Deleuze, a Split with Foucault

Abstract

In 1977, Deleuze and Foucault found themselves in opposite camps in the public dispute among French intellectuals, resulting in a parting of the ways between two colleagues who had for many years been friends. Deleuze considered the reason for the split to have been their differing ideas on the connection between the historical situation and philosophical thought; in his view, it was occasioned by the debate over the New Philosophers, in which Foucault supported those intellectuals who, according to Deleuze, opposed the creative thinking of philosophy. After Foucault's death, Deleuze sought to reconcile the two positions, but his attempts only highlighted the depth of the division between them.