Leibniz and the Baroque, Lecture 1, 28 October 1986

<p>The Deleuze Seminars 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. This seminar clearly prepares publication of his 1988 book on Leibniz, The Fold, Leibniz and the Baroque. This first lecture is organized within a 20-lecture seminar that Deleuze taught between October 1986 and June 1987, presented on October 28, 1986.</p>

<p>In this first session, Deleuze lays out the principal elements of his understanding of "the fold": the Baroque, says Deleuze, is characterized by matter never ceasing to be pleated, being pleated onto itself, or the soul never ceasing to be folded, hence <em>the pleats of matter </em>and <em>the folds of the soul. </em>Deleuze links this vision of the Baroque to Leibniz’s particular conception of vitalism, but also to his conception of death, as an infinite envelopment of the body and with the infinitely pleat bodies unfolding at the Final Judgment. To this first vitalist aspect corresponds a second, the diffusion of inorganic matter, and both of these aspects are linked to a point on a curvature with its own inflection. This leads Deleuze to argue that the Baroque is what treats form through the genetic element of inflection, with the center of curvature occurring on the side of concavity. Hence, matter does not account for folds and pleats that affect it; the curvature has to refer to a free spontaneity, determined as the spontaneity of the point as point of view. These are the folds of the soul that alone account for the ideal genesis of forms, and the folds and pleats of matter presuppose this second region of folding (<em>plissement</em>) of folds and pleats. Here, Deleuze hints at an eventual move toward an absolute transformation of the notions of subject and object. Many references in this opening session correspond to chapter 1 of <em>The Fold. Leibniz and the Baroque</em>.</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>Dans cette séance initiale, Deleuze indique les éléments principaux de sa compréhension du “pli”, notamment “Le pli est donc le caractère essentiel du Baroque compris comme un acte opératoire," ce qui correspond au chapitre 1 de <em>Le Pli. </em><em>Leibniz et le baroque</em>.</p>

德勒兹讲座集（Deleuze Seminars）收录了法国哲学家吉尔·德勒兹（Gilles Deleuze）在巴黎第八大学执教生涯中所做讲座的音频录音、转录文稿及其英文译本与补充材料。该系列讲座为其1988年关于莱布尼茨的著作《褶子：莱布尼茨与巴洛克》（The Fold, Leibniz and the Baroque）的出版做了充分铺垫。本次收录的首讲属于德勒兹于1986年10月至1987年6月间开设的20讲系列讲座，于1986年10月28日进行。

在本次首讲中，德勒兹系统阐释了其对‘褶子’概念的核心理解：德勒兹指出，巴洛克艺术的本质特征在于物质永不停歇地自我折叠、相互褶叠，抑或灵魂持续不断地被折叠，由此衍生出**物质之褶**与**灵魂之褶**。德勒兹将这一巴洛克艺术观与莱布尼茨独特的生机论构想相连，同时也关联于他的死亡概念——死亡是对身体的无限包裹，而在末日审判之际，被无限褶叠的身体将得以展开。与这一生机论面向相对的是第二面向：无机物质的弥散，这两个面向均与带有自身拐点的曲率上的某一点相关联。由此，德勒兹提出，巴洛克艺术正是通过拐点这一生成性要素来塑造形式，曲率的中心位于凹面一侧。因此，物质本身无法解释作用于其上的褶叠与褶皱；曲率必须指向一种自由的自发性，这种自发性被界定为作为视角点的点的自发性。唯有灵魂之褶才能解释形式的理想生成，而物质的褶叠与褶皱则预设了褶叠与褶皱的第二重折叠区域（plissement，法语‘褶叠’）。在此，德勒兹隐晦地预示了日后将对主体与客体概念进行的彻底变革。本开篇讲座中的诸多论述均对应《褶子：莱布尼茨与巴洛克》的第一章。

本数据集包含一份原始讲座的.mp3音频文件，以及完整的法语转录文稿与英文译本，格式均为odt。

德勒兹讲座集收录了法国哲学家吉尔·德勒兹在巴黎第八大学执教期间所开展讲座的音频录音、转录文稿、英文译本及补充材料。

在本次开篇讲座中，德勒兹阐明了其对‘褶子’概念的核心要义，指出‘褶子乃是作为一种操作行为的巴洛克艺术的本质特征’，这一论述对应《褶子：莱布尼茨与巴洛克》的第一章。