Deleuzoguattarianism

Deleuzoguattarianism is a post-structuralist philosophy created by  Gilles Deleuze and  Félix Guattari. It attacks the vast majority of traditional philosophy and instead proposes very unconventional ways of viewing things, such as desiring machines.

It is important to note that while this philosophy is based on their collaboration on works such as Capitalism And Schizophrenia, their own personal philosophies will also be considered.

History
Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, one a philosopher and the other a psychoanalyst and political activist, wrote several books together, such as Capitalism And Schizophrenia, What Is Philosophy, and Kafka: Towards A Minor Literature.

Each of them had their own independent careers, each advancing their shared theory of schizoanalysis and also their other philosophical beliefs. Deleuze, besides schizoanalysis, also did work in a theory of difference, Spinozian metaphysics, and anti-humanism. Deleuze's personal works include: Difference And Repetition, Spinoza: Practical Philosophy, Foucault, etc. Guattari, besides schizoanalysis, also did work in post-Marxian political theory, ecology, and semiotics. Guattari's personal works include: Chaosophy, Chaosmosis, Molecular Revolution, etc.

Guattari said that their collaboration was caused in part by the May 68' events in France, with the intellectual energy it produced empowering him and other radical philosophers.

Deleuze and Guattari Prior to Their Collaboration
Deleuze and Guattari had their own individual paths before they met and collaborated. Deleuze started as a teacher at the University of Paris and wrote his first work, Empiricism and Subjectivity, which explored the theories of Hume. Later, he worked at the French National Center for Scientific Research and wrote his personal interpretation of Nietzsche in Nietzsche and Philosophy. During this time, he became friends with Michel Foucault and taught at the University of Lyon. The events of May 68' occurred while he was teaching at the University of Paris VIII, and he defended his dissertations with two works: Difference and Repetition and Expressionism in Philosophy. It was at the University of Paris VIII that he met Guattari.

On the other hand, Guattari's interests in politics and philosophy began when he joined  groups as a teenager. He worked under Jacques Lacan, the famous psychoanalyst, and later went on to work at La Borde, an experimental clinic that greatly influenced his idea of schizoanalysis. He founded The Federation of Groups for Institutional Study & Research, which engaged in anti-colonial struggle and anti-psychiatry, and supported the Italian Autonomists. Guattari was also involved in the May 68' movements, which later influenced him and many others. After this, he met Deleuze, and they began planning their collaboration on Anti-Oedipus.

Collaboration between Deleuze and Guattari
Deleuze and Guattari's collaboration produced three major works, each representing a fundamental aspect of their philosophical project. Capitalism and Schizophrenia, Kafka: Towards a Minor Literature, and What is Philosophy? all explore the foundations of schizoanalysis and other shared concepts. Although the works were expanded individually by Deleuze and Guattari, their ideas were inpterwoven and mutually reinforcing.

Their most famous work, Capitalism and Schizophrenia, launched a scathing critique of traditional psychological practices and its associated dogmas. This work has become synonymous with post-structuralism and post-modernism, emphasizing the nomadology of knowledge and identity. The book is split into two volumes, Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus. Anti-Oedipus serves as the foundational text for schizoanalysis, which critiques classical psychoanalysis and recontextualizes Marx's dialectical materialism into "desiring production." Deleuze and Guattari were influenced by Nietzsche's concept of the will to power in describing desiring production.

A Thousand Plateaus puts into practice the ideas developed in Anti-Oedipus and introduces the concept of the rhizome, which is a network of machines that exist in a non-hierarchical and decentralized manner. There is no beginning or end in a rhizome; instead, connections are made in the middle, and no machine is privileged over the others. Using the basis of schizoanalysis and rhizomatic thinking, Deleuze and Guattari explore a variety of topics, including sexuality, linguistics, and war machines.

Kafka: Towards a Minor Literature came to being out of Deleuze and Guattari's shared distaste towards the current interpretations and analysis of Kafka's literature. In this text, they take issue with various narratives imposed upon Kafka's work, such as the oedipalization of his themes, which places him in mother-father narratives. They also criticize the imposition of theology upon Kafka's work, which they believe overemphasizes this aspect at the expense of his existentialist and anarchist political and personal ideas. They identify this mode of thinking as major literature, which relies on socially constructed narratives and concepts, and extend this categorization to philosophy, critiquing thinkers such as Descartes,  Kant, and  Hegel.

What is Philosophy? describes Deleuze and Guattari's notion of what philosophy is and what separates it from other subjects. Rather than simply defining philosophy as the contemplation of abstract problems, the authors argue that philosophy is the creation of concepts. They illustrate this by examining how philosophers invent new concepts whenever they need them to explain certain phenomena. However, the authors go beyond this simplistic definition to explore the minutiae of how philosophy operates and how it distinguishes itself from science or art. Central to the creation of concepts is what the authors term the plane of immanence. Unlike a concept itself, the plane of immanence is an immanent creator of concepts, devoid of attributes but still capable of generating new ideas. The authors emphasize the immanence of this plane, which means that it exists entirely within something. From this plane, philosophy emerges through the creation of new concepts. Deleuze and Guattari compare this process of concept creation to the work of an artist. The creation of concepts is a creative endeavor in their eyes, and they argue that philosophy and art are both forms of creativity. By exploring the nature of concept creation and the role of the plane of immanence, the authors provide a thought-provoking perspective on what philosophy is and how it operates.

Deleuze and Guattari's collaboration resulted in three works that were instrumental in expanding their schizoanalytic theories. However, their ideas continued to intersect throughout their respective careers, as Deleuze delved deeper into metaphysics in works like Spinoza: Practical Philosophy and Guattari explored Post-Marxist theories in Molecular Revolutions and ecological studies. Their contributions have had a significant impact on modern continental philosophy, particularly on other post-structuralists.

Legacy of Deleuze and Guattari
Both Deleuze and  Guattari were hugely influential to continental philosophy as a whole. They are widely regarded as two of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century, and many of their contemporaries were influenced by their work. For instance, Foucault was influenced by their post-structuralist ideas about the modern condition, which he noted in the introduction to Anti-Oedipus, stating that the 20th century will be remembered as Deleuzian. Despite this, he and Deleuze later disagreed about the relationship between history and thought. Barthes was influenced by their concept of the unconscious in his semiotics theory, particularly in the idea of the metalanguage. Similarly, Agamben drew heavily on Deleuze, Guattari, and Foucault in his political theory, particularly their ideas of flows and biopower. Lyotard, a Post-Marxist, was influenced by their analysis of post-modern society. Negri was also heavily influenced by both Deleuze and Guattari, having interviewed Deleuze and co-writing a book with Guattari. In his own work, he utilizes concepts such as the war machine.

Numerous movements have emerged seeking to apply the ideas of Deleuze and Guattari in various fields, ranging from politics to art. The influence of Deleuzoguattarians can be seen in the works of modern thinkers such as Haraway, Plant, May, Land, and Fisher. Haraway was one of the pioneers in using Deleuze and Guattari's philosophy for political ends. She employed the idea of deterritorialization in her "Cyborg Manifesto," a seminal text of CyberFeminism that drew heavily from Deleuze and Guattari's ideas. Plant is another important figure in CyberFeminism, using Deleuze and Guattari's concepts to underpin her ideology. She founded the CCRU, which would later become a key platform for modern-day accelerationism. However, she eventually left the group, citing the influence of Land and the CCRU's cult-like status, and began to explore surrealist art in the tradition of the Situationists. May was a significant theorist of Post-Anarchism, with his own views heavily influenced by Deleuze and Guattari. While all Post-Anarchist theorists draw from Deleuze and Guattari's ideas to some degree, some, such as Newman and Rousselle, are more influenced by Lacan. Land is the primary theorist of accelerationism, using Deleuze and Guattari's concept of deterritorialization to argue for the acceleration of technocapital. He believed that the technocapital singularity would be the body without organs of technocapital. Fisher, another CCRU theorist, used Deleuze and Guattari's ideas to develop his theory of capitalist realism. He claimed that ideological desire had become territorialized into capitalism and, like Land, theorized on the acceleration of technocapital.

Beliefs
Deleuze and Guattari have perhaps the most complicated and idiosyncratic work since Hegel, so be aware that this will be all very simplified.



Desiring Production
The most important idea of Deleuze and Guattari is their idea of the machine. The machine does not belong to any ontological mode of the subject and object, but is rather an object stratified out of the simple flow of being. These machines are defined by their potential for actualization. Actualization is the process of "production" in these machines, it is the result of the machine. For example, one could analyze the organ of the heart as a machine that produces blood, or an activist group that produces political change. These machines are based on whatever actualization they produce, if a machine produces a different actualization, it is no longer that machine. Deleuze and Guattari thus see machines as stratifications of flow, a concept very dear to Deleuze and Guattari. These machines are used to model the processes of the unconscious, capital, etc.

Territorialization And Deterritorialization
The machine, as was previously mentioned, is a stratification of flow. Deleuze and Guattari have a word for this stratification i.e. territorialization. In the desiring machine, the machine blocks and stratifies the flow of desire, with the actualization being produced by the stratification of this desire into one narrow pathway. This is territorialization, to place these flows into a narrow territory. Deleuze and Guattari commonly use territorialization not just to explain the process of machines, but also that of concepts. Just as Hegel thinks that all concepts are dialectical, Deleuze and Guattari find all concepts to be machinic. Territorialization can be summarized as the association of some object into the context of some territory. Just as something can be placed into a new context, i.e. to territorialize, it can be removed from it just as easily. Detterritorialization is the process of unstratification, to lose labels and contexts. Deleuze and Guattari see that, besides the special case of the body without organs, there is a tendency to reterritorialize. The process of deterritorialization and  reterritorialization is called lines of flight.

The Body Without Organs
The body without organs is the complete and total deterritorialization. It is a body without any territorial commitments, any machinic modes of desire, but rather an object of unstriated being. Deleuze and Guattari give this object two roles, as the basis of desire and as a goal to be reached. Rejecting Lacan, Deleuze and Guattari argue that there is no Freudian oedipus complex, or Lacan's triangle, but that desire at its root is schitzoid, as in free. Desire is free in the sense that it is not defined by any set of rules or by lack, but is an act of free creation. Deleuze and Guattari use someone with schizophrenia to exemplify this, saying that the schizoid transcends territories while constructing their worldviews and desires. Without all of the territorialization we do, we are just like this. The body without organs is also something to be reached. In A Thousand Plateaus, Deleuze and Guattari talk in length about how one can achieve the creative nothing. One does this by deterritorializing and rejecting territory, making oneself a being without allegiance and in the moment, always moving in the sense of flux.

Rhizomes And The War Machine
In their book, A Thousand Plateaus, Deleuze and Guattari introduce the rhizome and the tree, two modes of concept. The tree is the traditional concept, with structuring being hierarchical and unified, while the rhizome is always in the middle, being a horizontal structure. The rhizome is how Deleuze and Guattari view things, always in the middle of something larger. The rhizome is associated with rhizomatic thinking, wich is the basis for the war machine. Rhizomatic thinking is to think in a rhizomatic manner, to think not in higherarchical structurings, but to think spiratically, in a schitzo manner. By doing this, we can escape structuralisms in thought and instead always be in the process. The war machine is a contradictory force against a concept, wich is only defined by an attack, or "war", on this concept. Deleuze and Guattari analyze how this constitutes the modern state as coopting the war machine, in the fact that the war machine is nomadic yet it is coopted into the structuralism of the state. Nomadic is essentially synonymous with rhizomatic, as the nomad is always moving. Deleuze and Guattari call for us to make our thoughts war machines, to reevaluate all things and to construct our own.

Machinic Analysis Of Capital
Machinic Analysis refers to the idea that capitalism is not solely a human system, but a complex assemblage of machines and flows of information. This concept challenges traditional Marxist analyses, which view capitalism as a system of exploitation by the ruling class. Deleuze and Guattari argue that capitalism is an abstract machine that operates on the basis of a continuous flow of capital and information. This machine is composed of various interconnected components, including financial institutions, commodities, and labor. Each of these components functions as a "machine" that performs specific tasks within the larger system.

The goal of Machinic Analysis of Capital is not only to identify the workings of capitalism, but also to challenge its hegemonic power. By revealing the ways in which capitalist power is distributed and maintained, Deleuzeoguattarians aim to develop new strategies for resistance and transformation.

Society of Control
"Society of Control" is a concept coined by Gilles Deleuze in collaboration with sociologist Félix Guattari. It refers to a new form of social control that has replaced the disciplinary society of the 18th and 19th centuries, which was characterized by institutions such as prisons, factories, and schools. The society of control is characterized by the increasing use of computerization, automation, and surveillance, which has led to the erosion of individual freedoms and the emergence of new forms of power. The society of control is not based on physical confinement or punishment, but rather on the modulation and management of behavior and thought through a variety of techniques.

Fascism And Self Repression
A large focus of Deleuze and  Guattari's work Anti-Oedipus is how one comes to desire their own repression rather then the freeing of desire. Many such as Spinoza have addressed this problem previously, with it becoming one of the major problems within political philosophy. In Deleuze and Guattari's time the main object of analysis for this phenomena was Fascism, wich had convinced a wide swath of people to desire their own repression under the nation state. Deleuze and Guattari's focus was primarily on Freud's Oedipal complex and its update by  Lacan. They analyze how individuals in this complex come to desire their own repression in Freud's terms. The nuclear family is the main place where this repression thrives, with Deleuze and Guattari stating that the family is the agent by wich this complex is instilled, it being the main agent of psychological repression. The nuclear family segregates and stratifies the individual into controllable segments, ultimately giving them control. This mechanism is the basis of Deleuze's idea of the control society and Guattari's idea of world capitalism. These mechanisms are machines, they stratify this free desire into categories that make us desire our own repression. enforces its higherarchy, repression, etc onto the individual through this nuclear family, to Deleuze and Guattari the family is the main tool that capitalism uses to instill this psychological and social repression.

Deleuze and Guattari also analyze how this nuclear family, enforced by late Capitalism, leads to the creation of the oedipal complex. Unlike psychoanalysis, Schizoanalysis does not see these complexes as essential but rather created through the social situation one is born into. According to Deleuze and Guattari, the family transmits the angst and repression of the parents onto the child. This is what creates this desiring anti-production. The family does not only instill this oppression in desire, it also disfigures it. This is what leads to the incestual tendencies of the Oedipal complex, which while they believe that Freud overstates this by a wide margin, still is created by the family in its operations. The same can be said for Lacan's extension of the 3+1 oedipal complex into the 4+n complex of desire as lack, which can also be said to be implemented primarily by the family. This critique of these institutions of repression leads Deleuze and Guattari to advocate for a radical freeing of desire by becoming more schizo, more deteritorialized, in our desires. Through this this repression is escaped and the free expression of oneself can occur.

The Statist Co-option Of The War Machine
Deleuze and Guattari's concept of the war machine refers to a social force that operates outside the control of the state and challenges its monopoly on violence. The war machine can be seen as a positive force that disrupts and breaks down hierarchical structures, allowing for new and creative forms of social organization to emerge. However, the state has historically sought to co-opt the war machine and redirect its energy towards its own ends.

In their book "A Thousand Plateaus," Deleuze and Guattari discuss how the state has sought to control the war machine through a process of co-option. According to them, the state takes control of the war machine by absorbing its energy and redirecting it towards its own ends. The state does this by creating a standing army, which is subject to its control and operates according to its dictates. In this way, the state seeks to neutralize the disruptive potential of the war machine and turn it into a tool of domination. Deleuze and Guattari argue that this process of co-option is not limited to the military sphere, but extends to other areas of social life as well. They suggest that the state seeks to control all aspects of society through a range of institutions and techniques of power, including the police, the legal system, and the media. These institutions work together to create a system of social control that regulates and disciplines individuals, limiting their ability to challenge existing power structures.

The state's co-option of the war machine represents a fundamental threat to human freedom and creativity. By absorbing the energy of the war machine and redirecting it towards its own ends, the state stifles the potential for new and innovative forms of social organization to emerge. This process of co-option reinforces existing power structures and limits the possibilities for radical change.

The Freeing of Desire
The Freeing of Desire describes the liberation of individual and collective desire from the constraints of dominant social structures. It draws on the ideas of desire and the unconscious developed by psychoanalysis, but rejects the idea that desire is inherently repressed or in need of sublimation. Instead, Deleuze and Guattari argue that desire is productive and capable of creating new forms of subjectivity and social relations.

In Deleuzoguattarianism, desire is constantly being co-opted and controlled by social institutions, which seek to channel it into pre-established forms of expression and behavior. This is exemplified by the way in which capitalism turns desire into a force for consumption, or how the state channels desire into patriotism and obedience. In contrast, they argue that desire must be freed from these constraints in order to unleash its full creative potential. To achieve this, Deleuze and Guattari propose a range of strategies, including the creation of alternative social spaces and the development of new forms of political resistance. They also emphasize the importance of experimentation and play in freeing desire, as well as the need to embrace difference and diversity as a source of creative energy.

Molecular Revolutions
Molecular revolutions is the process of change that occurs at the level of individual desires and relationships, rather than at the level of the state or larger social structures. This concept is closely related to their idea of "desiring-production," which emphasizes the role of desire in creating and sustaining social relations and structures. The traditional model of revolution, which aims to seize state power and implement a new social order from the top down, is inadequate for creating real change. Instead, they argue that revolution must take place at the molecular level, through the transformation of individual desires and relationships.

Molecular revolutions are characterized by a focus on difference, experimentation, and openness to new possibilities. They often involve the creation of alternative social structures and practices that operate outside of or in opposition to the dominant order. For Deleuze and Guattari, molecular revolutions are not limited to political movements, but can take many forms, including artistic and cultural practices. They argue that any creative activity that challenges the dominant order and opens up new possibilities for desire can contribute to a molecular revolution.

Ethics
Deleuzoguattarianism rejects traditional notions of morality and instead puts emphasis on the importance of experimentation and the creation of new ethical concepts. Deleuze and Guattari reject the idea of fixed moral codes and instead argue for a philosophy of ethics that is based on experimentation, creativity, and the creation of new ethical concepts that are adapted to specific situations and contexts.

Aesthetics
Deleuzoguattarianism rejects traditional notions of aesthetics as something that is static and unchanging, instead emphasizing the importance of creativity and experimentation in art and culture. In the context of aesthetics, art and culture should be understood as rhizomatic, emphasizing the importance of experimentation and the creation of new connections and multiplicities.

Furthermore, Deleuze and Guattari's philosophy stresses the importance of the body and the sensory experience in aesthetics. They argue that the body is not simply a passive receptor of art, but an active participant in the creation and experience of art.

Ecology
Ecology is a major theme in Deleuzoguattarianism, with the philosophy emphasizing the importance of thinking beyond human-centered perspectives and recognizing the agency and interconnectedness of all beings. Deleuze and Guattari reject the idea of nature as something that is separate from humans, arguing instead that nature and culture are intertwined and inseparable. They argue for a new approach to ecology that emphasizes the interconnectedness of all beings and the importance of thinking beyond human-centered perspectives.

Personality
Deleuzoguattarianism is pretty much a delusional schizoid cringing about all major schools of philosophy.

How to Draw

 * 1) draw a ball
 * 2) make the background white
 * 3) draw a few variously colored dots inside the ball
 * 4) draw the eyes and you're done!

Friends

 * [[File:Nietzsche.png]] Nietzscheanism - Nietzsche is one of my greatest influences. The will to power can be interpreted as desiring production, and your thinking is anti-dialectical!
 * [[File:Spinoza.png]] Spinozaism - The first anti-humanist. You were the best of the minor philosophers except perhaps Nietzsche.
 * [[File:Poststruct.png]] Post-Structuralism - While I may have my discord with the deconstruction types, I am still a part of you. Why can you be anti-metaphysics though? Creating concepts is how we innovate and improve.
 * [[File:Postmodern.png]] Post-Modernism - I am largely considered a post-modern philosopher.
 * [[File:Anti-Humanism.png]] - The notion of conflating individuals to this abstract construction of the human is simply ridiculous.
 * [[File:Pragmat.png]] Pragmatism - We have often called schizoanalysis pragmatics.
 * [[File:Accel.png]] - My child, but you can be a bit out there sometimes.
 * [[File:Continental.png]] Continental Philosophy - I am a continental philosopher.
 * [[File:Post-an.png]] - You are extremely based and carry my ideas well, but what is this Lacan bs.
 * [[File:DarkDeleuze.png]] Dark Deleuzoguattarianism - A good elaboration on my politics, but political desire is not naturally communistic.

Frienemies

 * [[File:Stirner.png]] Stirnerism - You simply add nihilism to the dialectic, instead of removing the dialectic entirely. I like your critique of humanism though.
 * [[File:Freud.png]] Freudianism - One of my greatest influences, but we must move beyond you.
 * [[FIle:Karl Marx icon.png]] Marxism - Your critique of capitalism is too basic and you use the dialectic.
 * [[File:HegelianPhilosophy.png]] Hegelianism - You're a philosopher of flux and difference, but it is relative difference rather than absolute difference.
 * [[File:Sartre.png]] Sartrean Existentialism - I don't like how you operate purely from the subject, but Guattari seemed to like you.
 * [[File:Absurdism.png]] Absurdism - I don't like Camus, but the themes of Kafka's literature are paramount to go towards minor literature.
 * [[File:Struct.png]] Structuralism - Your semiotics are so basic! But, you are the climate that lead to me so I can't be too critical.
 * [[File:Žižekism.png]] Žižekianism - Lacanian and Hegelian, but you've been both critical and supportive of me in the past.

Enemies

 * [[File:Kant.png]] Kantianism - The figurehead of major philosophy.
 * [[File:Descarte.png]] Cartesianism - Another major philosopher. You created the cesspool of subject object dichotemy.
 * [[File:Modern.png]] Modernism - Modern society is disciplinary.
 * [[File:Humanism.png]] - Creates an artificial division between the human and the rest of the world.

[[File:Wikipedia.png]] Wikipedia

 * [[File:Wikipedia.png]] Gilles Deleuze [[File:Deleuze.png]]
 * [[File:Wikipedia.png]] Félix Guattari [[File:Guattari.png]]