This book revitalizes the relevance of the ideas of Henri Bergson
(1859-1941) for current developments in exact sciences. It explores the
relevance of Bergson's thought for contemporary philosophical
reflections on three of the most important scientific research areas of
today, namely physics, the life sciences and the neurosciences. It does
so on the basis of the three interrelated topics of time, life and
memory. Henri Bergson (1859-1941) was one of the most widely read
philosophers of his era. The European public was seeking for answers to
questions of the soul and the nature of life and fitting within a
historical niche between intellectual rationalism and intuitive
spiritualism, his writings drew much attention.
This work focuses on the relevance of his philosophy for developments in
exact sciences today. The discussion of physics in relation to the
abstract and the concrete, the life sciences in relation to concepts of
life in relation to new and emerging biotechnology, and the
neurosciences in relation to the dual nature of human identity, focuses
on one main topic: time. Time, isolated from experience, as the measure
of the events in the universe in modern physics; time as the measure of
emergent systems in evolution as the backdrop of the theory of evolution
in biology; time in relation to memory and imagination in
neuropsychological accounts of memory. The author thus discusses the
ideas of Henri Bergson as a basis to unveil time as a living process,
rather than as an instrument for the measure of events. This view forms
the basis of a novel approach to the philosophy of technology. An
exciting book for academics interested in the interplay between hard
sciences and philosophy.
