The Symposium: Philosophy Community of Chicago

Join us for a discussion of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s final collaborative work, What Is Philosophy?, a meditation on the nature and task of philosophy.

“Philosophy is the art of forming, inventing, and fabricating concepts.” (p. 2)

Philosophers do not primarily contemplate, reflect, or communicate; instead, their main task is to create concepts, which are unique and inseparable from the plane of immanence where they arise. A concept is a singular creation with its own components and internal consistency. It does not represent objects or states of affairs but confronts a problem directly and gives consistency to thought. Concepts are always tied to a problem, and their power lies in opening new possibilities for thinking.

“The greatness of a philosophy is measured by the nature of the events to which its concepts summon us or that it enables us to release in concepts… The concept belongs to philosophy and only to philosophy.” (p. 34)

We will explore why the creation of concepts is the unique aim of philosophy.

Reading:
What Is Philosophy? by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Introduction: The Question Then…, and Chapter 1: What Is a Concept?, pp. 1–34

You’re welcome to read more, but we’ll focus our discussion on the introduction and first chapter.

PDFs:

I have climbed mountain Iwato of Higo in Kyushu to pay homage to heaven, pray to Kwannon, and kneel before Buddha. I am a warrior of Harima province, Shinmen Musashi No Kami Fujiwara No Genshin, age sixty years. From youth my heart has been inclined toward the Way of Strategy. - Miyamoto

In this work, Miyamoto gives a largely directive instruction on how to become an undefeated samurai, duelist, and strategist. This work was created as he was living as retired hermit, intending to pass on his martial arts strategy. This discussion will largely approach the text from a philosophical framework towards living, ethics, and fighting itself.

This will be a free discussion over this work.