Henri Bergson

presumes that the intellect catches only the states and not the flux, of reality and life.

Bergson presumes too much in supposing that the intellect catches only the states and not the flux, of reality and life; thought is a stream of transitive ideas, as James had shown before Bergson wrote; 2 "ideas" are merely points thaV memory selects in the flow of thought; and the mental current adequately reflects the continuity of perception and the movement of life.

is wrongheaded in his criticism of materialism in that he never stops to ask what "matter" is; whether it may not be somewhat less inert than we have thought; whether it may be, not life's enemy, but life's willing menial if life but knew its mind.

His doubts melt away when his system begins to form; he never stops to ask what "matter" is; whether it may not be somewhat less inert than we have thought; whether it may be, not life's enemy, but life's willing menial if life but knew its mind.

is a writer with a Semitic passion for metaphor and, at times, is apt to substitute ingenious simile for patient proof.

It is harder to be wrong in French than in some other languages; for the French will not tolerate obscurity, and truth is clearer than fiction* If Bergson is occasionally obscure it is by the squandered wealth of his imagery, his analogies, and his illustrations; he has an almost Semitic passion for metaphor, and is apt at times to substitute ingenious simile for patient proof.

is a thinker best in his attack upon materialist mechanism.

That which is best in Bergson is his attack upon materialist mechanism. Our pundits of the laboratory had become a little too confident of their*categories, and thought to squeeze all the cosmos into a test-tube.

is a writer whose style is brilliant, not with the paradox-fireworks of Nietzsche, but with a steady brightness, as of a man who is resolved to live up to the fine traditions of luminous French prose.

What strikes one first in reading Bergson is the style: brilliant not with the paradox-fireworks of Nietzsche, but with a steady brightness, as of a man who is resolved to live up to the fine traditions of luminous French prose.

Henri Bergson, n.Definitions

Henri Bergson