THE NATURE OF REALITY 453 



ity. This, for Bergson, is the method of intuition. "By in- 

 tuition is meant the kind of intellectual sympathy by which 

 one places oneself within an object in order to coincide with 

 what is unique in it and consequently inexpressible." 1 The 

 intuitive method is 'truly itself when it goes beyond the 

 concept, or at least when it frees itself from the rigid and 

 ready-made concepts in order to create a kind very different 

 from those which we habitually use; I mean supple, mobile, 

 and almost fluid representations, always ready to mould 

 themselves on the fleeting forms of intuition." 2 Intuition 

 gives us that which is essential and unique in the object; it 

 is that mode of knowing in which we are not merely ac- 

 quainted with the object, but united with it in that intimate 

 way which enables us to grasp its differentiating features. 

 Whereas concepts draw circles around objects, intuition re- 

 veals their individualities; whereas conceptual knowledge is 

 external, representing so many points of view, intuitive 

 awareness discloses the inner nature of things; whereas 

 symbolic knowledge is relative and indirect, intuitive knowl- 

 edge is absolute and direct. 



When we recognize the complete range of data upon which 

 the solution to the speculative problem is based, there is 

 reason to doubt whether Bergson has really made an infer- 

 ence from the character of scientific symbols to the character 

 of reality. It is not scientific symbols which reveal the char- 

 acter of reality in a negative way, but the intuitive method 

 which reveals it in a positive way. There is probably an 

 analogical inference of somewhat the same kind as is found 

 in the case of Eddington, though it is not so clearly defined. 

 For Eddington inference may be made from the spiritual 

 character of mind, to the spiritual character of inorganic 

 nature; for Bergson the obvious inadequacy of static scien- 

 tific symbols in our attempt to understand the character of 

 certain types of object such as the self, motion, and growth, 

 argues for a similar though less obvious inadequacy in the 

 attempt to understand things in general; hence science may 



1 Ibid., p. 7. 2 Ibid., p. 21. 



