Difference and Repetition

Difference and Repetition (French: Différence et répétition) is a book by French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. Originally published in France by Presses Universitaires de France in 1968, it was translated into English by Paul Patton in 1994.

Difference and Repetition was Deleuze's principal thesis for his doctoral degree, advised by Maurice de Gandillac. He also wrote a secondary historical thesis, Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza.

The work is a critique of what Deleuze calls 'representation': a mode of thought where things become intelligible only by being placed under concepts, compared, categorized, and recognized. For example: this object is a tree because it fits the basic conceptual identity of “tree.” Instead of treating identity as basic and difference as secondary, Deleuze treats difference as primary and identity as a temporary effect. He develops concepts of difference in itself and repetition for itself, that is, concepts of difference and repetition that are logically and metaphysically prior to any concept of identity. True repetition is the repetition of difference.

Some commentators interpret the book as Deleuze's attempt to rewrite Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (1781) from the viewpoint of genesis itself.