Episode #126 - Gilles Deleuze Pt. 2 - Immanence
Gilles Deleuze Pt. 2 - Immanence
In this second episode on Gilles Deleuze, the podcast deepens its exploration of his reimagining of philosophy—not as a quest to discover truth, but as a creative act rooted in immanence rather than transcendence. Building on the previous episode’s premise that philosophy is the art of concept creation, the discussion contrasts traditional ontologies grounded in identity and dualism with Deleuze’s radical move toward an ontology of difference. Drawing on Baruch Spinoza and Henri Bergson, Deleuze challenges the long-standing philosophical reliance on stable concepts tied to transcendent structures, arguing instead for a model where substance expresses itself through time rather than space, actualizing the virtual in endlessly diverse ways. He critiques how past systems installed hierarchies that privileged unity, non-physicality, and the ideal, ultimately constraining how life could be imagined. In contrast, Deleuze’s ontology of immanence proposes that all of being is univocal—one substance without hierarchy—allowing for a more open, dynamic view of existence. Rather than reducing reality to what is knowable, Deleuze encourages us to “palpate the unknowable,” feeling our way through chaos with creative, concept-driven thought that widens the horizon of what life can be.
Further Reading:
Gilles Deleuze: An Introduction – Todd May (2005)
Difference and Givenness: Deleuze's Transcendental Empiricism and the Ontology of Immanence – Levi R. Bryant (2008)
Philosophy After Deleuze – Joe Hughes (2012)
See the full transcript here.
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