What Is Philosophy?

Called by many France's leading intellectual, Gilles Deleuze is one of the most important philosophers in the Western world. His acclaimed works and celebrated collaborations with Felix Guattari have established him as a seminal figure in the fields of philosophy, cultural studies, and literary theory. The publication of What Is Philosophy? marks the culmination of Deleuze's career. Deleuze and Guattari situate philosophy in the realm of problems and possibilities. The book presents a revolutionary theory of philosophy and in the process develops a new understanding of the interrelationships among philosophy, science, and the arts. The authors differentiate philosophy from science and the arts, seeing each domain as a means of confronting chaos, and challenging the common view that philosophy is an extension of logic. They discuss the similarities and distinctions between creative and philosophical writing. Fresh anecdotes from the history of philosophy illuminate the book, along with engaging discussions of composers, painters, writers, and architects. A milestone in Deleuze's collaboration with Guattari, What Is Philosophy? brings new perspectives to Deleuze's studies of cinema, literature, painting, and music, while setting a brilliant capstone upon his intellectual corpus. Newcomers to the two thinkers' writings will relish the book's scope, energy, and inventiveness; veteran followers will appreciate Deleuze and Guattari's fierce determination to grasp the elusive meaning of philosophy in this, their last and most remarkable joint effort.

Gilles Deleuze was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris VIII. He died in November 1995. Among his many works are The Logic of Sense, Difference and Repetition, and Nietzche and Philosophy, all published by Columbia University Press.Felix Guattari, a practicing psychoanalyst in Paris until his death in 1992, collaborated with Deleuze on four books, including Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus.