Study On Bergson’s Philosophy Of Time

Henri Bergson is one of the most influential French philosophers in the end of 19th century and the beginning 20th century, he proposed a unique theory of time-"duration". On this basis, he’s own duration will be extended to the world duration, that demonstrated the freedom nature of life through memory. However, such a purely flow duration, determined not to move freely, and how to understand and grasp of it is a problem to be solved? The answer is Intuitionism. It seems in Bergson that stretching concept of time, the freedom nature of life and methods of intuitionism is united in duration. The paper is divided into four parts, which tries to grasp the concept of Bergson’s time on the basis of seeking how can freedom essence and methods of intuitionism unite in the philosophy of time, and to explore the meaning of time philosophy.The first part discusses the concept of Bergson’s stretching concept of time. In Time and Free Will, Bergson focused on the problem of time and duration. He criticized the traditional spatial conception of time, detailed in "real time" pure duration. He found that it has some characteristics, such as perpetual movement, cannot be measured.The second part is focused on Bergson’s understanding of freedom. He refuted the theory of determinism and freedom on the basis of understanding freedom profoundly. On the basis of studying "duration", as the main line, he linked time to memory, being and freedom, and pointed out that "memory" was the key part to freedom. He also made clear who is really freedom, but this freedom is not our usually thinking of free choice, but free action. So it cannot be spoken, but only through introspection making personality essential self permeated into the whole duration of the world could make freedom really be achieved.The third part is focused on grasping the methods of intuitionism of real time. Through the criticism of rational methods, Bergson advocated using intuitive methods to grasp the duration and the nature of freedom of life. This approach has been able to hold duration, to grasp the nature of life, partly is because it does hold duration possibilities, and intuition as a method, it has incomparable advantages by reason.The forth part emphasized on the meaning of the concept of time from Bergson, which has impacted the lives of contemporary people and their lifestyle. This duration, on the basis of free, will provide us with the creative life, that is closely related to researching the value of life and the meaning of life in the new era. This is not only a main issue of modern humanistic philosophy, it also means that our life should be more beautiful, living and meaningful.