On the synthesis of a disparate:

Saussure Repeats Deleuze

Abstract

The paper reconstruct the general semiology elaborated in Saussure’s unfinished and indirect writings, replacing his notion of meaning next to that of Deleuze, and explaining it through the latter. We argue that any theory based on the notion of “difference” needs to account for the individuation process and, together, through the description of two levels of differentiation. We demonstrate that this is accomplished by both authors, beyond and even with their disagreements. Thus, the article puts Saussure’s theory of value on the dawn of a philosophy of difference, showing that it inaugurates and even repeats the theses that Deleuze explicitly defends in the 1960s.