Deleuze's secret dualism?

Disputed versions of the relationship between the virtual and the actual

Abstract

In his Difference and Repetition, Gilles Deleuze sets out a novel approach to the classic transcendental question: to explain the genesis of objects in the world. Key to this account are the dual concepts of the actual and the virtual, concepts Deleuze defines as the “two halves of being”. This paper will provide an initial outline of the debate over the details of this conceptual couple in the secondary literature on the subject. More specifically, there is debate over the details of the relationship between the actual and the transcendental virtual. I will explore two approaches to this distinction. Firstly, those who read in Deleuze a “virtual priority”, wherein the actual is impoverished due to a uni-directional flow of the virtual. Secondly, philosopher’s who understand the relationship between the virtual and the actual in a more reciprocal nature. Furthermore, I will show how the concept of intensity is crucial to an understanding of the virtual and the actual, a topic also subject to some debate. Finally, some conclusions will be drawn based on a close reading of these concepts as they appear in Difference and Repetition.