Desire in/for Theory

Abstract

The primary aim of the article is to reflect on the relationship between theoretical thinking (theorising) and affects, the predominant among which seems to be desire. It is, after all, the result of a lack, insatiability, and the need for an intellectual grasp of the Whole (unity of all things). The relationship between thinking and emotions set the basic horizon of the European imagination. The standpoints of thinkers such as Gonçalo Tavares, George Steiner, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, and especially Martin Heidegger, presented in this article clearly demonstrate the hybrid status of theorizing. Affective and rational thinking are not mutually exclusive, on the contrary: they form a complementary tangle that includes both rigorous scientific procedures and numerous (conscious and subconscious) emotions, such as desire, delight, amazement, disappointment, melancholy, and hope. Building a theory arises not only from negation and opposition to the existing scientific systems, but also from the need to accept, acknowledge or affirm one’s own “self ” and the surrounding reality.