Bergson, Henri 1859-1941

Creative evolution by Henri Bergson ( Book )
360 editions published between 1907 and 2009 in 17 languages and held by 2,743 libraries worldwide
Philosophical, metaphysical view of evolution.

The two sources of morality and religion by Henri Bergson ( Book )
193 editions published between 1900 and 2008 in 15 languages and held by 2,100 libraries worldwide

Matter and memory by Henri Bergson ( Book )
284 editions published between 1896 and 2011 in 10 languages and held by 1,880 libraries worldwide

Essai sur les données immédiates de la conscience by Henri Bergson ( Book )
314 editions published between 1888 and 2011 in 18 languages and held by 1,856 libraries worldwide
Bergson argues for free will by showing that the arguments against it come from a confusion of different conceptions of time. As opposed to physicists' idea of measurable time, in human experience life is perceived as a continuous and unmeasurable flow rather than as a succession of marked-off states of consciousness--something that can be measured not quantitatively, but only qualitatively. His conclusion is that free will is an observable fact.

The creative mind by Henri Bergson ( Book )
144 editions published between 1900 and 2010 in 9 languages and held by 1,785 libraries worldwide
"Henri Bergson's The Creative Mind: An Introduction to Metaphysics (1946) is a collection of essays and lectures concerning the nature of intuition, explaining how intuition can be used as a philosophical method. Intuition is described as a method of 'thinking in duration' which reflects the continuous flow of reality. Bergson distinguishes between intuitive and conceptual thinking, explaining how intuition and intellect may be combined to produce a dynamic knowledge of reality. Bergson distinguishes between two forms of time: pure time and mathematical time. Pure time is real duration. Mathematical time is measurable duration. Real time is continuous and indivisible. Mathematical time is divisible into units or intervals which do not reflect the flow of real time. According to Bergson, real time cannot be analyzed mathematically. To measure time is to try to create a break or disruption in time. In order to try to understand the flow of time, the intellect forms concepts of time as consisting of defined moments or intervals. But to try to intellectualize the experience of duration is to falsify it. Real duration can only be experienced by intuition.In the intellectual representation of time, a succession of distinct states or events is presented as a spatialized form of time. Time is conceptualized as an ordered arrangement of defined events, rather than as an endless flow of experience in an indivisible continuity. The intellect analyzes time as having measurable duration, but the flow of real time can only be known by intuition. Bergson says that reality has extension as well as duration. However, space is not a void or vacuum which is filled by reality. Things are not in space, space is in things. Thus, emptiness can only be conceptualized by suppressing a space-occupying reality. Similarly, nothingness can only be conceptualized by suppressing the awareness of being. According to Bergson, emptiness cannot be directly perceived, it can only be conceptualized.Bergson also argues that intellect and intuition are capable of different kinds of knowledge. Scientific principles are intellectual, while metaphysical principles are intuitive. However, science and philosophy can be combined to produce knowledge that is both intellectual and intuitive. Such knowledge can unify divergent perceptions of reality. The existence of time may explain the indeterminateness of things. Time as duration may explain why indeterminate things may later be able to be determined. Things that can be determined may also become indeterminate. If time did not exist, all things could (theoretically) be determined simultaneously. The indeterminateness of things means that the outcome of some events may change, and that there may be freedom of action. Freedom can be experienced by direct intuition.According to Bergson, the reality or actuality of something is not necessarily preceded by the possibility of that thing. When something is real or actual, we can say retrospectively that it was possible. But whatever is possible does not reveal what is real or actual. Whatever is real or actual reveals what is possible.Intuition is a form of knowledge that reality is continuous and indivisble, and that reality is always changing. If this form of knowledge is more widely utilized, then philosophy can be complementary to science as both a practical and speculative mode of inquiry. 1. If reality is always changing, then this variability contradicts the theory that every event is causally determined, and that every event must necessarily happen the way it does happen. If reality is not a succession of static moments or immobile states of being, then there is an indeterminateness and uncertainty in events which produces a freedom of creative possibility.Time is not a multiplicity of moments, nor is it an abstract eternity. Both of these concepts of time fail to recognize its movement and variability, which cannot be properly understood by representing time as a succession of immobile stages of specified duration. Bergson says that intuition is not the same as instinct or feeling. Intuition is a mode of reflection. 2. Intuition is not a single act, but is a fluidity of psychological action. According to Bergson, the intuitive method transcends the limits of idealism or realism. Bergson agrees with William James that truth is a dynamic relation between an idea and an existing reality. Truth is not a static property inherent in an idea or judgment. Truth is something which happens to an idea, and which has practical consequences for action. The truth of an idea can tell us how to respond to events, and how to develop plans for action. Truth is not a static relation of correspondence to an unchanging, preexistent state of being. Truth is an active relation between an idea and events that may change according to the flow of reality" -- Angel Fire review.

An introduction to metaphysics by Henri Bergson ( Book )
94 editions published between 1903 and 2011 in 11 languages and held by 1,516 libraries worldwide
"This book is the key text for understanding the development of Bergson's thought from his early treatises on duration to the extension of this concept towards a general cosmology and an ethico-political ontology. In a new critical edition of this crucial work, the original authorised translation by T. E. Hulme has been restored and supplemented with new translations of Bergson's later amendments to the text, a guide to further reading and a new introduction."--BOOK JACKET.

Laughter : an essay on the meaning of the comic by Henri Bergson ( Book )
323 editions published between 1900 and 2011 in 20 languages and held by 1,320 libraries worldwide
"In this great philosophical essay, Henri Bergson explores why people laugh and what laughter means. First translated into English in 1911, this important work has long been unavailable."--BOOK JACKET. "The author of Creative Evolution and other influential works of the Twentieth Century begins with a discussion of laughter in general, focusing in the second part on laughter in situations and the comic in words, and, in the final section, on the comic in character. From Punch-and-Judy shows to Figaro, from a man falling down in the street to the great comic figures of Moliere's plays, Bergson explores the implications and full meaning of laughter, concluding ultimately that laughter is corrective: "By laughter, society avenges itself for the liberties taken with it. It would fail in its object if it bore the stamp of sympathy or kindness." Accordingly, Bergson argues, laughter serves a useful function to mankind."--BOOK JACKET.

Mind-energy, lectures and essays by Henri Bergson ( Book )
190 editions published between 1919 and 2009 in 11 languages and held by 1,034 libraries worldwide
"Mind-Energy brings together Bergson's most important lectures and articles between 1901 and 1913 in the philosophy of mind and the metaphysics of time. This new critical edition makes these important texts available again, using the original authorized translation by H. Wild on Carr, adding a guide to further reading and a new introduction by Bergson specialist Keith Ansell Pearson."--BOOK JACKET.

Duration and simultaneity, with reference to Einstein's theory by Henri Bergson ( Book )
76 editions published between 1922 and 2009 in 4 languages and held by 819 libraries worldwide

Some modern French writers; a study in Bergsonism by Gladys Rosaleen Turquet-Milnes ( Book )
9 editions published between 1921 and 1968 in English and held by 527 libraries worldwide