Continuity and Event in Leibniz and Deleuze

Mohavedi’s book is not only a groundbreaking analysis of Deleuze’s reading of Leibniz but is an original work of philosophy in its own right, proposing a novel concept of “divergent continuity” that opens up new directions for the philosophy of the future. A masterful tour de force. -- Daniel W. Smith, Professor of Philosophy, Purdue University
This engaging and elegant book constitutes a major advance on some of the most important and difficult concepts of Deleuze's philosophy: event and continuity. It is therefore indispensable for cutting edge research in contemporary metaphysics. Its argument contributes in important ways to research on Deleuze and the history of philosophy, most notably on Leibniz, and on Deleuze and art, with an original and exciting thesis. -- James Williams, Deakin University
Event and Continuity in Leibniz and Deleuze: Poetics of the Fold is a tour de force that ranges through philosophy, mathematics, art, and politics. Movahedi compellingly shows how the unthematized concept of continuity is the key that unlocks not only Deleuze’s reading of Leibniz but also Difference and Repetition and The Logic of Sense. -- Brent Adkins, Professor of Philosophy, Roanoke College
In this ambitious book, Hamed Movahedi sets himself the difficult task of reinitializing one of the oldest questions in philosophy, and among its most thorny: the nature of continuity. He levers a space for this rethinking by displacing the brunt of the question from the opposition between the continuous and the discrete onto the productive nexus of continuity and event. A cascade of perennial philosophical issues – the one and the multiple, quality and quantity, extensive and intensive, the sensible and the intelligible, the virtual and the actual, the subjective and the objective, the material and the ideal, difference and repetition, the infinitesimal and the infinite – are attracted to the site of the rethinking. Working between Leibniz and Deleuze, always attentive to these surrounding issues, Movahedi nuances the concept of the continuous with distinctions between species. This includes one of his own confection, the intriguing notion of "tortional continuity," which becomes the key to his account. Continuity and Event is an original work of philosophy that impressively succeeds in its aim. It will be of special interest to readers of continental philosophy and process philosophy – and to anyone who has wondered with Zeno how the arrow arrives at its target. -- Brian Massumi, University of Montreal
Hamed Movahedi’s book offers a profound renewal of our understanding of continuity. Although Deleuze is widely recognized as a thinker of difference, multiplicity, and virtuality, his metaphysics is deeply influenced by Leibniz, particularly in relation to the notions of continuous series and the event across multiple levels. Without a doubt, this study transforms the broader approach to Deleuze’s philosophy. -- Christian Leduc, University of Montréal