Deleuze and Guattari's Philosophy of Transformation - (Plateaus - New Directions in Deleuze Studies) by Edward Thornton (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book offers a clear and coherent analysis of Deleuze and Guattari's collaborations and argues that their work contains a distinct philosophical methodology that is designed to express the transformative nature of reality.

Book Synopsis

Deleuze and Guattari's Philosophy of Transformation is an original study of the radical transformative thought of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. The book reveals the metaphysical underpinnings of Deleuze and Guattari's philosophy and shows how, beneath the many references to specific moments of transformation, Deleuze and Guattari provide a complex philosophical framework, specifically designed to treat transformative processes as constitutive of reality.

Central to this study is an examination of the concept of the "line of flight" (ligne de fuite). By exposing the way in which this concept animates Deleuze and Guattari's work, and by showing how it allows Deleuze and Guattari to theorise processes of radical transformation - from the evolutionary developments of biological species to the revolutionary breaks of political change - this book challenges readers with a novel vision of Deleuze and Guattari's oeuvre as a methodical response to the philosophical problem of transformation.

Review Quotes

A masterful genealogy of one of the leitmotifs of Deleuze and Guattari's philosophy. Thornton demonstrates with lucidity and erudition the double genesis of the line of flight in the works of both Deleuze and Guattari, developing in the process a compelling reading of their work as a whole.--Henry Somers-Hall, Royal Holloway, University of London

By turning to the concept of "line of flight", Edward Thornton gives us a remarkably clear and provocative reading of Deleuze and Guattari's philosophy of transformation, showing along the way how their philosophy also serves as a model for how one could put a philosophy of transformation into practice.--Jeffrey Bell, Southeastern Louisiana University

Thornton's bold hypothesis is that Deleuze and Guattari initiated a great thaw in attempting to unfreeze Western philosophy. He cogently shows how they put philosophy into a state of continuous variation by developing a philosophy that requires perpetual conceptual change. True to transformation, Thornton seeks consistencies rather than frosting over mutations.--Gary Genosko, Ontario Tech University