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Bergsonism

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In this book, Gilles Deleuze analyzes and supplements the work of philosopher Henri Bergson. The importance of this book lies in its ability to give insights not only into the work of Bergson but also into the later work of Deleuze.

For example, the first chapter of this book deals with Bergson's method of intuition. Interestingly enough, Deleuze applies this method to Bergson's own philosophy. In very basic terms, this method involves distinguishing "differences in kind" between elements (this is important, since Bergson believes that we usually go by false generalizations) and then bring together these elements once again but such that we understand them as they truly are and not as what Deleuze calls a "badly analyzed composite". In analyzing Bergson's philosophy, Deleuze distinguishes elan vital, duration, and memomory as the basic concepts. Furthermore, each of these concepts can only be understood in terms of intuition for various reasons; for example, that only intuition can grasp pure movement (duration). Throughout this book, Deleuze usually (although not always) gives an account of Bergson's concepts without assuming complete knowledge on the part of the reader, which is helpful. However, on the other hand, Deleuze doesn't always tell us what is "his" philosophy and what is Bergson's. Because of this, "Bergsonism" should not be utilized as a summary of Bergson's work. That is, even though Deleuze is clear enough for someone with little background in Bergson to understand much of this book, this does not mean that this person would then "know Bergson" but rather a Bergson-Deleuzian hybrid. This isn't a flaw to the book; rather, it merely suggests how it ought to be read. This short book is complex, but very well written by Deleuze, allowing for a maximum amount of information to be intelligibly conveyed in relatively few pages (although this isn't necessarily true of his later work); it moves at a brisk pace without losing the reader and is reccomended for both readers of Bergson and Deleuze.

This book is about Bergsonfs notions (especially matter and memory), but constitutes Deleuzefs view of the world because of his own interpretation of Bergson. At first, Deleuze mentions to this bookfs aim which is to determine the relationship between the three notions, duration, memory, and elan vital in Bergsonfs philosophy. Then, he considers intuition in Bergson which would be a method to achieve the aim. He sets five rules on intuition and probes the relationship between the three notions. Finally, he relates them in the process of differentiation. This notion of gdifferentiationh is very important in Deleuzefs philosophy, which is clear in his other books. Moreover, this book contains some interesting discussions such as criticism to Einsteinfs theory and to evolutionism. I think that this book is important to understand Deleuzefs philosophy and that it must be a very helpful guide to read his gCinema 1: The Movement-Imageh and gCinema 2: The Time-Imageh.