Russell’s Hidden Bergsonism

Abstract

The title above certainly sounds strange and even facetious; for Russell’s attitude to Bergson was not only that of philosophical disagreement, but of positive, almost personal dislike. This dislike accounts for Russell’s frequent misunderstandings and misrepresentations of Bergson’s thought — the misrepresentations which often border on caricature. It is true that this caricaturing was due more to Russell’s inattentive reading than to a conscious desire to ridicule. Russell’s own reading of Bergson was accurately characterized by Russell himself when he wrote that “to read an author in order to refute him is not the way to understand him.” (OKEW, 47) *). Sometimes, however, the desire to ridicule is clearly discernible; for instance when, ignoring all the distinctions which the author of Creative Evolution draws between instinct and intuition, he confuses them, adding with humor that intuition is strongest “in ants, bees and Bergson.” (PB, 3.) In any case, inattentive reading is as much a sign of intellectual indifference or hostility as a distorting caricature. Whether the touch of personal animosity in Russell’s attitude was due, as it was submitted, to his suspicion that Bergson “lured” Whitehead away from him, is not certain¹, but it would not be too surprising; philosophers are human beings too, Russell more than any other.