Anarchy and Institution: A New Sadean Possibility

The aim of this chapter is to analyse the concept of anarchy in relation to that of institutions, both conceived of in a Deleuzian way of thinking. The starting point is the remark which Deleuze made about Sade in Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty (1967), where Deleuze talks about the possible strategies to criticise law. According to Sade, law belongs to a second nature and depends on a principle which belongs, instead, to the first nature: this principle is anarchy, understood like an institution. Following Sade, Deleuze seems to understand the possibility to link the institution and anarchy and it is this connection that forms the basis of this chapter.