Creative Evolution - Softcover

Bergson, Henri

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1907947698 ISBN 13: 9781907947698

Publisher: Solis Press, 2014

Synopsis

In this book, Henri Bergson examines human consciousness and proposes that evolution is motivated by an élan vital—a vital impetus—that can also be understood as humanity's natural creative impulse.

“All the living hold together, and all yield to the same tremendous push. The animal takes its stand on the plant, man bestrides animality, and the whole of humanity, in space and in time, is one immense army galloping beside and before and behind each of us in an overwhelming charge able to beat down every resistance and clear the most formidable obstacles, perhaps even death.” (page 158)

The book also considers perception of time. Bergson thought of time as a more individual subjective experience, as opposed to the familiar empirical concept. Bergson’s philosophy went on to influence modernist writers such as Marcel Proust.

Bergson’s text was also added to the Catholic Church’s list of banned books:

“In the presence of the false theories of this new Bergsonian philosophy, which seeks to shatter grand fundamental principles and truths, it is necessary to unmask the poisonous error of philosophic modernism. It is the more destructive because it is sugar-coated, subtle, and seductive in nature.” (Pope Saint Pius X in 1913)

“A great 19th-century French philosopher … .” (Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, writing on www.vatican.va in 2013)

About this title

Review

'Palgrave Macmillan is to be congratulated for reissuing these classic Bergson texts. This is a timely decision since Bergson was the great thinker of life and it seems, nearly one hundred years later, that we find ourselves once again required to conceive life. Keith Ansell Pearson and John Mullarkey have been at the forefront of the new conception of life, therefore no better editors for these volumes could be selected.' - Professor Leonard Lawlor, Department of Philosophy, University of Memphis, USA

'Long absent from the center of discussion in Western philosophy, Bergson has recently made a reappearance. The Centennial Series of his works undertaken by Palgrave Macmillan thus comes at an opportune time, making it possible for those interested in Bergson's ideas t have access to newly annotated versions of several of his chief writings, freshly introduced and discussed. It is particularly good to see the republication of Mind-Energy, a treasure trove of Bergsonian insights long out of print.' - Professor Pete A.Y. Gunter, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of North Texas, USA

About the Author

HENRI BERGSON (1859-1941) is one of the truly great philosophers of the modernist period, and there is currently a major renaissance of interest in his unduly neglected texts and ideas amongst philosophers, literary theorists, and social theorists.

KEITH ANSELL PEARSON is Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Warwick, UK. He is the author of Germinal Life: The Difference and Repetition of Deleuze (Routledge, 1999), Philosophy and the Adventure of the Virtual (Routledge, 2001), An Introduction to Nietzsche as Political Thinker (CUP, 1994). He is the co-editor of a forthcoming 'Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche' (Stanford) and editor of the 1890-1930 volume of Acumen's forthcoming 7-volume series in the history of Continental Philosophy.

MICHAEL KOLKMAN and MICHAEL VAUGHAN are Graduate Students at the University of Warwick, UK.

Edition details

• Publisher: Solis Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1907947698
• ISBN 13: 9781907947698
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 226