The Bergsonian Model of Actualization

Introduction

IN HIS COMMENTARIES ON BERGSON, DELEUZE REITERATES that a key task for philosophy is the stating and creation of problems (Bergsonism 14). In the discussion of his method, Bergson places more emphasis on finding and positing problems, than on solving them (Creative Mind 51). This paper attempts to state and create the problem of “actualization” in a way tha brings new insights into thinking about the virtual into contact with aspects of contemporary theory-particularly literary theory, scree theory, and consideration of the identity of the work of art. While thi paper invokes the virtual, its primary aim is not to engage with a vast literature on virtual reality and its development (see Rheingold). Instead the virtual appears here as a figure in a growing body of philosophical work examining the relationship between the virtual and the actual, or real (Heim; Massumi 34-46; Hardt 14-19; Boundas)-we shall address this slip- page between the actual and the real below.