It may be remarked here
that, although James hailed Bergson as an ally, Bergson cannot be
classed as a pragmatist. His great assertion is that just because
intellect is pragmatic it does not help us to get a vision of reality.
Cf. the interesting work on William James and Henri Bergson, by W. H.
Kallen.]
Bergson's style of writing merits high praise. He is no "dry"
philosopher; he is highly imaginative and picturesque; many of his
passages might be styled, like those of Macaulay, "purple," for at times
he rises to a high pitch of feeling and oratory. Yet this has been urged
against him by some critics. The ironic remark has been repeated, in
regard to Bergson, which was originally made of William James, by Dr.
Schiller, that his work was "so lacking in the familiar philosophic
catch-words, that it may be doubted whether any professor has quite
understood it." There is in his works a beauty of style and a
comparative absence of technical terms which have contributed much to
his popularity. The criticism directed against his poetic style, accuses
him of hypnotizing us by his fine language, of employing metaphors where
we expect facts, and of substituting illustrations for proof. Sir Ray
Lankester says: "He has exceeded the limits of fantastic speculation
which it is customary to tolerate on the stage of metaphysics, and has
carried his methods into the arena of sober science." [Footnote: In the
preface to Elliot's volume, Modern Science and the Illusions of Bergson,
p.
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