A New Philosophy: Henri Bergson | Page 6

and infinite levels. Never has anyone
better understood how to fulfil the philosopher's first task, in pointing
out the hidden mystery in everything. With him we see all at once the
concrete thickness and inexhaustible extension of the most familiar
reality, which has always been before our eyes, where before we were

aware only of the external film.
Do not imagine that this is simply a poetical delusion. We must be
grateful if the philosopher uses exquisite language and writes in a style
which abounds in living images. These are rare qualities. But let us
avoid being duped by a show of printed matter: these unannotated
pages are supported by positive science submitted to the most minute
inspection. One day, in 1901, at the French Philosophical Society, Mr
Bergson related the genesis of "Matter and Memory".
"Twelve years or so before its appearance, I had set myself the
following problem: 'What would be the teaching of the physiology and
pathology of today upon the ancient question of the connection
between physical and moral to an unprejudiced mind, determined to
forget all speculation in which it has indulged on this point, determined
also to neglect, in the enunciations of philosophers, all that is not pure
and simple statement of fact?' I set myself to solve the problem, and I
very soon perceived that the question was susceptible of a provisional
solution, and even of precise formulation, only if restricted to the
problem of memory. In memory itself I was forced to determine bounds
which I had afterwards to narrow considerably. After confining myself
to the recollection of words I saw that the problem, as stated, was still
too broad, and that, to put the question in its most precise and
interesting form, I should have to substitute the recollection of the
sound of words. The literature on aphasia is enormous. I took five years
to sift it. And I arrived at this conclusion, that between the
psychological fact and its corresponding basis in the brain there must
be a relation which answers to none of the ready- made concepts
furnished us by philosophy."
Certain characteristics of Mr Bergson's manner will be remarked
throughout: his provisional effort of forgetfulness to recreate a new and
untrammelled mind; his mixture of positive inquiry and bold invention;
his stupendous reading; his vast pioneer work carried on with
indefatigable patience; his constant correction by criticism, informed of
the minutest details and swift to follow up each of them at every turn.
With a problem which would at first have seemed secondary and
incomplete, but which reappears as the subject deepens and is thereby
metamorphosed, he connects his entire philosophy; and so well does he
blend the whole and breathe upon it the breath of life that the final

statement leaves the reader with an impression of sovereign ease.
Examples will be necessary to enable us, even to a feeble extent, to
understand this proceeding better. But before we come to examples, a
preliminary question requires examination. In the preface to his first
"Essay" Mr Bergson defined the principle of a method which was
afterwards to reappear in its identity throughout his various works; and
we must recall the terms he employed.
"We are forced to express ourselves in words, and we think, most often,
in space. To put it another way, language compels us to establish
between our ideas the same clear and precise distinctions, and the same
break in continuity, as between material objects. This assimilation is
useful in practical life and necessary in most sciences. But we are right
in asking whether the insuperable difficulties of certain philosophical
problems do not arise from the fact that we persist in placing
non-spatial phenomena next one another in space, and whether, if we
did away with the vulgar illustrations round which we dispute, we
should not sometimes put an end to the dispute."
That is to say, it is stated to be the philosopher's duty from the outset to
renounce the usual forms of analytic and synthetic thought, and to
achieve a direct intuitional effort which shall put him in immediate
contact with reality. Without doubt it is this question of method which
demands our first attention. It is the leading question. Mr Bergson
himself presents his works as "essays" which do not aim at "solving the
greatest problems all at once," but seek merely "to define the method
and disclose the possibility of applying it on some essential points."
(Preface to "Creative Evolution".) It is also a delicate question, for it
dominates all the rest, and decides whether we shall fully understand
what is to follow.
We must therefore pause here a moment. To direct us in this
preliminary study we have an admirable "Introduction to Metaphysis",
which appeared as an article in the "Metaphysical and Moral