Deleuze and Guattari: An Introduction to Schizoanalysis

Jonathan M. Cook

Philosophy Mr. Kletzien 10 May 2012

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A whole new world/ A new fantastic point of view/ No one to tell us no/ Or where to go/ Or say we're only dreaming Unbelievable sights/ Indescribable feeling Through an endless diamond sky A whole new world/ Every turn a surprise/ With new horizons to pursue Let me share this whole new world with you.1 In Disneys Aladdin, Jasmine begins a journey into a whole new world of possibilities the moment she runs away from home.2 This new world gives her unbelievable sights and feelings that she would have never have saw or felt if she would have stayed within the confines of her palace. In this song, Jasmine began a process of breaking away from her limits, a process that Deleuze and Guattari would call deterritorialization. 3 This process is the thesis of the Deleuzoguattarian (otherwise known as schizoanalytic) thought, removing the previous barriers on life and creating a realm of pure possibility. 4 Yet to truly gain an understanding of Deleuzoguattarian thought, an investigation of its foundation and theories are needed. By investigating Deleuze and Guattaris thought, the flight of the princess will be seen as a dramatic attempt at rhizoming from our world, opening up a possibility of a beautiful, new world.5 Desire Tell me, princess, now when did/ You last let your heart decide?6 Much like in the beginning of A Whole New World, Deleuze and Guattari begin their philosophy by looking at desire within everyone. 7 They believed that this desire dictates everyones actions and motivations. 8 In fact, they begin A Thousand Plateaus: The two of us wrote Anti-Oedipus together. Since each of us was several, there was already quite a crowd Why have we kept our own names? Out of habit, purely out of habit Also because its nice to talk like everybody else, to say the sun rises, when everybody knows its only a manner of speaking We
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Kane, Brad, and Leah Salonga. A Whole New World, by Alan Menken. Disney. Amazon. CD. Accessed May 13, 2012. 1992. http://www.amazon.com/Aladdin-Special-Soundtrack-Various-Artists/dp/B0002ZMJF2. 2 Kane, Brad, and Leah Salonga. A Whole New World, by Alan Menken. Disney. 3 Douglas-Jones, Rachel, and Salla Sariola. Rhizome Yourself: Experiencing Deleuze and Guattari from Theory to Practice. Rhizomes 19, no. 1 (Summer 2009). http://www.rhizomes.net/issue19/sariola.html. 4 Sellers, Warren, and Noel Gough. Sharing Outsider Thinking: Thinking (Differently) with Deleuze in Educational Philosophy and Curriculum Inquiry. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 23, no. 5 (September-October 2010): 589-614. doi:10.1080/09518398.2010.500631. Pg. 606 5 Ballantyne, Andrew. Deleuze and Guattari for Architects. Edited by Adam Sharr, Jonathan A. Hale, Hilde Heynen, and David Leatherbarrow. New York: Routledge Publishing, 2007. Pg. 60 6 Kane, Brad, and Leah Salonga. A Whole New World, by Alan Menken. Disney. 7 Kane, Brad, and Leah Salonga. A Whole New World, by Alan Menken. Disney. 8 Goddard, Michael. The Encounter between Guattari and Berardi and the Post-Media Era. postmedialab.org. Accessed April 22, 2012. Last modified February 8, 2012. http://www.postmedialab.org/felix-and-alicewonderland-encounter-between-guattari-and-berardi-and-post-media-era.

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are no longer ourselves. Each will know his own. We have been aided, inspired, multiplied.9 In the first pages of A Thousand Plateaus, Deleuze and Guattari (DnG) begin the breakdown of common sense ideas of the individual by stating each of us [are] several. 10 They believe that each person has thousands of desires within them, multiplying, coexisting, often contradicting and permuting.11 Each person is quite literally several; each persons thousands of desires create who they are. The human is an assemblage of desirea desiring-machine.12 DnG begin to imagine identity as a large ball. Each desire we have push the ball that is identity in different directions. Eventually the ball moves, not in the direction of one desire, but in the direction of the permutation of desiresthe combination of all these forces. 13 DnG believe that people do not have a singular individuality, but that they are a multiplicity of different identities, some showing themselves at times, some at other times; for [we are] several [So] why have we kept our own names... because its nice to talk like everybody else, to say the sun rises, when everybody knows its only a manner of speaking. 14 Thus, peoples motivations and actions are constructed by these desires, and they guide how we live.15 Lacan and Deleuze Aladdin: You're a prisoner? Genie: It's all part and parcel, the whole "genie gig" PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS! Itty-bitty living space! 16 Yet, DnG were not the first to discuss desire in the philosophical world. Freud and Lacan began discussing desire nearly a millennium before DnG, but in quite a different tone.17 Jeffery Cohen18 and Todd Ramlow19 describe: We are used to being told by psychoanalysis that desire is produced through a primal lack, that if desire is related to pleasure, it is only by means of something called enjoyment Deleuze could not stand this
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Deleuze, Gilles, and Felix Guattari. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia . Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, 1983. Pg. 1. 10 Deleuze and Guattari. A Thousand Plateaus. Pg.1 11 Cohen, Jeffery J., and Todd R. Ramlow. Pink Vectors of Deleuze: Queer Theory and Inhumanism. Rhizomes 1, no. 11/12 (Fall 2006). Accessed April 22, 2012. http://www.rhizomes.net/issue11/cohenramlow.html. 12 Deleuze and Guattari. A Thousand Plateaus. Pg.1 13 Ballantyne, Andrew. Deleuze and Guattari for Architects. Pg. 1. 14 Deleuze and Guattari. A Thousand Plateaus. Pg.1 15 Goddard, Michael. The Encounter between Guattari and Berardi and the Post-Media Era. 16 Clements, Ron, and John Musker, dirs. Aladdin. 1992. DVD. N.p.: Disney, 1992. 17 Cohen, Jeffery J., and Todd R. Ramlow. Pink Vectors of Deleuze: Queer Theory and Inhumanism. 18 Professor of English and the Director of the Medieval and Early Modern Studies Institute (MEMSI) at the George Washington University 19 Adjunct Professor of Women's at the George Washington University.

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kind of moralizing, this reinscription of Original Sin and the fallen nature of humanity through the priests of psychoanalysis [Desire] represents nothing, but it produces.20 DnG believed that psychoanalysis presented a very obvious problem: It gave humans this inevitable limit. DnG believed, like the genie in Aladdin, that humans are able to become anything they want. 21 But as with the genie, psychoanalysis confines them to itty bitty living spaces, dictating that lack defines why they act and that they can only become what our preplanned body and mind allow. 22 DnG thus deny this inevitability that psychoanalysis puts on humans, attempting instead to open up endless possibilities for human thought. They believe that either Lacan was right, in which case there is no harm in trying to break away because at worst our internal desires make failure inevitable, or Lacan was wrong, in which case we have an infinite possibility of different lives that we could be experiencing. It is because of this rejection that DnGs first book is named Anti-Oedipus23 and why Deleuzes tombstone reads, Il ny a pas de manqu dans labsence. Labsence est une presence en moi [There is no lack in absence. Absence is a presence in me.]24 The Structure of Human Thought Aladdin: They wanna make me Sultan. No, they want to make Prince Ali Sultan. Without you, I'm just Aladdin The only reason anyone thinks I'm worth anything is because of you. What if they find out I'm not really a prince? What if Jasmine finds out? I'd lose her. Genie, I can't keep this up on my own. I-I can't wish you free. 25 Aladdin is stuck with the Oedipal (limiting/inevitable) thought of normal society, forcing him to try to be rich and powerful to be seen as having value. This forces him to not wish free the genie, which can be seen here as human thought.26 The genie, or human thought, is trapped in a prison, not allowing him to be freeto spread infinitely in all directions. DnG believed that human though is trapped by Lacans ideas, much like the genie in Aladdin.27Because of these Oedipal limits on our thought, humanity cannot break free into a whole new world of
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Cohen, Jeffery J., and Todd R. Ramlow. Pink Vectors of Deleuze: Queer Theory and Inhumanism. Douglas-Jones, Rachel, and Salla Sariola. Rhizome Yourself: Experiencing Deleuze and Guattari from Theory to Practice. In fact they are in a constant state of becoming. We are always becoming new things, becoming-hip, becoming philosophical, becoming-Deleuzian, becoming-prepubescent etc. 22 Cohen, Jeffery J., and Todd R. Ramlow. Pink Vectors of Deleuze: Queer Theory and Inhumanism. 23 Deleuze, Gilles, and Felix Guattari. Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983. 24 Cohen, Jeffery J., and Todd R. Ramlow. Pink Vectors of Deleuze: Queer Theory and Inhumanism. 25 Clements, Ron, and John Musker, dirs. Aladdin. 26 Clements, Ron, and John Musker, dirs. Aladdin. 27 Cohen, Jeffery J., and Todd R. Ramlow. Pink Vectors of Deleuze: Queer Theory and Inhumanism.
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thought and ideas. DnG provide a theoretically useful metaphor for these structures of human thought: The arboresent and the rhizomatic.28 The arboresent, or Lacanian thought, has a tree like quality to knowledge, with rigid leaves and structures that all come back to a single trunk. It is impossible, in this knowledge, to produce any thought that is different than the trunk.29 On the other hand, rhizomatics, DnGs schizoanalytic thought, takes human thought like model organisms such as grass, which have no center, growing in every direction. 30 They thrive to grow in infinitely, some dying, some creating new rhizomes. Through this system of thinking, humanity becomes free to produce new ideas, even those that challenge modern conceptions of thought. 31 Sellers32 and Gough33 describe why this way of thinking is the best for envisioning the world: The only justification for the present system is that it is what we know that we believe to work Yet, we know so much about our worldview that is no longer as we knew it everything is already in flux Deleuze and Guattaris rhizome is possible to imagine other ways that perturb a predominant worldview.34 Two truly envision new world, new ideas and new thoughts, we must break away from the current state of thought, which is static and unchanging. 35 The moment Aladdin realizes that societal views dont define his value, he removes himself from the limits that previously held him back from freeing the genie. 36 Likewise, only by removing Oedipal limits on our thoughts and desires can humanity truly free itself from the microfascism 37 that holds back our
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Douglas-Jones, Rachel, and Salla Sariola. Rhizome Yourself: Experiencing Deleuze and Guattari from Theory to Practice. 29 Douglas-Jones, Rachel, and Salla Sariola. Rhizome Yourself: Experiencing Deleuze and Guattari from Theory to Practice. 30 Douglas-Jones, Rachel, and Salla Sariola. Rhizome Yourself: Experiencing Deleuze and Guattari from Theory to Practice. 31 Sellers, Warren, and Noel Gough. Sharing Outsider Thinking: Thinking (Differently) with Deleuze in Educational Philosophy and Curriculum Inquiry. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 23, no. 5 (September-October 2010): 589-614. doi:10.1080/09518398.2010.500631. Pg. 606 32 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. 33 Faculty of Education, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. 34 Sellers, Warren, and Noel Gough. Sharing Outsider Thinking: Thinking (Differently) with Deleuze in Educational Philosophy and Curriculum Inquiry. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 23, no. 5 (September-October 2010): 589-614. doi:10.1080/09518398.2010.500631. Pg. 606 35 Sellers, Warren, and Noel Gough. Sharing Outsider Thinking: Thinking (Differently) with Deleuze in Educational Philosophy and Curriculum Inquiry. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 23, no. 5 (September-October 2010): 589-614. doi:10.1080/09518398.2010.500631. Pg. 606 36 Clements, Ron, and John Musker, dirs. Aladdin. 37 Deleuze and Guattari. A Thousand Plateaus. Pg.214. Microfascism is basically the limiting factors within all of us, the Oedipal limits, that tell us what we can and cant do. They force us to desire our own repression because the Oedipal tells us what we want is bad. In the context

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thought from spreading infinitely in every direction.38 Conclusion Aladdin: Wow. The palace looks pretty amazing, huh? Princess Jasmine: Oh, it's wonderful. Aladdin: I wonder what it'd be like to live there, and have servants, and valets. Princess Jasmine: Oh, sure. People who tell you where to go and how to dress. Aladdin: That's better than here. You're always scraping for food and ducking the guards. Princess Jasmine: You're not free to make your own choices. Aladdin: Sometimes you feel so... Princess Jasmine: You're just... Aladdin, Princess Jasmine: ...trapped. 39 When the Princess began to remove herself from the norms of society, she opened herself up to a whole new world, with beautiful new sights and feelings. Aladdin removed himself from these Oedipal rules of society as well, opening himself up to the possibility of freeing the genie. 40 In a sense, they were both trapped in their worlds, not being able to think or act different, but once enacting in a revolt from the common practices, both Jasmine and Aladdin saw the new possibilities. From Jasmines flight from home, to the genie rhizoming free from his prison, the entire movie paints a Deleuzian picture on human life. Life is currently trapped by limits and norms, directing our thought in certain, pre-described directions, but by enacting the Schizoanalytic thought presented by Deleuze and Guattari, life may be able to find itself a new idea, a new paradigm, or a whole new world. 41

of Aladdin, Aladdin wants to free to genie and wants to be with Jasmine, but the microfascism within him tells him that fitting in with society is a must and, thus, he cannot free the genie. 38 Deleuze and Guattari. A Thousand Plateaus. Pg.214. 39 Clements, Ron, and John Musker, dirs. Aladdin. 40 Clements, Ron, and John Musker, dirs. Aladdin. 41 Ballantyne, Andrew. Deleuze and Guattari for Architects. Pg. 60. Most of us, most of the time, want to feel secure in the territory that we know and welcome as our own, putting us in the position of the hefted sheep or the twittering birds. But at the important moments in our lives, the moments when we are most fully alive, we must pay attention to the deep resonance that the earth asserts everywhere, through all territories, or the disorienting freedoms that keep us moving through new unstable spaces that open up new possibilities, however incomprehensible and unproductive they might seem when we are operating in the world of common sense. At those moments, the voice or everyday reason can sound so oppressive and limiting that the only thing to do is to hang up the phone.

Cook 7 Bibliography Afary, Janet, and Kevin B. Anderson. Review of Foucault and the Iranian Revolution, by Janet Afary. Revisiting Foucault and the Iranian Revolution. Accessed April 25, 2012. Last modified 2004. This was more tuned to my previous topic, however this described the practical application of Deleuzian theory into revolution and the possible implications of failing to be Deleuzian. By analyzing the Iranian revolution was Foucauldian and not Deleuzian, recreating authoritative politics. It provides good examples of the pragmatics of Deleuze. Ballantyne, Andrew. Deleuze and Guattari for Architects. Edited by Adam Sharr, Jonathan A. Hale, Hilde Heynen, and David Leatherbarrow. New York: Routledge Publishing, 2007. This book was perfect for this project. It gave the entire breakdown of Deleuzian philosophy, part by part. This was incredible for this project. This has to be the best introduction to Deleuzian philosophy ever. Its also beautifully written. The metaphors and examples are perfect. This will be quoted a lot. Bensaid, Daniel. The Eclipse of Politics. Critical Legal Thinking. Accessed April 25, 2012. Last modified 2008. http://www.criticallegalthinking.com/2011/07/24/the-eclipse-ofpolitics-1-of-4-intro/. This was more tuned to my previous topic, however this described the practical application of Deleuzian theory into revolution and the possible implications of failing to be Deleuzian. By analyzing the Iranian revolution was Foucauldian and not Deleuzian, recreating authoritative politics. It provides good examples of the pragmatics of Deleuze. Clements, Ron, and John Musker, dirs. Aladdin. 1992. DVD. N.p.: Disney, 1992. Much like the song from this movie, the movie itself will be quoted throughout my essay as an analogy to Deleuzian thought. Its from the movie Aladdin and perfectly parellels Deleuzes ideas. Although, this may counteract how Deleuze felt of about Capitalism, it still is a good parallel that will help readers relate to Deleuzes ideas more. Cohen, Jeffery J., and Todd R. Ramlow. Pink Vectors of Deleuze: Queer Theory and Inhumanism. Rhizomes 1, no. 11/12 (Fall 2006). Accessed April 22, 2012. http://www.rhizomes.net/issue11/cohenramlow.html. This journal was extremely good. It completely developed the basis of Deleuzioguattarian

Cook 8 thought while revealing the practical application of it in queer theory. Further, this article mentioned the philosophical implications of Deleuzes suicide in 1995. This lead me to discover an entire article based around the subject. Colombat, Andre Pierre. November 4, 1995: Deleuzes death as an event. Man and World 29 (1996): 235-249. This article gave a detailed explanation of Deleuzes death and the possible meaning it may have played. Further, it explained the performative elements of Deleuzes ideas and work. Deleuze, Gilles, and Felix Guattari. Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983. This is the book that started all of my research. It is the basis for Deleuzoguttarian thought, and their first book together. This book slowly develops Deleuzian thought, analyzing and recreating the way I thought. . A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, 1983. This is the second book in the series. Its basically a take two of their idea of Schizoanalysis. They begin to take the concepts first introduced in AO and rework them, trying to slow down to truly outline every idea they have (though not by much.) Douglas-Jones, Rachel, and Salla Sariola. Rhizome Yourself: Experiencing Deleuze and Guattari from Theory to Practice. Rhizomes 19, no. 1 (Summer 2009). http://www.rhizomes.net/issue19/sariola.html. This gave an in depth analysis on how people can use Deleuzian thinking in their own life. By providing the essay in a narrative form, the authors are able to describe Deleuzes ideas of the rhizomatic thought in everyday life, creating new ideas and thinking. Goddard, Michael. The Encounter between Guattari and Berardi and the Post-Media Era. postmedialab.org. Accessed April 22, 2012. Last modified February 8, 2012. http://www.postmedialab.org/felix-and-alice-wonderland-encounter-between-guattariand-berardi-and-post-media-era. This article gave a very good example of Deleuzian thought being infused with social revolution to achieve a productive revolution. I found the analysis of revolutionary radio to be quite intriguing, however to be too big for life. Kane, Brad, and Leah Salonga. A Whole New World, by Alan Menken. Disney. Amazon. CD. Accessed May 13, 2012. 1992. http://www.amazon.com/Aladdin-Special-SoundtrackVarious-Artists/dp/B0002ZMJF2.

Cook 9 This is a song I use throughout my essay as an analogy to Deleuzian thought. Its from the movie Aladdin and perfectly parellels Deleuzes ideas. Although, this may counteract how Deleuze felt of about Capitalism, it still is a good song that will help readers relate to Deleuzes ideas more. Leonard, Philip. New Concepts for Unknown Lands: Deleuze and Guattaris Nonnationalitarianisms. National Identities 5, no. 2 (2003): 193-208. Accessed April 22, 2012. doi:10.1080/1460894032000124420. This article was mainly about Hardt and Negris ideas rather than Deleuzes, thus I found this rather none-helpful. However, it did provide some background on ideas of society as a flux which is crucial to their theories. Marzec, Robert. The War Machine and Capitalism. Rhizomes 3, no. 1 (Fall 2001). Accessed April 22, 2012. This article closely described Deleuzes idea of the rhizome. It helped reveal what rhizomatic thought is and how it interacts with the world. Patton, Paul. Activism, Philosophy and Actuality in Deleuze and Foucault. Deleuze Studies 4 (2012): 84-103. Accessed April 22, 2012. doi:10.3366/E1750224110001145. This article began to discuss in depth the role of the intellectual in regards to revolutions. It discuss how the application of Deleuzes theories in regards to heading a revolution can allow for the openness that allows all ideas to be a possibilities and how this can develop a new and better world. Resonance and the Egyptian Revolution. Space and Politics. Accessed April 25, 2012. Last modified February 6, 2011. http://spaceandpolitics.blogspot.com/2011/02/resonanceand-egyptian-revolution.html. This article was great in describing the Deleuzian concept of resonance forcing us to look at wider, complex, ever shifting and fluid topographies of unrest that connect and affect distant and seemingly disconnected geographies. It spreads infinitely in every direction connecting all points. This describes Deleuzian Rhizomes as well, showing the extent of Deleuzian thought in application. Robinson, Andrew. In Theory Why Deleuze (Still) Matters: States, War-Machines and Radical Transformation. Ceasefire, September 10, 2010. http://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/intheory-deleuze-war-machine/. Although this article is specific to Deleuzian politics, it explained in detail what

Cook 10 Deleuzes Machine is in comparison to the state. This provides a real world application to their theories... but this didnt provide a great breakdown of Deleuzes theories. Sellers, Warren, and Noel Gough. Sharing Outsider Thinking: Thinking (Differently) with Deleuze in Educational Philosophy and Curriculum Inquiry. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 23, no. 5 (September-October 2010): 589-614. doi:10.1080/09518398.2010.500631. Because I will be giving a lecture I began to research the pedogogical implications of Deleuzeianguattarian studies. This article began to discuss the many ways to induce and infuse new ideas into teaching. Further, it describes in detail how rhizomatic thought looks and feels. By describing it I began to have a better understanding of how Deleuze thought and why it was so revolutionary. Svirsky, Marcelo. Defining Activism. Deleuze Studies 4, no. 1 (2010): 163-182. doi: 10.3366/E1750224110001182. This article would have been great for my previous topic (activism and Deleuze) it now serves as an example of the flux of Deleuzian philosophy. Further, it perfectly described what deterritorialization is in terms to the stratified state of Oedipal thought, which is monumentally important in Deleuzes work. Thiele, Kathrin. Immanence and the Quest for Political Activism. Deleuze Studies 4 (2010): 28-45. Accessed April 22, 2012. doi:10.3366/E175022411000111X. Although interesting this article provided me with almost nothing in regards to my essay. It was more focused on the political realm and the philosophy behind it. Van De Wiel, Raymond. The Event of Revolution: Thinking the Radically New. www.raymondvandewiel.nl. Accessed 2006. http://www.raymondvandewiel.org/events&revolutions.pdf. This was not to great. Although, this did describe in detail the difference of structuralist and post-structuralist theories. Thats about all it informed me on however.