Matter and Memory

This book is not an easy read; it took me about two months to get through it. I was brought to it by my curiosity about Bergson as a figure in philosophical history, and the topic of memory. It is a profoundly interesting treatment of central philosophical questions, challenging the twin inadequacies of materialism and idealism, and ultimately suggesting a useful approach to the relationship between body and mind quite different from the sort of naive Cartesianism that continues to be popular and reflexive in our culture long past its real credibility for serious thinkers.

Bergson makes extensive use of the psychopathological literature of his day in his arguments about the nature of memory in relation to the brain (the second chapter show more of the book). And while there have certainly been enormous advances in neurophysiology since the late 19th century, I don't think that any of them obsolete his conclusions or invalidate the sort of data that he brings to bear.

His physics is more primitive than his psychology, and his repeated use of the word "relative" in the brief physics discussions of the fourth chapter (e.g. 193-196) should not be mistaken for (anachronistic) allusion to Einsteinian relativity. Still, these were points of orientation to connect with the science of the time, and they rest on the surface of the argument, not in its core.

Bergson's grounding of his theory in the bedrock of "images" reminds me of my readings in the phenomenological philosophy of Edmund Husserl and his successors, but I found Bergson's work to be clearer and more persuasive. If I were to propose a later thinker who dealt with similar questions in a different yet comparably effective manner, it would have to be Gregory Bateson (in certain essays found in Sacred Unity).

According to a note in Wikipedia, this book was placed on the Catholic Index Librorum Prohibitorum for Bergson's alleged pantheism. I personally can't find an iota of theological opinion in the book; it must have been lumped in with other work of the author.

"Memory is thus the reverberation, in the sphere of consciousness, of the indetermination of our will." (65)

"Memory is, then, in no degree an emanation of matter; on the contrary, matter, as grasped in concrete perception which always occupies a certain duration, is in great part the work of memory." (182) show less

Though style was never Bergson strong point, the book offers a great entry point into Bergson's world .

for my philosophical issues in film class. he's got some things to say but i'm not sure if I really connect with Bergson as a theorist/philosopher.

i wrote this book

i wrote this book

Supongan por un momento que ya no ven lo que usualmente ven cuando ven, que ya no tocan lo que usualmente tocan cuando tocan. Los objetos que creían conocer se disuelven, las palabras se funden, las personas y su modo de existencia usual se desdibujan, sin la piel como sostén. Un inmenso cuadro que se (des)pinta es presentado por Bergson en Materia y memoria