The Misuse of Mind

PREFATORY NOTE

Being an extract from a letter by Professor Henri Bergson

Ayant lu de près le travail de Mrs. Stephen je le trouve intéressant au plushaut point. C’est une interprétation personelle et originale del’ensemble de mes vues—interprétation qui vaut par elle-même,indépendamment de ce qui j’ ai écrit. L’auteur s’est assimilél’esprit de la doctrine, puis, se dégageant de la matérialité du texteelle a développé à sa manière, dans la direction qu’elle avait choisi,des idées qui lui paraissaient fondamentales. Grâce à la distinctionqu’elle “établit entre “ fact “ et “ matter,“ elle a pu ramener à l’unité, et présenter avec une grande rigueurlogique, des vues que j’avais été obligé, en raison de ma méthode derecherche, d’isoler les unes des autres. Bref, son travail a une grandevaleur; il témoigne d’une rare force de pensée.

HENRI BERGSON.

PREFACE

The immense popularity which Bergson’s philosophy enjoys is sometimescast up against him, by those who do not agree with him, as a reproach. It hasbeen suggested that Berg-son’s writings are welcomed simply because theyoffer a theoretical justification for a tendency which is natural in all of usbut against which philosophy has always fought, the tendency to throw reasonoverboard and just let ourselves go. Bergson is regarded by rationalists almostas a traitor to philosophy, or as a Bolshevik inciting the public to overthrowwhat it has taken years of painful effort to build up.

It is possible that some people who do not understand this philosophy may useBergson’s name as a cloak for giving up all self-direction and lettingthemselves go intellectually to pieces, just as hooligans may use a time ofrevolution to plunder in the name of the Red Guard. But Bergson’sphilosophy is in reality as far from teaching mere laziness as Communism isfrom being mere destruction of the old social order.

Bergson attacks the use to which we usually put our minds, but he mostcertainly does not suggest that a philosopher should not use his mind at all;he is to use it for all it is worth, only differently, more efficiently for thepurpose he has in view, the purpose of knowing for its own sake.

There is, of course, a sense in which doing anything in the right way is simplyletting one’s self go, for after all it is easier to do a thing well thanbadly—it certainly takes much less effort to produce the same amount ofresult. So to know in the way which Bergson recommends does in a sense comemore easily than attempting to get the knowledge we want by inappropriatemethods. If this saving of waste effort is a fault, then Bergson must pleadguilty. Bu

BU KİTABI OKUMAK İÇİN ÜYE OLUN VEYA GİRİŞ YAPIN!

Sitemize Üyelik ÜCRETSİZDİR!