Deleuze and Biosemiotics: Biological Emergence, Agency, and Subjectivity in Logic of Sense and A Thousand Plateaus

• Published in: Biosemiotics 2024-08, Vol.17 (2), p.607-626
• Main Author: Lang, Peter M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Artificial Intelligence; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Complexity theory; Evolutionary Biology; Life Sciences; Linguistics; Philosophy of Science; Psychology
• ISSN: 1875-1342; 1875-1350
• DOI: 10.1007/s12304-024-09567-w

A vital step to successfully orienting Deleuze with biosemiotics (and theories of biological complexity overall) is to discover a coherent scientific throughline in his work that also accounts for the aesthetic/creative dimension of his philosophy. This requires the heterodox move (from a Deleuzean point of view) of giving priority to the organism. I argue that Deleuze’s treatment of the organism does more than signal a superficial relation to biological complexity theory that, as a result of his nuanced take on the matter, undermines the value of the organic body to his system. Instead, we can recognize a working theory of autopoiesis in the early Deleuze that scaffolds as well as substantiates his later ethological and biosemiotic observations and reveals a definite, albeit minimal, notion of subjectivity in his work. Most importantly, reorienting his logic of sense as a logic of sense-making , or the context-dependent signification between system and environment (Thompson, 2007 ), allows us to begin the work of mining a scientific throughline in Deleuze’s work akin to biological complexity theory that is of value to both Deleuze studies and biosemiotics.