Kant: Synthesis and Time, Lecture 4, 4 April 1978

<p><em>The Deleuze Seminars</em> is a collection of audio recordings, transcriptions, and English translations of, and supplemental materials from, the lectures French philosopher Gilles Deleuze gave during his career at the University of Paris 8.</p>

<p>In 1963, Deleuze published a tightly articulated book on Kant, <em>La philosophie critique de Kant </em>(translated as <em>Kant’s Critical Philosophy</em>) that lays out (in the introduction) the “transcendental method”, then in three successive chapters, outlines the relations of the faculties as presented, respectively, in the <em>Critique of Pure Reason</em>, the <em>Critique of Practical Reason, </em>and the <em>Critique of Judgement, </em>with a brief conclusion on “les fins de la raison”, the “ends of reason”.</p>

<p>Years later, in <em>L’Abécédaire </em>(“K as in Kant”), Deleuze describes his motivation for working on a philosopher with whom he had little in common: first, for Deleuze, Kant’s writing constituted such a turning point in numerous ways and, second, he initiated something in philosophy that had never been advanced previously, a tribunal of reason and things being judged as a function of this tribunal. Deleuze argues that Kant’s greatness is due to creating a whole undergirding in his works that makes Deleuze quite enthusiastic, while on top of the undergirding is a system of judgment that Deleuze says he would like to do away with, but without standing in judgment.</p>

<p>Let us also note that during the 1977-78 academic year, one possible topic for an oral explication in the national <em>agrégation de philosophie</em> examination was of a German language text by Kant (from the <em>Critique of Judgment,</em> Introduction, “Analytik des Schöne”). Besides offering a mini-seminar on Spinoza earlier in the same academic year, perhaps Deleuze’s choice for this brief seminar on Kant linked his students’ needs for the <em>agrégation</em> to his own interests.</p>

<p>In session 4, 4 April 1978, Deleuze states that his focus in the <em>Critique of Pure Reason</em> constitutes two operations forming a correspondence between conceptual determinations and spatio-temporal determinations as synthetic operations of heterogenous elements. Yet he sees a need to distinguish between these and to consider (referring to the <em>Critique of Judgement</em>) how synthesis may be overwhelmed by experience of the sublime. Calling Kant’s book the hinge of Classicism and Romanticism, Deleuze points out that the same risk of being overwhelmed experienced by synthesis occurs for the schema, being overwhelmed by symbolism. Addressing the difference between the schema and the synthesis, Deleuze describes the schema’s path as no longer from the here and now, but from the concept, i.e., an operation that is complete, a valid-at-all-times determination, carried out by a rule of production (rather than recognition). Deleuze concludes his first point by insisting that schematism is not a case of reflective judgment, but of determinative judgment. Deleuze then links space and time to rhythms and mannerisms, e.g., an animal’s territory, and he links Kant’s influence to experiments by the Würzburg school psychologists, notably their concept of empty intentions, or spatio-temporal directions of consciousness as a sort of rhythm or way of occupying space and time, the schema. Deleuze then considers the adventure of the sublime in relation to the synthesis, particularly the synthesis of imagination that presupposes an aesthetic comprehension (of the thing measured and of the unit of measure) serving as the fragile ground on which the synthesis rests. Here arises the Kantian series: the synthesis referring to a rule of recognition, the schema to rules of production; the symbol to rules of reflection. The session ends (or is interrupted, with text possibly missing) with Deleuze suggesting that no intuition corresponds to the concept, either because it is simply lacking, without necessary knowledge, or because of the concept’s special nature.</p>

<p>No recording of this session is available currently. This dataset includes three files: a revised French transcription and new English translation in odt format, and the original French transcript from WebDeleuze. [WebDeleuze was founded by Richard Pinhas -- a student in Deleuze's seminars -- who, with the Deleuze family's support, developed transcripts and translations of many of the seminars.]</p>

<p>--</p>

<p>Les Séminaires de Deleuze sont une collection d'enregistrements audio, de transcriptions et de traductions en anglais et de documents complémentaires des conférences que le philosophe français Gilles Deleuze a donné lors de sa carrière à l'Université de Paris 8.</p>

<p>Dans la séance 4, le 4 avril 1978, Deleuze déclare que son point de mire dans la <em>Critique de la raison pure</em> est constitué de deux opérations formant une correspondance entre les déterminations conceptuelles et les déterminations spatio-temporelles en tant qu’opérations synthétiques d’éléments hétérogènes. Il voit cependant la nécessité de distinguer entre elles et de considérer (en se référant à la <em>Critique du jugement</em>) comment la synthèse peut être submergée par l’expérience du sublime. Qualifiant le livre de Kant de charnière entre le classicisme et le romantisme, Deleuze souligne que le même risque d’être submergé par la synthèse se produit pour le schéma, submergé par le symbolisme. Deleuze relie ensuite l’espace et le temps aux rythmes et aux maniérismes, par exemple le territoire d’un animal, et il relie l’influence de Kant aux expériences des psychologues de l’école de Würzburg, notamment leur concept d’intentions vides, ou directions spatio-temporelles de la conscience comme une sorte de rythme ou de manière d’occuper l’espace et le temps, le schème. Deleuze considère ensuite l’aventure du sublime en relation avec la synthèse, en particulier la synthèse de l’imagination qui présuppose une compréhension esthétique (de la chose mesurée et de l’unité de mesure) servant de terrain fragile sur lequel repose la synthèse. La séance se termine (ou est interrompue, avec peut-être du texte manquant) avec Deleuze suggérant qu’aucune intuition ne correspond au concept, soit parce qu’elle fait simplement défaut, sans la connaissance nécessaire, soit en raison de la nature particulière du concept.</p>