. 115 But, if it is true that the Theaetetus is a foundation of error, does not Plato hold in reserve the rights of other rival determinations, like the delirium of the Phaedrus, so that it seems to us that the image of thought in Plato plots many other tracks? gilles deleuze and félix guattari, what is philosophy ? For deleuze, like nietzsche before him, Platonism names the most reac- tive and regrettable moment in the history of philosophy—the moment when philosophy submits itself to transcendence. “e poisoned gift of Platonism is to have introduced transcendence into philosophy,” Deleuze writes, “to have given transcendence a plausible philosophical meaning (the triumph of the judgment of God)” (CC, 136). But inasmuch as this is the case—inasmuch as Platonism, the presumptive origin of philosophy, also designates its enduring problem—why is it that Deleuze’s engagement with the subject comprises a bare fraction of his work? e author of countless commentaries, on friends and enemies alike, Deleuze never devoted a book to Plato, endeavoring instead to condense his critique into the space of a couple of dozen pages. is critique began in ear- nest with the composition of an essay, “Reversing Platonism,” which he pub- lished in 1966 and which thereafter formed the basis for his most concerted meditations on the subject. 1 In Difference and Repetition and the first appen- dix to the Logic of Sense (published in 1968 and 1969, respectively), Deleuze recasts the language and sentiments of the earlier essay into the pivotal DELEUZE AMONG THE SOPHISTS 3 The Gift of Transcendence and the Measure of Immanence The Problem with Plato