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Bergson's Method of Intuition Does Not Aim at Attaining Knowledge As Unchanging and Fixed; Rather It Is a Way of Knowing Life in Its Constant State of Evolution

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Bergson's Method of Intuition Does Not Aim at Attaining Knowledge As Unchanging and Fixed; Rather It Is a Way of Knowing Life in Its Constant State of Evolution BERGSON’S METHOD OF INTUITION: TOWARDS A PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY ZÖHRE KOÇKAN IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY SEPTEMBER 2014 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Meliha Altunışık Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts. Prof. Dr. Halil Ş. Turan Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elif Çırakman Supervisor Examining Committee Members Assoc. Prof. Dr. Barış Parkan (METU, PHIL) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elif Çırakman (METU, PHIL) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çetin Türkyılmaz (H.U., PHIL) I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name: Zöhre Koçkan Signature : iii ABSTRACT BERGSON’S METHOD OF INTUITION: TOWARDS A PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE Koçkan, Zöhre M.A., Department of Philosophy Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elif Çırakman September 2014, 94 pages The purpose of this study is to show how a possible philosophy of life can arise by following Bergson’s method of intuition and to make emphasis on how Bergson’s two fundamental notions (intuition and duration) are capable of grasping the flux of life. The scientific methods, static concepts and classical philosophy are not able to understand the flow of life. Throughout this study it is pointed out a possible philosophy that is able to grasp the flow and the evolution of life. For this aim, Bergson’s method of intuition is investigated and the difference between the method of intuition and analysis is pointed out. Then, the evolution of intuition and its relation with instinct and intellect are examined. Moreover, the significance of duration and its difference from mathematical time are analyzed. Finally, the relations between intuition, duration and life are examined. Keywords: intuition, duration, freedom, creativity, philosophy of life iv ÖZ BERGSON’S METHOD OF INTUITION: TOWARDS A PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE Koçkan, Zöhre Yüksek Lisans, Felsefe Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. Elif Çırakman Eylül 2014, 94 sayfa Bu çalışmanın amacı, Bergson’un sezgi metodu izlenerek nasıl bir olanaklı yaşam felsefesinin ortaya çıkabileceğini göstermek ve Bergson’un iki temel nosyonu olan sezgi ve dureé’nin akış ve değişim içerisinde olan yaşamı anlamaya nasıl muktedir olduğuna vurgu yapmaktır. Bilimsel metodlar, statik kavramlar ve klasik felsefe yaşamın akışını anlamaya yetkin değillerdir. Bu çalışmada yaşamın akışını ve gelişim sürecini anlamaya yatkın bir felsefenin mümkün olabileceği fikrine vurgu yapılmaya çalışılmıştır. Bu amaç doğrultusunda öncelikle Bergson’un sezgi metodu incelenecek ve analiz metoduyla olan farklılığına işaret edilmekte, ardından sezginin gelişim süreci ve sezgi, intelekt ve içgüdünün bu süreç içerisindeki ilişkisine değinilmektedir. Ayrıca durée kavramının önemi ve onun matematiksel zamandan farkı analiz edilmektedir. Son olarak da sezgi, durée ve yaşam kavramları arasındaki bağıntı incelenmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: sezgi, süre, özgürlük, yaratıcılık, yaşam felsefesi v To Fazıl vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Firstly, I would like to express sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elif Çırakman for her guidance, comments and encouragements throughout the development of this study. I would also like to express my thankfulness to my committee members, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Barış Parkan and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çetin Türkyılmaz for their important suggestions and valuable comments. I would also like to thank Oya Kılınç, Murat Hacıoğlu, Volkan Çifteci who supported me during the writing process. I am also grateful to Tonguç Seferoğlu for his substantial comments on the earlier drafts of this work. I am especially grateful to Deniz Dölek Sever and Aytek Sever for their encouragement, patience and love during this hard period. I feel lucky to have such great friends. I want to express my special thankfulness to Aytek for his illuminative comments and for editing my writings. I must particularly express my gratitude to my family for their invaluable support. I owe special thanks and gratitude to Mehmet Fazıl Çelik, who has always been with me with his love and support. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIRASIM…………………………………………………………………. iii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………. vi ÖZ……………………………………………………………………………… v DEDICATION………………………………………………………………… vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS…………………………………………………….. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………… viii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................. 1 2. INTUITIONISM OF BERGSON......................................................... 6 2.1 Two Ways of Knowing ……………………………………….. 6 2.2 Evolution of Intuition................................................................. 11 2.2.1 Intelligence and Instinct…………………………... 11 2.2.2 Instinct and Intuition……………………………… 13 2.2.3 Intellect and Intuition……………………………... 15 2.3 The Method of Intuition……………………………………… 19 3. MATHEMATICAL TIME AND DURATION…………………….. 22 3.1 The Intensity of Conscious States and Magnitude of Material Objects……………………………………………………. 22 3.1.1 Complex Psychic States……………………………… 27 3.1.2. Simple Psychic States……………………………... 28 3.2 Two Kinds of Multiplicity ……………………………………. 30 3.3 The Relation between Physical Time and Space …………... 37 3.4 Homogeneous Time and Pure Duration…………………….. 39 viii 4.SELF, FREEDOM AND PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE…………………. 46 4.1 Two Kinds of Self……................................................................ 46 4.2. Freedom………………………………………………………... 51 4.2.1. Physical and Psychological Determinism………. 53 4.2.2. Free Act…………………………………………….. 57 4.3. Philosophy of Life…………………………………………….. 62 5.CONCLUSION………………………………………………………. 73 REFERENCES.................................................................................................... 78 APPENDICES 1.APPENDIX A. TURKISH SUMMARY………………………………. 80 2.APPENDIX B. TEZ FOTOKOPİSİ İZİN FORMU……………………. 94 ix x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION From the mid-19th century on, positivist philosophy had become dominant all over the Europe. During that period, positivist philosophers became inspired by scientific developments and tried to explain all philosophical problems via scientific methods. In contrast to that developing tendency, Bergson puts forward the method of intuition and elaborates a philosophy of reality that is far from the reality constructed by scientific methods. In this regard, Bergson's philosophy and his criticisms to positivists seem revolutionary against the domination of positivism. The philosophical standpoint of Henri Bergson is peculiar not because he poses new philosophical questions, but because he deals with common philosophical problems, originally rooted in the Ancient Greek thought, by reorganizing them in a new and unique way. Throughout the history of philosophy, many philosophers have regarded philosophy as a theoretical endeavor and have assumed science as the practical instrument facilitating the satisfaction of our everyday pragmatic necessities. According to Bergson, in time, science gained dominance over philosophy and imposed its positivist categories to philosophical thinking. As I shall discuss here, Bergson argues against these strict concepts of positivist 1 philosophy and the dominance of the scientific method. Indeed, Bergson tried to reinterpret philosophy that had come under the influence of positivism by means of ruling out the strict concepts and putting forward new dynamic ones. Bergson also opposes the acclaimed universality of the methods of positivism and offers two distinct methods for two different fields. That is, he offers the notion of intuition as the method of philosophy and intellect as the method of practical knowledge and science. In that respect, what makes Bergson’s philosophy distinctive is his focus on the concepts of intuition and intellect that had already been used in different ways throughout the history of philosophy. Bergson's method of intuition does not aim at attaining knowledge as unchanging and fixed; rather it is a way of knowing life in its constant state of evolution. However, this is not to say that Bergson ignores the possibility of absolute knowledge; instead, he argues that the absolute knowledge is embedded in the evolution of life and can only be grasped by the method of intuition. Thus, it is better to investigate the origin and the evolution of intuition in order (i) to understand how intuition makes a philosophy of life possible, and (ii) to investigate what kind of philosophical method intuition is. There are two main opposing interpretations of Bergson’s notion of intuition. According to the first interpretation, intuition is a non-intellectual and a mystical way of knowing.1 On the other hand, for the second interpretation, the intuition is an intellectual method of knowing reality.2 In many works of Bergson, there is an emphasis on spiritualism, but he does not consider himself as a defender of mysticism. "If by mysticism be meant (as it almost always is 1 See, Josiah Royce, The Problem of Christianity; D. S. Miller, M. Bergson’s Theories 2 See, G. W.Cunningham,
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