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Single Idea 21844

[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / C. History of Philosophy / 1. History of Philosophy ]

Full Idea

The history of philosophy has always been the agent of power in philosophy, and even in thought. It has played the oppressor's role: how can you think without having read Plato, Descartes, Kant and Heidegger.

Gist of Idea

The history of philosophy is an agent of power: how can you think if you haven't read the great names?

Source

Gilles Deleuze (A Conversation: what is it? What is it for? [1977], I)

Book Ref

Deleuze,Gilles: 'Dialogues II' [Continuum 2006], p.10

A Reaction

I find it hard to relate to this French 1960s obsession with everybody being oppressed in every conceivable way, so that 'liberation' is the only value that matters. If you ask why liberty is needed, you seem to have missed the point.

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]
21838 Before we seek solutions, it is important to invent problems [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]
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]
21850 Dualisms can be undone from within, by tracing connections, and drawing them to a new path [Deleuze]
21849 Thought should be thrown like a stone from a war-machine [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]
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]
21908 Ontology can be continual creation, not to know being, but to probe the unknowable [Deleuze]
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]