Literature: 1927

Bergson, Henri, pronounced BURG suhn or behrg SAWN, on REE (1859-1941), was a French philosopher. His books Time and Free Will (1889), Matter and Memory (1896), and Creative Evolution (1907) present the principles of his philosophy. Bergson believed that time is the great reality. But by "time" he did not mean what is usually understood. According to Bergson, time does not exist in the ordinary sense of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He believed in a concept of time that he called duration. Bergson viewed duration as a constant flow from the past into the future, not just as a succession of instants.

Bergson believed that time in this sense holds the possibility for new experiences. "Each moment," he stated, "is not only something new, but something unforeseeable." He believed that creative evolution is possible because reality is a past that constantly becomes something new and is also a present constantly emerging into the future. He held that intuition was the most trustworthy guide to understanding. Unlike the intellect, it did not falsify things by analyzing them.

Bergson was born in Paris. He was a professor at the College de France from 1900 to 1921, and became famous as a teacher, lecturer, and author. He received the 1927 Nobel Prize for literature.

Contributor: Stephen A. Erickson, Ph.D., E. Wilson Lyon Professor of Humanities and Chairman, Philosophy Department, Pomona College.

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