Bergson’s Concept of Motion

BERGSON'S CONCEPT OF MOTION THE TWOFOLD PURPOSE of this article is to give an original exposition of Bergson's notion of motion and to point out many of the similarities between the thought of the Angelic Doctor and that of Henri Bergson in regard to their notion of motion and the significance that their concepts of motion played in the inception of their philosophies. Although I am well aware that Bergon's notion of motion is usually treated solely in regard to his concept of duration, it is my view that Bergson's notion of motion may be accurately described as a concept distinct, if not separate from, that of duration. In addition, it is clear that Bergson held this concept to be applicable to the real world similar to a moderate realist view of true knowledge. Bergson's lnteUectual Milieu In order to appreciate Bergson's contribution to philosophy one must recognize the intellectual milieu in which he philosophized . In early modern philosophy and science one finds the strange phenomena of a material universe subject to locomotion but not to any kind of substantial change. In addition, locomotion itself was held to be something extrinsic to matter, something added to it from without. In other words, matter is essentially immobile, static and inert. Matter is considered to be either bare extension or composed of a number of unchangeable atoms which are moved locally, being packed together in clusters of various densities entering into combinations which produced nothing really new. In this mechanistic universe, subject to strict determinations , time had really no significance. If the universe had a history, this history would not have any scientific or philosophical significance at all. 555 556 JOSEPH J. CALIFANO This universe, where there is a total absence of generation and corruption, was the universe of Galileo, Kepler, Newton, Descartes, etc. For these and many subsequent thinkers, bodily substance was marked by its unchanging pem1anence in existence and potency to receive only locomotion. Substance ultimately became reduced to an inert " I know not what " for Locke or an idea imposed upon the manifold of sense data by the knowing subject for Kant. Two Aspects of Bergson's Singular Intuition Bergson believed that " a philosopher worthy of the name has never said more than a single thing . . . because he has seen only one point." 1 If this statement does not apply to anyone else, it is definitely applicable to Bergson himself. For, in all his writings he attempts to convey only one single message that "reality is mobility itself." 2 Only process is real and all reality is process. An immediate corollary follows from the above when it is taken in conjunction with the following two propositions: that in man process or development is found in its most perfect form and that the production of the processes found in man (consciousness ) is the product of all other processes in nature-via evolution. According to the corollary, through knowing human process or development absolutely one can know, by an act of sympathy or empathy (intuition) , all the processes in nature via their participation in human development. Thus mathematical physics must abdicate its reign over the sciences in favor of psychology and biology. This intuition for Bergson is one whereby the mind is adequated with the real in nature, and it can in no way be reduced to what knowledge might mean in idealism or psychologism. Dissolution of Mobility by the Intellect According to Bergson, the natural bent of the intellect is towards "manufacturing artificial objects, especially tools to 1 The Creative Mind, trans. by M. L. Andison (New York: Philosophical Library, 1946), p. 13~. 1 Ibid., p. 177. BERGSON's CONCEPT OF MOTION 557 make tools." 3 "All the elementary focus of the intellect tends to transform matter into an instrument of action that is ... an organ." 4 This activity of construction 5 "is exercised exclusively on inert matter" 6 or matter conceived or reduced to the inert. For the intellect is only entirely at home " when i.t is working upon inert matter, more particularly upon solids." 7 What enables the intellect to deal with matter successfully in this way is its " unlimited power...