i] IDEA OF INDIVIDUALITY 9 



life a considerable fresh amount of immunity from 

 accident. 



The second quotation at the head of this chapter 

 seems at first sight to take a very different view of 

 the individual, conceiving of it as "a system naturally 

 isolated, naturally closed." By this Bergson means 

 that in any consideration of that system, it is the 

 unity of it as a whole that is important : more than 

 that, even if you want to consider a part of the 

 system by itself, you cannot do so, for it loses almost 

 all its significance when detached from the whole. 

 What is the meaning of the hand and its actions 

 apart from the functioning of the whole body ? More 

 striking still, for here there are no physical con- 

 nections to sever, what is the meaning of a lonely 

 bee and its actions when it comes back to find its 

 hive destroyed? With inorganic things on the other 

 hand, a part does not lose significance when detached 

 from a system, nor the system appear less perfect for 

 the detachment of the part. The inorganic system is 

 a Particular, but not an Individual.. Cause half a 

 mountain to be removed and cast into the sea : what 

 remains is still a mountain, though a different one. 

 Take away a planet, and the Solar System still works : 

 its working is different, but, as far as we can see, only 

 different, not less perfect. 



Metzsche's words affirmed the individual's prin- 

 ciple of action : Bergson's point out the inner unity 



