Kayacı, Ömer Faruk;
(2024)
The Intuition of Duration: A Holistic Approach to Henri Bergson's Theory of Freedom.
Masters thesis (M.Phil.Stud), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
The proposition that every event in time is predetermined by a prior event has been central to many debates over the philosophical problem of freedom as it has been utilised to demonstrate that freedom cannot be attributed to anything that has a temporal existence. In his Time and Free Will, Henri Bergson rejects this proposition on the ground that it presupposes a conception of time which is quantifiable. He contends that real time, which he calls duration, is purely qualitative, and that it cannot be divided up into mutually external moments among which causal bonds are then artificially established. Therefore, viewed from this angle, the problem of freedom as it relates to the notion of predetermination in time turns out to be a false problem. Bergson’s solution to the problem of freedom is not so simple, however. His doctrine of duration provides the means to dissolve any false problem that may be recast as “the problem of freedom.” For it forces us to change our conception of reality altogether. To understand his unique approach to the problem of freedom, then, his doctrine of duration must be elucidated first. I do this mainly by setting Bergson off against Kant since the former responds primarily to the latter in his discussion of time. I follow the same strategy in my exposition of Bergson’s theory of intuition. This is because Bergson himself mentions Kant for his discovery that, if metaphysics were to be possible, it would have to proceed by (intellectual) intuition. In this connection, I also touch upon Bergson’s distinction between science and metaphysics as it is an integral element of his “anti-positivistic” stance. Finally, after showing what Bergson’s “intuition of duration” means, I come back to the problem of freedom as he conceives of it. I contend that his doctrine of duration, along with his conception of reality as movement, leads inevitably to a novel understanding of the notion of freedom to which neither determinism nor indeterminism can be posed as a threat.
| Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | M.Phil.Stud |
| Title: | The Intuition of Duration: A Holistic Approach to Henri Bergson's Theory of Freedom |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2024. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Dept of Philosophy |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10192843 |
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