Bergson (Arguments of the Philosophers)

251 Pages·2008·17.02 MB·English

by  A. R. Lacey

BERGSON
The Arguments of
the Philosophers
EDITOR: TED HONDERICH
The purpose of this series is to provide a contemporary assessment and
history of the entire course of philosophical thought. Each book
constitutes a detailed, critical introduction to the work of a philosopher
of major influence and significance.
Plato J. C. B. Gosling
Attpstine Christopher Kirwan
The Presocratic Philosophers Jonathan Barnes
Plotinus Lloyd P Gerson
The Sceptics R. J. Hankinson
Socrates Gerasimos Xenophon Santas
Berkeley George Pitcher
Descartes Margaret Dauler Wilson
Hobbes Tom Sore11
Locke Michael Ayers
Spinoza R. J. Delahunty
Bentham Ross Harrison
Hume Barry Stroud
Bt4tlff Terence Penelhum
John Stuart Mill John Skorupski
Thomas Reid Keith Lehrer
Kant Ralph C. S. Walker
Hegel M. J. Inwood
Schopenbauer D. W. Hamlyn
Kierkegaard Alastair Hannay
Nietzsche Richard Schacht
Karl Marx Allen W. Wood
Gottlob Frege Hans D. Sluga
Meinong Reinhardt Grossmann
Husserl David Bell
G. E. Moore Thomas Baldwin
Wittgenstein Robert J. Fogelin
Russell Mark Sainsbury
William James Graham Bird
Peirce Christopher Hookway
Santayana Timothy L. S. Sprigge
Dewtw J. E. Tiles
Bergson A. R. Lacey
J, L. Austin G. J. Warnock
Karl Popper Anthony O’Hear
Ayer John Foster
Sartre Peter Caws
BERGSON
The Argzlmetits of the Philosophers
A. R. Lacey
London and New York
First published 1989 by Routledge
First published in paperback 1994
This edition reprinted in hardback 1999
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Rot&edge ir an imprint of the Taylor G Francis Group
0 1989 A. R. Lacey
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd.
Chippenham, Wiltshire
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Pnbliration Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congms Catalogrring in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0~15-20386-4
ISBN o-415-20392-9 (set)
Publisher’s note
The publisher has gone co great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint
but points out that some imperfections in the original book may be apparent.
Contents
. . .
Prcfacc Vlll
s
List of abbreviations
1
I EXTENSITY AND INTENSITY
1 Introduction
2 The three main casts 3
3 Sensations 5
4 The issue over intensive magnitudes 7
5 Psychophysics 11
6 Conclusions 13
17
II SPACE AND TIME
1 Introduction
2 Space and counting
22
3 Space and extension. Kinds of multiplicity
4 Duration 26
5 Zen0 32
6 Absolute and relative. Absolute,motion 39
7 Absolute space 43
8 Absolute duration. The two stages in Bergson’s thought 45
9 The first stage 47
10 The second stage 5--1
11 Conclusions on the two sta es
12 Criticism. The symmetry o 8 space and time :z
13 Bergson and Einstein 59
III FREE WILL 67
1 Introduction. Two forms of determinism
.2 Bergson’s strategy 69
3 Bergson on psychological determinism 71
4 Nature of causality. Causal and logical necessity 73
5 Determinism as due to confusion of two views 75
of causality
6 Causal and logical necessity again 78
7 Libertarianism 81
8 Bergson’s own view of free will 83
IV THE METAPHYSICS OF CHANGE
AND SUBSTANCE 88
1 Introduction
2 The escape from realism and idealism 89
3 The role of images 92
4 Categories. Change and essence 94
5 Pure change? 98
101
6 The substrate and its role
103
7 Permanence
104
8 Substance
9 Things and processes 108
10 Conclusion 110
112
V PROBLEMS OF MIND AND BODY
1 Introduction
2 Perception 114
3 Memory 118
4 Perception and memory 125
5 Rhythms of duration 128
6 Perception and action 131
7 The reality of the past 133
8 Mind and body 135
VI EPISTEMOLOGY 141
1 Introduction
2 Intelligence and instinct
3 Consciousness: its two senses 147
4 Instinct and intuition 150
5 Intelli ence and intuition: preliminaries 153
6 Imme if iacy 155
7 Concepts and language: the problem 157
Vi
159
8 Immediacy and the role of intuition
9 Concepts and lan uage: development of the problem 162
10 The nature of phi Bo sophy 164
167
11 Conclusion: the role of mathematics
170
VII BIOLOGY
1 Introduction
2 The nature of life 171
3 Philosophical arguments 176
4 Scientific arguments 179
5 The e’lan vital 181
6 Conservation and entropy. Order and disordt r 184
VIII THE COMIC 188
1 Introduction. Art and comedy
2 The basis of the theory 190
3 Development of the theory 193
IX MORALITY AND MYSTICISM 197
1 Introduction
2 Obligation 199
3 The question of justification 201
4 Closed and open morality 204
5 Justice and value 208
6 The hero 210
i’ Myth-making 211
8 Magic 214
9 Mysticism 215
10 God 218
11 Epilogue 219
220
227
vii
Preface
I have tried in this book, in accordance with the title of the series,
to state and examine Ber son’s main arguments on their merits. So
far as Bergson can be cK a ssified at all it would be as a ‘process
philosopher’, along with Heraclitus, the Stoics, He el, and
Whitehead. His nearest philosophical congeners are W 1 itehead
himself, with whom he shares a mathematical background and an
interest in modern physics, and William James, with whom he
shares a strong pragmatist element and whom he regarded as a
friend and ally. But I have not attem ted any foray into the
history of ideas, apart from the od tl stray remark. I have
approached the subject from the broadly ‘analytical’ standpoint
prevalent in current English-speaking philosophy. This is by no
means identical with Bergson’s own standpoint, but I have tried to
steer between unsympathetic rejection and uncritical
overestimation.
As on previous occasions, I am greatly indebted to Professor
Ted Honderich for his sym athetic encouragement as series editor,
and to Dr John Watling Po r many hilosophical discussions on
topics relevant to those here treate cf . Dr Donald Gillies and Dr
Harmke Kamminga of the Department of the History and
Philosophy of Science at King’s College read and gave me valuable
comments on a draft of chapter 7. Parts of chapter 2 were read to a
seminar in the De artment and I am rateful for comments made
there and. especia Ply for a prolonge 3 later discussion with Mr
Barrie Tonkinson. Dr Gillies, and Professor Roy Davies of
Leicester University Mathematics Department, offered me
considerable he1 on the end of chapter 6. Dr Mary Pickersgill and
Dr Elizabeth Va Pe ntine of the Psychology Department of Bedford
College gave me some valuable references in connexion with
. . .
Vlll
chapter 5. I hope the text and bibliography will make clear my
debts to written sources though I cannot leave unmentioned the
immense labour of love represented by P.A.Y. Gunter’s Bergson
bibliography (see my bibliography below). I am grateful to my
colleagues in the King’s College Philosophy Department for
allowing me a sabbatical term at a helpful time and also for
comments on parts of chapter 1 at a staff seminar. In this time of
financial stringency I would like to say that any merits this book
may have would never have reached the light of day without the
excellent resources of the University of London library, whose
philosophy librarian, Mrs Margaret Blackburn, has also been most
helpful to me. Finally, I am grateful to Miss Kendall Anderson for
her prompt and efficient production of a disc out of my minuscule
handwritin and to Mrs Joan Waxman and Mrs Elizabeth Bctts for
a good dca f of sccrctnrinl help of one kind or nnorhcr at various
stages.
ix
List of Abbreviations
Bergson’s works are abbreviated as follows:
(For details see bibliography)
CE Creative Evolution
CM The Creative Mind
L Laughter
M M ilanges
ME Mind-Energy
MM Matter and Memory
MR The Two Sources of Morality and Religion
Q Oeuvres
TF Time and Free Will