Straightness and Deviation of Thought in Deleuze’s Reading of Kant

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine Kant’s conception of thought and its negative in the light of the Deleuzean critique of the image of thought. After comparing the French philosopher’s statements with Kant’s writings, we will hold that, if the concept of transcendental illusion moves away from it insofar as it questions the good nature of reason and the affinity between thinking and truth, the illusion is conjured up through its moral legitimation and thus, Kant continues positing its natural straightness. By analyzing the Kantian conception of error, we will likewise show that the Deleuzean statements regarding the Kantian overcoming of the classical concept of error as the deviation of thought cannot stand; on the contrary, Kant conceived of the faculties as naturally straight, and as capable of being deviated only by external interventions.