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Boston College The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Department of Philosophy Aristotle’s Theory of Dynamics: Examining the Ancient Greek Roots of Process Philosophy A dissertation by John Robert Bagby Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2021 © copyright by John Robert Bagby 2021 Aristotle’s Theory of Dynamics: Examining the Ancient Greek Roots of Process Philosophy By: John Robert Bagby Supervisor: John Sallis Abstract: Henri Bergson’s interpretation of Aristotle has not been adequately considered in scholarship. Bergson was greatly inspired by Aristotle’s method and discoveries in psychology and metaphysics, but Bergson also accused Aristotle of having reduced philosophy to an analysis of language. Beneath the apparent rigid formalism of Aristotelian logic, he had in fact described life in a dynamic and qualitatively rich way that is consonant with Bergson’s “qualitative multiplicity.” I show the commonalities between their philosophies and suggest ways of interpreting Aristotle from a Bergsonian perspective. In tracking all Bergson’s discussions of Aristotle—some very critical and reductive; others quite favorable and generous—it becomes evident that Aristotle’s dynamic sense of being describes qualitative multiplicity. This becomes clear when we examine the interrelated problems of movement, force, life, intuition, the soul, embodiment, time, ethics, and art. The theory of dynamics, or the dynamic sense of being, is the underlying thread which weaves these topics together in both Aristotelianism and Bergsonism. This dissertation demonstrates how effort and energy, constituting a hylomorphic unity of experience, provides phenomenological evidence grounding the theory of dynamics. The work of Bergson’s mentor, Félix Ravaisson, is decisive in this historical reconstruction. Ravaisson’s dynamic interpretation highlights Aristotle’s own critiques of logical formalism and presents an intuitive knowledge of life which is inexpressible in language. Bergson clearly borrows insights from Ravaisson’s interpretation but also discredits the validity of them. The burgeoning field of phenomenological interpretations of Aristotle contribute to the dynamic interpretation. I use this scholarship to refute aspects of Bergson’s logical interpretation. In sum, I show that Aristotle’s theory of dynamics is the central paradigm for his whole philosophy, tying together his physics, biology, psychology, epistemology, aesthetics and ethics. Bergson built further upon dynamics, evolving it endogenously, in order to create his qualitative multiplicity, flowing of duration, and élan vital. After critiquing the logical interpretations of Aristotle for their reliance on a metaphysics of presence, it becomes clear Aristotle had already described intensity, continuity, sympathy, and developmental progression as qualitative multiplicity, along the lines of Bergson. Key Words: Dynamism, Continuity, Virtual, Intensity, Development, Analogy, Integral, Concrete, Presence, Time, Energeia, Entelecheia, Movement, Invention, Intuition, Derivation, Habit, Intelligence, Indivisibility, Number, Qualitative, Multiplicity, Auto Affection, Phenomena, Aesthetics, Life. Aristotle’s Theory of Dynamics: Examining the Ancient Greek Roots of Process Philosophy Table of Contents: Abbreviations Prelude: on the Aristotelian Roots of Bergsonism 1 The Critique of Presence: The Cinematographical Mechanism 11 The Problems of Philosophical Language 17 1 The Inspirations From Aristotelian Metaphysics 21 1.1 A Metaphysics of Concrete Individuals 23 1.1.1 The Primacy of Intuition 23 1.1.2 Bergson Hints at His Own Aristotelianism 41 1.1.3 The Experience of Concrete Movements 51 1.1.4 Creative Concretion and The Evolution of Philosophical Intuition 58 1.2 Bergson’s Interpretation of Aristotle’s Sense of Place 76 1.3 Quality, Quantity, Multiplicity, and Unity 89 1.3.1 Intensity and Duration in Bergson’s Time And Free Will 89 1.3.2 The Role of the Continuity in Aristotle’s Physics and Psychology 101 1.3.3 Number and Counting in Bergson’s Time And Free Will 120 1.3.4 Aristotle’s Concrete Sense of Number 126 1.4 Bergson’s Interpretation of Aristotle’s Doctrine on Time 135 1.5 The Indivisible Unity of The Infinite 160 1.5.1 The Metaphysical Significance of Zeno's Paradoxes 160 1.5.2 Aristotle’s Confrontation With Zeno’s Paradoxes 166 1.5.3 The Role of Integration 176 2 An Evocation of Aristotle’s Philosophy of Effort and Energy 186 2.1 Virtuality: The Dynamic Continuum Between Potency and Actuality 187 2.2 Aristotle on The Intensity of Life 215 2.3 Bergson’s Hylomnemonic Integrals of Experience 247 2.4 Ode to The Music of Spirit 266 Epode: How to Surpass Aristotelianism Without Abandoning Dynamism 287 References 297 i Abbreviations: Aristotle : Cat. Categories Κατηγορίαι DA On The Soul Περὶ Ψυχῆς Eco. Economics Οἰκονοµικά Eud. Eudemian Ethics Ἠθικὰ Εὐδήµεια GC On Generation and Corruption Περὶ γενέσεως καὶ φθορᾶς Hea. On the Heavens Περὶ οὐρανοῦ Int. On Interpretation Περὶ Ἑρµηνείας Mem. On Memory and Recollection Περὶ µνήµης καὶ ἀναµνήσεως Meta. Metaphysics Tὰ µετὰ τὰ φυσικά Mete. Meteorology Μετεωρολογικά Mov. On the Movement of Animals Περὶ ζῴων κινήσεως Nic. Nicomachean Ethics Ἠθικὰ Νικοµάχεια Phy. Physics Φυσικὴ ἀκρόασις Poe. On Poetics Περὶ ποιητικῆς Pol. Politics Πολιτικά Post. Posterior Analytics Ἀναλυτικὰ Ὕστερα Pri. Prior Analytics Ἀναλυτικὰ Πρότερα Prob. Problems Προβλήµατα Rhe. Rhetoric Ῥητορική Sens. On Sense and the Sensible Περὶ αἰσθήσεως καὶ αἰσθητῶν Sleep. On Sleep and Waking Περὶ ὕπνου καὶ ἐγρηγόρσεως Top. Topics Τοπικά Henri Bergson : ASP What is Aristotle’s sense of Place Quid Aristoteles de Loco Senserit CM Creative Mind La Pensée et le Mouvant. CE Creative Evolution HIT Histoire de l'idée de temps. Cours au Collège de France 1902 -1903** HTM Histoire des theories de la mémoire. Cours au Collège de France 1903-1904** IM An Introduction to Metaphysics L Laughter ES Mind-Energy L'Énergie spirituelle. MM Matter and Memory TFW Time and Free Will: Essay on the Immediate data of Consciousness TS The Two Sources of Morality and Religion Félix Ravaisson : EMA Essai sur la Métaphysique de Aristote Vol. 1** RSE Félix Ravaisson Selected Essays Misc. : Ili. Homer Iliad LN Leonardo da Vinci Notebooks Ody. Homer Odyssey Rep. Plato Republic **All translations are mine. ii Prelude: on the Aristotelian Roots of Bergsonism The primary claim of this work is that Bergson found inspiration for his coined phrase qualitative (or continuous, heterogeneous) multiplicity from an interpretation of Aristotle’s dynamic sense of hylomorphism. Qualitative multiplicity describes time, or rather duration, as a mode of being that is irreducible to quantities or concepts, and inexpressible in language. What this exposition makes clear is how Aristotle’s theory of dynamics is much more than the study of movement as a sector of reality. It is instead a fundamental mode of being which profoundly informs the orientation of his psychology, epistemology, ontology, ethics and aesthetics. By examining Bergson’s interpretation of Aristotle, it becomes evident that, in order to properly appreciate Aristotle’s dynamic sense of being, we must take it to denote qualitative multiplicity. This connection has not generally been recognized for several reasons. Firstly, Bergson covered it up, in CE, by giving a straw man caricature of Aristotle which downplayed the dynamic and energetic aspects of his thought. Secondly, Bergson’s aforementioned reading is, in many respects, a standard reading. Scholarship on Aristotle, to this day, suffers from the habits of over-intellectualizing: fixing concepts, emphasizing generality, or translating arguments symbolically. Obscurities and inconsistencies abound when we fail to appreciate the repugnance of φύσις, ψυχή, and νοῦς to being rendered in a single clear and distinct formula or as concepts. The formidable edifice of Aristotelian logic itself seems to require that we reduce being to the presence of symbols to intellectual vision. The ambiguity and complexity of pre-Socratic λόγος is thought by many to have been definitively reduced and neutralized into an abstract linguistic relation by Aristotle. For this reason Aristotle has been considered the starting point of a metaphysics of presence—which has come to dominate western thought and science—and so he has been taken as the point of departure for a critique or deconstruction of presence in the history 1 of philosophy.1 But real continuity—which I show is at the heart of Aristotle’s dynamic sense of being—is in fact unable to be jammed into the scaffolding of symbolic logic. The artificial obscurity which accompanies such verbal and conceptual interpretations has been slowly dissipating over the past few decades, in large part due to the growing number of phenomenological interpretations. A dynamic, process, and embodied sense of λόγος is being restored which disrupts the standard logical/verbal interpretations (See Aygün 2017, Vallega 2009 65-79). There is a sort of concrete logic of dynamics which upends the supposed static and closed system of doctrines and concepts which has been codified into the edifice of Aristotelian philosophy. Beneath the superficial crust of Aristotle’s formalism is an energetic depth which vibrates, dances, and sings of the concrete ambiguity and duration of life. Interpretations bringing Aristotle’s dynamic sense of being to life can be felt in commentaries such as Plotinus, Ibn Bajjah, Suárez, Leibniz, Ravaisson, Brentano, Heidegger,
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