Immanence, Philosophy and Locality
17-19 June 2016, Seoul National University. Seoul, South Korea
Gilles Deleuze’s influence on the “Asian” intellectual scenes has not yet received adequate treatment. The Deleuzian philosophy attracted Asian readers with a unique conceptualization of capitalism and revolution. In other words, the virtual philosophy of Deleuze was meant to make these concepts work in actuality. There is no wonder that Deleuzian concepts such as the body-without-organs, the state as the apparatus of capture, the war-machine, coding and decoding, territorialization and deterritorialization, language as a regime of signs, have largely received as a radical perspective to modernism and capitalism. What is important is that Deleuze is a political philosopher and his politics is doubled with philosophy and implies always-already affirmation between thinking and practice. This immanent system of Deleuzian theory was impressive to the readers. Deleuze’s philosophy comes out of the socio-historical situation of May 1968 and stands against capitalism; this definitely indicates the way in which one can preserve the radical perspective and reinstates their anti-capitalist position in terms of ‘micropolitics.’ From this viewpoint, the 4th International Deleuze Studies in Asia Conference will provide various venues in which many scholars across the world can discuss the meaning of Deleuze in the non-Western contexts as well as the Western contexts. For Deleuze, thinking is “the relationship of territory and the earth.” The territory-earth relationship gives rise to the absolute plane of immanence. In this way, we can name “Chinese, Hindu, Jewish, or Islamic ‘philosophy’ … to the extent that thinking takes place on a plane of immanence that can be populated by figures as much as by concepts.” Therefore, any philosophy is a miracle because it should encounter the territory of any location and Asia can be another territory for Deleuzism.
