Bergson's thought, although in many respects it is strikingly original
and novel, is, nevertheless, the continuation, if not the culmination,
of a movement in French philosophy which we can trace back through
Boutroux, Guyau, Lachelier and Ravaisson to Maine de Biran, who died in
1824. Qui sait, wrote this last thinker, [Footnote: In his Pensees, p.
213.] tout ce que peut la reflection concentree et s'il n'y a pas un
nouveau monde interieur qui pourra etre decouvert un jour par quelque
Colomb metaphysicien.
Many of the ideas contained in Bergson's work find parallels in the
philosophy of Schopenhauer, as given in his work The World as Will and
Idea (Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung), particularly his Voluntarism
and his Intuitionism. The German thinker regarded all great scientific
discoveries as an immediate intuition, a flash of insight, not simply
the result of a process of abstract reasoning. Schelling also maintained
a doctrine of intuition as supra-rational.
Ravaisson, [Footnote: Ravaisson (1813-1900) wrote De l'habitude, 1832;
La metaphysique d'Aristote, 1837; and his Rapport sur la philosophie en
France au xix siecle, 1867. See Bergson's Memoir, 1904.] to whom Bergson
is indebted for much inspiration, attended the lectures of Schelling at
Munich in 1835. This French thinker, Ravaisson, has had an important
influence on the general development of thought in France during the
latter half of the last century, and much of his work foreshadows
Bergson's thought.
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