Henri Bergson 1859 – 1941
Henri Bergson was a 19th and 20th-century French philosopher, one of the most influential thinkers of the early 20th century and a major figure of continental philosophy in the period between phenomenology's founding and the rise of existentialism. His works Time and Free Will, Matter and Memory, and Creative Evolution developed an account of duration as the fundamental temporal experience and a vitalist philosophy of life as a creative force. He held that scientific intelligence is poorly equipped to grasp the dynamic, qualitative character of lived experience and that an alternative cognitive faculty, intuition, is needed. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927. His thought decisively influenced Whitehead, Deleuze, and many others, and his work has been the subject of renewed interest in recent decades.
Key facts
- Nationality
- French
- Era
- Contemporary
- Movements
- Continental, Process
Selected quotes
-
Attributed to Henri Bergson:
“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.”
-
Attributed to Henri Bergson:
“The present contains nothing more than the past, and what is found in the effect was already in the cause.”
-
Attributed to Henri Bergson:
“Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.”
-
Attributed to Henri Bergson:
“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.”
-
Attributed to Henri Bergson:
“Intelligence is characterised by a natural incomprehension of life.”