Difference and opposition: a controversy

Abstract

The work fulfill two purposes. The broad objective is to relativize the division between structuralism and its alleged overcoming or continuation, with post-structuralism. This takes place within a specific procedure: the way in which Saussure develops and precedes importante theses to Deleuze's philosophy of difference. It begins with the critic that Deleuze addresses to the structuralism of the former, as unable to grasp both the differentiation and the organization of the various forms of experience. The focus on Saussure is due to the fact that Deleuze considers him a discoverer of the difference in the realm of language, although he insists on reading it in oppositive and, therefore, negative terms. A “discoverer that covers-up” what he finds, it can be said, that brings to light the differential dynamics of meaning and, at the same time, covers it with the traditional image of thought that is subordinated to identity. Next, it will be clear how this reading does not consider the true positions of the philosophy of language elaborated by Saussure, and that it must be far removed from some of his reputable heirs and followers (we consider the notorious case of Trubetskoy, as Deleuze himself did in another sense). The conclusion is that the theory of value focused on the linguistic system precedes the differential theory of the faculties that Deleuze employs to understand each of the structures of our existence.