Deleuze and the Theory of Forms

SKPOST — Forms are a hotly debated topic within philosophy, and has formulated a multitude of theories to explain what forms are. It has resulted in debates from a plethora of thoughts from Aristotelian thought to Platonist thought to determine whether or not they exist independently of things.

Plato's theory of forms is the origin of this discussion. His theory of forms believes that all physical objects are the essences of nonphysical abstract objects, and that those nonphysical objects can only be known through the mind and not senses.

Deleuze, through his philosophy, seemingly fights this idea of objects being representations of ideals in an interesting way. Deleuze attacks the idea of physical objects solely being representations through an argument that objects can have an intention that is unique. We find perfect examples of this in modern music through digital instruments and sounds that are meant to mimic physical instruments. In the modern day, these digital sounds have not been used to mimic physical instruments, but rather are used to create new sounds and even genres.

A phenomenal article discussing these new usages is found here.

This newfound utilization of such tools seems to, in a way, contradict the theory of forms as they are no longer used as an object meant to mimic physical instruments, but rather, as its own sound to make new music out of. In turn, this argues against the world of representations argued by the theory of forms in an alternative method to argument like the third man argument. This is done as these objects can function as representations initially, but later find alternative usages in order to create all new functions that are not created by the object that we'd see the object as a representation of.

Deleuze's argument is one that is incredibly interesting, providing an alternative to conventional argument regarding forms. In order to further our discussions of philosophical thinking, these outside-of-the-box ideas are necessary to truly further our discussion. Over time, Deleuze's arguments have only been strengthened, and music is a perfect example of Deleuze's arguments. The creating new genres revolving around alternative usages to tools that we once would've considered representations of physical instruments is truly fascinating, and presents a new challenge that we should all consider in further discussions.