By Political Physics: Deleuze, Derrida and the Body Politic (Transversals series)

Political Physics analyses the work of two of the most influential thinkers of our time - Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze. The book takes the reader on a transversal journey, crossing the boundaries of philosophy and science.Political Physics explores the limits and strengths of Derridean and Deleuzean philosophical approaches. Focussing on their differing approaches to the question of the 'body politic' - in all its registers, from the physical-chemical body, to the economic, the social and the political body - the book reveals a profound difference in ontological commitment. The book argues that the straightforward materialism of Deleuzean philosophy can operate across the range of analysis whereas Derridean deconstruction effectively operates at the level of reason, consciousness and culture.Cross-cutting a Derridean analysis of the history of philosophy with a Deleuzian approach to creative dialogue and complexity theory, Political Physics illuminates the value of both approaches to the analysis of contemporary culture, politics and science and to the rereading of the history of ideas. Review "A careful and far-reaching negotiation between the political substance and futures of the philosophy of Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze. Executed through a series of tour de force readings of the Western tradition, this negotiation opens up the radical need for continental philosophy to engage in the sciences for it to carry consistent ethico-political force." Richard Beardsworth About the Author John Protevi teaches in the Dept. of French Studies at Louisiana State University.