It is hard to tell what is philosophical in general, but these works specifically seem to 1)deal with sociological questions, 2)use methods depending on heavy empirical knowledge(historical and social facts, psychoanalytic theories, etc). What feature or part of their work makes them philosophical?
They deal in cosmic concepts such as positivity and negativity and the energy attached to these fields. Marcuse critiques the Affirmative Culture movement and Deleuze critiques the “labor of the negative,” the idea that negation is a form of creativity that drives history.
Example: We don’t like the dirt road anymore and want an asphalt one. Thus our labor comes from a negative impulse. But something positive comes from it because the asphalt is an improvement until the next dialectic process occurs and it is no longer an advantage. Example: Traffic has now increased due to ease of travel, with all the attendant issues of congestion and pollution.
Deleuze’s argument against negation is really an argument that “negation” is an pedestrian way to look at creativity. He does not take to the idea that desire equals lack. This is in calls into question philosophical issues that have been raised by the New Age movement:
Desire is the source of all our creations. Yes, it comes from lack because we want more of something. Or we want better of something. As such, desire is a positive force for creative change. Yet, desire, as the Buddha put it, is the source of all suffering. How to get rid of suffering? Give up desire. How to give up desire? Follow the Noble 8-fold Path.
These are philosophical and spiritual issues and are more far-reaching than the way humans behave as a labor force or as a society.
Example: We don’t like the dirt road anymore and want an asphalt one. Thus our labor comes from a negative impulse. But something positive comes from it because the asphalt is an improvement until the next dialectic process occurs and it is no longer an advantage. Example: Traffic has now increased due to ease of travel, with all the attendant issues of congestion and pollution.
Deleuze’s argument against negation is really an argument that “negation” is an pedestrian way to look at creativity. He does not take to the idea that desire equals lack. This is in calls into question philosophical issues that have been raised by the New Age movement:
Desire is the source of all our creations. Yes, it comes from lack because we want more of something. Or we want better of something. As such, desire is a positive force for creative change. Yet, desire, as the Buddha put it, is the source of all suffering. How to get rid of suffering? Give up desire. How to give up desire? Follow the Noble 8-fold Path.
These are philosophical and spiritual issues and are more far-reaching than the way humans behave as a labor force or as a society.
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