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The Two Sources of Morality and Religion, by Henri Bergson
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Henri Bergson inquires into the nature of moral obligation, into the place of religion and the purpose it has served since primitive times, into static religion and its value in preserving man from the dangers of his own intelligence; into dynamic religion or mysticism as a means of producing man's forward leap beyond the limits of the closed society for which nature intended him and into the open society which is the brotherhood of man.
“The book is filled with extraordinary illustration and, as always in Bergson, exact and luminous metaphor.” —Journal of Philosophy
“Fresh and living . . . this translation is first-rate.” —New Statesman & Nation
“Exquisitely simple . . . the English version startles one by its sheer beauty. Here is a volume crowning a series of philosophical works which have molded the thinking of a whole generation.” —Christian Century
“This book is so rich with historical, poetical, and human illustration, so packed with repeated psychological subtleties and dreaming precisions, that to miss it is to miss, as Bergson says of the prophets and Christian mystics, one of the voices of Life itself.” —Catholic World
"This book offers pleasurable access to an important way of thinking which dominant analytic and linguistic philosophical traditions in England and America have eclipsed, and which nonetheless still has current expression in many forms throughout contemporary culture." --Reprint Bulletin
- Sales Rank: #971363 in Books
- Published on: 1977-01-31
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.00" h x .90" w x 5.30" l, .76 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 320 pages
Language Notes
Text: English, French (translation)
About the Author
Henri Bergson (1859-1941) was a renowned philosopher whose concept of creative evolution continues to dominate a large area of modern thought. In The Two Sources of Morality and Religion, Bergson inquires into the nature of moral obligation and into the place and purpose of religion.
Most helpful customer reviews
42 of 43 people found the following review helpful.
A brilliant exposition by a great thinker.
By Gary L. Herstein
In Bergson's "Two Sources," the famous french thinker applies his relational methodology and metaphysic to an analysis of religion and morality. Bergson himself was certainly very careful about how he presented his own religious sentiments, and this book continues to show that care, coupled now with his meticulous attention to phenomenological detail. Hence, this is not a proselytizing sermon, but a close analysis of phenomenological *sources* of religious and moral sentiment.
This is a later work of Bergson's, and as such, it might not be the best introduction to his work. One can see a great deal of Bergson's previous metaphysical thought operating in the background if one knows what to look for. To catch up on that background, one might want to read _Time and Freewill_ or _Matter and Memory_, for instance.
However, its also not clear that one really needs that background to appreciate this book. For one thing, this volume gives one of the clearest examples of Bergson's methodology that I have encountered (in my admittedly limited studies). This method has come to be known as Bergson's "qualitative calculus" (QC, a term coined by Pete Gunther). The QC has certain obvious similarities with Hegel's dialectic: a phenomenon gets analyzed as a product of two tensional poles which define a spectum of relations between them. But the differences are also manifest. The poles, for Bergson, have none of the ontological status of Hegel's objective idealism. Nor are they so much Ideal Opposites, as they are the two ends of a relational spectrum. Bergson's relational approach is not built around a sharp, black/white oppositional structure the way Hegel's is (or at least appears to be in some readings).
The two poles for Bergson are, in this instance, what might be called "habit" and "inspiration," which lead to, respectively, static and dynamic structures. These structures are rarely if ever encountered in their pure forms, and as such the two poles are the abstracted ideal elements of a phenomenological analysis. Chapter one of _Two Sources_ focuses on morality, and gives the initial development of QC structures that Bergson will then apply throughout the rest of the book. Chapter two takes religion in its static, habit based form, and further delves into this structure along the lines of Bergson's QC. (Here, again, we see the debt to Hegel, where each stage of the dialectic leads to a deeper analysis.) Chapter three takes religion in its dynamic phase, and the final chapter summarizes and offers conclusions.
Once again, this is not a book looking to convert the faithless, nor is it preaching to the choir. It is a careful analysis along the lines of James' _Varieties of Religious Experience_. (By the by, for those who don't already know, Bergson and James were frequent correspondents, and admirers of one anothers work.)It may not be the best introduction to Bergson's thought, but it is certainly worthy of reading.
16 of 21 people found the following review helpful.
Open philosophy or closed mind?
By Ashtar Command
Today, the French philosopher Henri Bergson (1859-1941) is more or less forgotten. However, he was an important person during most of his lifetime, and even something of a celebrity. He met the US president Woodrow Wilson and participated in the creation of the League of Nations, heading its cultural and educational branch. In 1927, Bergson was awarded the Nobel literature prize by the Swedish Academy, ostensibly because of his philosophy books, but (I guess) really as a form of general recognition. During World War Two, when France was occupied by the Nazis, the fascist Vichy regime offered to exempt Bergson from the anti-Semitic laws (he was part-Jewish), an offer the aged philosopher turned down, no doubt as a protest against anti-Semitism and Nazism. However, some people still believe that Bergson converted to Catholicism in secret during the war.
The most well known book by Bergson is, of course, "Creative Evolution". Being something of a non-conformist, I decided to start by reading Bergson's last and most controversial work, "The Two Sources of Morality and Religion", published in 1932 (in English in 1935). Bergson's philosophy took an explicitly religious and mystical turn with the publication of this book. It's difficult to label Bergson, but pantheistic mysticism might be the best description. At the same time, he is very sympathetic to Christianity, in particular Christian mystics.
Unfortunately, Bergson's book is very difficult to read: he takes a hundred pages or more to get to the point, and when he finally makes it, he ruminates the same point for another hundred pages! Frankly, "The Two Sources" could have been half as long. The work also feels like an intellectual roller coaster ride. Sometimes, Bergson hits the nail squarely on the head. At other times, he sounds nebulous or...well, religious.
Bergson believes that what we call "morality" are really two entirely different phenomena. They can and do blend, to the extent that we don't recognize their distinctiveness in daily life. Yet, the two kinds of "morality" have different origins. None of them come from human reason. "Closed morality" (in-group morality) is a product of nature and regular evolution. It's a system of societal sanctions and obligations, enabling (and sometimes forcing) humans to co-operate and survive. Philosophers often imagine that this kind of morality is eminently reasonable, can be deduced from categorical imperatives, and that somehow it's intrinsically motivating. Not so, says Bergson. "Closed" morality works only because it has the sanction of society behind it, a sanction the individual has more or less internalized. That's why it looks "reasonable" to him, but without the material sanction, humans would be egoists. This is obviously a criticism of Kantians, but Bergson also waxes sarcastic over utilitarians, at one point saying that "only a subtle utilitarian philosopher" would refrain from being egoistic in a world where reason isn't backed up by societal sanctions.
But there is also an "open" morality, a morality that sees beyond the in-group, transcends its limitations, and reaches to embrace all of humanity. This morality has no connection to reason either. Nor is it derived from "nature" as we usually understand the term. It's source is spiritual, mystical and religious. The ultimate source of "open" morality is the élan vital, the life force that permeates the entire cosmos. I must admit that I never really understood what exactly this élan vital is supposed to *be*, and yet it was a central tenet of Bergson's philosophy almost from the start. In "The Two Sources", at any rate, the concept is clearly religious in character. Élan vital (sometimes translated "vital impulse") is the later Bergson's equivalent to Brahman. In opposition to Hinduism, however, Bergson imagines the pantheistic deity to be active rather than passive. The vital impulse creates matter, takes hold of it, and forces it to evolve into more and more complex forms. There is no preconceived plan, so in that sense the entire universe is "open". Suffering is inevitable, but so is creativity, freedom and the unexpected - and, in the end, some kind of joyful life after death (although Bergson says very little about this). As civilization progresses, "closed" and "open" forms of morality are combined, but unless humanity creates a world community, "closed" morality will always remain somewhere. Bergson points out that Western nations nominally believe in "the brotherhood of man", even on the morrow of destructive wars! The process towards a completely "open" morality isn't completed.
Bergson also makes a distinction between "closed" and "open" religion. This part of the book is quite boring, as Bergson strides into comparative religion and anthropology, speculating about the exact origins of this or that superstitious belief. His main point is that "closed" religion is nature's response to human intelligence. It's essentially a way of constraining intelligence. Without the superstitions and taboos of "closed" religion, humans would feel lost in the immensity of space, not to mention the fact that we would constantly fear our own deaths. Also, we would become egoists without "closed" religion lending sanction to "closed" morality. Thus, "closed" religion is a psychological and sociological phenomenon, and hence unreal. Bergson calls it absurd, hallucinatory, and so on. By contrast, "open" religion is the religion that bases itself on mystical experiences, and justifies "open" morality.
The high point of both "open" morality and "open religion" is Christianity, especially the Sermon on the Mount and various Christian mystics. Bergson is more critical of Buddhism. As for Hinduism, he is sympathetic to Ramakrishna and Vivekananda, but believes that they represent a recent phase of Hindu evolution (he is right in Vivekananda's case). In a footnote, he actually mentions Evelyn Underhill, pointing out that she appropriated some of Bergson's own ideas!
Bergson further believes that "open" morality and religion become influential due to the charismatic power and example of strong personalities. Thus, it's not simply mystical experiences that moves the crowds to accept "open" morality. Apparently, it can be spread by external means as well, but in Bergson's opinion, this is not group pressure, but rather a kind of instinctive sympathy which makes men follow strong, saintly persons. For rather obvious reasons, this part of Bergson's work is very hard to swallow. Charismatic leaders, as we all know, can have quite another effect on people than moral ones!
There are other problems with "The Two Sources" as well. Bergson's work suffers from internal inconsistencies. He rejects teleology, seeing it as determinist, and instead favours the unbounded freedom to create of the élan vital. But he also regards humans and social insects (!) as the end points of evolution, the one having perfect intelligence, the other being endowed with pure instinct, both being social. This implies that there is a kind of teleology after all, although our author graciously allows that ants and bees might be an alternative goal of creative evolution. (Overall, Bergson seems fascinated by bees and ants.) There is also an obvious tension between the superstitions of the "closed" religions, which Bergson almost contemptuously rejects, and his own "open" religion, which might also be accused of serving purely psychological and sociological needs, as when Bergson writes that although there is a lot of suffering, there is also hope that it will cease one day, etc.
Finally, I note that while Bergson was condemned by the Catholic Church during his lifetime, this edition of "The Two Sources of Morality and Religion" is published by Notre Dame Press, and has a positive blurb from the magazine Catholic World (and also from the Protestant Christian Century). It seems his pantheistic mysticism has been "opened" after Vatican II! Still, I don't think Bergson is very influential today, although Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Sri Aurobindo may have said something similar. But Bergson himself seems to have been forgotten.
"The Two Sources of Morality and Religion" probably doesn't contain the solution to the world riddle. Still, it might be of some passing interest to students of philosophy, theology or comparative religion. Open philosophy or closed mind? That is the question.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
BERGSON GOES BEYOND HIS CONCLUSIONS IN “CREATIVE EVOLUTION”
By Steven H Propp
Henri-Louis Bergson (1859-1941) was a French philosopher, who was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize in Literature. His other works include The Creative Mind: An Introduction to Metaphysics, Matter and Memory, Time and Free Will, etc.
He begins this 1932 book with the statement, “The remembrance of forbidden fruit is the earliest thing in the memory of each of us… What a childhood we should have had if only we had been left to do as we pleased!... But all of a sudden an obstacle arose, neither tangible or visible: a prohibition. Why did we obey? The question hardly occurred to us. We had formed the habit of deferring to our parents and teachers…They occupied a certain station, that was the source of the command which, had it issued from some other quarter, would not have possessed the same weight… we should compare it to an organism whose cells… fall into their respective places in a highly developed hierarchy, and for the greater good of the whole naturally submit to a discipline that may demand the sacrifice of the part.” (Pg. 9)
He observes, “social cohesion is largely due to the necessity for a community to protect itself against others, and … it is primarily as against all other men that we love the men with whom we live… it is only through God, in God, that religion bids man love mankind; and likewise it is through reason along… that philosophers make us look at humanity in order to show us the pre-eminent dignity of the human being, the right of all to command respect.” (Pg. 32-33)
He points out, “The morality of the Gospels is essentially that of the open soul: are we not justified in pointing out that it borders upon paradox, and even upon contradiction, in its more definite admonitions? If riches are an evil, should we not be injuring the poor in giving them what we possess? If he who has been smitten on the one cheek is to offer the other also, what becomes of justice… But the paradox disappears, the contradiction vanishes, if we consider the intent of these maxims, which is to create a certain disposition of the soul.” (Pg. 59)
He asserts, “The spectacle of what religions have been in the past, and what religions still are today, is indeed humiliating for human intelligence. What a farrago of error and folly!... Our bewilderment increases when we see that …there has never been a society without religion. What should then be our confusion, were we to compare ourselves with animals on this point! It is highly probable that animals are unacquainted with superstition… Homo sapiens, the only creature endowed with reason, is also the only creature to pin its existence to things unreasonable.” (Pg. 103)
He argues, “man knows that he will die… Nature, in endowing him with intelligence, must inevitably lead him to this conclusion… Looked at from this … standpoint, religion is a defensive reaction of nature against the representation, by intelligence, of the inevitability of death.” (Pg. 130-131) Later, he adds, “religion… is a defensive reaction of nature against what might be depressing for the individual, and dissolvent for society, in the exercise of intelligence.” (Pg. 205)
He suggests, “creation… endowed us with an intelligence … went… beyond what nature had intended. Man’s structure seemed indeed to destine him for a more humble existence. His instinctive resistance to innovations is a proof. The inertia of humanity has never yielded, save under the impulsion of genius… science demands a twofold effort, that of a few men to find some new thing and that of all the others to adopt it and adapt themselves to it. A society may be called civilized when you find in it such a power to lead and willingness to be led. The second condition is indeed more difficult of fulfillment than the first.” (Pg. 171)
He states, “So then mysticism and religion are mutually cause and effect… Yet there must have been a beginning. And indeed at the origin of Christianity there is Christ… it matters little whether or no Christ be called a man. It does not even matter that he be called Christ… if the great mystics are indeed such as we have described them, they are the imitators, and original but incomplete continuators, of what the Christ of the Gospels was completely… There is no doubt but that Christianity was a profound transformation of Judaism… Israel and its God were not close enough together for Judaism to be the mysticism which we are defining. And yet no current of thought or feeling has contributed so much as the thought and feeling of the Jewish prophets to arouse the mysticism which we call complete, that of the Christian mystics… Christianity … owed largely to the Jewish prophets its active mysticism, capable of marching on to the conquest of the world.” (Pg. 239-240)
He comments, “the mystics unanimously bear witness that God needs us, just as we need God. Why should He need us unless it be to love us? And it is to this very conclusion that the philosopher who holds to the mystical experience must come. Creation will appear to him as God undertaking to create creators, that He may have, besides Himself, being worthy of His love… as we have said before, it is probable that life animates all the planets … matter and life … are coexistent and interdependent… there is nothing to prevent the philosopher from following to its logical conclusion the idea which mysticism suggests to him of a universe which is the mere visible and tangible aspect of love and of the need of loving… No doubt we are here going beyond the conclusions we reached in ‘Creative Evolution.’ We wanted then to keep as close as possible to the facts…”(Pg. 255-256)
This is a stimulating and thought-provoking book, that will be “must reading” for anyone studying Bergson and his thought.
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