Biography
Gilles Deleuze (1925–1995) was a French philosopher whose work transformed contemporary debates on difference, multiplicity, desire and the creation of concepts. Educated in philosophy in Paris, he taught at various French schools and universities. From 1969 he was a professor at the University of Paris VIII in Vincennes, where his influential teaching career continued until his retirement in 1987.
His research on Hume, Nietzsche, Kant, Bergson and Spinoza contributed to an approach to the history of philosophy oriented towards affirmation and the production of the new. In Différence et répétition (1968) and Logique du sens (1969), he formulated a critique of the primacy of identity and representation, articulating a philosophy of the event and becoming. His later work also addressed literature, the visual arts and cinema.
With Félix Guattari he published L’Anti-Œdipe (1972), Kafka. Pour une littérature mineure (1975), Mille plateaux (1980) and Qu’est-ce que la philosophie ? (1991). This collaboration brought together philosophy, a critique of psychoanalysis and the analysis of social formations, introducing conceptual tools such as the rhizome, deterritorialisation and assemblages.
Published books