Metaphysical Primitives: Machines and Assemblages in Deleuze, DeLanda, and Bryant

Abstract

Some variants of Object-Oriented Ontology define entities in terms of their powers. Such variants are rooted in Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's theory of machinic assemblages. This article asks whether such entities can be metaphysical primitives with regard to similarity and change. This is the case if no further existents are needed to account for these two features of reality. According to Levi Bryant's machine-oriented ontology, entities defined in terms of powers are such primitives. According to Manuel DeLanda's assemblage theory, they are not. DeLanda therefore holds that further metaphysical primitives must exist. After reconstructing the key features of the theories involved, I argue that Bryant's position is ultimately more parsimonious, and that DeLanda's theory confuses epistemological models with ontological realities.