Thinking Between Deleuze and Merleau-Ponty

Book excerpt: Deleuze's philosophy is usually considered to form a radical break with phenomenology since most of Deleuze's references to phenomenology are so disparaging. With respect to the phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty, however, this claim cannot be made so easily, especially not with respect to Merleau-Ponty's later work. The reason is not that Deleuze himself was less harsh regarding Merleau-Ponty than other phenomenologists - he was not - but that he ignored the fundamental resonances between his thinking and that of the later Merleau-Ponty. These resonances are illustrated by an analysis of how both authors develop a non-representational account of thinking that is based on an immanent and differential ontology. The examination of shared references to Bergson, Proust, Cézanne, Saussure, Simondon and Sartre serves as a touchstone for the aforementioned resonances. This examination also provides a frame of the differences that separate the philosophies of Deleuze and Merleau-Ponty, and it challenges the prevailing view of the academic landscape in France between 1880 and 1960.