Henri Bergson’s Haunted Epistemology: Consciousness Unframed

Henri Bergson's ontology in Matter and Memory reconceives matter as the sum of all images and introduces cosmic perception and memory, dissolving the sharp divide between mind and matter. This panpsychist framework has epistemological consequences, rejecting reductionism and determinism. The author applies Bergson's image-ontology to his 1913 lecture on the possible survival of consciousness after death, suggesting that Bergson's ideas support an anti-reductionist and indeterministic epistemology.

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Abstract

In his main work, Matter and Memory, Henri Bergson presents a panpsychist ontology which cuts through the Gordian knot of the mind vs. matter problem. Taking this age-old philosophical topic, Bergson pushes the dualism of mind and matter beyond breaking point. Matter is reconceived as the sum of all images. Bergson introduces the dual concepts of cosmic “perception” and cosmic “memory”. Matter itself is reinterpreted as a continuum of all possible intensities of perception and memory. Bergson’s ontology has important epistemological ramifications. There is no sharp dividing line between consciousness and matter. In light of these insights, I propose a reading of Bergson’s relatively lesser-known lecture, “‘Phantasms of the Living’ and Psychical Research”, presented at the Society for Psychical Research in 1913. Here, Bergson elaborates upon the implications of his image-ontology for the possible post mortem fate of consciousness. In my concluding remarks, I suggest that Bergson’s observations may be of help in constructing an anti-reductionist and indeterministic epistemology.