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This paper reconstructs some issues of Deleuze’s theory of institution as they are exposed in two early texts: Empiricism and subjectivity (1953) and Instincts and Institutions (1955). The problem of institution is there formulated for the frst time through the reading of Hume. My purpose is to reconnect the idea of institution as an artifcial system of ‘means of satisfaction’ to its theoretical background (Canguilhem) and to its further developments. The three essential concepts that I employ to defne the limits of this issue are: animality, as institution allows the understanding of both identities and diferences between the human being and the animal; creativity, as, according to Deleuze, the institution is a positive model which is always created by the human being in order to satisfy his tendencies; law, as this conception is built in opposition to all theories which conceive law and limitation as the sources of the social feld.

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