Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness
by Henri Bergson
On This Page
Description
Henri Bergson's 'Zeit und Freiheit' explores the metaphysical and psychological concept of freedom. Bergson argues that debates between determinists and their opponents often stem from a confusion between duration and extension, and between quality and quantity. By clarifying these concepts, he aims to dissolve the traditional objections to the notion of freedom. The book is divided into three parts: the first examines the intensity of psychological states, the second discusses the idea of show more duration, and the third focuses on the organization of freedom. Bergson's work is aimed at readers interested in philosophy and psychology, and it seeks to provide a deeper understanding of human consciousness and free will. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
How to Read a Book's Recommended Reading List
309 works; 10 members
In Our Time books
4,934 works; 2 members
Author Information
130+ Works 5,396 Members
Born in Paris in 1859 of Jewish parents, Henri Bergson received his education there and subsequently taught at Angers and Clermont-Ferraud before returning to Paris. He was appointed professor of philosophy at the College de France in 1900 and elected a member of the French Academy in 1914. Bergson developed his philosophy by stressing the show more biological and evolutionary elements involved in thinking, reasoning, and creating. He saw the vitalistic dimension of the human species as being of the greatest importance. Bergson's writings were acclaimed not only in France and throughout the learned world. In 1927 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. In defiance of the Nazis after their conquest of France, Bergson insisted on wearing a yellow star to show his solidarity with other French Jews. Shortly before his death in 1941, Bergson gave up all his positions and renounced his many honors in protest against the discrimination against Jews by the Nazis and the Vichy French regime. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Essai sur les données immédiates de la conscience
- Original title
- Essai sur les données immédiates de la conscience
- Original publication date
- 1889
- First words
- It is usually admitted that states of consciousness, sensations, feelings, passions, efforts, are capable of growth and diminution; we are even told that a sensation can be said to be twice, thrice, four times as intense as a... (show all)nother sensation of the same kind.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The problem of freedom has thus sprung from a misunderstanding: it has been to the moderns what the paradoxes of the Eleatics were to the ancients, and, like these paradoxes, it has its origin in the illusion through which we confuse succession and simultaneity, duration and extensity, quality and quantity.
- Original language
- French
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 603
- Popularity
- 48,535
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.52)
- Languages
- 20 — Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian (Bokmål), Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 74
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 25
