1st Edition

Bergson - Arg Philosophers

By Lacey Copyright 1989
    252 Pages
    by Routledge

    252 Pages
    by Routledge

    First Published in 1999. The purpose of this series is to provide a contemporary assessment and history of the entire course of philosophical thought. Each book constitutes a detailed, critical introduction to the work of a philosopher of major influence and significance. This volume states and examines Bergson’s main arguments on their merits. So far as Bergson can be classified at all it would be as a ‘process philosopher’, along with Heraclitus, the Stoics, Hegel, and Whitehead.

    I EXTENSITY AND INTENSITY 1 Introduction 2 The three main cases 3 Sensations 4 The issue over intensive magnitudes 5 Psychophysics 6 Conclusions II SPACE AND TIME 1 Introduction 2 Space and counting 3 Space and extension. Kinds of multiplicity 4 Duration 5 Zeno 6 Absolute and relative. Absolute motion 7 Absolute space 8 Absolute duration. The two stages in Bergson’s thought 9 The first stage 10 The second stage 11 Conclusions on the two stages 12 Criticism. The symmetry of space and time 13 Bergson and Einstein III FREEWILL 1 Introduction. Two forms of determinism 2 Bergson’s strategy 3 Bergson on psychological determinism 4 Nature of causality. Causal and logical necessity 5 Determinism as due to confusion of two views of causality 6 Causal and logical necessity again 7 Libertarianism 8 Bergson’s own view of free will IV THE METAPHYSICS OF CHANGE AND SUBSTANCE 1 Introduction 2 The escape from realism and idealism 3 The role of images 4 Categories. Change and essence 5 Pure change? 6 The substrate and its role 7 Permanence 8 Substance 9 Things and processes 10 Conclusion V PROBLEMS OF MIND AND BODY 1 Introduction 2 Perception 3 Memory 4 Perception and memory 5 Rhythms of duration 6 Perception and action 7 The reality of the past 8 Mind and body VI EPISTEMOLOGY 1 Introduction 2 Intelligence and instinct 3 Consciousness: its two senses 4 Instinct and intuition 5 Intelligence and intuition: preliminaries 6 Immediacy 7 Concepts and language: the problem 8 Immediacy and the role of intuition 9 Concepts and language: development of the problem 10 The nature of philosophy 11 Conclusion: the role of mathematics VII BIOLOGY 1 Introduction 2 The nature of life 3 Philosophical arguments 4 Scientific arguments 5 The élan vital 6 Conservation and entropy. Order and disorder VIII THE COMIC 1 Introduction. Art and comedy 2 The basis of the theory 3 Development of the theory IX MORALITY AND MYSTICISM 1 Introduction 2 Obligation 3 The question of justification 4 Closed and open morality 5 Justice and value 6 The hero 7 Myth-making 8 Magic 9 Mysticism 10 God 11 Epilogue

    Biography

    A.R. Lacey