I try to show how Deleuze’s use of the concepts of perversion and simulacrum develops throughout the 60s before the two terms fall out of favor in the 70s. Empiricism and subjectivity marks the emergence of the theme of the productive tension between the imaginary and the symbolic, the imagination and reason, the natural and the artificial. Perversion and simulacrum are two ways which Deleuze takes up these related problems before they are solved in a new way in A Thousand Plateaus with the concept of becoming, which encompasses aspects of perversion and simulacrum. Together, they form another example of the conceptual persona. The philosopher becomes perverse as perversion becomes the overturning of the copy into the simulacrum. Erasing the barrier between them, Deleuze and Guattari open up space for a nonhuman desire at the surface of all things.

In preparation, you can find Deleuze's text "Plato and the Simulacrum" here.