Gilles Deleuze's Nietzsche and Philosophy: an Interpretive
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Deleuze, at the start of Nietzsche and Philosophy, refers to the two
"inseparable moments" of critical philosophy as 1) "the referring
back of all
things and any kind of origin to values" and 2) "the
referring back of these
values to something which is, as it were, their
origin and determines their
value" (p. 2). That something to which all values refer back for their own
value is what differentiates value from
value, is the differential element"
between high and low, noble and
vulgar, active and reactive, etc., which is
at the root of value
determination and creation. The differential element
delineates the field of base values from which all other values originate.
The
differential element, or Will to Power, is the element common to all
values, but also that which differentiates between modes of existence,
ways of being. A mode of existence, or ethos, is, as such a
value undetermined by other values, but is rather a conformation of
"force" expressive of the Will to Power, the differential element,
resident, and acting, within it. Only by means of "force" can Will to
Power, the differential element, become apparent to us. Thus to
Deleuze, the "whole of philosophy is a symptomatology, and a
semeiology" (p. 3). Only through the interpretation of symptoms, the
reading of signs, can the differential element in any one set of
valuations be isolated and identified, in other words, have a "sense"
attached to it, a meaning derived for it, without which it must remain
mute, undifferentiated, unforcefull, if you will, for us. Genealogy is
thus the analysis of Will the Power, the differential element, by means
of interpretation of the conformation of forces which are symptomatic
of it. The progression, in other words, is from symptom (or sign) to
force to the differential element (Will to Power) which, in its
conformation, is determinative of the value of the force (affirming or
negating, noble or vulgar, etc.). Force here is multiple, for it contains
within itself a multiplicity of possible senses, is an interpretive matrix,
if you will, appearing to us only in our reading of it. Will to Power,
as differential element, remains necessarily inapparent, except as
expressed in force as difference. Interpretation, however, is
not neutral, but is, itself, evaluative, bringing to bear the critical force
of the reader onto the field of symptoms and signs of other forces, is a
meeting of force by force. Interpretation is, thus, also a contention, a
wrestling match, a struggle between different forces. Thus Nietzsche's
fascination with artists, for they provide the paradigm for the act of
knowledge itself, not, in other words, a passive distancing, a
withdrawal, but an approach to and engagement with the material
force of the world. Not a "willfulness" which holds itself apart,
unengaged, but a "willingness" which sacrifices itself as self-enforcement.
Reviewed by: Steven E. Callihan
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