How to Create a Concept

In responding to a question about the “precautions” that “should be taken when producing a concept,” Deleuze says:

You put your blinker on, and check in your rearview mirror to make sure another concept isn’t coming up behind you; once you’ve taken these precautions, you produce the concept. (282)

Sounds easy enough, but… it’s worth keeping in mind that concepts aren’t cognitive representations or discursive functions.  “Concepts are not in your head: they are things, peoples, zones, regions, thresholds, gradients, temperatures, speeds, etc.” (312)

Gilles Deleuze, Desert Islands and Other Texts 1953-1974. Trans. Michael Taormina [Semiotext(e), 2004].