation of Transcendental Empiricism

Symposium: Canadian Journal of Continental Philosophy/Revue canadienne de philosophie continentale 25 (2):75-97 (2021)
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Abstract

Throughout much of his career, Deleuze repeats a problem he attributes to Spinoza: “we do not even know what a body can do.” The problem is closely associated with Deleuze’s parallelist reading of Spinoza and what he calls ethology. In this article, I argue that Deleuze takes ethology to be a new model for philosophy which he intends to replace ontology. I ground my claim in Deleuze’s suggestion that Spinoza offers philosophers the means of thinking “with AND rather than thinking for IS...” The argument is developed through Deleuze’s monographs and collaborations on Spinoza and alongside his meta-philosophical critique of the Image of Thought. A travers la plupart de sa carrière, Deleuze répète un problème qu'il attribue à Spinoza : « on ne sait même pas ce que peut le corps. » Le problème est étroitement lié à paralléliste lecture de Spinoza par Deleuze et à ce qu’il appelle éthologie. Dans cet article, je soutiens que Deleuze prend éthologie être un nouveau modèle de philosophie qu’il entend remplacer l’ontologie. Je centre mon contention sur la suggestion de Deleuze que Spinoza propose des philosophes les moyens de « penser avec ET au lieu de penser pour EST… » L’argument est développé à travers les monographies et collaborations de Deleuze sur Spinoza et aux côtés de sa critique méta-philosophique de l’Image de la Pensée.

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original Novak, Kyle (2021) "We Still Do Not Know What a Body Can Do". Symposium: Canadian Journal of Continental Philosophy/Revue canadienne de philosophie continentale 25(2):75-97

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Kyle Novak
University of Guelph

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