Bergson / Mark Sinclair.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sinclair, Mark, 1973- author.

Series:

Routledge philosophers.

Routledge philosophers

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bergson, Henri, 1859-1941.

Bergson, Henri.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (327 pages).

Edition:

1 [edition].

Place of Publication:

New York : Routledge, 2019.

Summary:

Henri Bergson (1859-1941) was one of the most celebrated and influential philosophers of the twentieth century. He was awarded in 1928 the Nobel prize for literature for his philosophical work, and his controversial ideas about time, memory and life shaped generations of thinkers, writers and artists. In this clear and engaging introduction, Mark Sinclair examines the full range of Bergson's work. The book sheds new light on familiar aspects of Bergson's thought, but also examines often ignored aspects of his work, such as his philosophy of art, his philosophy of technology and the relation of his philosophical doctrines to his political commitments. After an illuminating overview of his life and work, chapters are devoted to the following topics: the experience of time as duration the experience of freedom memory mind and body laughter and humour knowledge art and creativity the lan vital as a theory of biological life ethics, religion, war and modern technology With a final chapter on his legacy, Bergson is an outstanding guide to one of the great philosophers. Including chapter summaries, annotated further reading and a glossary, it is essential reading for those interested in metaphysics, time, free will, aesthetics, the philosophy of biology, continental philosophy and the role of European intellectuals in World War I.

Contents:

Cover

Endorsement

Half Title

Series Information

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Table of contents

Acknowledgements

A note on translations and abbreviations

Chronology

Introduction

Notes

One Intellectual biography

Early years

Intellectual roots

The "Bergson boom"

World War I

The post-war years

Eclipse

Summary

Further reading

Two Time

Where does Time and Free Will begin?

Space as quantitative multiplicity

Duration as qualitative multiplicity

Homogeneous time and movement

Profound and superficial selves

Three Freedom

The experience of freedom

Physical and psychological determinism

Mind-energy

Free will without alternative possibilities

Real freedom

Four Memory

From Time and Free Will to Matter and Memory

Two forms of memory

Recognition

Pure memory

Five Mind and world

From memory to perception

Perception and the body

Matter as motion

Rhythms of duration

Mind and body united?

Six Laughter

No laughing matter

Situating Laughter

Ridiculous rigidity

Hilarious habit

The social function of laughter

The expansive source of the comic

Seven Knowledge

Method and metaphysics

Intuition and the absolute

Practical intelligence

Vital instinct

Eight Art

Fragmentary aesthetics

Suggestion and revelation

Genius and creativity

Nothingness, possibility and novelty

Retroactivity

Life and art as will

Nine Life

Spiritualist positivism

Mechanism and finalism

Forms of evolutionism

Élan vital.

Life and matter

Ten Ethics, religion and politics

The sources of morality and religion

Anti-intellectualist ethics

Closed and open morality

Myth and mysticism

War and the will to power

Eleven Legacy

Boom and bust

From Time and Free Will to Being and Time

Sartre's parricide

Bergson redivivus

Glossary

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-315-41493-7

1-315-41491-0

1-315-41492-9

9781315414935

OCLC:

1111965551