Theory of “partial object” in Gilles Deleuze : In Search of its ontological and aesthetical meaning

Jae-Yin KIM

The concept of “partial object(objet partiel)” which plays an important role in Gilles Deleuze is originated from Melanie Klein, a famous psychoanalyst of children. While Sigmund Freud conceives human development from the(diachronic) viewpoint of “stage” or “phase”, Klein does from the(synchronic) viewpoint of “position”. According to Klein, human goes from “paranoid-schizoid position” to “depressive position” or vice versa, which should be comprehended not as a step-by-step development but as a change of position between the two. A little child has a phantasy whose main function is projective identification or intorjection. In the first position, a little child separates good object from bad in order to love or hate it. This phantasy is necessary for a little weak child to survive. This position is called “schizoid” because one separates all objects each other and “paranoid” because one experiences all objects in delusions. In this position, all objects are “partial”, because they are either good or bad. The eminent example is mother’s breast. Little child is only interested in breast, not in whole mother, for her/his sole concern is direct satisfaction or not of her/his drive. But in the second position, little child realizes that “good” object and “bad” object is one and the same whole, so begins to integrate the partial objects into “a whole object”. Everything is absolutely not good nor bad. So this position is called “depressive”. But as mentioned above, according to Klein, the two positions are not developmental stages but two different positions which will also remain in adults. Deleuze criticizes the Kleinian conception of “partial object”. First, partial object is not related with phantasy, but with real process of production as that of desiring-machine(machine désirante). Second, partial object is selected only apparently from whole person, but it is in reality produced in terms of the selection from a impersonal flux or hyle. In short, partial object is not anthropological but ontological entity. “Partial objects are molecular functions of the unconscious”. Partial object is produced from selection-cutting(coupure-prélèvement). Deleuze defines machine as “a system of cutting of flux”. Here cutting is not opposed to flux, but presupposes it. Cutting and flux are relative, for the former refers to peras or determination and the latter apeiron or the indeterminate. The product of cutting is partial object as object in general. The concept of partial object has some important meaning both ontological and aesthetic. The plasticity or potentiality of material in the process of art-working reveals the nature of being in general. Being is becoming and transformation. A whole is always partial. The partiality of object encourages artistic or creative experimentation. There is no final fixed object but only partial object always ready to be transformed. This is the ultimate meaning of partial object in aesthetics and ontology.

Citation status

KCI Citation Counts (4)
열림/닫힘 버튼
REFERENCES (22)
열림/닫힘 버튼
* 2022년 이후 발행 논문의 참고문헌은 현재 구축 중입니다.

[book] Deleuze, Gilles / 1953 / Empirisme et subjectivité. essai sur la nature humaine selon Hume / P.U.F

[book] Deleuze, Gilles / 1962 / Nietzsche et la philosophie / P.U.F

[book] Deleuze, Gilles / 1968 / Difference et Répétition / Les éditions de Minuit

[book] Deleuze, Gilles / 1976 / Nietzsche und die Philosophie / Rogner und Bernhard GmbH & Co. Verlags KG

[book] Deleuze, Gilles / 1983 / Nietzsche and Philosophy / Columbia University Press

[book] Deleuze, Gilles / 2002 / L'île Déserte et Autres Textes. textes et entretiens 1953-1974 / Les éditions de Minuit

[book] Deleuze, Gilles / 1972 / L’Anti-Oedipe, Capitalisme et schizophrénie / Les éditions de Minuit

[book] Deleuze, Gilles / 1980 / Mille Plateaux Capitalisme et schizophrénie 2 / Les éditions de Minuit

[other] Deleuze, Gilles / 1996 / L'Abécédaire de Gilles Deleuze / Video interview

[book] Hinshelwood, R. D. / 1991 / A Dictionary of Kleinian Thought / Jason Aronson

[journal] Kim, Jae-Yin / 2013 / Deleuze, Marx and Non-human Sex: An Immanent Ontology Shared between Anti-Oedipus and Manuscripts from 1844 / Theory and Event 16(3)

[book] Klein, Melanie / 1975 / The Writings of Melanie Klein. Vol Ⅰ. Love, Guilt and Reparation and other works 1921-1945; Vol. Ⅱ. The Psycho-analysis of Children; Vol Ⅲ. Envy and Gratitude and other works 1946-1963; Vol. Ⅳ. Narrative of a Child Analysis / The Free Press

[book] Laplanche, Jean / 2005 / 정신분석 사전 / 열린책들

[book] Nietzsche, Friedrich / 1999 / Kritische Studienausgabe, vol. XII / Walter de Gruyter

[book] Nietzsche, Friedrich / 1999 / Kritische Studienausgabe, vol. XIII / Walter de Gruyter

[book] Segal, Julia / 2009 / 멜라니 클라인 / 학지사

[book] Spillius, Elizabeth Bott / 2011 / The New Dictionary of Kleinian Thought / Routledge

[book] Zourabichvili, François / 2003 / Le Vocabulaire de Deleuze / Ellipses Édition Marketing S.A

[thesis] 김재인 / 2013 / 들뢰즈의 비인간주의 존재론 / 박사 / 서울대학교

[journal] 김재인 / 2013 / Work of art as “a block of sensations”in the Deleuzian aesthetics / 美學(미학) / 한국미학회 (76) : 39~72

[journal] 김재인 / 2014 / Artist Apprenticeship in Deleuze’s Theory of Art: From the Young Deleuze’s Viewpoint on Proust / 미술과 교육 / 한국국제미술교육학회 15(1) : 1~20

[thesis] 박선영 / 2004 / 멜라니 클라인의 아동정신분석 : 이론 및 임상 체계의 비판적 재구성 / 박사 / 이화여대

KJC Korea
Journal Central

Statistics

Tools

Sharing

Issue List

Citation status