From empiricism to the philosophy of the future: Hume, Deleuze, and imagination as a critique of representation

• Grant number: 25/20056-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2025
• End date: November 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - Metaphysics
• Principal Investigator: Débora Cristina Morato Pinto
• Grantee: Lucas Pinheiro de Oliveira
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project aims to investigate the role of the concept of imagination in David Hume's philosophy, based on Gilles Deleuze's reading, especially in Empiricism and Subjectivity (1953), in the 1973 article on Hume, and in the prologue to Difference and Repetition (1968). The starting point is the hypothesis that Deleuze finds in Hume's concept of imagination not only an epistemological alternative to classical rationalism, but also a critical operator capable of subverting the representational image of thought, centered on identity, negativity, and the figure of the subject. In this sense, we seek to understand how imagination allows Deleuze to construct a new image of thought, founded on difference, repetition, and conceptual fictionalization. The research will be conducted through an exegetical and comparative analysis, focusing on Empiricism and Subjectivity, complemented by consideration of the reappearances of the Hume theme in Deleuze's later works, based on the methodology proposed by Éric Alliez, who suggests going through Deleuze's texts in search of the intensive force of the problems that recur throughout his work. The project thus aims to clarify the strategic place of imagination in Deleuze's critique of representation and highlight its function as a device for philosophical creation, contributing to the understanding of the project of a "philosophy of the future." (AU)