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Nietzsche. In “Existing Not as a Subject But as a Work of Art: The Task of Ethics or
Aesthetics?” Kenneth Surin argues that Kant’s ethics have no influence on Deleuze’s ethics
because Kant separates ethics from aesthetics whereas Deleuze does not. Furthermore, there are
also many commentators who argue that Deleuze’s ethics follows the Stoics. Two examples are
John Sellars in “Ethics of the Event” and Ian Buchanan in Deleuzism: A Metacommentary.
Again, neither of these commentators emphasizes Kant’s ethics. On the other hand, in The
Deleuze Reader, and “What Difference Does Deleuze’s Difference Make?” Constantin V.
Boundas argues that Deleuze’s ethics follows Spinoza, Nietzsche and the Stoics, but not Kant.
There are many commentators who discuss the relationship between ontology and ethics.
In The Germinal Life: The Difference and Repetition of Deleuze Keith Ansell Pearson sees an
immediate relationship between Deleuze’s ontology and his ethics. However, Pearson does not
argue for this relationship in terms of Kant. Instead, he relies on the Stoics, Bergson, Spinoza and
Nietzsche. Similarly, in Truth and Genesis: Philosophy as Differential Ontology and Immanence
and Philosophy: Deleuze Miguel de Beistegui establishes a continuity between Deleuze’s
ontology and his ethics. “Between ontology and ethics, there is no difference in kind, no gap, and
no complex mediation, but a continuity: the being of man is entirely co-extensive with that of
nature” (Beistegui 105). However, as this statement suggests de Beistegui thinks that it is
Spinoza, not Kant, who influences Deleuze in this regard. In Gilles Deleuze: An Introduction,
Toddy May also argues for the immediate relationship between Deleuze’s ontology and his
ethics. However, in order to establish this relationship May invokes Bergson, Nietzsche and
Spinoza, but not Kant. 4
4 There are also other commentators who acknowledge the relationship between Deleuze’s ontology and his ethics
but do not focus on it, e.g. Jay Lampert in Deleuze and Guattari’s Philosophy of History, Manuel Delanda’s
Intensive Science and Virtual Philosophy. In Gilles Deleuze’s Difference and Repetition: A Critical Introduction and
Guide William James gives some insightful examples of the relationship between Deleuze’s ontology and his ethics.
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