The Theatre of Production : Philosophy and Individuation Between Kant and Deleuze

This Book Provides A Historical Analysis Of The Philosophical Problem Of Individuation, And A New Trajectory In Its Treatment. Drawing On The Work Of Gilles Deleuze, C.s. Peirce And Gilbert Simondon, The Problem Of Individuation Is Taken Into The Realm Of Modernity. This Is A Vibrant Contribution To Contemporary Debates In European Philosophy. By Alberto Toscano. The past few years have seen a resurgence of interest in ontology and what might be called 'biophilosophy'. This book argues that the notion of individuation is essential for a critical grasp of the origins and prospects of this philosophical conjuncture. Historically, it demonstrates the importance of Kant's treatment of the organism, which recast the problem of individuation in terms of vital autonomy and mechanical heteronomy. Staging the crisis of the Kantian solution in the writings of Nietzsche and Whitehead, it goes on to construct a new concept of individuation in a bold and detailed investigation of the writings of Charles Sanders Peirce, Gilbert Simondon and Gilles Deleuze - three crucial figures in the elaboration of a transcendental materialism. The Theatre of Production thus takes the problem of individuation into the realm of modernity, providing a unique and vibrant contribution to contemporary debates in European philosophy Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Introduction: From the Intelligible to the Genetic....Pages 1-16 Front Matter....Pages 17-17 The Paradoxical Object: On Self-Organizing Beings in the Critique of Judgment....Pages 19-43 The Fate of Self-Organization: From Natural Machines to the Philosophy of the Organism....Pages 44-84 The Method of Nature, the Crisis of Critique: Life, Multiplicity and the Genesis of the Intellect in Nietzsche’s Early Notebooks....Pages 85-106 Front Matter....Pages 107-107 Systems of Habit: Ravaisson, James, Peirce....Pages 109-135 Tertium Datur? Gilbert Simondon’s Relational Ontology....Pages 136-156 The Drama of Being: Figures of Individuation in Deleuze’s Philosophy of Difference....Pages 157-198 Conclusion: Becoming Individual....Pages 199-201 Back Matter....Pages 202-249 "The past few years have seen a resurgence of interest in ontology and what might be called 'biophilosophy'. This book argues that the notion of individuation is essential for a critical grasp of the origins and prospects of this philosophical conjuncture. Historically, it demonstrates the importance of Kant's treatment of the organism, which recast the problem of individuation in terms of vital autonomy and mechanical heteronomy."--BOOK JACKET