“Exhausting All Possibilities:” An Introduction to Deleuze & Guattari’s Political Philosophy 

“Exhausting All Possibilities:”
An Introduction to Deleuze & Guattari’s Political Philosophy

John Paetsch

April 4, Saturday, 10am EST, Online

What is the State? How does it affect our lives? How does it relate to “the market”?

Who has the upper hand—the State or Capital? Does “the market” determine what is and what is not possible? If so, how? Should we concern ourselves with what is and what’s not possible? 

What kind of claims do States make upon our bodies? What kind of claims does Capital make upon “interior” life? 

Deleuze says that “exhausting all possibilities” is a condition for finally liberating ourselves, even if only “locally.” But is anyone “free” if the “laws of the market” determine the horizons of possibility? Can these ever be exhausted? Could anything—whether a collective way of life or “voluntary” action—contravene these “laws”? How?! Where are these laws even “located”?

We’ll use these questions to explore Deleuze and Guattari’s perplexing (but fecund!) political philosophy, with an eye towards bringing into focus our present “historical conjuncture” and considering the intriguing figures of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari themselves. Were they heterodox Marxists? crypto-capitalists? insurrectionary anarchists? Is their work relevant to us today? 

No prior acquaintance with Deleuze, Guattari, political philosophy, or political economy necessary! We’ll work from (and return always to) lived experience—which thankfully (perhaps) has answered for itself many of the above questions, if only implicitly. Participants are encouraged (but not required) to read/skim/explore some of Plateaus 12-13 from A Thousand Plateaus (scroll down to p. 351) prior to the seminar. 

Facilitator: John Paetsch received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Georgia. His dissertation—The Texture of Foliated Time—explores why Gilles Deleuze, Henri Bergson, and G.W. Leibniz all entwine “continuity” with “heterogeneity”—whether considering how a life dissipates time or a body diffuses force. Sad to say, it spares neither philosophy nor aesthetics nor physics nor mathematics—blame his confidante, O.B. Bassler! Portions of it have appeared in Deleuze and Guattari Studies. He is presently translating the rudely neglected essays of the philosopher-mathematician Gilles Châtelet for Urbanomic. He has published anomalous poetry with Hiding Press (forthcoming), Gauss PDF (text here, review here) and Make Now Books. He teaches at Temple University. 

Online time: Saturday, April 4, 10am (EST- Eastern Time Zone). A Zoom link will be available on registration. 
Cost: Pay-what-you-can. If you are unable to pay at this time, we warmly invite you to attend at no cost. For those of you able to pitch in for expenses, please consider making a donation of $10 or more. You can “buy” multiple $10s by entering the corresponding number into the box. For example, 6 = $60, etc. Below.
Reading: Plateaus 12-13 from A Thousand Plateaus (scroll down to p. 351). 
Registration: Please register at Online Seminars.