Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1996 Mysticism, Logic and the Metaphysics of Time: Henri Bergson's Method and Its Implications for Contemporary Philosophy Gregory A. Clark Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Clark, Gregory A., "Mysticism, Logic and the Metaphysics of Time: Henri Bergson's Method and Its Implications for Contemporary Philosophy" (1996). Dissertations. 3568. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/3568 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1996 Gregory A. Clark LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO MYSTICISM, LOGIC AND THE METAPHYSICS OF TIME: HENRI BERGSON'S METHOD AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY BY GREGORY A. CLARK CHICAGO, ILLINOIS JANUARY, 1996 Copyright by Gregory A. Clark, 1996 All rights reserved. 11 PREFACE References to Bergson's work are provided in parentheses within the text according to the abbreviations in the LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. References will usually contain two abbreviations separated by a semicolon. I list the original French first followed by the English translation. For example, "(MeM 193; MaM 173)" refers to page 193 of Matiere et memoire and page 173 of Matter and Memory. References with only one abbreviation either were not originally written in French, as in the case of AP which was written in Latin, or have not been translated into English, as with TLM. Where more than two abbreviations occur within one set of parentheses, I have provided references to more than one work. Bergson sometimes writes about the same topic in nearly identical words. In such instances a "/" separates two different works. Most translations of Bergson's work are quite good. The exception to this rule happens to be the most important text for this dissertation. Matter and Memory cannot be trusted as a guide to what Bergson does in Matiere et memoire. It is nearly impossible, for example, to decipher Bergson's notion of "representation" in Matter and Memory. Paul and Palmer translate "representation" as "perception" (MaM 9; MeM 1), "idea" (MaM 93, 164; MeM 98, 182), "thought" (MaM 173; MeM 193), and "memory" (MaM 116, 117; MeM 129) as well as "representation." Likewise, Bergson's doctrine of memory, is impossible to discern in translation. As a rule, 111 Palmer and Paul translate "memoire" as "memory" and use "recollection" as a translation of "souvenir." Likewise, "memory-images" are almost the only translation for "images-souvenirs." 1 Unfortunately, "souvenir" is often rendered as "memory" and not just as "recollection. "2 I have consistently altered the translation of Paul and Palmer to maintain rigor in the terms. I always translate "souvenir" as "recollection" and "memoire" as "memory." Other difficulties with the translation will be noted in the text. In the course of writing these pages, I have acquired more debts of both gratitude and gold than I can hope to repay. As debts of gratitude bind people together in friendship, I would like to thank those who befriended me and helped to make this dissertation both better and more timely than it could have been without their aid. Dr. Adriaan Th. Peperzak read multiple drafts, commented on them with care, and modeled a refreshing vision of the philosophical life. Dr. Kenneth Thompson shared many of my interests and willingly spent many hours with me discussing them. Dr. Harry Gensler worked with me on my first efforts to think about the relation of logic and time. Dr. Ardis Collins, for whom I worked as a teaching assistant, impressed upon me the importance and rigor of philosophical methodology. Dr. John Llewellyn encouraged my first explorations into the relation between Bergson 1 See MeM 99, 100; MaM 91, 92 where "anciennes images" and "images anciennes" is rendered as "memory image". 2 This happens nine times in the conclusion alone. MeM 253; MaM 225/ MeM 256; MaM 227/ MeM 262; MaM 233/ MeM 267; MaM 237-8/ MeM 268; MaM 239/ MeM 269; MaM 239/ MeM 270; MaM 240/ MeM 274; MaM 244/ MeM 275; MaM 244. lV and Levinas, of which this dissertation is the most recent development. I also thank the Graduate School for a Loyola University Fellowship for the 1993-4 school year. Because a dissertation consumes so much of one's time and energies, it is much more than an academic exercise. Providence Group, Doug Geyer, and, most of all, Heather Ashcroft-Clark called me to live humanly and mediated God's grace to me. What is good, true, or beautiful in this dissertation bears the stamp of these people. I bear sole responsibility for the errors, fallacies, and awkwardness which remain. v TO HEATHER TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ................................................... 111 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ....................................... ix Chapter ONE: INTRODUCTION . 1 TWO: SPACE, TIME, AND EXTENSION . 38 THREE:ARISTOTLE, HEIDEGGER, AND BERGSON . 73 FOUR: DIAGRAMS OF TIME . 106 FIVE: THE ANALYSIS OF THE IDEA OF NOTHING ........... 160 SIX: BERGSON'S METHOD AND CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 201 Appendix A. SPACE AND TIME IN ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY . 246 B. THE METAPHYSICS OF SPACE ...................... 250 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 256 VITA ..................................................... 269 VI LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AP "Aristotle's Concept of Place." Translated by John K. Ryan. Ancients and Moderns 5 (1970): 12-71. CE Creative Evolution. Translated by Arthur Mitchell. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1911. CM The Creative Mind. Translated by Mabelle L. Andison. New York: A Citadel Press Book, 1992. DaS Duration and Simultaneity. Translated by Leon Jacobson. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1965. DeS Duree et simultaneite. 1922. Melanges. Presses Universitaires de France, 1972. DI Essai sur les donnees immediates de la conscience. Paris, 1989. (EUVRES. Presses Universitaires de France, 1959, 5th ed., 1991. EC L'Evolution creatice. Paris, 1910. CEUVRES. Presses Universitaires de France, 1959, 5th ed., 1991. ES L'Energie Spirituelle. 1919. CEUVRES. Presses Universitaires de France, 1959, 5th ed., 1991. L Laughter. in Comedy. Garden City: New York: Doubleday Anchor Books, 1956. MaM Matter and Memory. Translated by Nancy Margaret Paul and W. Scott Palmer. New York: Zone Books, 1988. MaR The Two Sources of Morality and Religion. Translated by R. Ashley Audra and Cloudesley Brereton. Garden City, NY: Doubleday Anchor Books, 1935. ME Mind-Energy, Translated by H. Wildon Carr, Westport CT: Greenwood Press, Publishers, 1975. MeM Matiere et memoire, Essai sur la relations .du corps avec l' esprit. Paris, 1896. CEUVRES. Presses Universitaires de France, 1959, 5th ed., 1991. vii MeR Les Deux sources de la morale et de la religion. 1932. CEUVRES. Presses Universitaires de France, 1959, 5th ed., 1991. PM La Pensee et le mouvant. 1934. CEUVRES. Presses Universitaires de France, 1959, 5th ed., 1991. R Le Rire: Essai sur la signification du comique, 1900. CEUVRES. Presses Universitaires de France, 1959, 5th ed., 1991. TFW Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness. Translated by F. L. Pogson. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1981. TLM "Trois Le~ons de Metaphysique: Au Lycee Henri-IV, 1893" in Cours II, edited by Henri Hude, Paris: PUF, 1993. viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Diagram Page 1. Perception and Recollection in One Dimension . 112 2. Perception and Recollection in Two Dimensions . 120 3. Perception and Recollection in Two Dimensions . 144 4. The Cone . 145 5. Planes of the Cone . 146 IX CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION The Timing of a Thesis A curious tradition surrounds scholarship on the work of Henri Bergson: Bergson scholars often apologize for their work. The nature of the apologies has changed over the years, however. Scholars writing while Bergson was still popular tried to justify the need for exposition, as if exposition were not a genuinely philosophical activity. 1 Writing in 1911, AD. Lindsay said, Some apology is needed for publishing a book on the philosophy of Bergson. Books on philosophers are always a poor substitute for the writings of the philosophers themselves, and that is especially true of a writer so brilliant as Monsieur Bergson. My excuse is that in some degree the very brilliance and charm of Monsieur Bergson's writing has hindered a proper appreciation of his work.2 Today, scholarship on Bergson requires justification because Bergson's work seems irrelevant. A dissertation on the work of Plato or Kant can proceed without prior or special justification in philosophy departments. As part of the established canon of philosophy, we can assume that good work on Plato or Kant will inform 1 Bergson himself also fell prey to this attitude, writing in his introduction to the French translation of William James' Pragmatism: "What is there for me to say about it that has not already been said, and much better?" (CM 209; PM 239). 2 AD. Lindsay, The Philosophy of Bergson (Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, Inc., 1911), v. Bergson won the Nobel prize in literature in 1927. 2 contemporary discussions which have been framed, at least in part, by their thought. Likewise a dissertation on Derrida's work can be justified because his work is still fresh, or, at least, in vogue. The philosophical community has yet to pass a definitive or competent judgment on Derrida's thought. What, on the other hand, can a dissertation on Bergson contribute to the philosophical literature of the late 20th century, over one hundred years since Bergson began publishing? Judgments have already been passed on Bergson's work.