For a philosophical anecdotal

Deleuze and the history of philosophy

Abstract

This article argued about the way that vital anecdotes, a concept developed by Friedrich Nietzsche, were methodologically appropriated by Gilles Deleuze. This appropriation, we believe, is linked to the deleuzian and deleuzo-guattarian appeal for a renewal of the history of philosophy and for the construction of a creative perspective of the philosophical craft, with strong impacts on the teaching of this discipline. Beginning by recovering the dialogue between Deleuze and some canonical conceptions about the history of philosophy, especially the perspectives of Ferdinand Aquié and Martial Gueroult. Trying to probe how the author of Difference and Repetition inserted himself in a methodological debate on how to carry out an eminently philosophical history of philosophy. In this way, seeking to understand Deleuze's own perspective, we will be able to recover the importance of vital anecdotes for his understanding of the role of the history of philosophy. For that, we recover the vitalist reading of Spinoza's philosophy proposed by Deleuze. Finally, we will present some concerns about the relevance of the uses of vital anecdotes for the construction of a different teaching of philosophy.