Challenge of Bergsonism [Paperback]

Leonard Lawlor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2003

The Challenge of Bergsonism explores how Bergsonism questions our ways of thinking, particularly the concept of reality, and ultimately demands a return to ethics. The book also includes the first English translation of Jean Hyppolite's highly influential essay, "Various Aspects of Memory in Bergson".

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Challenge of Bergsonism takes Matter and Memory, Bergson's most daring and difficult text, and not only makes it accessible to students of Bergson but also to anyone interested in current issues in Continental philosophy. More than this, the book offers a sophisticated Continental alternative to current debates in ontology, phenomenology and ethics."—John Mullarkey, editor of Henri-Bergson: Key Writings and author of Bergson and Philosophy

"Lawler (Univ. of Memphis) has written a brilliant introduction to Bergson's groundbreaking masterpiece, Matter and Memory (1911). In a mere 116 pages…he takes readers through the phenomenology, ontology, and ethics contained in Bergson's difficult book. The result is a meticulous yet clear tour through the fundamental concepts of a philosophy that so far has not received the proper attention. Lawlor manages to simultaneously explain the theory and waken interest in further study of a body of thought that offers a refreshing alternative to the dominant approaches to philosophy…Highly recommended. Graduate students through faculty." -S. Rura, CHOICE magazine (CHOICE )

"Lawlor's book is the clearest and most concise of all the new books to appear on Bergson in English. Lawlor presents a Bergson who has inspired contemporary French thought of both the ultimate philosopher of immanence, Deleuze, and the ultimate philosopher of transcendence, Levinas…Lawlor presents a philosophy that fundamentally challenges three trends in continental philosophy: Phenomenology, Ontology, and Ethics. He focuses on the primary Bergsonian innovation, Duration." —Janus Head, Summer 2005 (Janus Head )

"Lawlor's book is the clearest and most concise of all the new books to appear on Bergson in English. Lawlor presents a Bergson who has inspired contemporary French thought of both the ultimate philosopher of immanence, Deleuze, and the ultimate philosopher of transcendence, Levinas…Lawlor presents a philosophy that fundamentally challenges three trends in continental philosophy: Phenomenology, Ontology, and Ethics. He focuses on the primary Bergsonian innovation, Duration." —Janus Head, Summer 2005 (, )

About the Author

Leonard Lawlor is Sparks Professor of Philosophy at Penn State University. He has written widely on Continental Philosophy.

Product Details

• Paperback: 170 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826468039
• ISBN-13: 978-0826468031
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,624,559 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Leonard Lawlor received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Stony Brook University in 1988. Until 2008, he was Faudree Hardin Professor of Philosophy at the University of Memphis. Lawlor is currently Sparks Professor of Philosophy at Penn State University.
Lawlor is co-founder and co-editor of Chiasmi International: Trilingual Studies Concerning the Thought of Merleau-Ponty. He has translated books by Merleau-Ponty and Jean Hyppolite into English.
Lawlor has completed a new English translation of Jacques Derrida's La voix et le phenomene, which is in production at Northwestern University Press. He has also completed a new book called Early Twentieth Century Continental Philosophy, which is in production at Indiana University Press.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A difficult read but worth it., May 5, 2005

By 

Frank Bierbrauer (Cardiff, Wales, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Challenge of Bergsonism (Paperback)

Leonard Lawlor has written a small book "The Challenge of Bergsonism" which analyses and explains Bergson's most difficult work "Matter and Memory". In "Matter and Memory" Bergson attempts to relate the mind and the body in terms of what he calls memory. This does not simply mean memory in the way it is understood in common usage. Here, Bergson's concepts of duration, intuition, creation and memory all share in the study.

Lawlor discusses Bergson's idea of images at first through perception, then onto a deeper study of memory and finally Bergson's philosophy of language. None of these three chapters are separate from each other. They are all interrelated through the above concepts of memory, duration, intuition and creation. The flow of duration of a conscious being is duration itself with its aspects of a flowing of the past to the present so that conscious life is always an awareness of the past even though the totally new is added on each moment. Although life is memory, memory is not simply the past.

These ideas are difficult to fathom and just when you thought you had some sort of handle on them Lawlor wakes you from your satisfied slumber to shock you into further understanding, or at times confusion. It is difficult enough to read Bergson by himself and the sophisticated analysis of Lawlor does not really make this much easier. It is the depth of these concepts and the inability to pin them down that makes this book a difficult read.

As usual I reread Bergson to get a deeper understanding and texts such as Lawlor's try to help make life easier. But once Bergson is properly understood, as Lawlor does, the scope and intuitive character of his work comes to the fore.

A difficult read but worth it.