GILLES DELEUZE’S HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY

Abstract

In this paper, I will present and analyze Gilles Deleuze’s history of philosophy, with a specific focus on the relationship between Deleuze’s “minor” history of philosophy and his later philosophical work. The aim of the paper is to highlight the ambivalence of this relationship. While Deleuze categorizes philosophers into “major” and “minor” ones, I will demonstrate that both types of philosophers play a constitutive role in shaping his philosophy. The ambivalence of Deleuze’s history of philosophy is primarily manifested in the status of the antagonistic “major” philosopher. However, despite the presence of numerous “major” philosophers as enemies, Hegel holds a special significance within Deleuze’s history of philosophy. Hegel is the only philosopher whom Deleuze did not attempt to reinterpret and integrate within his philosophical framework, thus granting this enemy a distinct importance in understanding both Deleuze’s history of philosophy and his philosophical work as a whole.