Uncertain Ontologies

This following essay explores the meaning and implications of philosophical critique and creativity within the work of Gilles Deleuze and Michel Foucault.  The two philosophers’ appeals to ontology, as an important site upon which their ethico-political commitments to critique and creativity simulta...

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Main Author: Dianna Taylor
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: CBS Open Journals 2014-04-01
Series:Foucault Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://192.168.7.24:443/index.php/foucault-studies/article/view/4256
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author Dianna Taylor
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description This following essay explores the meaning and implications of philosophical critique and creativity within the work of Gilles Deleuze and Michel Foucault.  The two philosophers’ appeals to ontology, as an important site upon which their ethico-political commitments to critique and creativity simultaneously converge and diverge, frame this exploration.  The first part of the essay shows how Deleuze’s and Foucault’s respective ontologies further critique and creativity.  The second part of the essay focuses on a point of divergence in the two thinkers’ appeals to ontology: the relationship between philosophy and history.  From a Foucauldian perspective, the ahistorical character of Deleuze’s ontology of difference threatens to undermine its transformative potential, whereas from a Deleuzian perspective, the historical character of Foucault’s ontology of the present, while it may not undermine transformation, certainly does not facilitate it.  In conclusion, I argue that it is precisely from within these tensions that important, productive, and transformative aspects of Deleuze’s and Foucault’s work emerge.
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spelling doaj.art-6c8c1fcc292640b9978f25831c9313c92024-04-02T08:00:57ZengCBS Open JournalsFoucault Studies1832-52032014-04-011710.22439/fs.v0i17.4256Uncertain OntologiesDianna Taylor0John Carroll UniversityThis following essay explores the meaning and implications of philosophical critique and creativity within the work of Gilles Deleuze and Michel Foucault.  The two philosophers’ appeals to ontology, as an important site upon which their ethico-political commitments to critique and creativity simultaneously converge and diverge, frame this exploration.  The first part of the essay shows how Deleuze’s and Foucault’s respective ontologies further critique and creativity.  The second part of the essay focuses on a point of divergence in the two thinkers’ appeals to ontology: the relationship between philosophy and history.  From a Foucauldian perspective, the ahistorical character of Deleuze’s ontology of difference threatens to undermine its transformative potential, whereas from a Deleuzian perspective, the historical character of Foucault’s ontology of the present, while it may not undermine transformation, certainly does not facilitate it.  In conclusion, I argue that it is precisely from within these tensions that important, productive, and transformative aspects of Deleuze’s and Foucault’s work emerge.https://192.168.7.24:443/index.php/foucault-studies/article/view/4256Michel FoucaultGilles DeleuzeOntologyEthicsPolitics
spellingShingle Dianna Taylor
Uncertain Ontologies
Foucault Studies
Michel Foucault
Gilles Deleuze
Ontology
Ethics
Politics
title Uncertain Ontologies
title_full Uncertain Ontologies
title_fullStr Uncertain Ontologies
title_full_unstemmed Uncertain Ontologies
title_short Uncertain Ontologies
title_sort uncertain ontologies
topic Michel Foucault
Gilles Deleuze
Ontology
Ethics
Politics
url https://192.168.7.24:443/index.php/foucault-studies/article/view/4256
work_keys_str_mv AT diannataylor uncertainontologies