Philosophy Is
Philosophy is becoming,
not history;
it is the coexistence of planes,
not the succession of systems.We will say that the plane of immanence is,
at the same time, that which must be thought
and that which cannot be thought.
It is the nonthought within thought.
…It is the most intimate within thought
and yet the absolute outside
—an outside more distant than any external world
because it is an inside deeper than an internal world:
it is immanence,
“intimacy as the Outside,
the exterior become the intrusion that stifles,
and the reversal of both one and the other.”
—the incessant to-ing and fro-ing of the plane,
infinite movement.Perhaps this is the supreme act of philosophy;
not so much to think THE plane of immanence
as to show that it is there,
unthought in every plane…….
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari
excerpt What Is Philosophy, page 59
I know, I know. You are frustrated. I have posted a text that makes your head hurt, and your eyes cross as you try to understand it. Believe me, I know how it feels. One of the recurring questions that a philosopher returns to, maybe the most persistent is, What Is Philosophy? As the years pass repeatedly one asks oneself,– “What the hell am I doing?” The question is asked seriously, not frivolously. Philosophy is a practice that demands a lot of time, a sizable slice of one’s life. Much time is spent reading, spent in convivial conversation with others, developing ideas. Writing demands time. Since time and life is finite, one has to ask, “Is it worth it?”
The question must be asked and answered by you and I. No one can ask or answer for anyone else. The above lines of quotation provide a clue, an element of insight into the ongoing dialog and response that constitutes the process of philosophy. Like the surface of a lake, or of the ocean, there is the unthought that lies beneath the visible surface of words, concepts and propositions. There is a ceaseless rising and falling, of surface movement. What of the unseen, the below the surface problems posed by unrestrained advance of technology?
As artificial intelligence is readied for prime time, jobs will be eliminated like branches fed into a wood chipper. The onslaught of climate change precipitates weather extremes, triple digit temps, with wild fires in Colorado and power outages in LA. The concentration of power by uber-wealthy challenges democracies East and West. These are a few of the conditions that constitute the plane of the early 21st century; as close, immanent as the front page of tomorrows New York Times, or the pink slip informing a worker of his lay-off.
A beneath the surface, unspoken, unthought cross current of conditions confronts our will to live; to live by concepts conceived, shaped by philosophical inquiry. Such is the image of Thought-Being in our time.
By all means feel free to comment…..
