Bergson and Freedom

This book provides the first full length treatment of the nature and function of freedom within the work of Henri Bergson. It does so while also introducing Bergson’s key ideas and major works. It explores Bergson through the lens of freedom, while at the same time showing how Bergson’s work might engage with current challenges. It does this by examining the four major works of Bergson, highlighting how freedom can be conceived in each text and how Bergson addresses key freedom problematics in those works. It offers a definition of freedom in Bergson as the “creation of the new within the flow of duration.” What emerges, is that freedom remains crucial for Bergson beyond the obvious treatment of freedom directly in Time and Free Will.

Free will, memory, evolution, religion, and morality are major themes for Bergson. Moreover, there are particular freedom problematics concerning each of those themes that illustrate the central importance of freedom in Bergson. These include determinism, dualism, materialism, mechanism, finalism, and the notion of the open and closed.

Brian Macallan is Senior Lecturer at the University of Divinity, Pilgrim College, Australia.