Deleuze's Hume: Philosophy, Culture and the Scottish Enlightenment

by Jeffrey A. Bell

This book offers the first extended comparison of the philosophies of Gilles Deleuze and David Hume. Jeffrey Bell argues that Deleuze’s early work on Hume was instrumental to Deleuze’s formulation of the problems and concepts that would remain a focus of his entire corpus. Reading Deleuze’s work in light of Hume’s influence, along with a comparison of Deleuze’s work with William James, Henri Bergson, and others, sets the stage for a vigorous defence of his philosophy against a number of recent criticisms, and it extends the field of Deleuze studies by showing how Deleuze’s thought can clarify and contribute to the work being done in political theory, cultural studies, and history, particularly the history of the Scottish Enlightenment. By engaging Deleuze’s thought with the work of Hume, this book clarifies and supports the work of Deleuze and exemplifies the continuing relevance of Hume’s thought to a number of contemporary debates.

Genres: Philosophy

184 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2009

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is positively brilliant and highly recommended. Look out for a blog entry on it. What it does most brilliantly is show how Hume is situated within the Scottish Enlightenment historically while analyzing this situatedness with respect to contemporary political and metaphysical thinkers such as Badiou, Deleuze, Latour, and many others. In addition, his analysis of belief is one of the most clear explanations (even more than Deleuze himself!) I've read.