It is argued that Deleuze replaces the true/false or real/unreal opposition by the actual/virtual distinction. The virtual and the actual are important concepts for Deleuze. According to Deleuze virtual and actual are both real, but not everything that is virtually contained (immanent) in this world is or becomes actual. The difference between virtual and actual is an important philosophical claim that Deleuze makes which again needs much more elaboration than is possible to give here. To put it simply the virtual (dreams, memories, imaginations, pure qualities) is real insofar as it has an effect on us, the virtual insists on the actual.

He states that there is no actual image which is not embedded in a 'mist' of virtual images. And on the other hand virtual images react to actual images. The difference between the actual and the virtual is a difference in time (once more it is clear here that Deleuze is a philosopher of time): it is the present that passes that defines the actual; the virtual is defined by the past that conserves itself.