Deleuze’s History of Philosophy as Creativity

The article is devoted to the attempt to reveal the specific nature of Deleuze’s work on the history of philosophy. For this purpose the author analyzes the historical method of Deleuze from two angles. First, he explores the Deleuzean point of view on the history of philosophy. Second, he presents commentators’ account on the work of Deleuze on the history of philosophy. It is shown that, in the opinion of the French philosopher, the history of philosophy in the ordinary sense is a repressive discipline which needs to be overcome. On the other hand, it is shown that the Deleuzean negative attitude towards the history of philosophy and some philosophers of the past arises from his anti-Platonism and an attempt to build an alternative line of metaphysics. In general, the history, according to Deleuze, should not aim to preserve the past (to be a doxography), but, on the contrary, should provide the conditions for creativity.