Reflections on the notion of system in Creative Evolution

Abstract

One might think that Bergson’s use of the notion of ‘system’ in Creative Evolution’s first chapter – designating the system of material points artificially isolated in the continuity of nature by scientists – and his criticism of ‘philosophical systems’ in the fourth chapter of the book are only lexically related. But such an approach would miss a key aspect of Bergson’s project in Creative Evolution. This chapter’s argument will involve taking seriously the way in which, for Bergson, the same term can name groups or sets of physicochemical as well as biological facts on the one hand, and philosophical doctrines on the other. I suggest that by taking into account the discussion of system in both contexts we can thereby make progress concerning the fundamental problem of Creative Evolution: that of the relation between life and intelligence. What will also emerge, at the same time, is a method for thinking the idea of system within a philosophy of duration.