Laurent de Sutter Translated by Nils F. Schott Deleuze’s Philosophy of Law Plateaus – New Directions in Deleuze Studies ‘It’s not a matter of bringing all sorts of things together under a single concept but rather of relating each concept to variables that explain its mutations.’ Gilles Deleuze, Negotiations Series Editors Ian Buchanan, University of Wollongong Claire Colebrook, Penn State University Editorial Advisory Board Keith Ansell Pearson, Ronald Bogue, Constantin V. Boundas, Rosi Braidotti, Eugene Holland, Gregg Lambert, Dorothea Olkowski, Paul Patton, Daniel Smith, James Williams Titles available in the series Christian Kerslake, Immanence and the Vertigo of Philosophy: From Kant to Deleuze Jean- Clet Martin, Variations: The Philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, translated by Constantin V. Boundas and Susan Dyrkton Simone Bignall, Postcolonial Agency: Critique and Constructivism Miguel de Beistegui, Immanence – Deleuze and Philosophy Jean- Jacques Lecercle, Badiou and Deleuze Read Literature Ronald Bogue, Deleuzian Fabulation and the Scars of History Sean Bowden, The Priority of Events: Deleuze’s Logic of Sense Craig Lundy, History and Becoming: Deleuze’s Philosophy of Creativity Aidan Tynan, Deleuze’s Literary Clinic: Criticism and the Politics of Symptoms Thomas Nail, Returning to Revolution: Deleuze, Guattari and Zapatismo François Zourabichvili, Deleuze: A Philosophy of the Event with The Vocabulary of Deleuze edited by Gregg Lambert and Daniel W. Smith, translated by Kieran Aarons Frida Beckman, Between Desire and Pleasure: A Deleuzian Theory of Sexuality Nadine Boljkovac, Untimely Affects: Gilles Deleuze and an Ethics of Cinema Daniela Voss, Conditions of Thought: Deleuze and Transcendental Ideas Daniel Barber, Deleuze and the Naming of God: Post-Secularism and the Future of Immanence F. LeRon Shults, Iconoclastic Theology: Gilles Deleuze and the Secretion of Atheism Janae Sholtz, The Invention of a People: Heidegger and Deleuze on Art and the Political Marco Altamirano, Time, Technology and Environment: An Essay on the Philosophy of Nature Sean McQueen, Deleuze and Baudrillard: From Cyberpunk to Biopunk Ridvan Askin, Narrative and Becoming Marc Rölli, Gilles Deleuze’s Transcendental Empiricism: From Tradition to Difference, translated by Peter Hertz- Ohmes Guillaume Collett, The Psychoanalysis of Sense: Deleuze and the Lacanian School Ryan J. Johnson, The Deleuze-Lucretius Encounter Allan James Thomas, Deleuze, Cinema and the Thought of the World Cheri Lynne Carr, Deleuze’s Kantian Ethos: Critique as a Way of Life Alex Tissandier, Affirming Divergence: Deleuze’s Reading of Leibniz Barbara Glowczewski, Indigenising Anthropology with Guattari and Deleuze Koichiro Kokubun, The Principles of Deleuzian Philosophy, translated by Wren Nishina Felice Cimatti, Unbecoming Human: Philosophy of Animality After Deleuze, translated by Fabio Gironi Ryan J. Johnson, Deleuze, A Stoic Jane Newland, Deleuze in Children’s Literature D. J. S. Cross, Deleuze and the Problem of Affect Laurent de Sutter, Deleuze’s Philosophy of Law, translated by Nils F. Schott Forthcoming volumes Justin Litaker, Deleuze and Guattari’s Political Economy Nir Kedem, A Deleuzian Critique of Queer Thought: Overcoming Sexuality Sean Bowden, Expression, Action and Agency in Deleuze: Willing Events Andrew Jampol- Petzinger, Deleuze, Kierkegaard and the Ethics of Selfhood Visit the Plateaus website at edinburghuniversitypress.com/series/plat DELEUZE’S PHILOSOPHY OF LAW 2 Laurent de Sutter Translated by Nils F. Schott Edinburgh University Press is one of the leading university presses in the UK. We publish academic books and journals in our selected subject areas across the humanities and social sciences, combining cutting- edge scholarship with high editorial and production values to produce academic works of lasting importance. For more information visit our website: edinburghuniversitypress.com Originally published in France under the title Deleuze. La Pratique du droit Copyright © Laurent de Sutter, Michalon Éditeur, 2009 www.michalon.fr English translation © Nils F. Schott, 2022 Cover image: Sharelle Ulrich, 2021 © @sharelleulrich Cover design: riverdesignbooks.com Edinburgh University Press Ltd The Tun – Holyrood Road, 12(2f) Jackson’s Entry, Edinburgh EH8 8PJ Typeset in 11/13 Sabon LT Std by Cheshire Typesetting Ltd, Cuddington, Cheshire printed and bound in Great Britain. A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 4744 0832 5 (hardback) ISBN 978 1 4744 0833 2 (webready PDF) ISBN 978 1 4744 0834 9 (epub) The right of Laurent de Sutter to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 (SI No. 2498). Contents Note vii Preface to the English Edition ix 1 Reconstruction, ix— 2 Use, x— 3 System, x— 4 Tradition, xi— 5 Coherence, xii — 6 Language, xiii Acknowledgements xv List of Abbreviations xvii Introduction 1 1 Philosophy, 1— 2 Law, 2— 3 Problem, 2— 4 Alternative, 3— 5 Literalness, 4— 6 Betrayal, 5 I Critique 7 1 Thesis I, 7 — 2 Taxonomy, 8 — 3 Plato, 9 — 4 Socrates, 9 — 5 Kant I, 10 — 6 Kant II, 11 — 7 Freud, 12 — 8 Sade I, 13 — 9 Sade II, 14 — 10 Ost, 15 — 11 Sacher- Masoch I, 16 — 12 Sacher- Masoch II, 17 — 13 Lacan, 18 — 14 Kant III, 19 — 15 Irony I, 20 — 16 Irony II, 21 — 17 Humour I, 21 — 18 Humour II, 22 — 19 Satire, 23 — 20 Kafka I, 24 — 21 Kafka II, 25 — 22 Kafka III, 26 — 23 Kafka IV, 27 — 24 Kafka V, 27 — 25 Cacciari, 28 — 26 Bartleby I, 29 — 27 Bartleby II, 30 — 28 Bartleby III, 31 — 29 Agamben, 32 — 30 Zourabichvili, 33 — 31 Exfoliation, invagination, 34 — 32 Critique I, 35 — 33 Critique II, 36 — 34 The Law, 37 — 35 Daddy– Mommy, 38 — 36 Young girls, 39 II Clinic 43 1 Thesis II, 43— 2 Discipline, 44— 3 Control, 44— 4 Crisis, 45— 5 Clinic, 46— 6 Axiomatics, 47— 7 Code, 48— 8 Problem, 49— 9 Legalism, 49 v deleuze’s philosophy of law — 10 Intervention, 50 — 11 Diagram, 51 — 12 Naturalism I, 52 — 13 Naturalism II, 53 — 14 Subvention, 54 — 15 Tarde, 55 — 16 Composition, 55 — 17 Consensualism, 56 — 18 Convention, 57 — 19 Property, 58 — 20 Institutionalism, 59 — 21 Invention, 60 — 22 Legislation, 61 — 23 Practice, 61 — 24 Logos, 63 — 25 Nomos, 64 — 26 Schmitt, 65 — 27 Law, 65 — 28 Topic, 66 — 29 Association, 67 — 30 Case I, 68 — 31 Case II, 69 — 32 Jurisprudence, 70 — 33 Principles, 70 — 34 Leibniz, 71 — 35 Rome, 72 — 36 Existence, 73 Conclusion 77 1 Personae, 77 — 2 Judgement, 78 — 3 Errors, 78 — 4 Continuations, 79 — 5 Politics, 80 — 6 Deception, 81 Appendices 83 1 The Young Girls in Deleuze’s Philosophy of Law 83 1 Precursor, 83 — 2 Surface, 84 — 3 Interiority, 85 — 4 Perturbation, 85 — 5 Disturbance, 86 — 6 Tekhnē, 87 — 7 Obscenity, 88 — 8 Phantasm I, 89 — 9 Phantasm II, 90 — 10 Viewer, 91 — 11 Image, 92 — 12 Outside, 93 — 13 Philosophy, 93 — 14 Pornology, 94 — 15 Theorems, 95 2 On Some Interpretations of Deleuze’s Philosophy of Law 97 1 Habit, 97 — 2 Boundas I, 97 — 3 Boundas II, 98 — 4 Politics, 99 — 5 Lefebvre I, 100 — 6 Lefebvre II, 101 — 7 Mussawir I, 101 — 8 Mussawir II, 102 Bibliography 105 vi Note This book contains a complete exposition of Gilles Deleuze’s philosophy of law. Since, as will become apparent, this philosophy is characterised by its great autonomy from the axioms of Deleuze’s system in general, the present volume does not offer an introduction to Deleuze’s system. For inter- ested readers, the bibliography lists works that offer such an introduction. vii