Deleuze and Derrida: Difference and the Power of the Negative - Paperback

by Vernon W. Cisney (Author)

Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze are still best known for their respective attempts to theoretically formulate non-dialectical conceptions of difference. Now, for the first time, Vernon W. Cisney brings you a scholarly analysis of their contrasting concepts of difference. Cisney distinguishes them on the basis of their responses to Hegel and Nietzsche. The contrast between the two, Cisney argues, is that Deleuze formulates an affirmative conception of difference, while Derrida's différance amounts to an irresolvable negativity.

Front Jacket

'Deleuze and Derrida is not only the best study we have by far of the notoriously divergent ways these two seminal French thinkers approached the problem of "difference". It is also a manifesto for the philosophy of the future, since only difference, Cisney insists, is capable of pushing thought to places it has never been before. A wonderfully lucid and provocative book.' Daniel W. Smith, Professor of Philosophy, Purdue University Explores the distinction between the concepts of difference in the philosophies of Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze Few thinkers from the twentieth century have had a greater impact on the contemporary continental tradition in philosophy than Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze. While their respective areas of research extended into political, literary and artistic domains they are still best known for their respective attempts to theoretically formulate non-dialectical conceptions of difference. As yet, no scholarly work has attempted to compare or contrast their concepts of difference. Vernon W. Cisney draws such a distinction between them, by examining each with respect to Hegel and Nietzsche, differentiating them on the basis of the criticisms they level against Hegel, as well as their valorisations of Nietzsche, and the ways in which they understand Nietzsche's thought to surpass that of Hegel. Vernon W. Cisney is an Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and Philosophy at Gettysburg College, PA, USA. Cover image: istockphoto.com Cover design: [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN 978-0-7486-9622-2 Barcode

Author Biography

Vernon W. Cisney is Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and Philosophy at Gettysburg College. He is the author of Deleuze and Derrida: Difference and the Power of the Negative (Edinburgh University Press, 2018) and Derrida's Voice and Phenomenon: An Edinburgh Philosophical Guide (Edinburgh University Press, 2014). He is the co-editor of Between Foucault and Derrida (Edinburgh University Press, 2016); The Way of Nature and the Way of Grace: Philosophical Footholds on Terrence Malick's Tree of Life (Northwestern University Press, 2016); and Biopower: Foucault and Beyond (University of Chicago Press, 2015).