Rhizome (philosophy)

{{short description|Philosophical model of the connections present in an assemblage}} {{about|a philosophical term|its use in botany|Rhizome}} A '''rhizome''' is a concept in post-structuralism describing an assemblage that allows connections between any of its constituent elements, regardless of any predefined ordering, structure, or entry point.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Young |first1=Eugene |title=The Deleuze and Guattari Dicationary |last2=Genosko |first2=Gary |last3=Watson |first3=Janell |date=2013-12-05 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-0826442765 |pages=171, 262}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Adkins |first=Brent |title=Deleuze and Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus: A Critical Introduction and Guide |date=2015 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=9780748686469 |pages=23, 76}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{cite book |last1=Deleuze |first1=Gilles |title=A Thousand Plateaus |last2=Guattari |first2=Félix |date=1987 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |isbn=0-8166-1402-4 |pages=5, 7 |translator-last=Massumi |translator-first=Brian |orig-year=1980}}</ref> It is a central concept in the work of French theorists Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, who use the term frequently in their development of schizoanalysis.

Deleuze and Guattari use the terms "rhizome" and "rhizomatic" ({{ety|grc|''ῥίζωμα'' ({{transliteration|grc|rhízōma}})|mass of roots}}) to describe a network that "connects any point to any other point".<ref name=":2" /> The term is first introduced in Deleuze and Guattari's 1975 book ''Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature'' to suggest that Kafka's work is not bound by linear narrative structure, and can be entered into at any point to map out connections with other points.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Stivale |first=Charles |title=Gilles Deleuze: Key Concepts |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |year=2005 |isbn=9781844652884 |pages=150, 52}}</ref>

The term is heavily expanded upon in Deleuze and Guattari's 1980 work ''A Thousand Plateaus'', where it is used to refer to networks that establish "connections between semiotic chains, organizations of power, and circumstances relative to the arts, sciences and social struggles."<ref name=":2" />

== Opposition to arborescence == thumb|An illustration of rhizome in opposition to arborescence from a 2006 exhibition of works inspired by ''A Thousand Plateaus'' at the Doris McCarthy Gallery. The red structure in the image is a tree, which presupposes a linear ordering over its elements that emanates from the root. The green structure in the image is a rhizome, which ceaselessly establishes connections across branches in the tree, without regard for the predefined order.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Introduction: Rhizome · Happy Sleepy |url=https://happysleepy.com/art/drawing-thousand-plateaus/introduction/ |access-date=2024-12-21 |website=Happy Sleepy |language=en-US}}</ref>

'''''Arborescent''''' ({{langx|fr|arborescent}}) refers to the shape and structure of a tree. ''A Thousand Plateaus'' introduces the concept of philosophical rhizome through a botanical metaphor, which contrasts the rhizomatic character of underground root systems to the naturally hierarchical ordering present in tree-structures.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> "The tree is filiation, but the rhizome is alliance [...]. The tree imposes the verb 'to be,' but the fabric of the rhizome is the conjunction, 'and... and... and...'"<ref> {{cite book |last1 = Deleuze |first1 = Gilles |author-link1 = Gilles Deleuze |last2 = Guattari |first2 = Félix |author-link2 = Félix Guattari |translator-last1 = Massumi |translator-first1 = Brian |translator-link1 = Brian Massumi |date = 1 September 2004 |orig-date = 1987 |chapter = Introduction: Rhizome |title = Thousand Plateaus |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=B9xLrS6mpGoC |series = Continuum impacts |publication-place = London |publisher = A&C Black |page = 27 |isbn = 9780826476944 |access-date = 10 November 2025 |quote = The tree is filiation, but the rhizome is alliance, uniquely alliance. The tree imposes the verb 'to be,' but the fabric of the rhizome is the conjunction, 'and... and... and...' This conjunction carries enough force to shake and uproot the verb 'to be'. }} </ref>

Deleuze and Guattari extend the metaphor beyond botanical trees to the realms of abstract and linguistic trees.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

==Approximate characteristics== In ''A Thousand Plateaus'', Deleuze and Guattari write that "The rhizome itself assumes very diverse forms... but we get the feeling that we will convince no one unless we enumerate certain approximate characteristics."<ref name=":2" /> These approximate characteristics are:

*"1 and 2. Principles of connection and heterogeneity: any point of a rhizome can be connected to anything other, and must be. This is very different from the tree or root, which plots a point, fixes an order" *"3. Principle of multiplicity: it is only when the multiple is effectively treated as a substantive, "multiplicity," that it ceases to have any relation to the One as subject or object" *"4. Principle of asignifying rupture: against the oversignifying breaks separating structures or cutting across a single structure. A rhizome may be broken, shattered at a given spot, but it will start up again on one of its old lines, or on new lines" *"5 and 6. Principle of cartography and decalcomania: a rhizome is not amenable to any structural or generative model. It is a stranger to any idea of genetic axis or deep structure."

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Social networks Category:Social theories Category:Literary concepts Category:Philosophical analogies Category:Postmodern theory Category:Félix Guattari Category:Gilles Deleuze Category:Philosophy of technology