THE CONTINUITY OF BERGSON'S THOUGHT 



By Melanchthon F. Libby 



Henri Louis Bergson is fifty-two years of age and since 1900 has 

 been Professor in the College de France. He was born in Paris and like 

 so many great thinkers is said to be of Jewish origin. He has written 

 three works of general philosophic import besides numerous essays 

 and a book on Laughter. His first work, a Doctor's thesis, dealt with 

 the time-honored problem of free-will, and was written between 1883 

 and 1887; it was published in 1889. It contains the central thought 

 which gives unity and coherence to all his writings. From this it is 

 clear that a recent critic who speaks of Bergson as a stripling when 

 opposed to Mr. Balfour, who, he says, published over thirty years 

 ago, and another critic who says one of the great events of 191 1 (sic) 

 was Bergson's "discovery of the soul," have overlooked the fact that 

 he made this contribution public twenty-three years ago, and had his 

 main ideas nearly thirty years ago. 



It was Professor James's reference to Bergson as "the Master" 

 which gave him vogue in America; and the wide reading of the 

 Creative Evolution, published in 1907, and published in the English 

 translation by Mitchell in 191 1, have probably made his name the 

 most widely talked of among recent philosophers. 



The book which appeared between these two, Matter and Memory, 

 1896, is more difficult for the lay reader, perhaps, but unfortunately 

 it is just that work in which he comes to the fullest comprehension of 

 the thought on which all his other thoughts depend. 



There is at present a very general demand that writings on philo- 

 sophical subjects shall be clear and not obscure, simple and not need- 

 lessly intricate, popular and not too technical. James certainly held 

 this view and met this demand, though it may be doubted whether 

 James's style is really as clear and simple as it looks. Bergson also 

 believes in this view. His mind is of an almost crystalline clearness, 

 and yet any reader, lay or professional, might read many parts of his 



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