Online research in philosophy

The Nobel laureate discusses not only how and why he became a philosopher but also his conception of philosophy as a field distinct from science and literature. A source of inspiration for physicists as well as philosophers, Bergson's essays declare the emphasis of intuition over intellect.

In this paper, I will try to show Bergson's resolution of the paradox of the human condition: the tension existing between 'living in the world' and 'perceiving the world'. His resolution centers around his concept "displacement of attention." According to him, when the direction of reasoning changes from 'intellect to intuition' to 'intuition to intellect', one will be able to experience the seemingly distinct two realms as a "succession without distinction". This experience is possible only by means of intuition in duration. In order to explain this kind of experience, Bergson uses the analogy of an artist creating a work of art. The artist and the philosopher both share the act of perceiving for the sake of perceiving; they both create in duration and as such they are able to perceive the moving world of phenomena without stopping it and breaking it into pieces. It is only through carrying this experience that we live in art or when we listen to a melody or again when we experience our self from within into the realm of philosophy that one is able to do true philosophy.

Bergson's legacy to literature was nothing short of transformative. His theories of duration, memory, intuition, the élan vital, and comedy inspired a wide range of vital literary innovations. Techniques essential to modern literature?stream of consciousness, imagistic precision, time-shift, plotlessness, multiple perspective?can be traced to Bergson, and Bergsonian tendencies?his focus on subjective consciousness, interest in novelty, and critique of materialism?yet determine literature written today. But what made Bergson such a powerful influence on such a diverse array of writers was his theory of the artist: throughout his work, Bergson honors aesthetic insight and grants the artist authority over discoveries central to his philosophy. Writers were indeed inspired by Bergson's theories of duration, memory, and intuition, but they were truly galvanized to pursue Bersgonian ends by the power promised in his account of the artist's relationship to reality. Any account of Bergson's literary influence should recognize this distinction. Moreover, we should recognize that this will to power made a significant difference to the way writers interpreted Bergson's theories?especially the theory of time. Bergson's account of duration was transformative not just because it inspired writers to try for new approaches to the representation of time but because it encouraged them to think that they, like Bergson himself, could be time's prophets.

For J. Brown the essential feature of thought experiments is that they mobilize our intuition; the way they teach positive lessons to cognizers is by means of the intuition mobilized. The paper presents a problem for Brown with the help of a famous TE as counterexample. It argues that Berkeley’s master argument is a philosophical thought experiment that lacks a feature typical of platonic thought experiments -- intuitive grasp. If Berkeley’s argument is a thought experiment,as I’ve attempted to show, then we have a counterexample to Brown’s view that thought experiments are not arguments.

This article argues that Maritain’s philosophy of human intellection was more indebted to Bergson’s views on the centrality of intuition, metaphysics, andthe instrumental character of scientific reason, than some of Maritain’s published criticisms of Bergson might lead one to believe. Toward the end of his life Maritain spoke of twentieth-century Thomism’s debt to Bergson.

Liang Shuming once applied the concept of intuition to characterize Chinese culture as a whole. Later, he not only replaced the theoretical position of intuition with the concept of reason, but discarded the term for intuition itself. This essay will answer three questions related to this academic riddle. (1) What does intuition mean to both Bergson and Liang? (2) What does the Chinese cultural heritage contribute to the formation of Liang's intuition? (3) What is the relationship between Liang's intuition and reason?