Henri Bergson

Henri Bergson, a prominent figure in French philosophical thought during the first half of the 20th century, was both revered and considered a fashion phenomenon. His influence and prestige extended far beyond the narrow circle of specialists. The admiration for Bergson was a product of an anti-scientific and, perhaps, political stance that opposed the established academic teachings of the Sorbonne. Bergson himself never accepted the irrationalism of some of his followers. This type of Bergsonism harmed Bergsonian philosophy and provoked the criticisms of J. Benda and G. Politzer. The son of a Polish-Jewish immigrant composer and an Englishwoman, Bergson, following an extraordinary intellectual journey, managed to reach the pinnacle, entering the sanctum of the academic system. He was born in Paris in 1859. A brilliant student, he was admitted third to the École Normale Supérieure. Among his classmates were Jean Jaurès and Émile Durkheim. In 1879, he acquired French citizenship. In 1881, he became an agrégé in philosophy. Grateful to an academic system that integrated him at its highest level, he followed the classic career path of a high school teacher initially, then an associate professor at the École Normale. He failed twice to be elected to the Sorbonne, but in 1900 he was elected professor of classical philosophy at the Collège de France and in 1904 professor of modern philosophy at this prestigious French educational institution. In 1901, he was elected a member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, and in 1914 a member of the French Academy. In 1927, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. After the publication of "Creative Evolution" (1907), his lectures were attended by the entire new generation, reacting against the Kantianism and scientism of the Sorbonne. Among his students were Charles Péguy, Ernest Psichari (son of Jean Psichari), Jacques Maritain, and Georges Sorel. However, he also faced fierce attacks, both from the far right in the name of classicism, but with an anti-Semitic undertone, and from J. Benda in the name of Cartesianism. During World War I, Bergson, who had refused to take a position in the Dreyfus Affair, became, in a way, the official philosopher of France. He participated in diplomatic missions to Spain and the USA, where he conversed with President and philosopher Woodrow Wilson, and was one of the architects of the Franco-American alliance. In 1922, he was elected president of the Committee on Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations. He resigned in 1925 for health reasons. Thereafter, he withdrew from public life and devoted himself to his work. He increasingly approached Christian thought, although in 1914 his books were included in the Vatican's Index. However, he did not convert to Catholicism because, as M.-A. De Baumarchais writes, he remained faithful to Judaism out of solidarity with his co-religionists. In 1934, he publicly expressed his concern to the World Jewish Congress about the rise of anti-Semitism and Nazism. Bergson died in early 1941. Paul Valéry delivered the eulogy for Bergson at the French Academy, an event considered to mark the resistance of French intellectuals against the German occupation. Thus, even in his death, Bergson, who always refused the role of the committed intellectual, became an involuntary political symbol in the battle of ideas.