Rethinking nature : Deleuze and the anthropocene

This thesis uses the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995) to offer a critical assessment of the Anthropocene, the name given to archive ‘human time’. My particular focus is on how Deleuze’s ontology of Nature might inform our approach to this proposed human epoch. While it is evident that the Anthropocene historically culminated in the commodification of Nature as cheap matter—from coal-powered steam energy to the fossil fuel economy—we cannot deny that its leading cause, anthropocentrism or human exceptionalism, has resulted in the devaluation of Nature in theoretical debates. This makes the Anthropocene a controversial geological unit of time that concerns the hard sciences and a contentious conceptual framework emerging in the humanities and its allied fields. We have seen how its impending ratification unsettled theorists in recent decades, ensuing a trove of literature and a concerted effort to encourage interdisciplinary dialogues informed by more holistic approaches. The Anthropocene offers a distinctive opportunity to unpack the causes of our geological apogee while disrupting anthropocentrism and energising new discourses, theories, and practices. In this thesis, I mobilise Deleuze’s works to interrogate the perceived human exceptionalism inherent in the Anthropocene as a conceptual framework. While it is already established that Deleuze anticipated this geological epoch, this thesis seeks a new paradigm informed by Deleuze’s ontology to challenge the underlying anthropocentrism that continues to haunt debates about environmental futures.

This thesis contributes to debates about the Anthropocene by returning to the concept of Nature as a challenge to the human exceptionalism that the geological epoch presents. To do so, I turn to Deleuze’s experimental work on the desert island. I argue that the desert island offers an ontological perspective from which we can view Nature and anthropocentrism. My thesis is structured in three sections. Part I defines the Anthropocene as a critical conceptual framework in the humanities. I surmise that the problematic force of the epoch lies in its ambiguous conceptual registration, which led to the vexed position of Nature in the framework. Part II returns to the concept of Nature through Deleuze’s ontology. I begin with Spinozist metaphysics of Nature and its ecological impetus. Then I turn to Deleuze’s unfaithful reading of Baruch Spinoza (in Expressionism in Philosophy and Practical Philosophy) and creative interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche (in Nietzsche and Philosophy and Difference and Repetition) to reveal a twofold ontology of Nature. Part III turns to islands and archipelagos as an ontological model of Nature. I revisit Deleuze’s early essay Causes et raisons des îles desertes (trans. ‘Causes and Reasons of Desert Islands’) and expose how the concept of desert island dismantles anthropocentrism and presents itself as a critical site for uncommon humans to come. I then conclude that our approach to the epoch should be informed by an archipelagic perspective that ungrounds the anthropos of its place and argues a theory of the Earth or geophilosophy that puts Nature at the core of the Anthropocene framework. In sum, this thesis examines the themes of anthropocentrism, ontology and Nature. Responding to the aim of geophilosophy, it also undertakes a critical appraisal of our current climate milieu and its coming troubles.