At the Bottom of the Apparatus. Deleuze, Foucault and the Thresholds of Media Discourse

Abstract

Starting with Deleuze’s definitions of the “dispositive” concept in Foucauldian terms, this paper aims to draw some theoretical and operational considerations. First of all, it questions the status of “being” in Deleuze, which necessarily refers to the principle of “functioning as,” applied to the concept of “dispositive.” Next, emphasis is placed on how what Deleuze distilled from Foucault in the late 1980s began to conflict with the social meaning that the “dispositive” terminology was consolidating as it became an integral part of everyday life. With the aim of exploring the necessary terminological disambiguation that arises in that particular historical contingency, the discussion seeks to reposition the margins of the concept of “dispositive” within modern and contemporary media discourse.