Concepts in Focus: Deleuze's 'Image of Thought'

Oct 25, 2020

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INSIGHT

Philosophy Begins By Questioning Presuppositions

Deleuze defines the 'image of thought' as tacit presuppositions that structure philosophical inquiry before thinking begins.
These presuppositions can be objective (conceptual definitions) or subjective (common-sense assumptions) and must be eliminated to think anew.

INSIGHT

Descartes Shows How Universals Trap Thought

Deleuze reads Descartes as avoiding objective presuppositions but succumbing to subjective ones like the universality of thought and self.
Once accepted, such universals force individual thoughts to be mere instances of a prefigured category, trapping thought in a loop.

INSIGHT

Classical Image: Thought Aligned With Truth

The classical image of thought presumes a natural affinity between thought, truth, and the good that philosophy must recover.
That image demands methods and moral discipline to subordinate thought away from bodily passions toward truth.

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