DiffĂ©rence and Repetitionâ (French: DiffĂ©rence et rĂ©pĂ©tition) is a study of philosophy published by the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze in 1968. In this book, Deleuze focuses on the problem of identity. For example, in the statement âSocrates is a man,â Deleuze describes a situation in which what is used exclusively to refer to Socrates, an individual and concrete historical figure, is equal to what is commonly used to refer to human beings, beings with various differences. Regarding identity, David Hume raised the issue of whether and how we can derive what is generally true from individual experience. This book examines how can there be so many different kinds of beings that are the same? and clarifies the difference nature and the process of iteration that cannot be handled by identity. The âdifferenceâ is the difference between the two. Deleuze points out that the successive sequence âABABABâŠâ is recognized as a repetition of âAB,â and argues that such recognition is due to the imagination of the perceiver, not to the essence of the object of recognition. He also believes that such recognition of identity is not a conscious action of the mind, since it arises from the passive synthesis of the perceiver. First, the perceiverâs past experience is âvirginal repetitionâ in the present in a realm beyond the action of the mind. This idealizes and contraction a being that had no identity of its own. Deleuze thus argues for a revision of the identity of the activity of philosophy, based on the fact that the identity of any being is determined by past experience, its passive synthesis, and its virginal repetition. The fact that existence is defined by the past is a continuous event in the future, and the past prepares another repetition in the present and thus becomes the condition for action in the future. Deleuze argues that in order to break free from this, we can orient ourselves to a new way of being by finding a past that has never been repeated. Difference and repetition - Wikipedia
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