Book contents
- Interpreting Bergson
- Interpreting Bergson
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Bergson’s Theory of Truth
- Chapter 2 What Was “Serious Philosophy” for the Young Bergson?
- Chapter 3 Bergson and Naturalism
- Chapter 4 Bergson on the True Intellect
- Chapter 5 Bergson’s Philosophy of Art
- Chapter 6 Bergson, the Time of Life, and the Memory of the Universe
- Chapter 7 Bergson and Philosophy as a Way of Life
- Chapter 8 Bergson and Social Theory
- Chapter 9 Bergson and Political Theory
- Chapter 10 Bergson, Colonialism, and Race
- Chapter 11 Bergson’s Philosophy of Religion
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 5 - Bergson’s Philosophy of Art
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 November 2019
- Interpreting Bergson
- Interpreting Bergson
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Bergson’s Theory of Truth
- Chapter 2 What Was “Serious Philosophy” for the Young Bergson?
- Chapter 3 Bergson and Naturalism
- Chapter 4 Bergson on the True Intellect
- Chapter 5 Bergson’s Philosophy of Art
- Chapter 6 Bergson, the Time of Life, and the Memory of the Universe
- Chapter 7 Bergson and Philosophy as a Way of Life
- Chapter 8 Bergson and Social Theory
- Chapter 9 Bergson and Political Theory
- Chapter 10 Bergson, Colonialism, and Race
- Chapter 11 Bergson’s Philosophy of Religion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The chapter presents Bergson’s philosophy of art in the double sense of philosophizing with and about art and an artistic philosophy. It argues that Bergson’s philosophical commitment to creation and novelty, which not only influences but shapes his metaphysics, led him to an indefensible voluntarist conception of artistic creation that prevented him from writing a book of aesthetics. The argument proceeds in three steps - an investigation of the tension between a notion of truth in art, of revelation, and a notion of artistic creation; a discussion of how Bergson puts the idea of genius as the principle of art production to work within his metaphysics as a whole; and a study of canon formation as a form of retroaction - to demonstrate that, in the end, art for Bergson may well be more a solution than a problem in its own right, more an answer than a question.
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- Interpreting BergsonCritical Essays, pp. 87 - 103Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019
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