Henri Bergson

First published in 2002. Henri Louis Bergson was born in Paris, October 18, 1859. He entered the Ecole normale in 1878, and was admitted agrégé de philosophie in 1881 and docteur és lettres in 1889. After holding professorships in various provincial and Parisian lycées, he became maître de conférences at the Ecole normale supérieure in 1897, and since 1900 has been professor at the Collége de France. In 1901 he became a member of the Institute on his election to the Académie des Sciences morales et politiques.

"With its signal distinction between 'intuition' and 'analysis' and its exploration of the different levels of Duration (Bergson's term for Heraclitean flux), An Introduction to Metaphysics has had a significant impact on subsequent twentieth century thought. The arts, from post-impressionist painting to the stream of consciousness novel, and philosophies as diverse as pragmatism, process philosophy, and existentialism bear its imprint. Consigned for a while to the margins of philosophy, Bergson's thought is making its way back to the mainstream. The reissue of this important work comes at an opportune time, and will be welcomed by teachers and scholars alike." --Peter A. Y. Gunter, University of North Texas

Henri Bergson (1859-1941) verkade från år 1900 som professor vid Collége de France i Paris, och många av tidens tänkare och konstnärer samlades kring honom. I sitt minnestal över Bergson i Franska Akademien sa Paul Valéry: ”Hans stora insats är att han har återupprättat och rehabiliterat känslan och förståelsen för en meditation som ligger vårt väsen närmare än en rent logisk begreppsutveckling.” Introduktion till metafysiken anses vara den skrift där Bergson ger den klaraste framställningen av sin filosofis mål och metod. Denna utgåva är försedd med en utförlig inledning av Asbjørn Aarnes.

"Since the end of the last century," Walter Benjamin wrote, "philosophy has made a series of attempts to lay hold of the 'true' experience as opposed to the kind that manifests itself in the standardized, denatured life of the civilized masses. It is customary to classify these efforts under the heading of a philosophy of life. Towering above this literature is Henri Bergson's early monumental work, Matter and Memory."Along with Husserl's Ideas and Heidegger's Being and Time, Bergson's work represents one of the great twentieth-century investigations into perception and memory, movement and time, matter and mind. Arguably Bergson's most significant book, Matter and Memory is essential to an understanding of his philosophy and its legacy.This new edition includes an annotated bibliography prepared by Bruno Paradis.

Henri Bergson inquires into the nature of moral obligation, into the place of religion and the purpose it has served since primitive times, into static religion and its value in preserving man from the dangers of his own intelligence; into dynamic religion or mysticism as a means of producing man's forward leap beyond the limits of the closed society for which nature intended him and into the open society which is the brotherhood of man.