On grounds and groundlessness

: Deleuze and Guattari's geophilosophy and the image of thought

Abstract

The philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari has long been of interest for cultural geography. A host of Deleuzo-Guattarian concepts are (for better and for worse) common parlance amongst those intent on pushing beyond the boundaries of what Deleuze calls ‘the dogmatic image of thought’. In recent years, however, attention has increasingly turned to their concept of ‘geophilosophy’ in the context of growing concerns around the status of the Earth in and for contemporary thinking.

This thesis makes a contribution to this nascent field, doing so by reinterpreting Deleuze and Guattari’s geophilosophy from the perspective of another key concept in their work, namely, the ‘image of thought’. I problematise (and ultimately overcome) a two-fold tendency within the critical literature, limiting Deleuze and Guattari’s use of geography either to one or two late-stage texts or to a solely disciplinary re-telling of the history of philosophy. My contention, rather, is that geography (or the Earth) is at the very heart of things when it comes to some of their most formative and longstanding ontological commitments (e.g. to immanence not transcendence).

My main focus, then, is to bring to light this particular concept of geography. I proceed primarily through an interpolation made with the twin-concepts of ‘ground’ and ‘groundlessness’. Together, ground(s) and groundlessness bring into relief the consistent use Deleuze and Guattari make of a certain figure of the Earth in reconceptualising the image of thought. Examining each concept in turn, I then establish a 'geomachinic image of thought’ on the basis of their perpetual interrelation. From this, I pursue two furtive, and under-appreciated, theoretical consequences of this position: firstly, the idea of panpsychism, and secondly, Deleuze and Guattari’s indebtedness to the philosophy of Étienne Souriau. I conclude with a short reflection on some of the possible futures of geophilosophical thinking.

Date of Award	9 May 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Mark Jackson (Supervisor) & Joe Gerlach (Supervisor)