“Interpreting Bergsonian Ideas through Philosophical, Cultural, and Literary Interconnections”
Final meeting of the Global Bergsonism Project
in Istanbul, October 16-17, 2025
The conference is the concluding phase of the CNRS International Research Network’s “A Chapter in the Global History of Philosophy: New Perspectives on Bergsonism” which was formed in 2019 to investigate the diverse manifestations of Bergsonian thought in multiple areas. It focuses on the theories and methods of cultural exchange and the transfer of ideas to highlight the global impact of Bergsonism in various regions. The main goal is making available the philosophical contributions to Bergson studies in the world; and establishing an international network of scholars and activities based on a variety of geographical areas. As a part of the project’s activities five conferences have been organized so far, namely in the USA, Japan, Brazil, Cameroon, and Lithuania starting in 2020 and the closing event will be held as a two-days live meeting in Istanbul in 2025.
La Fondation de France en partenariat avec la Bibliothèque musicale La Grange Fleuret, la Fondation Olivier Messiaen et la Société des Amis de Bergson et avec le concours du Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris ont le plaisir de vous convier au colloque, suivi d’un concert
« Temps, durée, musique : rencontres entre Henri Bergson et Olivier Messiaen » le 13 février 2025 à la Bibliothèque musicale La Grange-Fleuret 11 bis rue de Vézelay, 75008 Paris
Si le compositeur Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) fut un lecteur du philosophe Henri Bergson (1859-1941), les deux hommes ne se sont jamais rencontrés. Pourtant, on décèle entre eux certaines résonnances intellectuelles, parmi lesquelles figure sans doute la question sensible du Temps. C’est donc une manière de dialogue « à distance » que propose ce colloque, placé au croisement des approches musicologiques et philosophiques.
Réunissant d’éminents spécialistes, philosophes et musicologues, chercheurs et artistes, cette rencontre internationale tentera de préciser l’importance et les contours des notions de temps et de durée, à la lumière de la pensée et des œuvres respectives de Henri Bergson et de Olivier Messiaen. A travers des communications, des tables-rondes et des moments musicaux, le colloque cherchera à relever les correspondances comme les divergences de leurs approches sur des enjeux qui concernent aussi bien la création musicale que la recherche en philosophie. La journée visera ainsi à illustrer la fécondité de l’échange entre les disciplines et du partage des savoirs.
Elle se clôturera par un concert donné par des étudiants et jeunes diplômés du Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris, avec une œuvre emblématique d’Olivier Messiaen, le Quatuor pour la fin du Temps (1941).
En partenariat avec la Bibliothèque musicale La Grange-Fleuret, la Fondation Olivier Messiaen et la Société des Amis de Bergson. et avec le concours du Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris
Les études africaines et africana sur Bergson ont guidé et enrichi depuis longtemps la réflexion sur les questions morales, humaines, religieuses, postcoloniales, épistémologiques, etc., à partir des travaux respectifs de Léopold S. Senghor, Ebénézer Njoh Mouelle, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Nadia Yala Kisukidi, Emile Kenmogne, etc., et ont développé des traditions d’études et d’écoles au Sénégal, au Cameroun, en Côte d’Ivoire, en République Démocratique du Congo, entre autres. Ces traditions nous offrent aujourd’hui des outils et des références précieux pour refléchir aux thèmes qui seront au cœur de notre rencontre, à partir d’une conscience profonde des itinéraires du bergsonisme en Afrique.
Mélanie Weill (chercheuse indépendante) : Life and education: the influence of bergsonism on Montessori pedagogy
In the aftermath of the First World War, a great movement aiming to reform education took place in Europe, called “new” or “alternative” or “active” education. The new educators questioned the authoritarian way teachers related to their students in the 19th century, defended children’s rights, and renewed the notions of what it is to learn and to teach. Reading the works of medical doctor and pedagogue Maria Montessori, I noticed the repeated presence of bergsonian vocabulary. In the introduction of The formation of man (1949), an overview of her life’s work, the major figure of New Education places Bergson’s most famous concept at the heart of her pedagogy, stating that “Our first teacher will be (…) theélan vital”. In this talk I will defend the idea that a lot of aspects of New Education can be seen as practical applications of Bergson’s philosophy.
Liselott-Mariett Olsson (Associate Professor in Pedagogy, Malmö University) : Becoming Pedagogue: Bergson and the Aesthetics of Early Childhood Education and Care
Throughout the history of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), aesthetics has played a prominent role, and it has been practically and theoretically treated as concerning the relation between matter and mind in a non-dualistic and integrated way. However, in the contemporary educational situation the aesthetic dimension is neglected, and the components of the relation are no longer “held together” (Olsson 2023). A certain kind of “abstract formalism” (Løvlie 2007), expressed not the least in ever-growing “neuromania” (Vandenbroeck et al. 2017) and “standards and accountability movements” (Taubman 2009) in ECEC, has taken over the discourse on education, obliterating the aesthetic dimension and relation as well as pedagogical practices and theories connected to these.
To address this, some decisive parts of Bergson’s major work Matter and Memory (1896/1991) are of value and use, not the least the critique of epiphenomenalism and parallelism in neuroscientific explanations of the human mind, as well as the critical and creative account of the relation between matter and mind herein displayed. Bergson approaches the problem by showing how the dualism between mind and matter becomes settled when space is allowed to intervene and through perception produce a distance and a division between mind and matter – between “our mind” and “our body” (including our material brain) as well as between “our mind” and “things”. This spatialized vision is due to how perception is directed towards action that pragmatically and reductively deforms matter. This, however, is not the only or even the true nature of matter and the quest that Bergson begins with this book concerns therefore to restore to matter (including our own body and its brain) its “ultimate reality”[1] (Worms 2013:112, my translation). The main thesis is double: “the critique of space is extended to the perception of matter, leading to a metaphysics of duration, that in turn is extended to the reality of matter[2] (Worms 2013a:113, my translation).
In this presentation I will further explore this thesis and its potential synergies with the aesthetics of ECEC by proceeding through three movements: 1) critically identifying abstract formalism as a badly stated problem in ECEC, 2) making an inventory of some pedagogical-aesthetical practices and theories in ECEC, and 3) suggesting some creative and contemporary contributions for how to practically and theoretically re-activate aesthetics in ECEC.
REFERENCES:
Bergson, H. (1896/1991) Matter and Memory. New York: Zone Books.
Olsson, L. M. (2023) Becoming Pedagogue – Bergson and the Aesthetics, Ethics and Politics of Early Childhood Education and Care. London & New York: Routledge.
Taubman, P. M. (2009). Teaching by numbers: Deconstructing the discourse of standards and accountability in education. New York: Routledge.
Vandenbroeck. M., DeVos J., Fias, W., Olsson, L. M., Penn, H., Wastell, D., and White, S. (2017) Constructions of neuroscience in early childhood education. London: Routledge.
Worms, F. (2013 2e éd.) Bergson ou les deux sens de la vie. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
[2] la critique de l’espace, étendue à la perception de la matière, conduit à une métaphysique de la durée, elle-même étendue à la réalité de la matière
Chair : Maria Adriana Camargo Cappello (Universidade Federal do Paraná)
Colloque international: Le clos et l’ouvert. Bergson, l’Afrique et le monde contemporain (Université de Yaoundé 1 et Zoom)
11-12 et 18-19 Janvier 2024
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 ?
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
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.
The project to establish a new bibliography on the thought of Henri Bergson is part of the broader international research project on “Global Bergsonism”.
The second edition of the most recent complete Bergsonian bibliography, edited by Pete A. Y. Gunter, dates from 1986. It is urgent that a new bibliography be made available to researchers, updated in two directions: firstly to integrate certain linguistic and cultural areas that are only partially represented by Gunter’s bibliography; and also to present the last 36 years of research, which have been among the most productive for Bergsonian researchers around the world, as well as for the edition of Bergson’s manuscripts, correspondence and courses. The new Bergson Bibliography will be the most comprehensive and accessible directory of Bergson studies. It will be a widely distributed, multilingual bibliography, based on the open source software Zotero, available online without a license.
From 2020 to 2021, the project was coordinated by Matyas Moravec, who achieved extraordinary results in bringing the bibliography to more than 1700 entries and to whom we extend our warmest thanks, as well as to all other contributors.
As of the end of 2021, the project will be coordinated by Alessandro Taverniti (Università degli studi di Torino) and Caterina Zanfi (CNRS/Ens).
This collective project is crowdsourced. Every contribution is important. If you wish to participate in this project and share your bibliography on Bergson studies, you are warmly welcome in our coordination meeting on February 15, 2022 at 12:00 Paris time, via Zoom.
For Zotero beginners: a basic knowledge of this tool is required. Thank you for registering to Zotero downloading it before the meeting, as shown in these short tutorials.
If you are interested in participating, thank you for sending a registration message to Alessandro Taverniti before the meeting.
L’Assemblée Générale de la Société des amis de Bergson se tiendra le samedi 23 octobre 2020 de 14 heures à 15 heures 30 CEST (heure de Paris), en ligne. Les membres de la SAB auront accès au lien de la réunion via la newsletter Bergson News. Vous pouvez adhérer ici.
Ordre du jour:
1. Rapport moral – Rapport des activités de l’année 2020/2021
– Publications : nouvelle revue Bergsoniana, recensions, bibliographie et autres outils en ligne (site) – Global Bergsonism : état d’avancement du projet ; colloque en ligne de Fukuoka ; Atelier Bergson à partir de janvier
2. Rapport financier – Cotisation en ligne via HelloAsso – Entrées et dépenses
3. Communication (carnet, facebook, twitter, newsletter)
4. Bibliographie Zotero et autres outils
5. Prochaines activités – Webinaire sru Bergson en Asie de l’Est, Université de Fukuoka (en ligne) : 12, 18 et 19 novembre 2021 – Calendrier du projet Global Bergsonism – Prochains numéros de Bergsoniana