The fullest expression of the distinguished French philosopher's ideas about the meaning of life. In propounding his distinctive theory of evolution, Bergson considers nature and intelligence, examines mechanisms of thought and illusion, and presents a criticism of philosophical systems from those of the ancients to those of his 19th-century contemporaries.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2003-03-28
Mått140 x 215 x 20 mm
Vikt440 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor432
FörlagDover Publications Inc.
ISBN9780486400365

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INTRODUCTIONCHAPTER I THE EVOLUTION OFLIFE-MECHANISM AND TELEOLOGYOf duration in generalUnorganized bodies and abstract timeOrganized bodies and real durationIndividuality and the process of growing oldOf transformism and the different ways of interpreting itRadical mechanism and real duration: the relation of biology to physics and chemistryRadical finalism and real duration: the relation of biology to philosophyThe quest of a criterionExamination of the various theories with regard to a particular exampleDarwin and insensible variationDe Vries and sudden variationEimer and orthogenesisNeo Lamarckism and the hereditability of acquired charactersResult of the inquiryThe vital impetus"CHAPTER II THE DIVERGENT DIRECTIONS OF THE EVOLUTION OF LIFE--TORPOR, INTELLIGENCE, INSTINCT"General idea of the evolutionary processGrowthDivergent and complementary tendencies The meaning of progress and of adaptationThe relation of the animal to the plantGeneral tendency of animal lifeThe development of animal life"The main directions of the evolution of life: torpor, intelligence, instinct"The nature of the intellectthe nature of instinctLife and consciousnessThe apparent place of man in natureCHAPTER III ON THE MEANING OF LIFE--THE ORDER OF NATURE AND THE FORM OF INTELLIGENCERelation of the problem of life to the problem of knowledgeThe method of philosophyApparent vicious circle of the method proposedReal vicious circle of the opposite methodSimultaneous genesis of matter and intelligenceGeometry inherent in matterGeometrical tendency of the intellectGeometry and deductionGeometry and inductionPhysical lawsSketch of a theory of knowledge based on the analysis of the idea of DisorderTwo oposed forms of order: the problem of genera and the problem of laws"The idea of "disorder" an oscillation of the intellect between the two kinds of order"Creation and evolutionIdeal genesis of matterThe origin and function of lifeThe essential and the accidental in the vital process and in the evolutionary movementMankindThe life of the body and the life of the spiritCHAPTER IV THE CINEMATOGRAPHICAL MECHANISM OF THOUGHT AND THE MECHANISTIC ILLUSION--A GLANCE AT THE HISTORY OF SYSTEMS--REAL BECOMING AND FALSE EVOLUTIONISM"Sketch of a criticism of philosophical systems, based on the anaysis of the idea of Immutability and of the idea of "Nothing""Relation of metaphysical problems to the idea of "Nothing"Real meaning of this ideaForm and BecomingThe philosophy of Forms and its conception of BecomingPlato and AristotleThe natural trend of the intellectBecoming in modern science: two views of Time"The metaphysical interpretation of modern science: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz"The Criticism of KantThe evolution of SpencerINDEX