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Theory of Sensation as Theory of Body: Deleuze’s Answer to Spinoza’s Question: What Can Our Bodies Do?
탈경계인문학Trans-Humanities
2013,
6(2), pp.171-198
Publisher : Ewha Institute for the Humanities: EIH
Research Area : Other Humanities
Publisher : Ewha Institute for the Humanities: EIH
Research Area : Other Humanities
1서울대학교
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The purpose of this paper is to reconstitute the answer of Deleuze and Guattari to Spinoza’s question (“What can our bodies do?”) and to properly situate their theory of sensation as an answer to this question. Their theory of sensation is basically an extension of their ethical project, ethology. In their view, ethology means the study of the body’s ability of composition and modification. But normally, it is difficult for us to concretely feel and understand compositions and modifications. To do this, we require a type of transcendental practice of our sensations. In my opinion, their theory of sensation shows this transcendental practice. The core of their theory of sensation is to distinguish two pairs of concepts, perception/percept and affection/affect, and to accept only percept and affect as the two constituents of sensation. Percept and affect are the genetic elements of our ordinary perception and affection. Deleuze and Guattari consider a work of art as a block of percepts and affects. According to them, a work of art is a special body that modifies our bodies, and it makes us reach percepts and affects. In this sense, for Deleuze and Guattari, a work of art is considered an effective means for transcendental practice of our sensation.
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