Abstract
To address the theological turn in phenomenology, this paper sets out critical arguments opposing the theist phenomenology of Michel Henry and Gilles Deleuze’s philosophy of the event. Henry’s phenomenology has been overlooked in recent commentaries compared with, for example, Jean-Luc Marion’s work. It will be shown here that Henry’s philosophy presents a detailed novel turn in phenomenology structured according to critical moves against positions developed from Husserl, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty. This demonstration is done through a strong contrast with Deleuze and a short engagement with Quentin Meillassoux. The paper presents an argument against the theological turn on the grounds that it misunderstands the form of affectivity when compared to Deleuze’s work on affect and event. It will be argued that Henry’s search for a free-standing affect deduced as a condition for any appearance underplays the way any affect is included in many causal and transcendentally determined series such that any notion of the pure affect independent of other processes is a fiction. The loss of this pure affect entails the questioning of the theological turn in Henry.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Audi, P. (2006). Michel Henry: une trajectoire philosophique. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.
Badiou, A. (1997). Deleuze: la clameur de l’être. Paris: Hachette.
Badiou, A. (2006). Logiques des mondes. Paris: Seuil.
David, A., & Greisch, J. (Eds.).(2001). Paris: Cerf
Deleuze, G. (1968). Différence et répétition. Paris: PUF.
Deleuze, G. (1969). Logique du sens. Paris: Minuit.
Deleuze, G. (1990). The Logic of Sense Trans. Lester. M. and Stivale, C. London: Athlone.
Deleuze, G. (1994). Difference and Repetition Trans. Patton, P. London: Athlone, 1994.
Deleuze, G. (1995). ‘L’immanence: une vie’ in Philosophie, numéro 47.
Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1994). A Thousand Plateaus. New York: Continuum.
Descartes, R. (1989). The Passions of the Soul. Indianapolis: Hackett.
Descartes, R. (1996) Meditations on First Philosophy (Cottingham, ed.) Cambridge University Press.
Hallward, P. (2006). Out of this World: Deleuze and the Philosophy of Creation. London: Verso.
Heidegger, M. (1976). What is Called Thinking?. London: Harper Perennial.
Heidegger, M. (1978). Being and Time Trans. Macquarrie and Robinson. Oxford: Blackwell.
Henry, Anne http://www.michelhenry.com accessed 19 June 2008
Henry, M. (1965). Philosophie et phénoménologie du corps. Paris: PUF.
Henry, M. (1985). Généalogie de la psychanalyse: le commencement perdu. Paris: PUF.
Henry, M. (1987). La barbarie. Paris: PUF.
Henry, M. (1996). C’est moi la vérité: pour une philosophie du christianisme. Paris: Seuil.
Henry, M. (2000). Incarnation: une philosophie de la chair. Paris: Seuil.
Henry, M. (2002). Paroles du Christ. Paris: Seuil.
Henry, M. (2003a). ‘Le concept d’âme a-t-il un sens?’ in Phénoménologie de la vie, Tome I pp 9–38, Paris: PUF
Henry, M. (2003b). ‘Incarnation’ in Phénoménologie de la vie Tome I, pp 165–79, Paris: PUF
Henry, M. (2003c). ‘Qu’est-ce-que cela que nous appelons la vie?’ in Phénoménologie de la vie, Tome 1, pp 39–57, Paris: PUF
Henry, M. (2003d). Voir l’invisible - sur Kandinsky. Paris: PUF.
Henry, M. (2003e). ‘Philosophie et phénoménologie’ Phénoménologie de la vie Tome I, pp 181–96
Henry, M. (2003f). ‘Le cogito et l’idée de phénoménologie’ in Phénoménologie de la vie Tome II, pp 57–72
Henry, M. (2003g). ‘Le cogito de Descartes et l’idée d’une phenomenology idéale’ Phénoménologie de la vie Tome II, pp 89–108
Henry, M. (2003h). ‘Sur l’ego du cogito’ Phénoménologie de la vie Tome II, pp 73–88
Henry, M. (2003i). ‘La critique du sujet’ in Phénoménologie de la vie, Tome II, pp 9–23
Henry, M. (2003j). ‘Souffrance et vie’ in Phénoménologie de la vie, Tome I pp 143–56
Henry, M. (2004a). ‘Ce que la science ne sait pas’ in Phénoménologie de la vie. Tome, IV, 41–52. Paris: PUF.
Henry, M. (2004b). ‘Préalables à une lecture de Marx’ in Phénoménologie de la vie, Tome IV, pp 41–76.
Henry, M. (2004c). ‘Difficile démocracie’ in Phénoménologie de la vie, Tome IV, pp 167–83
Henry, M. (2004d). ‘Le christianisme: une approche phénoménologique’ in Phénoménologie de la vie, Tome III, pp 96–112
Kant, I. (1982). Critique of Pure Reason. Trans N. Kemp Smith. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Kierkegaard, S. (1992). Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments. Eds. and Trans. by H. V. Hong and E. H. Hong. Princeton: Princeton University Press
Lavigne, J. -F., et al. (2006). Michel Henry: Pensée de la vie et culture contemporaine. Paris: Beauchesnes.
Longneaux, J.-M. (Ed.).(2001). Retrouver la vie oubliée: critiques et perspectives de la philosophie de Michel Henry. Namur: Presses Universitaires de Namur.
Marion, J. -L. (1981). Sur l’ontologie grise de Descartes. Paris: Vrin.
Marion, J. -L. (1991). Sur la théologie blanche de Descartes. Paris: PUF.
Meillassoux, Q. (2006). Après la finitude: essai sur la nécessité et la contingence. Paris: Seuil.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1964). Le visible et l’invisible. Paris: Gallimard.
Mullarkey, J. (2006). Post-continental Philosophy: an Outline. London: Continuum.
Mullarkey, J. (2008). private email to the author June 24th 2008.
O’Sullivan, M. (2006). Michel Henry: Incarnation, Barbarism and Belief, an Introduction to the Philosophy of Michel Henry. New York: Peter Lang.
Olkowski, D. (1999). Gilles Deleuze and the ruin of representation. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Reynolds, J. (2008). Deleuze on the time and ethics of the event. Deleuze Studies, 1(2), 144–166. doi:10.3366/E1750224108000056.
Reynolds, J., & Roffe, J. (2006). Deleuze and Merleau-Ponty: immanence, univocity, and phenomenology. Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, 37(3), 228–251.
Williams, J. (2003). Gilles Deleuze’s Difference and Repetition: a Critical Introduction and Guide. Edinburgh University Press.
Williams, J. (2008). Gilles Deleuze’s logic of Sense: a Critical Introduction and Guide. Edinburgh University Press.
Zahavi, D. (1999). ‘Michel Henry and the Phenomenology of the Invisible’ in Continental. The Philosophical Review, 32, 223–240. doi:10.1023/A:1006922530863.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Williams, J. Gilles Deleuze and Michel Henry: Critical Contrasts in the Deduction of Life as Transcendental. SOPHIA 47, 265–279 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-008-0073-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-008-0073-4