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1046Differentiation and Distinction: On the Problem of Individuation from Scotus to DeleuzeDeleuze and Guatarri Studies 12 (3): 353-373. 2018.In this paper I present an interpretation of Deleuze's concept of the virtual. I argue that this concept is best understood in relation to the problematic of individuation or differentiation, which Deleuze inherits from Duns Scotus. After analysing Scotus' critique of Aristotelian or hylomorphic approaches to the problem of individuation, I turn to Deleuze's account of differentiation and his interpretation of the calculus in chapter 4 of Difference and Repetition. The paper seeks thereby to exp…Read more
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245Overdetermination, Complication, Beatitude: Althusser's Physics of Social ModesDécalages 2 (2). 2016.In this paper I consider Althusser's concept of 'overdetermination' as a variation on the theme of a Spinozist physics of modes that attempts to incorporate the Marxist problematic of social antagonism.
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73Modal Essence and Power in Deleuze’s SpinozaDeleuze and Guattari Studies 16 (2): 262-276. 2021.In this article I critically assess Deleuze’s interpretation of Spinoza’s metaphysics of modes. I argue that the conception of modal essence that Deleuze attributes to Spinoza is untenable in terms of Spinoza’s metaphysics. I further show that the idea that modal essences are eternally static degrees of power is incompatible with Spinoza’s ethics, wherein modes strive to increase their power by means of positive interactions with others. I suggest that Deleuze’s interpretation of this crucial as…Read more
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21Eternal Life and the Time of DeathPhilosophy Today 60 (2): 553-564. 2016.In this paper I argue that Vatter’s proposed solution to the problem of thanatopolitics in the development of a concept of eternal life is inadequate. In the first section I situate Vatter’s project, sketching out Foucault’s concept of biopolitics and marking Vatter’s specific difference from others working to articulate an affirmative biopolitics in contemporary discussions. In the second section I argue, following Foucault and Mbembe, that the possibility of a thanatopolitics or necropolitics …Read more
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15Negativity in Spinozist PoliticsJournal of Speculative Philosophy 36 (2): 232-243. 2022.ABSTRACT In this article I challenge a common reading of Benedict de Spinoza’s political philosophy, which holds that since his metaphysics is entirely positive or affirmative, his politics must be affirmative as well. In the first part, I show how this interpretation is found in the works of Gilles Deleuze and Antonio Negri. In the second part, I show that the negative has no ontological reality in Spinoza’s metaphysics. In the third, building on the work of Alexandre Matheron, I show that ther…Read more
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11Politics, Ontology and Knowledge in Spinoza: Essays by Alexandre MatheronEdinburgh University Press. 2020."Alexandre Matheron is considered one of the most important interpreters of Spinoza's philosophy in the 20th century. These 20 essays, translated into English for the first time, focus on ontology, knowledge, politics and ethics in Spinoza, his predecessors and his contemporaries."--Publisher description.
Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
17th/18th Century Philosophy |
Social and Political Philosophy |