A Thousand Plateaus V, The State Apparatus and the War Machine, Lecture 10, 4 March 1980

<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>Following publication of <em>Anti-Oedipus</em> in 1972, Deleuze continues to develop the proliferation of concepts that his collaboration with Guattari had yielded. As part of this process of expanding concepts in order to produce the sequel of <em>Capitalism & Schizophrenia</em>, <em>A Thousand Plateaus</em>, this series of 13 lectures on “The State Apparatus and War Machines” constitutes the major seminar of 1979-80 and Deleuze’s penultimate consideration of these concepts. Deleuze first considers material begun during the previous year’s seminar, material corresponding to plateaus 12 (1227: Treatise on Nomadology – The War Machine), 13 (7000 B.C.: Apparatus of Capture), and 14 (1440: The Smooth and the Striated). [The final consideration of these concepts will take place in the May-June 1980 two-session seminar on “Anti-Oedipus and Other Reflections”.</p>

<p>In session 10, 4 March 1980, rather than discuss the axiomatic and problems linked to it, Deleuze allows the students to discuss diverse problems on the Vincennes campus and in French national politics related to the university (cf. François Dosse, <em>Gilles Deleuze & Félix Guattari. Intersecting Lives</em>, chapter 19, “Deleuze at Vincennes”). The specific discussion concerns notably the imposition at Vincennes (on the pretext of drug trafficking) of a system of “para-police”, on-campus security guards to verify both students’ and professors’ identity cards, a measure momentarily enforced and then revoked. While raising several ways in which these and other actions correspond to aspects of the apparatus capture, the bulk of the class is devoted to communicating details of actions taken by the University Council, to outlining tactics for responses, and to discussing certain thresholds beyond which holding class would no longer be possible. This session is especially remarkable for showing Deleuze’s careful intervention on behalf of the students’ interests and his way of providing insight for their positions based on his knowledge of departmental and university initiatives.</p>

<p>This dataset includes four files: an aggregate version of the audio recordings into a single mp3, the complete French transcription and English translation of the recorded lecture in odt format, and the original Web Deleuze French transcription. [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><em>Les Séminaires de Deleuze</em> 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>A la suite de la publication de <em>L’Anti-Œdipe</em> en 1972, Deleuze continue de développer la prolifération de concepts que sa collaboration avec Guattari avait fait naître. Dans le cadre de ce processus d’élargissement des concepts en vue de produire la suite de <em>Capitalisme et schizophrénie</em>, <em>Mille plateaux</em>, ce séminaire de 13 séance sur « L’appareil d’État et les machines de guerre » constitue le séminaire majeur de 1979-80 et l’avant-dernière réflexion de Deleuze sur ces concepts. La dernière réflexion aura lieu en mai-juin 1980, un mini-séminaire de deux séances sur « L’Anti-Œdipe et d’autres réflexions ».</p>

<p>Vue la crise qui a lieu lors des prises de position de l’administration universitaire de Paris-VIII Vincennes, Deleuze consacre cette séance aux discussions avec les étudiants afin de soutenir leurs efforts.</p>