The Rhizome
A significant work in theology used to address one of the many concepts it encompasses, A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia by Deleuze and Guattari focuses on the idea of the Rhizome. Throughout the writing, the authors demonstrate a disapproval of the idea that identity can be finalized or “fixed” and use the concept of the rhizome to describe a person’s continual “becoming”. Unlike syncretism, another concept commonly used to help evaluate identity, the rhizome is much more complex than binary opposing forces competing until one is dominant over the other. The rhizome is an endless, root-like tangle of all parts of an organism, constantly creating identity. In this summary of “Introduction: Rhizome” in A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, I address the central idea of the piece, which is the idea that rhizomatic ways of thinking are more inclusive than dialectic and should be used as a map for determining identity. I will use examples from the text to clarify the meaning of the term “rhizome” and how it functions. Also, by incorporating parts from Syncretism in Religion by Anita M. Leopold and Jeppe S. Jensen into this summary, I will help shed light on the concept of syncretism and how it has led to the creation of the rhizome.
To begin describing the rhizome, Deleuze and Guattari first explain it in contrast to the typical mode of thought in American culture. Generally, when deciphering the meaning of something, or anything for that matter, human beings tend to use an arboreal model. In this model, the tree starts as a seed and continues to grow vertically, producing a trunk, then branches. With this method of thinking, all objects, concepts, claimed identities, etc. can be traced back...
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...y say, “Make rhizomes, not roots, never plant! ... Don’t be one or multiple, be multiplicities! ... Make maps, not photos or drawings.” These words bluntly restate their main purpose in writing the article, which is to encourage an unprecedented kind of thought. In choosing to condense the work through the use of clarifying examples of rhizomatic structures and by giving a definition of syncretism and how it relates to the rhizome, I was able to easily restate the overall purpose of “Introduction: Rhizome”.
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Works Cited
1. Deleuze, Gilles, and Félix Guattari. "Introduction: Rhizome." In A thousand plateaus: capitalism and schizophrenia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987. 3-25.
2. Leopold, Anita M., and Jeppe Sinding Jensen. "Part 1: General Introduction." In Syncretism in religion: a reader. New York: Routledge, 2005. ix-11.
Evans, C. Stephen. Critical Dialog in Philosophy of Religion. 1985. Downers Grove, IL. InterVarsity Press. Taken from Philosophy of Religion - Selected Readings, Fourth Edition. 2010. Oxford University Press, NY.
Christianity and Buddhism are only two examples of universal religions that expanded through Syncretism. Although Syncretism is a very powerful tool, it will not succeed on its own. Factors like political alliance and positive motivators of the religion are very important for a large amount of people to commit to converting. In a universal religion, Syncretism along with other key factors were very important in the expansion of universal religions during this time period.
Furthermore, resonation can be found in Preziosi exploration of the establishment of female identification through aesthetics. Within Preziosi chapter on aesthetics he addresses main issues including “Kant’s Critique of Judgment, judgment about beauty, and perception of perfection.” Aesthetics was addressed in the perception of how the female body is formed and encased while a male looks at the female body. In this case the male would be Degas gazing at his ballerina while either sketching his model or doing a sculpture of the ballerina. Preziosi states that “there should be two kinds of theory or sciences of knowledge corresponding to each logic and aesthetics.” This concept of two kinds of theory made more apparent as every sculptor Degas made is presented as a different theory, yet the two theories are different, Degas’s artwork deals with both logic and aesthetics. Logic can be applied to Degas’s____, works of art. Where as aesthetics deals with____. Later on in Preziosi chapter on aesthetics, he brings up the issue of “the idea that sensory knowledge could have its own perfection-and, further, that an aesthetic judgment about beauty or beautiful objects.” When viewing Degas’s sculptor the
The commonalities between Levi-Strauss myth-structure, Bach’s Fugue, and M-theory are their formulation around structures in order to create a theme, an algorithm, or foundation for a myth.
The growth of religious ideas is environed with such intrinsic difficulties that it may never receive a perfectly satisfactory exposition. Religion deals so largely with the imaginative and emotional nature, and consequently with such an certain elements of knowledge, the all primitive religions are grotesque to some extent unintelligible. (1877:5)
Otto, Rudolf. The Idea of the Holy. Trans. John W. Harvey. New York: Oxford UP, 1958. Print.
Walls, Andrew F. 1997. 'Christianity'. In A New Handbook Of Living Religions, 1st ed., 59-92. London: Penguin.
“Christianity, along with all other theistic belief systems, is the fraud of the age. It serves to detach the species from the natural world, likewise, each other. It supports blind submission to authority[control of the masses].”(Zeitgeist 2007) In this essay, we will explore the different roots of religion and the plagiarism that Christianity and a number of different religions have committed.
This essay hopes to define Spinoza’s reasoning behind his ‘Deus sive Natura’, arguing that God and Nature, or the universe, are but one substance. This separation is distinct to Spinoza’s substance monism, and argued through a geometric essay structure that allows reasoning to be accessible, as well as logical should the reasoning at each step have validity.
Eastman, Roger. The Ways of Religion: An Introduction to the Major Traditions. Third Edition. Oxford University Press. N.Y. 1999
In the following I would like to talk about a topic that has been treated very little in academic philosophy. The works of GILLES DELEUZE - and not to forget his co-author, FÉLIX GUATTARI - are still treated as 'curiosities' and their importance for philosophical discussions is not recognized. (2) In opposition to this, I will show what the very concept of philosophy means to these two thinkers.
Smart, Ninian. "Blackboard, Religion 100." 6 March 2014. Seven Dimensions of Religion. Electronic Document. 6 March 2014.
Religious syncretism is a blending of two or more religious beliefs or practices into a new system, or the merging into a new religious tradition of beliefs from different traditions. This can occur for many reasons, but happens quite frequently in areas where multiple religions exist nearby to each other and are active in the culture. When a culture is conquered, the conquerors bring their religious beliefs with them, but do not succeed in entirely wiping out the old beliefs or practices as they are too engrained. Certain religious followers see syncretism as a betrayal of their pure truth. They feel by adding an incompatible belief ruins and changes the original concept and practice of the original religion, thus rendering it no longer true.
Oxtoby, Willard G., and Alan F. Segal. A Concise Introduction to World Religions. Oxford, Canada: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Wooding, Lucy. "Christian Humanism: from Renaissance to Reformation." N.p., Sept. 2009. MasterFile Premier. Web. 22 May 2014.