Gilles Deleuze, interprète de Hume

This article was originally meant to be a defense of the interpretation proposed by Gilles Deleuze of the philosophy of Hume. This interpretation starts from the thesis that, for Hume, the relations are essentially external to their ideas, and that, accordingly, Hume's atomism — the theory of ideas — and his associationism — the theory of relations — are parallel developments of one and the same theme. According to Deleuze the kernel of Hume's philosophy does not rest, as had been traditionally thought, with the atom, but with the association, so that his real problem is not that of the origin, but that of the constitution of human knowledge. So far Deleuze's interpretation can still be defended. However, when he connects the distinction between atom (origin) and association (constitution) with the distinction between two senses of experience and two sorts of impressions, the whole case turns out to be untenable. It is then that appears the major shortcoming of Deleuze's interpretation, to wit, that he treats all relations on the same level and insufficiently emphasizes the privilege of causality in Hume's philosophy.constituent des développements parallèles d'un seul et même thème. Selon Deleuze, le centre de gravité de la pensée de Hume ne réside pas, comme on l'enseigne traditionnellement, dans l'atome mais dans l'association, le véritable problème n'étant dès lors pas celui de l'origine mais celui de la constitution de la connaissance. Jusque là l'interprétation de Deleuze est défendable. Mais elle devient intenable lorsqu'elle relie la distinction entre atome (origine) et association (constitution) à la distinction entre deux types d'expérience et deux sortes d'impressions. Du coup se trouve révélée l'imperfection majeure de l'interprétation de Deleuze, à savoir la mise sur pied d'égalité de toutes les relations et l'accentuation insuffisante de la position privilégiée que la relation de causalité occupe dans la philosophie de Hume.De Martelaere Patricia. Gilles Deleuze, interprète de Hume. In: Revue Philosophique de Louvain. Quatrième série, tome 82, n°54, 1984. pp. 224-248