This Deep Dive examines a a review essay by Kenneth Noe from the Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy, published in 2013. It focuses on Daniel W. Smith's book, "Essays on Deleuze" (2012), which collects Smith's extensive work on the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. Noe's review highlights Smith's significant contributions to Deleuze studies, particularly how Smith interprets Deleuze's philosophy as a direct response to Kant and post-Kantian critical philosophy. The essay explores themes such as Deleuze's engagement with the history of philosophy, his philosophical system, key Deleuzian concepts, and his relation to contemporary philosophy. A central focus of the review is Smith's examination of Deleuze's theory of time and concepts, emphasizing how Deleuze reimagines the nature of thought and experience through passive syntheses to allow for the production of novelty.

This Deep Dive examines a review of "The Cambridge Companion to Deleuze", an edited volume aiming to provide accessible entry points for non-specialists into the complex work of philosopher Gilles Deleuze. The reviewer highlights the book's success in enticing new readers due to its organization by topics and the impressive roster of contributing scholars, many of whom are leading interpreters of Deleuze's work. The review details how the collection explores various facets of Deleuze's thought, including its historical context, ethical and political implications, connections to science and art, and his relationships with other philosophical traditions and thinkers like Kant and Guattari. Ultimately, the reviewer concludes that the Companion serves as a valuable roadmap to the current state of Deleuze scholarship, offering seasoned reflections on specific areas rather than a broad, single-author overview.

This deep dive discussed an academic collection, "Deleuzian Encounters: Studies in Contemporary Social Issues," and explores the practical application of Gilles Deleuze's philosophy to various contemporary societal challenges. The book is divided into four parts: "Politics Beyond Identity," which examines how Deleuze's ideas can inform new political thought; "Ethico-Aesthetics," which analyzes art, affect, and sensation in social contexts; "Socio-Spatiality," focusing on the relationship between bodies and spaces; and "Global Schizophrenia," which applies Deleuzian concepts to global movements like migration and alter-globalization. Overall, the volume demonstrates how Deleuze's experimental philosophy can be utilized to address complex social phenomena, offering alternative perspectives on identity, power, and change.

This Deep Dive examples an academic article by Paul Patton that explores the relationship between the political philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari and the concept of democracy. It directly responds to Philippe Mengue's assertion that Deleuzian thought is inherently hostile to democratic principles. Patton addresses three key arguments Mengue presents to support this claim: Deleuze's rejection of transcendence and his criticisms of human rights, the contrast between majoritarian and minoritarian politics, and the antipathy of philosophy towards opinion. The author aims to demonstrate that, despite not being a theorist of democracy, Deleuze's work remains committed to egalitarian and democratic values, offering a more nuanced and positive interpretation of his engagement with democratic ideas.

This Deep Dive provides reviews of significant academic works: Celiese Lypka's review of Stark's Feminist Theory After Deleuze and Anindya Sekhar Purakayastha and Saswat Samay Das's review of Nathan Widder's Political Theory After Deleuze. Lypka highlights Stark's accessible integration of complex Deleuzian theory with everyday experiences, advocating for a "futural feminism" that embraces difference and disrupts systemic structures. Purakayastha and Das, on the other hand, argue for Widder's comprehensive exposition of Deleuze's micropolitical and ontological contributions to political philosophy, asserting his relevance for radical political thought and a "politics of impossible possibilities" that champions creative becoming over fixed identities. Both reviews underscore Deleuze's critical role in shaping contemporary philosophical discourse, particularly in challenging traditional political models and embracing fluid, experimental approaches to self and society.

This Deep Dive contrasts two perspectives on the impact of AI on democracy: the liberal-institutionalist view exemplified by a New York Times article and the populist-democratic stance of the True Representation Movement (TRM). The New York Times article frames AI as an external threat that erodes the integrity of an otherwise functioning democratic system through disinformation and foreign interference, advocating for institutional and regulatory safeguards. Conversely, TRM argues that the current democratic system is fundamentally flawed and unrepresentative of the public will, viewing AI not as the cause of democracy's decay but as a tool that merely exposes its pre-existing weaknesses. TRM asserts that AI's potential for good or ill depends entirely on its control, suggesting it could even be reappropriated to facilitate true direct democracy by empowering the working class. Ultimately, TRM proposes a radical reimagining of governance, where representatives become direct conduits of public opinion, facilitated by AI, rather than acting as independent agents susceptible to elite influence.

This deep dive examines an academic collection, "Deleuzian Encounters: Studies in Contemporary Social Issues," edited by Anna Hickey-Moody and Peta Malins, that explores how the philosophies of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari can be applied to diverse contemporary social issues. The book is divided into four parts: "Politics Beyond Identity," "Ethico-Aesthetics," "Socio-Spatiality," and "Global Schizophrenia." Each section presents essays that utilize Deleuzian concepts—such as "non-being," "becoming," "affect," "sensation," "smooth and striated space," "folds," "rhizome," "plateau," and the "body without organs"—to analyze topics ranging from intersexuality and intellectual disability to urban drug use, refugee experiences, and alter-globalization movements. The authors collectively aim to take Deleuze's philosophy out of purely academic circles and apply it to real-world social phenomena, often those that have emerged since Deleuze and Guattari's major works, demonstrating its pragmatic orientation and political ambitions for understanding and transforming society.