[D-G] Deleuze Leibniz and Merleau-Ponty

John Laudenberger johnnywoops at gmail.com
Tue May 18 19:37:08 PDT 2010


Does anyone on this list know to which text by Merleau-Ponty Deleuze is
referring in his second class on Leibniz?
Here is the link:
http://www.webdeleuze.com/php/texte.php?cle=53&groupe=Leibniz&langue=2

Here is a quote from the class, it is at about the middle:
Leibniz does not know that. Moreover, the indefinite appears to him to be
purely conventional or symbolic; why? There is an author who said quite well
what creates the family resemblance of philosophers of the 17th century, it
was Merleau-Ponty. He wrote a small text on so-called classical philosophers
of the seventeenth century, and he tried to characterize them in a lively
way, and said that what is so incredible in these philosophers is an
innocent way of thinking starting from and as a function of the infinite.
That's what the classical century is. This is much more intelligent than to
tell us that it's an era in which philosophy is still confused with
theology. That's stupid. One must say that if philosophy is still confused
with theology in the 17th century, it's precisely because philosophy is not
separable at that time from an innocent way of thinking as a function of
infinity.

Thank you,
John Laudenberger



More information about the Deleuze-Guattari mailing list