more on this theme     |     more from this text

Single Idea 21908

[filed under theme 7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / a. Nature of Being ]

Full Idea

Ontology can be an ontology of difference ....where what is there is not the same old things but a process of continual creation, an ontology that does not seek to reduce being to the knowable, but widens thought to palpate the unknowable.

Gist of Idea

Ontology can be continual creation, not to know being, but to probe the unknowable

Source

Gilles Deleuze (Difference and Repetition [1968]), quoted by Todd May - Gilles Deleuze 5.05

Book Ref

May,Todd: 'Gilles Deleuze' [CUP 2006], p.171

A Reaction

I'm inclined to think that the first duty of ontology is to face up to the knowable. I'm not sure that probing the unknowable, with no success or prospect of it, is a good way to spend a life. Probing ('palpating') can sometimes discover things.

Related Idea

Idea 6870 I say (contrary to Wittgenstein) that philosophy expresses what we thought we must be silent about [Ansell Pearson on Wittgenstein]

The 22 ideas from Gilles Deleuze

21844 The history of philosophy is an agent of power: how can you think if you haven't read the great names? [Deleuze]
21845 Philosophy aims to become the official language, supporting orthodoxy and the state [Deleuze]
21839 When I meet objections I just move on; they never contribute anything [Deleuze]
21841 We must create new words, and treat them as normal, and as if designating real things. [Deleuze]
21842 Don't assess ideas for truth or justice; look for another idea, and establish a relationship with it [Deleuze]
21838 Before we seek solutions, it is important to invent problems [Deleuze]
21847 Before Being there is politics [Deleuze]
21840 A meeting of man and animal can be deterritorialization (like a wasp with an orchid) [Deleuze]
21843 People consist of many undetermined lines, some rigid, some supple, some 'lines of flight' [Deleuze]
21849 Thought should be thrown like a stone from a war-machine [Deleuze]
21850 Dualisms can be undone from within, by tracing connections, and drawing them to a new path [Deleuze]
21848 Some lines (of flight) are becomings which escape the system [Deleuze]
21907 We don't want another new set of categories; we want a variety of flexible categories [Deleuze, by May]
21908 Ontology can be continual creation, not to know being, but to probe the unknowable [Deleuze]
21903 Ontology does not tell what there is; it is just a strange adventure [Deleuze, by May]
21904 Being is a problem to be engaged, not solved, and needs a new mode of thinking [Deleuze, by May]
21901 'Difference' refers to that which eludes capture [Deleuze, by May]
21902 'Being' is univocal, but its subject matter is actually 'difference' [Deleuze]
21851 The State requires self-preservation, but the war-machine desires destruction [Deleuze]
21852 Nomads are the basis of history, and yet almost unknowable [Deleuze]
21853 We are currently extending capitalism to the whole of society [Deleuze]
21899 There is no being beyond becoming [Deleuze]