Acknowledgments Introduction PART I: DELEUZE AND SYSTEMATIC PHILOSOPHY The Shape of Systematic Philosophy Deleuze's Slogan of the Middle The Middle as Becoming Deleuze's Problem, Differential, or Abstract Machine PART II: THEATRE OF OPERATIONS The Exclusive Disjunctive Synthesis of Professional Philosophy Affirmative Philosophy Three Conceptual Personae: the Anglo-American Philosopher, the French Philosopher, and the Logician The Philosopher, the Artist, the Scientist, the Historian, & the Logician The Phenomenologist as Hero, The Phenomenologist as Parasite The Structuralist as Hero, the Structuralist as Palace Dog Philosophy's Encounter with Literature Why Does the Hero Loath Discussion? The Abstract Machine of Philosophical Discourse PART III: AFFIRMING PHILOSOPHY Philosophy's Demise Has Been Greatly Exaggerated The First Metaphilosophical Question: What is a Philosophy? The Second Metaphilosophical Question: What Does it Mean to Think? Ethico-Political Metaphysics Notes Bibliography Index