Atelier Bergson — Bergson et la philosophie analytique

La prochaine séance de l’Atelier Bergson aura lieu sur Zoom le 28 mars 2023 de 14h à 16h30 (CET)

Lien Zoom : https://cnrs.zoom.us/j/95096060568?pwd=ek43aEpvYmFocGFOejlqc0tKdkd2UT09

Meeting ID: 950 9606 0568
mot de passe: hqxn4

Matyas Moravec (University of St. Andrews) — Analytic Bergsonism

The aim of my talk will be to discuss the prospects for a new philosophical movement entitled “Analytic Bergsonism.” I will do so by exploring the possibility of translating the thought of Bergson into the language of analytic philosophy.
Recent years have seen a heightened interest in the philosophy of Bergson (traditionally classified as a “continental” thinker due to the style of his writings and his later influence on the likes of Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, or Deleuze) from analytic philosophers. Bergson turns up in analytic discussions of temporal experience, biology, free will, or the philosophy of religion. This process is similar to the way in which the thought of Thomas Aquinas was taken up by analytic philosophers of religion, who have translated his thought from the language of scholastic metaphysics into the style of 20th-century analytic philosophy. This eventually crystallised into a movement now commonly known as “Analytical Thomism.” Naturally, the thought suggests itself: Can something like this be done with Bergson? As a matter of fact, the “Kyoto Manifesto” of Bergsonism published in 2020 explicitly encourages philosophers to take seriously the idea of a “philosophically clean-shaven analytic Bergson.”
My talk will proceed in three steps:

  • 1. In the first step, I will explore “Analytic Appropriations”—attempts by analytic thinkers to translate the philosophical systems of historical figures into the language and style of contemporary analytic philosophy. Examples will include the “rational reconstruction” of Spinoza by Jonathan Bennett, Humeanism in the philosophy of science, or the influence that Kant exerts on debates about constructivism in ethics.
  • 2. In the second step, I will focus on one specific case of such an appropriation: Analytical Thomism. I will discuss the benefits and pitfalls of converting sections of Aquinas’ metaphysical system into the argumentative structures and style of analytic philosophy.
  • 3. In the third step, I will explore whether Analytic Thomism could provide a feasible methodological blueprint for Analytic Bergsonism. I will do so by asking three questions: (i) Can Analytic Bergsonism be generated? (ii) If it can, what would it be? (ii) If it cannot, why not? I will argue that the style of analytic philosophy is both the reason why an analytic translation can be done in the case of Aquinas but not in the case of Bergson. This is because in the case of Aquinas, analytic philosophers start with theological (that is, extra-philosophical) doctrinal commitments to orthodoxy (e.g., the existence of God, the Incarnation, etc.) and then clarify those using the methodology and style of analytic philosophy. I will propose that in the case of Bergson, it is both hard to see what these “doctrinal” presuppositions would be and that Bergson’s philosophical style is not easily separable from the content of his philosophy and replaceable by the style in which analytic philosophy is usually conducted.

Thomas Bourdier (Université Bordeaux-Montaigne) — What does it mean that the past still exists? Bergson and the growing-block theory of time

That the past still exists is a familiar thesis for Bergson’s readers. In the field of “analytic bergsonism”, this claim naturally leads to a cautious rapprochement with the so called “growing block theory of time” (Broad, Tooley, Forrest and many others). However, it is doubtful that Bergson would endorse such a theory as it is. Firstly, the very name of the “growing block theory” seems to imply some misunderstanding concerning the nature of time because representation of the universe as a block of spacetime (even growing) is a mere representation and not an adequate description of reality, at least from a bergsonian point of view. Secondly, the growing block theory faces a famous “epistemic” objection (Braddon-Mitchell) which sounds very strange and off-topic regarding Bergson’s approach. Moreover, this approach itself is not clear and deserves some explanations.
In this communication, I propose to elucidate the survival of the past as Bergson seems to understand it in contrast with the growing block theory of time. I proceed as follows : (1) I present the growing-block theory of time and try to emphasize the limits of this theory from a bergsonian point of view ; this leads (2) to an attempt of exegesis of Matter and memory (chapter III) concerning the existence of the personal past, mainly in trying to conciliate the two pictures of qualitative multiplicity (where the past is in the present) and of the cone memory (where my present is the extreme point of my past) ; finally (3), I propose a more speculative reconstruction of “cosmic memory” (memory of the Universe as a whole) and of the survival of the past in an ontological sense (not only psychological) of which we have no detailed account from Bergson. In conclusion, I emphasize the contrast between growing block and bergsonian theories of time.

 

 

Appel à communications : Réunion africaine du projet sur le bergsonisme global — 23-24-30 novembre et 1er décembre 2023 — Université de Yaoundé 1 et Zoom

Barthélémy Toguo, Take a Green Breath, 2017

Colloque international: Le clos et l’ouvert. Bergson, l’Afrique et le monde contemporain (Université de Yaoundé 1 et Zoom)

23-24-30 NOVEMBRE et 1er DECEMBRE 2023

Il est proposé, pour la rencontre de 2023 sur le bergsonisme dans l’histoire globale de la philosophie, piloté par l’Afrique à partir du Cameroun, de tenter d’utiliser une grille conceptuelle bergsonienne d’interprétation de l’évolution des affaires humaines centrée sur les concepts de « société ouverte » et de « société close ». La mondialisation, non pas comme ouverture, mais paradoxalement comme avènement d’un « village planétaire » d’une part et, d’autre part, l’apparition de nouvelles formes de revendications identitaires se fondant sur les principes de liberté, de respect des droits des êtres humains, tout autant que sur les grandes avancées dans la recherche scientifique et technologique, peuvent-elles être interprétées et comprises par référence en particulier aux concepts bergsoniens de « société ouverte » et de « société close », sans oublier celui d’un évolutionnisme par création d’imprévisibles nouveautés ?

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Call for Contributions: New Bergson Bibliography

The CNRS International Research Network A Chapter in a Global History of Philosophy. New Perspectives on Bergsonism, is producing a new and up-to-date bibliography of studies on Bergson, completely open access on Zotero.

The bibliography responds to the global history vocation of the research project and is divided according to a geographical criterion. The coordinators of the project, Alessandro Taverniti (University of Pavia) and Caterina Zanfi (CNRS/ENS), are seeking contributors from or with expertise in philosophy of the following areas: Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, India, Israel, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela, Vietnam.

While the current team has a majority of early-career contributors (master’s students, Ph.D. students, young researchers), we are nevertheless open to collaborating with researchers at all levels.

Those interested can contact me directly at the following email address: alessandro.tavern@edu.unito.it

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Conférence – 15 décembre 2022 – Emile Kenmogne

La valeur épistémologique et pratique du mysticisme Bergsonien

Emile Kenmogne, Université de Yaoundé 1

Jeudi 15 décembre 2022, 10h30-12h

salle Pasteur (Pavillon Pasteur, 1er étage), 45 rue d’Ulm, 75005 Paris 

Dans le cadre de l’IRN CNRS « Un chapitre dans l’histoire globale de la philosophie : nouvelles perspectives sur le bergsonisme » 

Affiche de la conférence

 

Brazil Meeting of the Global Bergsonism Research Project (an online webinar) – 18, 24 and 25 of November, 2022 – Universidade Federal de São Carlos

Based on the pioneering work of Bento Prado Júnior and Franklin Leopoldo e Silva, Bergsonian studies have developed significantly in Brazil over the last 20 years. This includes a thematic diversity that allows a rich dialogue with other scholars around the world. Our participation in the CNRS International Research Network “A Chapter in a Global History of Philosophy : New Perspectives on Bergsonism” intends to expand this exchange even further and, thus, the research horizon around Bergson’s philosophy. The openness of his thought, related to the fundamental idea of the continuous transformation of time, leads us to strengthen our ties while looking forward to new interlocutors, especially from Latin America, beyond the consolidated connection with France.

This Webinar will be an occasion to discuss the potentialities of Bergon’s work, explored in an original way through the diversity of schools and academic backgrounds of all continents. We hope to encourage and foster discussions in a concrete practice of “ouverture” – mental, cultural and social – renewing questions and problematizations.

 

Ernesto Neto, We Fishing the Time, 2001

 

Programme

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Workshop (online and in person) October 2, 2022 – Remembering: analytic and Bergsonian Perspectives 2

Speakers include Kourken Michaelian, Shin Sakuragi, Ken-ichi Hara,
Hisashi Fujita, Kengo Miyazono and Yasushi Hirai.

Date: 2 Oct (Sun) 10:00-17:50
Place: Room A701, Building A, Fukuoka University / Zoom
Language: English
Organisers: Yasushi Hirai, Kourken Mikelian and Shin Sakuragi
Registration required: https://forms.gle/Zfpo5266qRDywjE59

PBJ website:
https://matterandmemory.jimdofree.com/english-1/

CPM (Centre for Philosophy of Memory) website:
https://phil-mem.org/events/2022-bergson.php

Assemblée générale 20 octobre 2022

Nous avons le plaisir de vous inviter à l’Assemblée Générale de la SAB, qui se tiendra en présentiel et en ligne le 20 octobre 2022 de 13h30 à 15h30 à l’ENS – 45 rue d’Ulm – Salle des Actes (escalier A, 1er étage). Les membres de la SAB auront accès au lien de la réunion via la newsletter Bergson News. Vous pouvez adhérer ici. Continuer la lecture

Recension: Bergson notre contemporain – Emmanuel Kessler (2022)

Mathilde Tahar 

       

            Si, depuis quelques décennies, en grande partie grâce à l’édition critique des Presses Universitaires de France, Bergson a de nouveau une place de choix dans le monde académique, il reste, auprès de la société, au mieux le philosophe qui a écrit sur Le Rire, au pire un nom vaguement connu de la culture française qui a donné son nom a des rues et à des collèges.

C’est donc avec un certain enthousiasme que nous accueillons la publication de cet ouvrage destiné au grand public sur l’œuvre et la vie de Bergson. D’une part, en tant que chercheur.se bergsonien·ne·s, il est plaisant d’imaginer qu’on pourra offrir l’ouvrage à nos proches, qui peut-être comprendront enfin quelque chose à notre travail universitaire. D’autre part, parce que ce livre, ne se contentant pas de faire une monographie du philosophe, veut montrer son actualité, sa nécessité même, pour penser la société d’aujourd’hui, redonnant ainsi à Bergson une certaine actualité dans un monde qui a tout oublié de sa gloire passée.

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