Description
Book SynopsisIn this book, Joshua Ramey examines the extent to which Gilles Deleuze's ethics, metaphysics, and politics were informed by, and can only be fully understood through, this hermetic tradition.
Trade Review“Comprehensive and detailed. . . . [A] beautifully written and well-researched book. . . .” - Dorothea Olkowski,
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews“This is a valuable book for Deleuze scholars, philosophy and religious studies students, and scholars who are interested in contemporary Continental philosophy. Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty.” - D.W. Rothermel,
Choice"In this beautiful and daring book on Gilles Deleuze's esotericism, Joshua Ramey initiates us into a spiritual reading of Deleuzian ideas of immanence, founding, becoming, sign, and symbol. The defense of that great unsaid of reason, hermetic heterodoxy, is conveyed with elegance. Through exemplary scholarly study, Ramey seduces us with a dark side to thought. He inducts us into millennia of 'minor' traditions, while transforming them alongside Deleuze's most testing inventions. Rarely has scandalous instruction been so rewarding or rigorous."—
James Williams, University of Dundee
"This inspired and rigorous engagement with Gilles Deleuze's concept of immanence raises fresh new problems and questions. Joshua Ramey reads Deleuze as a philosopher who both causes thought to happen and inquires how it happens; he philosophizes about philosophizing. As such, Ramey presents Deleuze as a philosophical demiurge, which is both exciting and provoking. This is an important book and a valuable contribution to the field."—
Ian Buchanan, editor of the journal
Deleuze Studies“Comprehensive and detailed. . . . [A] beautifully written and well-researched book. . . .” -- Dorothea Olkowski * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *
“This is a valuable book for Deleuze scholars, philosophy and religious studies students, and scholars who are interested in contemporary Continental philosophy. Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty.” -- D.W. Rothermel * Choice *
Table of ContentsList of Abbreviations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Secrets of Immanence 1
1. Philosophical Modernity and Experimental Imperative 11
2. Dark Precursors: The Hermetic Tradition 32
3. The Force of Symbols: Deleuze and the Esoteric Sign 82
4. The Overturning of Platonism 112
5. Becoming Cosmic 148
6. The Politics of Sorcery 171
7. The Future of Belief 200
Coda: Experimental Faith 219
Notes 225
Bibliography 275
Index 283
