Kant: Synthesis and Time, Lecture 2, 21 March 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 2, 21 March 1978, Deleuze indicates three abstract expressions that designate three Kantian reversals regarding the notion of time: “time is out of joint”, from <em>Hamlet</em>; while until now our task was to represent space, “the moment has come to think time” (anonymous); and from Rimbaud, “I is an other”, all taken outside their contexts, as abstract declarations. The session has three parts: Deleuze’s initial development of “time is out of joint”; then, an intervention by mathematician Gilles Châtelet, also on the first formula, followed by Deleuze’s response; then, Deleuze’s consideration of critical philosophy. Deleuze asks Gilles Châtelet to comment (alas, in inaudible remarks) on how, from a mathematical perspective, the conception of time as a straight line is fundamental. Through a summary from WebDeleuze, Châtelet finds time as projective straight line in Plotinus, and in Kant, time is a multiplicity, a real straight line, and a function, with abstract space as pure parameter. Deleuze finds confirmation in these remarks of his earlier analysis although he takes issue with Châtelet’s emphasis on Plotinus. Then, Deleuze turns to Kant’s critical philosophy, first, contrasting it to classical philosophy, then suggesting how Kant’s transformation of time into a straight line eliminates the importance of space as obstacle to thought, with the subject traversed by this line of time, the synthesis of the form of thought and the form of the internal limit of thought. Then, turning to Kant’s problem of how the same subject (self) can have two forms which are irreducible to each other, Deleuze considers the constitution of this alienation by citing Rimbaud’s expression “I is an other”. Deleuze concludes that this is the same subject which has taken on two forms, the form of time and the form of thought, and the form of thought can only determine the existence of the subject as the existence of a passive being.</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>

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<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 2, le 21 mars 1978, Deleuze indique trois expressions qui désignent trois renversements kantiens concernant la notion de temps -- « le temps est hors des gonds », d’après Hamlet ; alors que jusqu’à présent notre tâche était de représenter l’espace, « le moment est venu de penser le temps » (anonyme) ; et chez Rimbaud, « je est un autre » -- toutes prises hors de leur contexte, comme des déclarations abstraites. La séance comporte trois parties : le développement initial de Deleuze de « le temps est hors des gonds » ; puis, une intervention du mathématicien Gilles Châtelet, également sur la première formule, suivie de la réponse de Deleuze ; puis, la considération de Deleuze sur la philosophie critique. Deleuze demande à Gilles Châtelet de commenter (hélas, dans des propos inaudibles) en quoi, d’un point de vue mathématique, la conception du temps comme ligne droite est fondamentale. Dans un résumé préparé par WebDeleuze, Châtelet trouve chez Plotin le temps comme ligne droite projective, et chez Kant le temps est une multiplicité, une ligne droite réelle et une fonction, avec l’espace abstrait comme pur paramètre. Deleuze se tourne ensuite vers la philosophie critique de Kant, la comparant d’abord à la philosophie classique, puis suggérant comment la transformation kantienne du temps en ligne droite élimine l’importance de l’espace comme obstacle à la pensée, avec le sujet traversé par cette ligne de temps. Puis, se tournant vers le problème kantien de la façon dont le même sujet (le moi) peut avoir deux formes irréductibles l’une à l’autre, Deleuze considère la constitution de cette aliénation en citant l’expression de Rimbaud « Je est un autre ». Deleuze conclut que c'est le même sujet qui a pris deux formes, la forme du temps et la forme de la pensée, et la forme de la pensée ne peut déterminer l'existence du sujet que comme existence d'un être passif.</p>