To take another of his "pure" distinctions, we cannot see any necessity
for his formulation of what he terms "Pure Perception." Not only does
it obscure the relation of Sensation to Perception, but it seems to be
quite unknown and unknowable and unnecessary as an hypothesis. As to his
"Pure" Memory, there is more to be said. It stands on a different plane
and seems to be the statement of a very profound truth which sheds light
on many difficult problems attaching to personality and consciousness,
for it is the conservation of memories which is the central point in
individuality. His distinction between the habit of repeating and the
"pure" memory is a very good and very necessary one. In his study of
the relation of Soul and Body, we find some of his most meritorious
work--his insistence on the uniqueness of Mind and the futility of
attempts to reduce it to material terms. His treatment of this question
is parallel to that of William James in the first part of his Ingersoll
Lecture at Harvard in 1898, when he called attention to "permissive"
or "transmissive" function of the brain. Bergson's criticisms of
Parallelism are very valuable.
No less so are his refutations of both physical and psychological
Determinism. Men were growing impatient of a science claiming so
much and yet admittedly unable to explain the really vital factors of
existence, of which the free action of men is one of the most important.
The value placed on human freedom, on the creative power of human beings
to mould the future, links Bergson again with James, and it is this
humanism which is the supremely valuable factor in the philosophies of
both thinkers. This has been pointed out in the consideration of
the ethical and political implications of Bergson's Philosophy.
Nevertheless, although his insistence on Freedom and Creative Evolution
implies that we are to realize that by our choices and our free acts we
may make or mar the issue, and that through us and by us that issue may
be turned to good, the good of ourselves and of our fellows, there is
an ethical lack in Bergson's philosophy which is disappointing. Then,
as has been remarked in the chapter on Religion, there is the lack of
teleology in his conception of the Universe; his denial of ANY purpose
hardly seems to be in harmony with his use of the phrase "the meaning of
life."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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