The Hermetic Deleuze: Philosophy and Spiritual Ordeal (New slant: : religion, politics, and ontology)

In this book, Joshua Ramey examines the extent to which Gilles Deleuze's ethics, metaphysics, and politics were informed by, and can only be fully understood through, this hermetic tradition. Gilles Deleuze drew upon a vast array of source material in his writing, from philosophy and psychoanalysis to science and art. Among the intellectual currents that influenced his work, however, one has been largely neglected in Deleuze scholarship: Western esotericism, specifically the lineage of Hermetic thought that extends from Late Antiquity into the Renaissance through the work of such figures as Iamblichus, Nicholas of Cusa, Pico della Mirandola, and Giordano Bruno. In this book, Joshua Ramey examines the extent to which Deleuze's ethics, metaphysics, and politics were informed by-and can only be fully understood through this Hermetic tradition. Ramey identifies key Hermetic moments in Deleuzian thought - including his theories of art, subjectivity, and immanence - arguing that Deleuze's work represents a kind of contemporary Hermeticism, a consistent experiment to unite thought and affect, percept and concept, mind and nature in order to engender new relations between knowledge, power, and desire. In uncovering and clarifying the Hermetic strand in Deleuze's work, Ramey offers both a new, cogent interpretation of Deleuze - particularly his insistence that the development of thought demands a spiritual ordeal - and a framework for retrieving the pre-Kantian paradigm of philosophy as spiritual practice In his writing, Gilles Deleuze drew on a vast array of source material, from philosophy and psychoanalysis to science and art. Yet scholars have largely neglected one of the intellectual currents underlying his work: Western esotericism, specifically the lineage of hermetic thought that extends from Late Antiquity into the Renaissance through the work of figures such as Iamblichus, Nicholas of Cusa, Pico della Mirandola, and Giordano Bruno. In this book, Joshua Ramey examines the extent to which Deleuze's ethics, metaphysics, and politics were informed by, and can only be fully understood through, this hermetic tradition. Identifying key hermetic moments in Deleuze's thought, including his theories of art, subjectivity, and immanence, Ramey argues that the philosopher's work represents a kind of contemporary hermeticism, a consistent experiment in unifying thought and affect, percept and concept, and mind and nature in order to engender new relations between knowledge, power, and desire. By uncovering and clarifying the hermetic strand in Deleuze's work, Ramey offers both a new interpretation of Deleuze, particularly his insistence that the development of thought demands a spiritual ordeal, and a framework for retrieving the pre-Kantian paradigm of philosophy as spiritual practice. Introduction: secrets of immanence -- Philosophical modernity and experimental imperative -- Dark precursors : the hermetic tradition -- The force of symbols : Deleuze and the esoteric sign -- The overturning of Platonism -- Becoming cosmic -- The politics of sorcery -- The future of belief -- Coda: experimental faith