The deconstructed deconstructing subject: Postmodern ethos or incarnate fidelity? The Bacon/Deleuze case

In its systematic attack on traditional dogmatisms the subject-decentring practice of deconstruction has too often become dogmatic itself. Irony, language-game, casualness and lack of consideration towards the Other constitute in many circles the politically correct way of overturning the spectre of the subject's will to power. The deconstructed deconstructing subject now runs the risk of acting as a disrespectful bird in need of preys to disregard. What may be called the postmodern ethos does not induce one to establish a common ground with the Other in order to reach understanding, and to ultimately be enriched. The point of this essay is to show that such an incarnate fidelity can nonetheless be traced in particular decentering approaches, of which one of the most striking is that of Gilles Deleuze in his book Francis Bacon, Logique de la Sensation.