#henri-bergson — Public Fediverse posts

You might have the impression from the thread I've just posted on Emily Herring's "Herald of a Restless World: How Henri Bergson Brought Philosophy to the People" that I neither enjoyed nor profited from the book.

That impression would be mistaken, because I both learned from it and thoroughly enjoyed it as a well written work of history, even if I do not share Herring's esteem for Bergson as a philosopher.

She is especially strong on showing how the Belle Epoque acclaim for Bergson represented a yearning for the re-enchantment of a world now mechanized and soulless. She is also acute in her observation of the split between Bergson the solitary philosopher and Bergson the academic networker, the misogyny in his contemporaries' accounts of his popularity, and the gap that opened between Bergson the man and Bergsonism the movement.

So I would recommend "Herald of a Restless World", not for what it might provide for the future of philosophy, but for what it tells us of the past of modernity.

#Philosophy #IntellectualHistory #History #HenriBergson #EmilyHerring #HeraldOfARestlessWorld #Modernity #France #Books

You might have the impression from the thread I've just posted on Emily Herring's "Herald of a Restless World: How Henri Bergson Brought Philosophy to the People" that I neither enjoyed nor profited from the book.

That impression would be mistaken, because I both learned from it and thoroughly enjoyed it as a well written work of history, even if I do not share Herring's esteem for Bergson as a philosopher.

She is especially strong on showing how the Belle Epoque acclaim for Bergson represented a yearning for the re-enchantment of a world now mechanized and soulless. She is also acute in her observation of the split between Bergson the solitary philosopher and Bergson the academic networker, the misogyny in his contemporaries' accounts of his popularity, and the gap that opened between Bergson the man and Bergsonism the movement.

So I would recommend "Herald of a Restless World", not for what it might provide for the future of philosophy, but for what it tells us of the past of modernity.

#Philosophy #IntellectualHistory #History #HenriBergson #EmilyHerring #HeraldOfARestlessWorld #Modernity #France #Books

🧵 1/3

https://wellreadherring.substack.com/p/herald-of-a-restless-world-out-now

I've just finished Emily Herring's "Herald of a Restless World: How Henri Bergson Brought Philosophy to the People", which the author hopes will inspire a Bergson revival.

I doubt that any such revival is in the offing. Consider the three most important terms of Bergson's philosophy:

-- Élan vital. Bergson came up with this in his 1907 "Creative Evolution" to name a force that he thought of as driving evolution forward. In spite of Herring's claims to the contrary, I find little significant difference between Bergson's notion and the life forces posited by Bergson's vitalist contemporaries. Bergson published his work during late C19/ early C20 "eclipse of Darwinism", and his views on biology are of the same vintage and degree of relevance to today's concerns as disagreements over home rule for Ireland, prohibition, or the dangers posed by bicycling to women's health.

Follow the thread for the other two!

#Philosophy #IntellectualHistory #History #HenriBergson #EmilyHerring #HeraldOfaRestlessWorld #Modernity #France

🧵 1/3

https://wellreadherring.substack.com/p/herald-of-a-restless-world-out-now

I've just finished Emily Herring's "Herald of a Restless World: How Henri Bergson Brought Philosophy to the People", which the author hopes will inspire a Bergson revival.

I doubt that any such revival is in the offing. Consider the three most important terms of Bergson's philosophy:

-- Élan vital. Bergson came up with this in his 1907 "Creative Evolution" to name a force that he thought of as driving evolution forward. In spite of Herring's claims to the contrary, I find little significant difference between Bergson's notion and the life forces posited by Bergson's vitalist contemporaries. Bergson published his work during late C19/ early C20 "eclipse of Darwinism", and his views on biology are of the same vintage and degree of relevance to today's concerns as disagreements over home rule for Ireland, prohibition, or the dangers posed by bicycling to women's health.

Follow the thread for the other two!

#Philosophy #IntellectualHistory #History #HenriBergson #EmilyHerring #HeraldOfaRestlessWorld #Modernity #France

#animalbehaviour #animalstudies #HenriBergson

"I'm a great fan of Henri Bergson's theory of humour, which is about inflexibility, and the point about Jesus Christ, he would not have been inflexible. He would have been infinitely flexible, because I think he would have had no ego. It's the ego that makes us inflexible, and that's what we tend to laugh at in character comedy."

#JohnCleese, #MontyPython Almost the Truth: The Lawyer's Cut

#comedy #HenriBergson

"I'm a great fan of Henri Bergson's theory of humour, which is about inflexibility, and the point about Jesus Christ, he would not have been inflexible. He would have been infinitely flexible, because I think he would have had no ego. It's the ego that makes us inflexible, and that's what we tend to laugh at in character comedy."

#JohnCleese, #MontyPython Almost the Truth: The Lawyer's Cut

#comedy #HenriBergson

For #HenriBergson, human #consciousness and #perception are primarily oriented towards action. He examines the significance of #memory to the way we see and move in the present. #philosophy #philosopher https://flip.it/wYNKwN

For #HenriBergson, human #consciousness and #perception are primarily oriented towards action. He examines the significance of #memory to the way we see and move in the present. #philosophy #philosopher https://flip.it/wYNKwN

A man of thought

Think like a man of action. Act like a man of thought.

~ Henri Bergson

slip:4a502.