Boutroux, in his work, has insisted upon the fact of contingency.
These forecasts of Bergson's thought made by men to whom he owes much
and for whom he personally has the greatest admiration are interesting,
but we are not yet able to look upon his work through the medium of
historical perspective. We can however see it as the culmination of
various tendencies in modern French philosophy; first, the effort to
bring philosophy into the open air of human nature, into immediate
contact with life and with problems vital to humanity; secondly, the
upholding of contingency in all things, thus ensuring human freedom;
thirdly, a disparagement of purely intellectual constructions as true
interpretations of human life and all existence, coupled with an
insistence on an insight that transcends logical formulation.
As a thinker, Bergson is very difficult to classify. "All classification
of philosophies is effected, as a rule, either by their methods or by
their results, 'empirical' and 'a priori' is a classification by
methods; 'realist' and 'idealist' is a classification by results. An
attempt to classify Bergson's philosophy, in either of these ways, is
hardly likely to be successful, since it cuts across all the recognized
divisions." [Footnote: Mr. Bertrand Russell's remark at the opening of
his Lecture on The Philosophy of Bergson, before The Heretics, Trinity
College, Cambridge, March 11, 1912.] We find that Bergson cannot be put
in any of the old classes or schools, or identified with any of the
innumerable isms.
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