Henri Bergson, French Philosopher

Posted by Tel Asiado Oct 18, 2008

Today, October 18 (1859), is the birthday of French philosopher Henri Bergson.

Henri Louis Bergson (1859-1941) was born in Paris, France, best known for theory set out in his many works, including Time and Freewill, Laughter, Creative Evolution and The Creative Mind.

His father was a Jewish musician and his mother was English. Bergson was educated at the Ecole Normale Superieure. After graduation, he worked as a teacher and later as a professor in several schools.

He married a cousin of the novelist Marcel Proust.

Bergson claimed that man perceives the material through the use of his intellect while it is through intuition that the force of life is perceived. His most original idea is found in his first significant work Time and Free Will: an Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness, in 1889.

He was a recipient of the 1927 Nobel Prize in Literature.