Rolling the Dice: The Diagram as an Ungrounding Act in Gilles Deleuze

Abstract

This article analyzes the diagrammatic operation as ungrounding. It is argued that the diagrammatic act is the refoundation of the becoming of Being. The formulation of the roll of the dice is of particular interest, since in this way Deleuze describes the diagram as the process that brings forces together at the same time as it ungrounds the current structures of Being. In this way, all events are only possible insofar as there is a specific action that removes everything that already exists and allows for the possibility of a new reconfiguration of the temporal and spatial order that would frame this new individual. Thus, in this article the two main facets of the diagram converge: the diagram as a capture of forces and arrangement of dispersed multiplicities and as an act of removal that makes it possible for the Self to become actualized.