Leibniz and the Baroque, Lecture 16, May 5, 1987

<p>A series of lectures given by French philosopher Gilles Deleuze at the University of Paris 8. This sixteenth lecture is organized within a 20-lecture seminar that Deleuze taught between October 1986 and June 1987, presented on May 5, 1987.</p>

<p>Continuing the discussion from the end of the previous session (28 April), i.e., the theory of substance, and its five criteria — logical, epistemological, physical or technical, psychological, and metaphysical – Deleuze says that Leibniz insists that extension cannot be substance, thereby provoking the Cartesians by reactivating Aristotle. Concluding this search for a logical criterion, Deleuze insists that in Leibniz, something is never determined through an attribute, but something is determined as a predicate unity, the unity in action which is the criterion of substance, to which Deleuze attributes the name “Mannerist”. He summarizes Leibniz’s theory of substance as the couple spontaneity-depth, the depth of the soul, with everything that changes coming from the depth and this moment of change emerging precisely from the development of an active unity. Shifting focus to the epistemological criterion, Deleuze again contrasts Descartes to Leibniz, concluding that the epistemological criterion for Leibniz defines substance by assigning it requisites, a being one by itself. Deleuze follows successive moments of reflection on this creation, outlining how Descartes undoes this structure point by point whereas, in Leibniz, substance is always evaluated in relation to change, and while substances are monads and are separate, they express the same world from each one’s point of view. Thus, the substance’s requisites (to be discussed more fully in the next session) are limitations, a passive power, but also an active power with form ceasing to be essence and becoming subject. So, Deleuze concludes that there is both primitive active power and primitive passive power along with primary matter and secondary matter, hence a complex of properly Leibnizian singularities.</p>

<p>This dataset includes one .mp3 audio file of the original recorded lecture and the complete French transcription and English translation in odt format.</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>Poursuivant la discussion de la fin de la séance précédente (28 avril), c'est-à-dire la théorie de la substance et ses cinq critères — logique, épistémologique, physique ou technique, psychologique et métaphysique — Deleuze dit que Leibniz insiste sur le fait que l'étendue ne peut être substance, provoquant ainsi les cartésiens en réactivant Aristote. Chez Leibniz, la substance est toujours évaluée par rapport au changement, et si les substances sont des monades et sont séparées, elles expriment le même monde du point de vue de chacune d’elles. Ainsi, les conditions requises de la substance (examinées plus en détail dans la prochaine séance) sont des limitations, une puissance passive, mais aussi une puissance active, la forme cessant d’être essence et devenant sujet. Deleuze conclut donc qu’il existe à la fois une puissance active primitive et une puissance passive primitive, ainsi qu’une matière première et une matière seconde, d’où un complexe de singularités proprement leibniziennes.</p>