INTRODUCTION xiii 



consciousness as wide as life ? And such a conscious 

 ness, turning around suddenly against the push of life 

 which it feels behind, would have a vision of life 

 complete would it not? even though the vision 

 were fleeting. 



It will be said that, even so, we do not transcend 

 our intellect, for it is still with our intellect, and 

 through our intellect, that we see the other forms of 

 consciousness. And this would be right if we were 

 pure intellects, if there did not remain, around our 

 conceptual and logical thought, a vague nebulosity, 

 made of the very substance out of which has been 

 formed the luminous nucleus that we call the intellect. 

 Therein reside certain powers that are complementary 

 to the understanding, powers of which we have only 

 an indistinct feeling when we remain shut up in our 

 selves, but which will become clear and distinct when 

 they perceive themselves at work, so to speak, in the 

 evolution of nature. They will thus learn what sort 

 of effort they must make to be intensified and expanded 

 in the very direction of life. 



This amounts to saying that theory of knowledge 

 and theory of life seem to us inseparable. A theory 

 of life that is not accompanied by a criticism of know 

 ledge is obliged to accept, as they stand, the concepts 

 which the understanding puts at its disposal : it can 

 but enclose the facts, willing or not, in pre-existing 

 frames which it regards as ultimate. It thus obtains 

 a symbolism which is convenient, perhaps even 

 necessary to positive science, but not a direct vision of 

 its object. On the other hand, a theory of knowledge 

 which does not replace the intellect in the general 

 evolution of life will teach us neither how the frames 



