Abstract

In this essay I contrast different orientations in the attempt to formalize the transcendental logic in its Kantian sense through a naturalistic ontology, following the Deleuzian project elaborated from Difference and Repetition. More specifically, I explore the way in which some research strands within the so-called ‘process ontology’ allow a development of the ontogenetic approach to transcendental philosophy elaborated by Deleuze, taking as its axis the nominalist proposal of Wilfrid Sellars, recently developed by Johanna Seibt through the so-called ‘theory of dynamic systems’. Within this paradigm, the concept of 'morphogenesis' is formally transformed, giving rise to a functionalist genealogy of thought different from that outlined by Deleuze in his early theory of ‘larval subjectivity’ and the so-called ‘intensive individuation’. Finally, I evaluate the scope and limitations of this approach to the ontology of processes in relation to the emergentist theory of ‘differential heterogenesis’ and the constitution of the ‘semiotic function’, recently formulated by Alessandro Sarti and Giovanna Citti.