Consciousness and the Brain: Bergson’s Thesis
Povilas Aleksandravičius
Problemos November 4, 2026 DOI: 10.15388/problemos.2026.109.1 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Bergson's analysis in Matter and Memory refutes the scientific pretensions of psycho-physiological parallelism and, using contemporary neurological research, establishes the autonomy of consciousness in relation to the brain through an original model of 'contact' and 'gap' that reframes the embodiment of consciousness and existential attitudes toward life. |
Abstract
The article examines the investigation of the relationship between consciousness and the brain carried out in Bergson’s work Matter and Memory and in texts directly related to it. It offers a detailed analysis of the popular psycho-physiological theory of parallelism, which turned the correlation between consciousness and the brain into an equivalence, and reveals its philosophical character, refuting the cliché of its scientific status. Drawing on all the neurological research of the period, Bergson substantiates the thesis of the autonomy of consciousness in relation to the brain and proposes an original model of the relationship between consciousness and the brain. The ‘contact’ and ‘gap’ between the brain and consciousness make it possible not only to renew the philosophical problem of the embodiment of consciousness, but also to transform existential attitudes toward life.