Description
Book SynopsisVladimir Jankélévitch's
Henri Bergson is a great commentary written on philosopher Henri Bergson. Jankélévitch's analysis covers all aspects of Bergson's thought, from metaphysics, emotion and temporality, to psychology and biology. This edition also includes supplementary essays on Bergson by Jankélévitch, Bergson's letters to Jankélévitch, and an editor's introduction.
Trade Review"Jankélévitch’s intransigent 'Bergsonism'– his faith in intuition and his distrust in contextualization – produced his marvelous
Henri Bergson." -- Giuseppe Bianco * H-France, H-Net Reviews *
"Jankélévitch's
Henri Bergson is richly textured with reflections and digressions which sketch in embryonic form conceptual figures that would gain prominence in his later ethical writings. Jankélévitch's book is thus not so much about Bergson, as it is a book through Bergson, and its two-stroke motion of understanding Bergson and of Jankélévitch understanding himself is animated by a joy that gives Jankélévitch's philosophical prose (finely translated by Nils F. Schott) an almost breathless quality." -- Nicolas de Warren * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *
Table of ContentsEditors' Preface vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction. Jankélévitch on Bergson: Living in Time / Alexandre Lefebvre xi
Introduction 1
1. Organic Totalities 3
I. The Whole and Its Elements 4
II. The Retrospective View and the Illusion of the Future Perfect 11
2. Freedom 23
I. Actor and Spectator 24
II. Becoming 30
III. The Free Act 49
3. Soul and Body 66
I. Thought and Brain 66
II. Recollection and Perception 79
III. Intellection 89
IV. Memory and Matter 94
4. Life 109
I. Finality 109
II. Instinct and Intellect 119
III. Matter and Life 137
5. Heroism and Saintliness 151
I. Suddenness 152
II. The Open and the Closed 156
III. Bergson's Maximalism 159
6. The Nothingness of Concepts and the Plentitude of Spirit 167
I. Fabrication and Organization: The Demiurgic Prejudice 167
II. On the Possible 179
7. Simplicity . . . and Joy 191
I. On Simplicity 191
II. Bergson's Optimism 203
Appendices 211
Supplementary Pieces 247
Preface to the First Edition of Henri Bergson (1930) 247
Letters to Vladimir Jankélévitch by Henri Bergson 248
Letter to Louis Beauduc on First Meeting Bergson (1923) 250
What Is the Value of Bergson's Thought? Interview with Françoise Reiss (1959) 251
Solemn Homage to Henri Bergson (1959) 253
Notes 261
Bibliography 299
Index 315
