What Is The 'Body Without Organs?' The Ominous-Sounding Postmodern Deleuzean Meme Explained

Philosophy memes on the internet have come a long way since Philosoraptor; the latest philosophy meme is about the body without organs. Whether it's the anarcho-primitivist musings of Ted Kaczynski or the general tilt towards nihilism, kids on the internet are now obsessed with niche postmodern philosophy a la French philosopher Gilles Deleuze.

What Is The 'Body Without Organs?'

The "body without organs," as discussed by philosopher Gilles Deleuze in The Logic of Sense (1969) and alongside Félix Guattari in Capitalism and Schizophrenia (1972), is a concept that describes the unbridled potentialities of a body that is not structured by its constitutional parts (i.e. "organs"). It's a complicated concept used to address a variety of things, from personal selfhood to concepts like money and capital.

The complexity of the concept beguiled philosophy students for decades and made the topic prime for memetic use. Most memes about the "body without organs" aren't even about what that phrase means — the jokes are about how hard it is to parse the concept's meaning.

X Usage In Memes

Memes about Deleuze-posting first gained traction on Facebook before migrating to other platforms, but they mostly remained true to the tradition of not knowing what Deleuze means.

Other memes played on visual representations of the concepts, drawing on pop culture symbols like Mr. Potatohead and SpongeBob SquarePants.

For the full history of the "Body Without Organs," be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.