Faux Amis, Vrais Amis? Amis.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.vi31.6467Keywords:
Deleuze, Foucault, friendship, dialogue, power, desireAbstract
Recent commentaries on the relation between Deleuze and Foucault often operate with an implicit idea of compatibility or consistency that postulates systematic harmony as the decisive criterion for the affinity between them. Accordingly, the predominant question is whether Deleuze and Foucault are “true” friends philosophically and politically. Although the assessments differ, they share a likewise implicit notion of the friend as familiar that excludes any form of ambivalence in amicable relations and consequently cannot fully account for the dynamics and variability of the relation between Deleuze and Foucault. This article tries to address this problem by suspending the notion of the friend-as-familiar, effectively posing the question of what concept of friendship we would have if the ambivalent relation between Deleuze and Foucault would be the model. For this, the reconstruction begins with the early encounters and follows their relationship until the supposed split in the context of the desire-pleasure-debate. What becomes apparent is the dialogical structure of the philosophical friendship between Deleuze and Foucault that entails convergences as well as divergences, which will eventually be related to their own and fundamentally different concepts of friendship. Deleuze and Foucault, as will be argued, are neither “vrais amis” nor “faux amis” but simply amis that practised a form of philosophical friendship, lasting for more than 15 years.
References
Bearn, Gordon C.F., “Careful Becomings: Foucault, Deleuze, and Bergson,” Human Affairs 27 (2017), 400-415. https://doi.org/10.1515/humaff-2017-0033
Beckman, Frida, Between Desire and Pleasure: A Deleuzian Theory of Sexuality. Edinburgh: Ed-inburgh University Press, 2013.
Beckmann, Frida, Gilles Deleuze. London: Reaktion Books, 2017.
Böhler, Arno, Unterwegs zu einer Sprache der Freundschaft. DisTanzen: Nietzsche – Deleuze – Derrida. Wien: Passagen, 2000.
Böhler, Arno, Singularitäten. Vom zu-reichenden Grund der Zeit. Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft. Wien: Passagen, 2004.
Burroughs, William S., “The Limits of Control” [1975], Semiotext(e): Schizo-Culture 3:2 (1978), 38-42.
Butler, Judith, Subjects of Desire: Hegelian Reflections in Twentieth-Century France [1987]. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012.
Checchi, Marco, “Spotting the Primacy of Resistance in the Virtual Encounter of Foucault and Deleuze,” Foucault Studies 18 (2014), 197-212. https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v0i18.4660
Dayan, Maurice, “D’un ci-devant sujet,” Nouvelle Revue de psychanalyse 20 (1979), 77-101.
Deleuze, Gilles, Nietzsche and Philosophy [1962]. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.
Deleuze, Gilles, Bergsonism [1966]. New York: Zone Books, 1988.
Deleuze, Gilles, “Humans: A Dubious Existence” [1966], in Desert Islands and Other Texts, 1953-1974, ed. David Lapoujade, 90-93. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2004.
Deleuze, Gilles, “How Do We Recognize Structuralism?” [1972/1967], in Desert Islands and Other Texts, 1953-1974, ed. David Lapoujade, 170-192. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2004.
Deleuze, Gilles, Difference and Repetition [1968]. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994.
Deleuze, Gilles, “Capitalism and Schizophrenia” [1972], in Desert Islands and Other Texts, 1953-1974, ed. David Lapoujade, 232-241. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2004.
Deleuze, Gilles, “Nomadic Thought” [1972], in Desert Islands and Other Texts, 1953-1974, ed. David Lapoujade, 252-261. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2004.
Deleuze, Gilles, “Dualism, monism, multiplicities (26.03.1973),” webdeleuze.com. https://www.webdeleuze.com/textes/167 (accessed July 10, 2021).
Deleuze, Gilles, “Desire and Pleasure” [1994/1977], in Between Deleuze and Foucault, ed. Nicolae Morar, Thomas Nail and Daniel W. Smith, 223-231. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Uni-versity Press, 2016.
Deleuze, Gilles, Foucault [1986]. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1988.
Deleuze, Gilles, “On Philosophy” [1988], in Negotiations: 1972-1990, 135-155. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.
Deleuze, Gilles, and Michel Foucault, “Intellectuals and Power” [1972], in Desert Islands and Other Texts, 1953-1974, trans. Mike Taormina, ed. David Lapoujade, 206-213. Los An-geles: Semiotext(e), 2004.
Deleuze, Gilles, and Michel Foucault, “Les intellectuels et le pouvoir” [1972], in Dits et Écrits, Tome 2: 1970-1975, ed. Daniel Defert and François Ewald, 306-315. Paris: Gal-limard, 1994.
Deleuze, Gilles, and Félix Guattari, Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia [1972]. Min-neapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1977.
Deleuze, Gilles, and Félix Guattari, “Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari on Anti-Oedipus” [1972], in Negotiations: 1972-1990, 13-24. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.
Deleuze, Gilles, and Félix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia [1980]. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987.
Deleuze, Gilles, and Félix Guattari, What is Philosophy? [1991]. New York: Columbia Uni-versity Press, 1994.
Deleuze, Gilles, and Dionys Mascolo, “Correspondence with Dionys Mascolo” [1988], in Two Regimes of Madness, Texts and Interviews 1975-1995, ed. David Lapoujade, 327-332. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2006.
Deleuze, Gilles, and Claire Parnet, Dialogues [1977]. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.
Derrida, Jacques, The Work of Mourning, ed. Pascale-Anne Brault and Michael Naas. Chica-go: University of Chicago Press, 2001.
Dosse, François, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari: Intersecting Lives [2007]. New York: Co-lumbia University Press, 2010.
Eribon, Didier, Michel Foucault [1989]. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 1991.
Eribon, Didier, Michel Foucault et ses contemporains. Paris: Fayard, 1994.
Faderman, Lillian, Surpassing the Love of Men: Romantic Friendship and Love Between Woman from Renaissance to the Present. New York: Quill, 1981.
Foucault, Michel, History of Madness [1961], trans. Jonathan Murphy and Jean Khalfa, ed. Jean Khalfa. London and New York: Routledge, 2006.
Foucault, Michel, The Order of Things: An Archeology of the Human Sciences [1966]. London and New York: Routledge, 1970.
Foucault, Michel, “Ariane s’est pendue” [1969], in Dits et Écrits, Tome 1: 1954-1969, ed. Daniel Defert and François Ewald, 767-771. Paris: Gallimard, 1994.
Foucault, Michel, “Theatrum philosophicum” [1970], in Dits et Écrits, Tome 2: 1970-1975, ed. Daniel Defert and François Ewald, 75-99. Paris: Gallimard, 1994.
Foucault, Michel, “The Order of Discourse” [1970], in Untying the Text: A Post-Structuralist Reader, trans. Ian McLeod, ed. Robert Young. Boston, London, and Henley: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1981.
Foucault, Michel, “Nietzsche, la généalogie, l’histoire” [1971], in Dits et Écrits, Tome 2: 1970-1975, ed. Daniel Defert and François Ewald, 136-156. Paris: Gallimard, 1994.
Foucault, Michel, Penal Theories and Institutions: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1971-1972, trans. Graham Burchell, ed. Bernard E. Harcourt. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99292-1
Foucault, Michel, “72–73 Pouvoir-Savoir” [1972-1973]. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, Fonds Michel Foucault, NAF 28730, box 92, document 14.
Foucault, Michel, “La vérité et les formes juridiques” [1974/1973], in Dits et Écrits, Tome 2: 1970-1975, ed. Daniel Defert and François Ewald, 538-646. Paris: Gallimard, 1994.
Foucault, Michel, “Asiles, Sexualité, Prisons” [1975], in Dits et Écrits, Tome 2: 1970-1975, ed. Daniel Defert and François Ewald, 771-782. Paris: Gallimard, 1994.
Foucault, Michel, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison [1975], trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: Vintage, 1977.
Foucault, Michel, “Michel Foucault. Les résponses du philosophe” [1975], in Dits et Écrits, Tome 2: 1970-1975, ed. Daniel Defert and François Ewald, 805-817. Paris: Gallimard, 1994.
Foucault, Michel, Society Must Be Defended: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975-1976, trans. David Macey, ed. Mauro Bertani and Alessandro Fontana. New York: Picador, 2003.
Foucault, Michel, The Will to Knowledge: The History of Sexuality Volume 1 [1976], trans. Rob-ert Hurley. New York: Random House, 1978.
Foucault, Michel, “Preface,” in Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, trans. Robert Hurley, Mark Seem and Helen R. Lane, xi-xiv. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1977.
Foucault, Michel, “La scène de la philosophie” [1978], in Dits et Écrits, Tome 3: 1976-1979, ed. Daniel Defert and François Ewald, 571-595. Paris: Gallimard, 1994.
Foucault, Michel, “The Gay Science” [1978], Critical Inquiry 37:3 (2011), 385–403. https://doi.org/10.1086/659351
Foucault, Michel, “What is Critique?” [1978], in The Politics of Truth, trans. Lysa Hochroth and Catherine Porter, ed. Sylvère Lotringer, 41-81. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 1997.
Foucault, Michel, “De l’amitié comme mode de vie” [1981], in Dits et Écrits, Tome 4: 1980-1988, ed. Daniel Defert and François Ewald, 163-167. Paris: Gallimard, 1994.
Foucault, Michel, “Entretien avec M. Foucault” [1982], in Dits et Écrits, Tome 4: 1980-1988, ed. Daniel Defert and François Ewald, 286-295. Paris: Gallimard, 1994.
Foucault, Michel, “Michel Foucault, une interview: sexe, pouvoir et la politique de l’identité” [1984], in Dits et Écrits, Tome 4: 1980-1988, ed. Daniel Defert and François Ewald, 735-746. Paris: Gallimard, 1994.
Foucault, Michel, The Use of Pleasure: The History of Sexuality Volume 2 [1984], trans. Robert Hurley. New York: Random House, 1985.
Foucault, Michel, Colin Gordon, and Paul Patton, “Considerations on Marxism, Phenome-nology and Power. Interview with Michel Foucault; Recorded on April 3rd, 1978” [1978], Foucault Studies 14 (2012), 98–114. https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v0i14.3894
Gilliam, Christian, “Vrais Amis: Reconsidering the Philosophical Relationship Between Fou-cault and Deleuze,” Foucault Studies 25 (2018), 191–212. https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v0i25.5580
Gilson, Erinn C., “Ethics and the ontology of freedom: problematization and responsiveness in Foucault and Deleuze,” Foucault Studies 17 (2014), 76–98. https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v0i17.4254
Grace, Wendy, “Faux Amis: Foucault and Deleuze on Sexuality and Desire,” Critical In-quiry 36:1 (2009), 52–75. https://doi.org/10.1086/606122
Grace, Wendy, “Foucault and Deleuze: Making a Difference with Nietzsche,” Foucault Studies 17 (2014), 99–116. https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v0i17.4255
Hardt, Michael, and Antonio Negri, Empire. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 2000.
Kaufman, Eleanor, The Delirium of Praise: Bataille, Blanchot, Deleuze, Foucault, Klossowski. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2001.
Klem, Holden, Hegel und Foucault, ed. Andreas Arndt, Myriam Gerhard, and Jure Zovko. Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 2015.
Koopman, Colin, “Critical Problematization in Foucault and Deleuze: The Force of Critique without Judgement,” in Between Deleuze and Foucault, ed. Nicolae Morar, Thomas Nail, and Daniel W. Smith, 87-119. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016.
Krause, Ralf and Marc Rölli, “Die Subjektivierung der Macht. Zu Begehren und Lust bei Gilles Deleuze und Michel Foucault,” in sinn macht unbewusstes, unbewusstes macht sinn, ed. Ulrike Kadi and Gerhard Unterthurner, 192-229. Würzburg: Königshausen and Neumann, 2005.
Lagrange, Jacques, “‘La Volonté de savoir’ de Michel Foucault ou une généalogie du sexe,” Psychanalyse à l’université 2:7 (1977), 541–553.
Lawlor, Leonard, and Janae Sholtz, “Speaking Out for Others: Philosophy’s Activity in Deleuze and Foucault (and Heidegger),” in Between Deleuze and Foucault, ed. Nicolae Morar, Thomas Nail, and Daniel W. Smith, 139-159. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016.
Luna, Wendyl, “Re-Thinking Thought: Foucault, Deleuze, and the Possibility of Thinking,” Foucault Studies 27 (2019), 48–68. https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v27i27.5891
Macey, David, The Lives of Michel Foucault. London: Vintage, 1994.
Miller, James, The Passion of Michel Foucault. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.
de Montaigne, Michel, “Of Friendship” [1580], in The Essays of Montaigne, 243-260. Cam-bridge and London: Harvard University Press, 2013.
Morar, Nicolae, and Marjorie Gracieuse, “Against the Incompatibility Thesis: A rather Dif-ferent Reading of the Desire-Pleasure Problem,” in Between Deleuze and Foucault, ed. Ni-colae Morar, Thomas Nail and Daniel W. Smith, 232-246. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univer-sity Press, 2016.
Munro, Michael, The Communism of Thought. New York: Punctum, 2014.
Nail, Thomas, “Biopower and Control,” in Between Deleuze and Foucault, ed. Nicolae Morar, Thomas Nail, and Daniel W. Smith, 247-263. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016.
Patton, Paul, “Activism, Philosophy and Actuality in Deleuze and Foucault,” Deleuze Studies 4 (Supplement 2010), 84–103. https://doi.org/10.3366/dls.2010.0207
Patton, Paul, “Deleuze and Foucault: Political Activism, History and Actuality,” in Be-tween Deleuze and Foucault, ed. Nicolae Morar, Thomas Nail and Daniel W. Smith, 160-173. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016.
Penfield, Christopher, “Toward a Theory of Transversal Politics: Deleuze and Foucault’s Block of Becoming,” Foucault Studies 17 (2014), 134–172. https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v0i17.4257
Protevi, John, “Foucault’s Deleuzian Methodology of the Late 1970s,” in Between Deleuze and Foucault, ed. Nicolae Morar, Thomas Nail and Daniel W. Smith, 120-127. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016.
Rabouin, David, “Entre Deleuze et Foucault: le Jeu du Désir et du Pouvoir,” Critique 637/638 (2000), 475–490.
Revel, Judith, “Foucault lecteur de Deleuze: de l’écart à la différence,” Critique 591/592 (1996), 727–735.
Rölli, Marc, “A Pragmatism of Difference? Gilles Deleuze’s pragmatic move beyond struc-turalism,” Deleuze Online 1 (2008).
Rölli, Marc, “Deleuze as a Theorist of Power,” Coils of the Serpent 1 (2017), 19–29.
Ronell, Avital, “On Friendship; Or, Kathy Goes to Hell” [2002], in The ÜberReader: Selected Works of Avital Ronell, ed. Diane Davis, 227-239. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2008.
Schönher, Mathias, “Deleuze, a Split with Foucault,” Le Foucauldien 1:1 (2015). http://doi.org/10.16995/lefou.8
Smith, Daniel W., “Two Concepts of Resistance: Foucault and Deleuze,” in Between Deleuze and Foucault, ed. Nicolae Morar, Thomas Nail, and Daniel W. Smith, 264-282. Edin-burgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016.
Stivale, Charles J., Gilles Deleuze’s ABC’s: The Folds of Friendship. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2008.
Taylor, Dianna, “Uncertain Ontologies,” Foucault Studies 17 (2014), 117–133. https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v0i17.4256
Thompson, Kevin, “Foucault and the ‘Image of Thought’: Archeology, Genealogy, and the Impetus of Transcendental Empiricism,” in Between Deleuze and Foucault, ed. Nicolae Morar, Thomas Nail, and Daniel W. Smith, 200-211. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors retain copyright to their work, but assign the right of the first publication to Foucault Studies. The work is subject to a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, but despite these restrictions, authors can take for granted that Foucault Studies will permit articles published in Foucault Studies to be translated or reprinted in another format such as a book providing a full reference is made to Foucault Studies as the original place of publication.
