The world is an egg: The synthesis between preformism and epigenesis in Difference and Repetition
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31977/grirfi.v26i2.5858Keywords:
Deleuze; Difference and repetition; Embryology; Epigenesis; Preformism.Abstract
This article explores the way in which Deleuze proposes a philosophy of nature that orbits the dispute between preformism and epigenesis. First, drawing on Casetta (2020), we introduce the specific debate surrounding biological development. Subsequently, based on the pages of Difference and Repetition (1968) dedicated to embryology, we follow how Deleuze promotes a cosmology oriented toward the reconciliation of these two paths. We then demonstrate how embryonic life is not restricted to a stage prior to the formation of organisms, since, in Deleuzian philosophy, it is elevated to the level of transversal processes of diversity and reproduction, and the difference and repetition of beings. Finally, we point out how the thesis of the eternal return of difference relates to a process-oriented philosophy of nature, allowing for a full understanding of the formula according to which “The world is an egg.”
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