Bergson’s Manner of Approach to Moral and Social Questions

Abstract

HOW great is the contrast between the immense prestige of Bergson in the years 1910–1925 and the present somewhat tepid interest in his writings ! There are two quite good reasons why this change has come about. The interest of the general reader was awakened by, and for the most part based on, the least original of his works, his L’Évolution Créatrice, published in 1907. The most important of his earlier writings, Les Données Immédiates de la Conscience, was known only through the popularized versions which professed to expound it. Contrary to popular belief, his teaching had no true affinity with the anti-rationalist schools of philosophy, such as that of Georges Sorel, which claimed Bergson as their master. It is Bergson’s indiscretions—as in his equating of intuitive awareness with instinct—not the insights in Bergson’s teaching, that have been underlined and developed.