Brutal Thoughts: Laruelle and Deleuze on Human Animal Stupidity

Using François Laruelle’s non-philosophy of definitional mutation, this chapter examines Deleuze’s theory of stupidity (in Difference and Repetition) in order to deconstruct the difference between the ‘wise’ philosopher and the ‘idiot’ as his transcendental stooge. The result is a non-philosophical ‘unlearning’ which involves something more radical, namely the idea that thought is not the intrinsic property of humans that serves to define their essence, an essence that would then indeed be ‘local’; rather it is a universal milieu. By emphasizing animality, bringing it within the sphere of culture, we can emphasise the most elevated humanity, so as to bring it into the universe; and, through a paradoxical example, re-examine its links with animality, of which it will then be a matter of knowing whether it, also, is universal. Ultimately, the chapter enquires as to whether Laruelle is entirely fair to Deleuze’s account of the idiot in respect to philosophy and non-philosophy. In particular, it asks whether Deleuze’s notion of becoming-animal can be used outside of its Deleuzian philosophical context – one that disrupts the differences (set out in What is Philosophy?) between philosophy, science, and art.