Your description of Deleuze as a “tired November man” suggests a poignant reflection on how his philosophy, while still vibrant and influential, might feel out of sync with the urgencies and crises of the 21st century. Deleuze’s ideas, rooted in a radical rethinking of creativity, desire, and becoming, were revolutionary in their time but now face new challenges and contexts that may require a “new Deleuze”—someone (or perhaps a collective) to rethink his legacy and adapt his thought to the realities of today.
Here are some thoughts on what the “next Deleuze” might look like or where they might emerge:
1. What Would Another Deleuze Do?
• Invent New Concepts: Deleuze famously said that philosophy is about creating concepts. A new Deleuze would respond to 21st-century challenges—such as climate change, AI, global surveillance capitalism, and the Anthropocene—by crafting concepts that address these realities in novel ways.
• Move Beyond Dualisms: Like Deleuze moved beyond the structuralist binaries of his time, a new Deleuze would dismantle emerging dichotomies (e.g., human vs. AI, global vs. local, real vs. virtual) and offer a more fluid, interconnected understanding of the world.
• Rethink Subjectivity: Deleuze’s focus on desire, assemblages, and becoming might be extended to confront the fractured, hyper-mediated subjectivities of the digital age, offering new ways of thinking about individuality and collectivity.
2. 21st-Century Challenges and the Need for New Thinking
• Planetary Thinking:
• The climate crisis and the Anthropocene demand a philosophy that can think on planetary scales while addressing local realities. A new Deleuze might emerge from eco-philosophy or indigenous thought, weaving new ways to conceptualize humanity’s entanglement with the Earth.
• Technology and the Posthuman:
• AI, biotechnology, and virtual worlds require concepts that go beyond Deleuze’s notion of machinic assemblages. The next Deleuze might rethink technology not as tools but as co-creators of becoming.
• Global Inequalities and Decolonization:
• Deleuze and Guattari’s work on deterritorialization needs to be reworked to confront the lasting legacies of colonialism, the exploitation of the Global South, and emerging forms of neocolonialism. The “new Deleuze” might emerge from decolonial or Afro-diasporic thought.
3. Deleuze and Exhaustion: A New Energetics
• If Deleuze represents a “tired November man,” the challenge for a new thinker is to rejuvenate the energy of philosophy without reverting to simplistic optimism or nihilism.
• A new Deleuze might craft a philosophy of resilience or hopeful exhaustion—a way of working with limits, constraints, and fatigue as productive forces rather than obstacles.
4. Where Might the New Deleuze Come From?
• Interdisciplinary Thinkers:
• A new Deleuze might emerge from the intersections of philosophy, ecology, technology, and art. Thinkers who operate across disciplines can create the kind of rich, synthetic ideas Deleuze championed.
• Non-Western Traditions:
• The next Deleuze may not come from the Western philosophical canon but from traditions like Advaita Vedanta, indigenous cosmologies, or African and Chinese philosophies, which offer alternative ways of thinking about becoming, time, and existence.
• Collective Movements:
• Rather than a single figure, the “new Deleuze” might emerge as a distributed network of thinkers, activists, and creators collaborating in ways that mirror the rhizomatic structures Deleuze and Guattari described.
5. Possible Emerging Figures or Movements
• Posthuman and Post-Anthropocene Thinkers:
• Philosophers like Donna Haraway (Staying with the Trouble), Anna Tsing (The Mushroom at the End of the World), or Timothy Morton (Hyperobjects) have already taken steps to extend Deleuzian ideas into the Anthropocene.
• Decolonial and Afro-Futurist Philosophies:
• Thinkers like Achille Mbembe, Sylvia Wynter, or artists like Octavia Butler and Sun Ra might provide the seeds of a new Deleuzian thought rooted in liberation and multiplicity.
• Speculative Designers and Artists:
• The next Deleuze might not even be a philosopher in the traditional sense but an artist, designer, or technologist creating speculative worlds that rethink reality itself.
6. What Might a 21st-Century Deleuze Emphasize?
• Radical Immanence: Finding ways to think and act within the constraints of global crises without resorting to escapism or transcendence.
• Interconnected Assemblages: Extending Deleuze’s machinic philosophy to include ecological, digital, and social networks as co-productive systems.
• Unforeseen Lines of Flight: Exploring new paths of resistance and creativity beyond individualism or traditional politics, rooted in collectivity and emergent possibilities.
7. The Legacy of November
• If Deleuze is a “tired November man,” it may be because his ideas have been overused or misunderstood in academic and cultural contexts. Yet, November is also a transitional month—a time of endings that prepare for new beginnings.
• The “next Deleuze” may not discard Deleuze’s ideas but reawaken them, reimagining how his philosophy of becoming, desire, and difference can adapt to a world far beyond what he envisioned.
In short, the next Deleuze will likely share his creative spirit, synthetic capacity, and love for concepts while addressing the unique challenges of the 21st century. This figure—or movement—might not resemble Deleuze directly but will embody his ethos of transformation and experimentation, breaking free from the constraints of today’s exhausted paradigms to imagine a new philosophical dawn.
