Deleuzian postmodern aesthet/hics and apprenticeship

Abstract In this article, I explore the intrinsic relationship between aesthetics and ethics in Deleuze’s philosophy. I additionally show how the notion of apprenticeship can help to clarify the relationship between the aesthetic and the ethical in Deleuze’s philosophy. For Deleuze, the question ‘How do we live a life?’ is a question that cuts across both aesthetics and ethics. A Deleuzian answer to this question may be: ‘We learn to live.’ The argument is developed in four sections. Firstly, I present a general introduction to Deleuzian ethics, demonstrating Deleuze’s concerns with non-organism, non-representation, and bodily affect. Secondly, I explore how Deleuzian aesthetics relates to non-organism, non-representation, and hysteria. I then turn to the notion of apprenticeship to explore the systematicity between Deleuzian aesthetics and ethics. I examine apprenticeship from four perspectives—desire, violence, friendship, and structure. Finally, based on the systematicity provided by apprenticeship, I suggest the possibility of developing a Deleuzian postmodern aesthet/hics, that could underpin future thinking of an ethics based on aesthetic creation.