Summary
"A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia" is a complex philosophical work by Gilles Deleuze and FĂ©lix Guattari that challenges traditional modes of thought and offers alternative frameworks for understanding the world. Serving as a sequel to their earlier work, "Anti-Oedipus," this book embarks on a journey through diverse subjects, from geology and linguistics to music and political economy, to explore the concepts of rhizomatic thinking, nomadism, and the deterritorialization of established structures.
The book critiques "arborescent" or hierarchical models of thought, advocating instead for a "rhizomatic" approach that embraces multiplicity, heterogeneity, and fluidity. Deleuze and Guattari introduce the concept of the "body without organs" (BwO) as a plane of consistency where traditional notions of identity and organization are dissolved, allowing for new connections and becomings. They examine various historical and cultural examples to illustrate the interplay between smooth and striated spaces, the war machine and the State apparatus, and the dynamics of coding and decoding.
Through a series of interconnected essays or "plateaus," each marked with a date to signify its unique context and intensity, Deleuze and Guattari challenge readers to abandon fixed perspectives and embrace a more dynamic, affirmative mode of thinking. They delve into the implications of faciality, segmentarity, and micropolitics, offering a radical critique of power structures and advocating for the power of the nomad, intensities, and molecular multiplicities.
"A Thousand Plateaus" is not a book to be passively consumed but rather an active tool for thinking, a "tool-box" for constructing new concepts and challenging existing norms. It invites readers to engage with its ideas in a creative and transformative way, breaking free from the constraints of representational thought and embracing the pleasures and possibilities of a world in constant flux.