LITMIR.BIZ

French philosopher Henri Bergson produced four major works in his lifetime, the second of which, «Matter and Memory», is a philosophical and complex nineteenth century exploration of human nature and the spirituality of memory. In this work, Bergson investigates the function of the brain, and opposes the idea of memory being of a material nature, lodged within a particular part of the nervous system. He makes a claim early in this essay that Matter and Memory «is frankly dualistic,» leading to a careful consideration of the problems in the relation of body and mind. His theories on sense, dualism, pure perception, concept of virtuality and famous image of the memory cone often make Bergson's essay a confusing and challenging existentialist work. However, the years of research and extensive pathological investigations spent in preparation for this and other essays have gained Bergson great distinction as a brilliant, though unjustly neglected, theorist and philosopher.

Подробнее

The most famous and influential work of distinguished French philosopher Henri Bergson (1859–1941), Creative Evolution features the fullest expression of the philosopher's ideas about the problem of existence, propounding a theory of evolution completely distinct from these of earlier thinkers and scientists.In discussing the meaning of life, Bergson considers the order of nature and the form of intelligence, including the geometrical tendency of the intellect, and examines mechanisms of thought and illusion. In addition, he presents a critique of the idea of immutability and the concept of nothingness, from Plato and Aristotle through the evolutionism of his contemporaries.Bergson's influence on Marcel Proust and other twentieth-century writers renders a grasp of his theories imperative to students of literature as well as philosophy. Historians of science and other readers will also appreciate the importance of this milestone in philosophical and evolutionary thought.

Подробнее

Internationally known and one of the most influential philosophers of his day (and for a time almost a cult figure in France, where his lectures drew huge crowds), Henri Bergson (1859-41) led a revolution in philosophical thought by rejecting traditional conceptual and abstract methods, and arguing that the intuition is deeper than the intellect. His speculations, especially about the nature of time, had a profound influence on many other philosophers, as well as on poets and novelists; they are said to have been the seed for À la recherce de temps perdu by Marcel Proust (whose cousin was Bergson's wife). Though his ideas were sometimes difficult to follow, Bergson was also a fine stylist, who once declared, «there is nothing in philosophy which could not be said in everyday language,» and who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1927.In Time and Free Will, written as his doctoral thesis, Bergson tries to dispel the arguments against free will. These arguments, he shows, come from a confusion of different ideas of time. Physicists and mathematicians conceive of time as a measurable construct much like the spatial dimensions. But 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. And because human personalities express themselves in acts that cannot be predicted, Bergson declares free will to be an observable fact. Students and teachers of philosophy are sure to welcome this inexpensive reprint of Bergson's classic, influential essay, long a staple of college philosophy courses.

Подробнее

A monumental work by an important modern philosopher, Matter and Memory (1896) represents one of the great inquiries into perception and memory, movement and time, matter and mind. Nobel Prize–winner Henri Bergson surveys these independent but related spheres, exploring the connection of mind and body to individual freedom of choice.Bergson's efforts to reconcile the facts of biology to a theory of consciousness offered a challenge to the mechanistic view of nature, and his philosophy can be regarded as a forerunner to later developments in relativity theory and conceptions of mental process. His original and innovative views exercised a profound influence on other philosophers — including James, Whitehead, and Santayana — as well as novelists such as Dos Passos and Proust. Essential to an understanding of Bergson's philosophy and its legacy, this volume appears on the Malaspina Great Books Core Reading List.Essential to an understanding of Bergson's philosophy and its legacy, Matter and Memory is among Dover's Philosophical Classics. A collection of the major works in Western and Eastern philosophy, this new series ranges from ancient Greece to modern times. Its low-priced, high-quality, unabridged editions are ideal for teachers and students as well as for other readers.

Подробнее

In this great philosophical essay, Henri Bergson explores why people laugh and what laughter means. Written at the turn of the twentieth century, Laughter explores what it is in language that makes a joke funny and what it is in us that makes us laugh.One of the functions of humor, according to Bergson, is to help us retain our humanity during an age of mechanization. Like other philosophers, novelists, poets, and humorists of his era, Bergson was concerned with the duality of man and machine. His belief in life as a vital impulse, indefinable by reason alone, informs his perception of comedy as the relief we experience upon distancing ourselves from the mechanistic and materialistic. «A situation is always comic,» Bergson notes, «if it participates simultaneously in two series of events which are absolutely independent of each other, and if it can be interpreted in two quite different meanings.» The philosopher's thought-provoking insights (e.g., «It seems that laughter needs an echo. Our laughter is always the laughter of a group.») keep this work ever-relevant as a thesis on the principles of humor.

Подробнее

The final published book by Nobel Prize-winning author and philosopher Henri Bergson (1859–1941), La pensée et le mouvant (translated here as The Creative Mind), is a masterly autobiography of his philosophical method. Through essays and lectures written between 1903 and 1923, Bergson retraces how and why he became a philosopher, and crafts a fascinating critique of philosophy itself. Until it leaves its false paths, he demonstrates, philosophy will remain only a wordy dialectic that surmounts false problems.With masterful skill and intensity, Bergson shows that metaphysics and science must be rooted in experience for philosophy to become a genuine search for truth. And in the quest for unanswered questions, the spiritual dimension of human life and the importance of intuition must be emphasized. A source of inspiration for physicists as well as philosophers, Bergson's introduction to metaphysics reveals a philosophy that is always on the move, blending man's spiritual drive with his mastery of the material world.

Подробнее

"Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic" is Henri Bergson’s treatise on comedy. Bergson makes three essential observations about laughter and comedy. Firstly that comedy is necessarily a human thing, secondly that laughter is a cerebral thing that requires detachment from the subject in order to laugh at it, and lastly that laughter plays an important social function. This interesting examination of what makes us laugh and why is a compelling and quick read, a must for any budding comedian or any one else seeking a greater understanding of humour.

Подробнее

"Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness" is Henri Bergson's doctoral thesis which was first published in 1889. In the work Bergson introduces us to his theory of duration, a response to Kant's ideas regarding free will as something only possible outside of time and space. Bergson argues that the traditional concept of free will is merely confusion among philosophers caused by an illegitimate translation of the unextended into the extended. Bergson was one of the most influential philosophers of his day who rose to prominence by rejecting the conventional wisdom of the philosophers who came before him.

Подробнее

Henri Bergson (1859-1941) was a French philosopher and Nobel Prize winner in Literature, whose third major work, «Creative Evolution», provided an alternate explanation for Darwin's mechanism of evolution. The book focuses on four key steps: that there must be a vital impulse which explains the creation of all living things; that there must also be an impulse accounting for diversity and differentiation; that these tendencies can be defined as instinct and intelligence; and that intuition allows us to place ourselves back in the original vital impulse. Bergson addresses concepts of time, human intelligence and intuition, all of which illustrate his ideas on the meaning of life. The book was very popular in the first half of the 20th Century, and held a significant influence on modernist writers. Today, we read Bergson's work because of its profound contribution to the philosophical discussion of evolution.

Подробнее

Henri-Louis Bergson (1859–1941) was a major French philosopher, influential especially in the first half of the 20th century. Bergson convinced many thinkers that immediate experience and intuition are more significant than rationalism and science for understanding reality. He was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize in Literature «in recognition of his rich and vitalizing ideas and the brilliant skill with which they have been presented.» In 1930, France awarded him its highest honour, the Grand-Croix de la Legion d'honneur.<P> This volume collects five of Bergson’s works, including his classic study Creative Evolution. All original footnotes and introductions are included. Contents: <P> CREATIVE EVOLUTION<BR> DREAMS<BR> LAUGHTER: AN ESSAY ON THE MEANING OF THE COMIC<BR> THE MEANING OF THE WAR<BR> THE FORCE WHICH WASTES AND THAT WHICH DOES NOT WASTE<P> If you enjoy this book, search your favorite ebook store for «Wildside Press Megapack» to see the more than 100 other entries in the series, covering science fiction, modern authors, mysteries, westerns, classics, adventure stories, and much, much more! (Sort by publication date to see the most recent releases.)

Подробнее