Abstract

Being and becoming are often considered to be mutually exclusive: being is fixed and becoming implies change The impact of such an understanding can still be felt today: the philosophy of becoming by Deleuze-Guattari like the one of Nietzsche is a reaction to a fixed being; and the ongoing discourse on pluralism and essentialism is also tainted by this dichotomy. I maintain that the two are not mutually exclusive: becoming expresses being and the manifold nature of being is expressed by becoming. They are the very elements of the Deleuze-Guattart's MAGIC FORMULA, "PLURALISM = MONISM". The "solution" for this formula is an ontological, epistemological becoming founded on thinking where: ontology captures the manifold nature of being ; epistemology bridges the gap between the two terms by providing the ontological foundation to all human activities; thinking, beside dealing with being, is the very movement of becoming which is able to survey both sides of the equation; and becoming is the cosmic emergence of &phis;upsilonsigmaiotasigma which also drives the transformation that occurs in those individuals who grasp the reconciliation of the two seemingly conflicting terms of the equation. ;The discussion evolves in three books: the first deals with the philosophy of becoming of Nietzsche and Deleuze-Guattari, the second with the presumed being--becoming dichotomy of Parmenides and Plato, and the third with thinking with Hegel and Heraclitus. In the concluding section, I present my own expression of the magic formula, based on an ontological notion of gift. I suggest that becoming is the identification, development and implementation of the obvious gifts that are In us and in others, including non-human entities, which will put us in touch with the emergence---the hidden gift---of &phis;upsilonsigmaiotasigma. ;In addition, I show how becoming is a prise de conscience that emerges by thinking through some of the selected philosophies which are different expressions of the magic formula. This is undertaken through meditations on Nietzsche, Kafka, Terence's saying, "I am a man, I count nothing human alien to me", and on some of the Heraclitean fragments