This guide explains the key arguments of Empiricism and Subjectivity, organised thematically. It features an Appendix with a propositional summary of the book, a final chapter on with the movement of the themes of Empiricism and Subjectivity through Deleuze's later work and a substantial suggestions for further reading.
'Among the ranks of philosophical debuts, Gilles Deleuze's Empiricism and Subjectivity is surely one of the oddest - a book, at once unassuming and brilliant, on David Hume. The strangeness of this book has always rewarded those who are willing to muster rigor and indulge idiosyncrasy, and it's in this context that Jon Roffe's critical introduction is so good. Roffe is among the very few deft enough to convey the peculiar fusion of philosophical tastes that bring Deleuze and Hume together.'
Gregory Flaxman, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Empiricism and Subjectivity is Gilles Deleuze's first book. It is a study of David Hume's philosophy and is infrequently read and poorly understood. Often presumed to be a youthful rehearsal for later, more mature developments of famous themes, in fact it constitutes a unique project in its own right, deserving of the same close study that is now widely given to other, more well-known works.
For readers new to his work, Jon Roffe introduces Deleuze's compelling and productive way of reading other thinkers. To those already familiar with Deleuze, it presents his early reading of Hume on its own novel terms. More generally, it outlines the powerful theory of subjectivity and remarkable vision of the nature of philosophy that emerges from Deleuze's encounter with one of the founding figures of modern Western thought.
Jon Roffe is Vice-Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of New South Wales, and is the founding convenor of the Melbourne School of Continental Philosophy.
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ISBN (cover): 978-1-4744-0583-6
ISBN (PPC): 978-1-4744-0582-9
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