Deleuze’s Encounter with Kierkegaard: Transcendence, Subjectivity and Repetition

This article examines Difference and Repetition’s oblique engagement with Kierkegaard. After canvassing Kierkegaard’s concept of repetition, I reconstruct Deleuze’s disagreement with it, arguing that Deleuze resists Kierkegaard’s view of subjectivity rather than his faith in a transcendent God. Regarding Deleuze’s agreement with Kierkegaard, I contend that he reads Kierkegaard’s opposition to Hegel and emphasis on the future into Nietzsche’s eternal recurrence. This discussion reveals that Deleuze’s encounter with Kierkegaard is subtler, and more productive, than has been appreciated. It also foregrounds Deleuze’s original contributions to a concept of repetition while illuminating his principled approach to the history of philosophy.