thigein & conatus
– Giorgio Agamben, “Absolute Immanence,” p. 164
Spinoza’s theory of ‘striving’ (conatus) as the desire to persevere in one’sown Being, whose importance Deleuze often underlines, contains a possibleanswer to these questions. Whatever the ancient and medieval sources ofSpinoza’s idea (Harry A. Wolfson lists a number of them, from the Stoics toDante), it is certain that in each case, its paradoxical formulation perfectlyexpresses the idea of an immanent movement, a striving that obstinatelyremains in itself. All beings not only persevere in their own Being (visinertiae) but desire to do so (vis immanentiae). The movement of conatus thuscoincides with that of Spinoza’s immanent cause, in which agent and patientcannot be told apart. And since conatus is identical to the Being of the thing,to desire to persevere in one’s own Being is to desire one’s own desire, toconstitute oneself as desiring. In conatus, desire and Being thus coincide withoutresidue.– Ibid., p. 166
