A Tale of Two Returns. Issue 1 (February 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Stekl, Misha
• Is Part Of: Deleuze and Guattari studies. Volume 17:Issue 1(2023)
• Page Start: 84
• Page End: 111
• Publication Date: 2023-02
• Subjects: Eternal Return -- Deleuzian century -- episteme -- historical a priori -- contingency -- Difference and Repetition; Philosophy, French -- 20th century -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Criticism and interpretation -- Periodicals; 194
• DOI: 10.3366/dlgs.2023.0503
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2398-9777

Abstract

Abstract : Just how eternal is the Eternal Return? This article examines how Foucault's readings of Nietzsche and of Deleuze critically revise the Return so as to arrive at a concept of contingency that is itself contingent. I argue that this archaeological/genealogical rereading problematises the Return as presented in Difference and Repetition ; when the Return is presented as 'the form of change [that] does not change', it risks returning eternally to the Same – for all its avowed affirmation of difference. By returning the Return to its own historically contingent epistemic conditions of possibility, Foucault repeats Deleuze's philosophy with maximum difference.