Human rights as a way of life : on Bergson's political philosophy

213 Pages·2013·8.91 MB·English

by  Bergson

human rights as a way of life

Cultural Memory
in
the
Present
Hent de Vries, Editor

HUMAN RIGHTS AS A WAY OF LIFE
On Bergson’s Political Philosophy
Alexandre Lefebvre
stanford university press
stanford, california
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
© 2013 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.
All rights reserved.
Portions of Alexandre Lefebvre, “Bergson and Human Rights,” from Bergson,
Politics, and Religion, edited by Alexandre Lefebvre and Melanie White, are
reprinted by permission of Duke University Press.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of
Stanford University Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lefebvre, Alexandre, 1979– author.
Human rights as a way of life : on Bergson’s political philosophy / Alexandre
Lefebvre.
pages cm. — (Cultural memory in the present)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8047-8578-5 (cloth : alk. paper) —
isbn 978-0-8047-8579-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Bergson, Henri, 1859–1941. Deux sources de la morale et de la religion.
2. Bergson, Henri, 1859–1941—Political and social views. 3. Human rights—
Philosophy. 4. Political science—Philosophy. I. Title. II. Series: Cultural memory
in the present.
b2430. b4d467 2013
323.01—dc23
2012045131
Typeset by Bruce Lundquist in 11/13.5 Adobe Garamond
For Melanie,
To whom I can always turn around and ask,
“What do you think Bergson means when . . . ?”

Between the closed soul and the open soul there
is the soul in process of opening. Between the
immobility of a man seated and the motion of
the same man running, there is the act of
getting up, the attitude he assumes when he
rises. In short, between the static and the
dynamic there is to be observed, in morality too,
a transition stage.
henri bergson,
The Two Sources of Morality and Religion