Anti-Oedipus

An introduction to the nonfascist life (Michel Foucault, from the Preface)

When it first appeared in France, Anti-Oedipus was hailed as a masterpiece by some and described as "a work of heretical madness" by others. In it, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari present the theory that Western society’s innate herd instinct has allowed the government, the media, and even economic principles to exploit each person’s unwillingness to be cut off from the group. Furthermore, those who suffer from mental disorders may not be insane but could be individuals in the purest sense, as they are by nature isolated from society. More than twenty-five years after its original publication, Anti-Oedipus remains a controversial contribution to a much-needed dialogue on the nature of free thinking.

About the authors

Gilles Deleuze was a prolific French philosopher and author of 25 books. A self-described pure metaphysician, he was a professor of philosophy at the University of Paris VIII and was known for a style that compelled readers to reevaluate their philosophical assumptions. Deleuze, along with close friend and colleague Félix Guattari, wrote a two-volume work on anti-psychoanalytic social philosophy called Capitalism and Schizophrenia. The first volume, Anti-Oedipus, is their best-known work.

Félix Guattari was a French psychiatrist and philosopher. He founded the Society for Institutional Psychotherapy in 1965 and the Centre for Institutional Studies and Research in 1970. Trained as a psychoanalyst, he, along with close friend and colleague Gilles Deleuze, were instrumental figures in the anti-psychiatry movement, which challenged established viewpoints in psychoanalysis, philosophy, and sociology. The two wrote a two-volume work on anti-psychoanalytic social philosophy called Capitalism and Schizophrenia. The first volume, Anti-Oedipus, is their best-known work.