Becoming and Destiny in Deleuze and Guattari

Abstract

This thesis is an investigation of the theme of freedom in the work of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. Chapter One investigates Deleuze and Guattari's concept of becoming as it is articulated in their book A Thousand Plateaus, and seeks to resolve a problem related to their shifting descriptions of the role of agency in the process of becoming, at times described as voluntary, and at other times described as involuntary. We conclude that chapter with a defense of the claim that their shifting descriptions are unproblematic and are, in fact, attempts to illustrate the paradoxical experience of becoming. Chapter Two investigates Deleuze's earlier text, The Logic of Sense, and attempts to make sense of his use of the term destiny. Our conclusion in that chapter is that destiny is neither necessity, pure self-authorship, nor passive resignation, but rather consists of a mixture of activity and passivity, willfulness and chance.

Author Keywords: Agency, Becoming, Counter-actualization, Deleuze and Guattari, Destiny, Freedom

    Item Description
    Type
    Contributors
    Creator (cre): Dexter, James
    Thesis advisor (ths): Holdsworth, David
    Degree committee member (dgc): Angelova, Emilia
    Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University
    Date Issued
    2015
    Date (Unspecified)
    2015
    Place Published
    Peterborough, ON
    Language
    Extent
    123 pages
    Rights
    Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted.
    Subject (Topical)
    Local Identifier
    TC-OPET-10280
    Publisher
    Trent University
    Degree
    Master of Arts (M.A.): Theory, Culture and Politics