- 文档格式
书名: What Is Philosophy?
作者: Gilles Deleuze (Author), Felix Guattari (Author), Hugh Tomlinson (Translator), Graham Burchill (Translator)
出版社: Verso Publishing (Academic) (June 24, 1994)
语言: English
ISBN-10: 0860916863
ISBN-13: 978-0860916864
Book Description
"The question 'what is philosophy?' can perhaps only be posed lat in life, with the arrival of old age and the time for speaking concretely. It is a question posed in a moment of quiet restlessness, at midnight, when there is no longer anything to ask." Posing that question, Deleuze and Guattari worked together for what turned out to be the last tiome, to produce a book which can be seen as a condensation of everything they had written before, together and separately. Twenty years on from their endlessly influential Anti-Oedipus, Deleuze and Guattari have lost none of their inspirational radicalism, only deepened it. Their book is a profound and careful interrogation of what it might mean to be a 'friend of wisdom', but it is also a devastating attack on the sterility of what has become, when 'the only events are exhibitions and the only concepts are products which can be sold'. Philosophy, they insist, is not contemplation, reflection or communication, but the creation of concepts. The first part of the book explores the concept, the 'plane of immanence' in which it can be born and the conceptual personae' which can activate it. It concludes with a brilliant account of philosophy's relation to social and economic development, from ancient Greece to the modern capitalist state. Part two considers other forms of thought: science, art, literature and music. By the light of its 'rivals', Deleuze and Guattari illuminate philosophy in all its distinctiveness, displaying the same light-footed erudition whether they are discussing Godel's Theorem, Proust and Pessoa, Mondrian or Boulez. Written with the energy and inventiveness that marked their earlier collaborations, What is Philosophy? is an enormous achievement. It is a vital book, not only for philosophers but for everyone concerned with the uses of human intelligence in a time when, as the authors remark, sales promotion has replaced critique.
Review
"Philosophy, according to the authors, is the only study that is concerned with the creation of concepts, which distinguishes it from science, logic, and art. To support this thesis, the authors discuss the nature of these disciplines and the thought of a wide spectrum of philosophers, from Plato to Foucault. Unfortunately, singular insights are buried in a text so dense with metaphor and figurative language (e.g., "the plane of immanence," "conceptual personae") that it is impossible to decide whether they have argued their case successfully or even whether they have made their thesis fully intelligible. For academic libraries collecting these authors and continental philosophy." -- Leon H. Brody, U.S. Office of Personnel Mgt. Lib., Washington, D.C., Library Journal
"Packed with insights into historical periods, art, and philosophy. . . . a particular strength of the book is the depth of its exploration of philosophical concepts--both what they are and what they presuppose. A pleasure to read, this is a rigorous structural reflection of the philosophical concept and a genuine contribution to philosophy. Highly recommended." -- R. E. Palmer
"This examines the relationship between philosophy, science and the arts, considering the independent pursuits of each study and their ultimate connections. This history of social and cultural development and philosophical arguments provides a fine synthesis of Western cultural observation and philosophical argument." -- Midwest Book Review
"A very great book ... one of the rare ones which compel us to se things differently ... it will very soon become a classic." -- Didier Eribon, Le nouvel observateur
About the Author
Giles Deleuze was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris VIII until his retirement in 1987. Felix Guattari worked for many years at the psychiatric clinic of La Borde, near Paris. He died in 1992.
