Li Kelin

The Liberation of Sensation from Reason: Going Beyond Kant with Deleuze Li Kelin

This thesis is an approach to the philosophy of sensation, made from Deleuze's perspectives, especially his critiques of Kant's aesthetics. It asks: can sensation be liberated from the organization of reason and thus be expressed freely? Kant, as a representative of the rationalist tradition, requires that sensation should be subordinated to the determination of reason in order to achieve the eternal truth of the world and of the subject. From Deleuze's point of view, the transcendent truth is an illusion which arises from the immanent life in order to stabilize the flows of difference in life. The truth requires the sacrifice of both the difference in sensation and the freedom of life.