[D-G] Affect

[Sebastian Berry]

This is where the Uexkull is very useful (but as someone said it might be
hard to find, I forget I have access to such a good library). Its on animal
ethology and describes animals based on their Umwelt (lifeworld) which is
defined by their different capacities to be affected and act. The tick is
the oft repeated example: it can sense light and climb a tree, then it waits
for a certain chemical in mammal sweat so it can fall of the branch onto the
animal, then its sense the warmth of the mammal to find a place to suck its
blood, then it falls off, lays eggs, and dies. So the world of the tick and
its power are defined by its capacities to be affected. Through spinoza you
can get into the question of whether the results of the capacities to be
affected is good or bad. as manuel delanda mentions in a lecture somewhere
on youtube, certain nutrients are good for a plant but at higher thresholds
they become poisonous, so its all a question of affect and variable
gradients and such.
the might be somewhat incoherent, I'd like to discuss this some more, but
for now its just a quick break from essay writing.


On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 10:15 PM, <mcnau at yorku.ca> wrote:

> Greetings,
>
> This is also an area I am interested in. Thanks Paul for the reference. I
> haven't had a chance to look at this yet but our library has a copy.
>
> I found on line, possibly through this list I can't remember now, a lecture
> by
> Deleuze given at Vincennes "Transcripts on Spinoza's Concept of Affect"
> transcribed and trans. also I imagine by Emilie and Julien Deleuze.
> http://www.webdeleuze.com/php/sommaire.html
>
> In this Deleuze unpacks Spinoza in a more systematic way but I still have
> questions which I'd be grateful for feedback on. If affect is the
> 'ceaseless
> variation of being' that Spinoza describes how do I make that intelligible?
> How
> does one understand 'the force of existing or the power of acting' that
> Deleuze
> attributes to affect?
>
> best,
> Susan
>
>
>
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