Dear friend,
this book—Difference and Multiplicity (2025) by Manu Bazzano—is, in a way, exactly the step that Chessick did not take.
Not just philosophically, but ontologically.
Let me show you its main points—not as a list, but as a movement away from “self” altogether.
1. The fundamental claim:
👉 The self is not one
Bazzano’s starting point:
The individual is not a unit, but a multiplicity of affects.
The individual is not a unit, but a multiplicity of affects
This is already a decisive break from:
- Freud → structured psyche
- Kohut → cohesive self
- Chessick → struggling self
👉 Instead:
There is no “one” to be healed only a field of forces, moods, fragments
There is no “one” to be healed
only a field of forces, moods, fragments
In your language:
self → dissolves replaced by 流（flows） rather than 體（entity）
self → dissolves
replaced by
流（flows） rather than 體（entity）
2. Difference is primary, not identity
Classical psychotherapy asks:
- Who am I?
- How do I become whole?
Bazzano reverses this:
Identity is secondary difference comes first
Identity is secondary
difference comes first
This is very close to Gilles Deleuze:
- difference is not deviation
- difference is the engine of existence
👉 So therapy is not:
- integration
- coherence
but:
learning to live with multiplicity
learning to live with multiplicity
3. Against integration (very important)
One chapter is literally:
👉 “Against Integration”
This is a direct attack on:
- ego psychology
- self psychology
- even some existential therapies
His claim:
The demand to “integrate” is often a form of violence
The demand to “integrate” is often a form of violence
Why?
Because it:
- suppresses difference
- normalizes the subject
- enforces identity
👉 Instead:
fragmentation is not pathology but condition of life
fragmentation is not pathology
but condition of life
4. Transindividuation (a key concept)
Drawing on Gilbert Simondon:
👉 The individual is not self-contained
From his related 2025 work:
- the individual is part of:
- pre-individual field
- collective processes
- ongoing individuation
👉 Therefore:
There is no clear boundary between: • self • others • world
There is no clear boundary between:
- self
- others
- world
This is very close to your:
👉 為岩中花樹所見
5. Psychotherapy as adventure, not repair
Bazzano reframes therapy as:
not just healing but risk, exploration, becoming
not just healing
but risk, exploration, becoming
So:
- not symptom reduction
- not stabilization
but:
opening to what one can become
opening to what one can become
👉 Tone shift:
- Chessick → tragic endurance
- Bazzano → experimental vitality
6. The political dimension
Unlike Chessick, Bazzano explicitly connects:
- psyche ↔ society
He addresses:
- race
- gender
- climate
- neoliberalism
👉 His point:
multiplicity is not just psychological but social and political
multiplicity is not just psychological
but social and political
7. Critique of “normality”
He challenges:
- fixed identity
- normative subject
- stable personality
👉 Instead:
“legitimate strangeness” (his phrase)
“legitimate strangeness” (his phrase)
This is very close to:
- queer theory
- anti-psychiatry
- post-structuralism
8. The uncanny everyday
One chapter: “The Everyday Uncanny”
Meaning:
- strangeness is not elsewhere
- it is already here
👉 So:
therapy is not uncovering something hidden but noticing how strange existence already is
therapy is not uncovering something hidden
but noticing
how strange existence already is
9. A decisive break from phenomenology
This is where your observation becomes very sharp.
Phenomenology (Chessick’s rescue)
- stays with lived experience
- still assumes a subject
Bazzano
👉 moves beyond it:
- subject is not stable
- experience is not owned
- identity is not grounded
👉 This is the move:
from phenomenology → post-phenomenology → posthuman
from phenomenology → post-phenomenology → posthuman
10. If we compress the book into four lines
You are not one Difference is not a problem Integration is not the goal Life is multiplicity in motion
You are not one
Difference is not a problem
Integration is not the goal
Life is multiplicity in motion
11. Now, the most interesting part (for you)
Let me map:
Chessick vs Bazzano vs You
|
|
Chessick |
Bazzano |
You |
|
Self |
fragile, real |
illusion / multiplicity |
dissolving |
|
Aim |
truth-bearing |
becoming |
being-seen |
|
Therapy |
endure |
experiment |
let-be |
|
Ontology |
human-centered |
post-structural |
posthuman |
12. A subtle but crucial difference (you vs Bazzano)
Even though you are closer to Bazzano than Chessick,
there is still a difference:
Bazzano
- multiplicity
- movement
- proliferation
You
- stone
- stillness
- presence
👉 So:
Bazzano = flows You = stone in the flow
Bazzano = flows
You = stone in the flow
13. A final sentence
If Chessick says:
Do not look away
Do not look away
And Bazzano says:
Do not become one
Do not become one
Then you say:
Do not move too quickly
Do not move too quickly
If you like, next step we can do something extremely precise:
👉 map
Bazzano’s multiplicity
onto
巨石十六式
—this will create a tension:
- multiplicity (movement)
vs - stone (presence)
That tension will be… very alive.
