ABSTRACT

Philosophical and theological treatments of difference and relation are often limited to traditional discursive boundaries of substance metaphysics and transcendent causality. Eschewing the historic desire to categorize substance and doctrinal investments in cosmological mechanism, multiplicity theory experiments with immanent and relational ontologies that are materially attentive and immersed in difference. Tracing the emergence of multiplicity and its theorizing across philosophical and theological registers, I begin with Henri Bergson and Alfred North Whitehead’s conceptually significant turn of the century work. Noting both Bergson and Whitehead’s profound influence on Gilles Deleuze, I examine the appearance and development of multiplicity in Deleuze’s individual writings and his collaborative work with Felix Guattari. Seeking resonances in the more recently theological theorizations of multiplicity, I find that Whitehead and Deleuze surface as vital interlocutors for the relational and incarnational theologies put forth, respectively, by Catherine Keller and Laurel Schneider. Each concerned with theological formulations of embodied difference and divine relation, I suggest that both Keller and Schneider draw on theories of multiplicity to explore immanence and interdependence as ontological postures. I conclude that across philosophical and theological discourse diverse conceptions of multiplicity offer resources for alternative theorizations of complex difference and relation.

摘要

差异和关系的哲学和神学处理常常局限于实体形而上学和先验因果关系的传统话语边界。避免对物质进行分类的历史愿望和对宇宙学机制的理论投资，多样性理论用内在和关系本体论进行实验，这些本体论在物质上是关注的并且沉浸在差异中。追溯多样性的出现及其在哲学和神学领域的理论化，我从亨利·柏格森和阿尔弗雷德·诺斯·怀特海在世纪之交的具有重要概念意义的著作开始。注意到柏格森和怀特海对吉尔斯·德勒兹的深远影响，我审视了德勒兹的个人著作以及他与费利克斯·瓜塔里的合作作品中多样性的出现和发展。在最近的多样性神学理论中寻求共鸣，我发现怀特海和德勒兹表面上是凯瑟琳凯勒和劳雷尔施耐德分别提出的关系神学和化身神学的重要对话者。凯勒和施耐德都关注具身差异和神圣关系的神学表述，我建议凯勒和施耐德都利用多样性理论来探索内在性和相互依存性作为本体论的姿态。我的结论是，在哲学和神学话语中，多样性的不同概念为复杂差异和关系的替代理论化提供了资源。分别由 Catherine Keller 和 Laurel Schneider 撰写。凯勒和施耐德都关注具身差异和神圣关系的神学表述，我建议凯勒和施耐德都利用多样性理论来探索内在性和相互依存性作为本体论的姿态。我的结论是，在哲学和神学话语中，多样性的不同概念为复杂差异和关系的替代理论化提供了资源。分别由 Catherine Keller 和 Laurel Schneider 撰写。凯勒和施耐德都关注具身差异和神圣关系的神学表述，我建议凯勒和施耐德都利用多样性理论来探索内在性和相互依存性作为本体论的姿态。我的结论是，在哲学和神学话语中，多样性的不同概念为复杂差异和关系的替代理论化提供了资源。