Kant: Synthesis and Time, Lecture 1, 14 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 1, 14 March 1978, Deleuze starts by highlighting Kant’s <em>Critique of Pure Reason</em> and suggests that rather than attempting to understand this “stifling philosophy”, one should just get into the rhythm of Kant and his philosophy in order to reach the hidden architecture underneath. In introducing these sessions, Deleuze already insists on this fundamental definition of what constitutes philosophy, the creation of concepts that are no less creative than the works of a painter or a musician, and hence foreshadows the final work in collaboration with Guattari, What Is Philosophy? Deleuze concludes that Kant’s construction of his system occurred to establish the correspondence of spatio-temporal determinations and conceptual determinations. Returning to the expression from Hamlet, “time is out of joint”, Deleuze expresses how time is no longer subordinated as the number of nature or the measure of movement (hence is “out of joint”), but rather becomes pure and empty time, with movement subordinated to it. Promising to consider this expression more fully in the next session, Deleuze proposes another, mysterious expression, from Kant’s <em>Opus Postumum</em>, regarding time as the form under which the subject affects itself. Kant thus leaves behind time understood as order of succession, rejecting the definition of time by any of its modes (duration or permanence, coexistence, and succession). As for space, for Kant, it is the pure form of exteriority, and thus time is the form of interiority, the affection of self by self<em>.</em></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 1, le 14 mars 1978, Deleuze commence par mettre en évidence la <em>Critique de la raison pure de Kant</em> et suggère que plutôt que de tenter de comprendre cette « philosophie étouffante », il faut simplement entrer dans le rythme de Kant et de sa philosophie afin d’atteindre l’architecture cachée en dessous. En introduisant ces séances, Deleuze insiste déjà sur cette définition fondamentale de ce qui constitue la philosophie, la création de concepts qui ne sont pas moins créatifs que les œuvres d’un peintre ou d’un musicien, et il préfigure ainsi l’œuvre finale en collaboration avec Guattari, <em>Qu’est-ce que la philosophie ?</em> Deleuze conclut que la construction du système de Kant s’est produite pour établir la correspondance entre les déterminations spatio-temporelles et les déterminations conceptuelles. Revenant à l’expression d’Hamlet, « le temps est hors des gonds », Deleuze considère comment le temps n’est plus subordonné au nombre de la nature ou à la mesure du mouvement (il est donc « hors des gonds »), mais devient plutôt du temps pur et vide, le mouvement lui étant subordonné. Promettant de revenir plus longuement sur cette expression lors de la prochaine séance, Deleuze propose une autre expression, mystérieuse, tirée de l’<em>Opus Postumum </em>de Kant, qui considère le temps comme la forme sous laquelle le sujet s’affecte lui-même. Kant abandonne ainsi le temps entendu comme ordre de succession, rejetant la définition du temps selon ses divers modes (durée ou permanence, coexistence et succession). Quant à l’espace, pour Kant, il est la forme pure de l’extériorité, et donc le temps est la forme de l’intériorité, l’affection de soi par soi.</p>