Kelly, Michael R. Review of Keith Ansell-Pearson, et al., eds. THE NEW CENTURY. NDPR (September 2011).

Schrift, Alan D., and Keith Ansell-Pearson, eds.  The New Century: Bergsonism, Phenomenology, and Responses to Modern Science. Vol. 3 of The History of Continental Philosophy.  8 Vols.  Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2010.

The New Century is the third of an eight volume set on the history of continental philosophy. It is aptly titled, capturing the innovative spirit of the early twentieth century, even in philosophy, with a nod toward one of its forgotten idols -- Henri Bergson -- and his emphasis on genesis, novelty, and creativity. For both those new to and those steeped in continental philosophy, it provides useful overviews of most of the most significant thinkers, issues, and movements of the continental tradition from (roughly) the 1890s to the 1930s (ix). Its selection of essays on central and marginal figures, movements, and themes of significance for early continental philosophy is complemented by a generous and helpful (twenty page) timeline of philosophical, cultural, and political events from the seventeenth century to the present (381-400). The contributions, generally of very high quality, are written, by and large, by leading scholars. For any given topic, the extensive (but not tedious) bibliographic information and footnotes should facilitate further research. It is a largely accessible, reliable, and thus recommendable collection that often combines the range of an encyclopedia and the substance of an article.

Like the series as a whole, the volume presents the methods of continental thought and its representative thinkers and issues in the context of "figures and developments outside philosophy (in the sciences, social sciences, mathematics, art, politics and culture)" as well as "philosophers not usually associated with continental philosophy" (viii) rather than "a chronologically organized series of 'great thinker' essays". The editors frame the volume according to the spirit of the times understood as a set of varied responses to nineteenth-century positivism and scientism more specifically (5). As Keith Ansell-Pearson notes in his detailed introduction, 'continental' thinkers at the turn of the 'new century' – thinkers as diverse as its inaugurators, Nietzsche, Bergson, and Husserl -- pursued a unified 'vocation' of regaining philosophy's independence and reasserting culture's future "faith in the human as the being in search of truth and rational modes of being" (4). These thinkers respected the regional inquiries of the sciences while developing the conviction "that the 'true being' is not a possession the human has, like the self-evidence of the 'I am', but . . . echoing Nietzsche, a task" (3). For these thinkers, who one could call the 'founders' of continental philosophy, the task was one of creating anew (in Bergson's case) or renewing (in Husserl's case) philosophy's "own sources of knowledge" rather than "imitating developments in the method of science" (6). . . .

http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/25986-the-new-century-bergsonism-phenomenology-and-responses-to-modern-science/

Lefebvre, Alexandre. Review of Michael R. Kelly, ed. BERGSON AND PHENOMENOLOGY. NDPR (June 2011).

Kelly, Michael R., ed.  Bergson and Phenomenology.  London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

A special kind of unhappiness marks Henri Bergson's relationship to phenomenology: that of being dismissed by a tradition that has largely absorbed him. This is, at least, how Merleau-Ponty put it in late in his career:

If we had been careful readers of Bergson, and if more thought had been given to him, we would have been drawn to a much more concrete philosophy. . . .  It is quite certain that Bergson, had we read him carefully, would have taught us things that ten or fifteen years later we believed to be discoveries made by the philosophy of existence itself.

Thus, to show the contemporary relevance of Bergson for phenomenology, a different strategy is required than, say, rehabilitation (which would be necessary in analytical philosophy) or introduction (which would be the case in political philosophy). Instead, dialogue is called for to stage an encounter which has, in a sense, continually taken place and been consistently avoided. The virtue of Michael R. Kelly's volume is not only to have reconstructed debates between Bergson and classical phenomenologists but, more importantly, to propose a Bergsonian contribution to such central phenomenological topics as subjectivity, time, embodiment, nothingness, life, and freedom. . . .

Visit: http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=23750.

Cfp: "The Perception of Change: Space, Time, and Mobility after Henri Bergson," School of Geography and Environment, University of Oxford, May 27, 2011.

In 1911 the French philosopher and Nobel Laureate Henri Bergson delivered a pair of lectures at the University of Oxford entitled "The Perception of Change." In these lectures Bergson explored some of the challenges of thinking through questions of “change and duration in their original mobility”. In the process, he made what are by now a series of familiar claims: that all movement and change is indivisible; that immobility is actually the product of relations between different mobilities; that the brain is not a storehouse for snap-shot like representational images; and that the past preserves itself automatically. We find it difficult to grasp the true significance of these claims, he suggested, because our thinking is dominated by perceptual habits that encourage us to understand movement as a series of fixed positions in space. The challenge, on his view, is to return to and expand perception, to grasp the fundamental continuity of life’s change, to ‘plunge into duration’ through the elaboration of a style and method of philosophical intuition. In the intervening century, Bergson’s influence has waned and waxed. In recent decades his work has received renewed attention, due in no small part to its reappraisal by Gilles Deleuze. On the occasion of the centenary of his Oxford Clarendon lectures, this symposium will explore Bergson’s ongoing significance as a major philosophical figure. More specifically, by taking these lectures as a point of departure, the symposium will provide a forum within which to reflect upon the resources Bergson provides for thinking through the complex relations between time, space, and the apprehension of movement in the contemporary world.

Confirmed Speakers:

Professor Steven Brown, School of Management, University of Leicester
Dr JD Dewsbury, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol
Dr Peter Merriman, Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University
Professor John Mullarkey, Film and Television Studies, Kingston University, London
Others TBA

We welcome abstracts of 150 words for papers that engage with "The Perception of Change" lectures and/or Bergson’s philosophy more generally. Equally, proposals for artistic or performance based interventions that engage themes in Bergson’s work are also welcome. Scholars of PhD level and higher are encouraged to submit an abstract. The closing date for submission of abstracts is 1st of April 2011. Please send proposals/abstracts to Derek McCormack (derek.mccormack@ouce.ox.ac.uk) or Tim Schwanen (tim.schwanen@ouce.ox.ac.uk).

Cfp: "Bergson and his Postmodern and Immanent Legacies," Courtauld Institute of Art, London, February 25-26, 2011.

Confirmed Speakers:

Howard Caygill (Goldsmiths University of London),
Laura Cull (Northumbria University),
John Mullarkey (Kingston University),
David Cunningham (University of Westminster)

In the past two decades there has been a resurgence of interest in Henri Bergson's work in various areas of philosophy and cultural studies, in part stimulated by the growing popularity of recent writers who have addressed his thought. There is now a large critical body of material relating to these fields, especially ones connected to the neo-Bergsonism of Gilles Deleuze. This conference seeks to address the timeliness of Bergson's writing for contemporary thought on the immanent categories of rhythmic duration, perception, affectivity, the body, memory, and intuition.

This 'Bergsonian Turn' also reflects larger movements. The cultural and economic chastening of society in the past year may be understood in relation to a general realisation of its unsustainability, but to what extent might a turn away from circuitous histories to the material object be related to this shift? Questioning the validity of history can arguably be understood as a defence against the unrepresentational nature of our recent past.

Concomitantly, since 1988 contemporary French thinking has been distinguished for its interest in immanence, in particular in the work of Alain Badiou, Gilles Deleuze, Michel Henry, Francois Laruelle, and Michel Serres. In concluding remarks in an anthology of critical texts published in 2005, Jae Emerling likewise noted the rich potential for an immanent turn in Art History. Yet despite Emmerling's notice, few have attempted to integrate this philosophical shift into art historical or art critical practice.

The intention of this conference is also, therefore, to stimulate reflection upon this shift in philosophy towards the Bergsonian paradigm of immanence and to encourage responses to it from art historians. Does it give a new method through which to approach the subjects of our writing? What does Deleuze's writing on Francis Bacon, Henry's writing on Kandinsky, or Serres' writing on Bonnard add to art historical discourse? How do we assimilate these cross-disciplinary texts into our own practice - both in research and in teaching within the institution? What might we lose by pursuing such alternative avenues for interpretation? Lastly, what does this return to the immanent, to matter as movement, and to its affect upon the viewer say of contemporary culture more broadly?

Themes may include but are not restricted to:

- art and its conceptualisation
- materiality
- visualisation of thought
- representation
- unresolved loss in culture
- historicity
- writing on art

Abstracts of 250 words are invited for 20 minute papers. Proposals should be sent to Charlotte.Demille@courtauld.ac.uk by 31st October 2010.

CONF: "Bergson's CREATIVE EVOLUTION, 100 Years On: Biology, Ecology, Complexity," Department of Philosophy, University of Warwick, November 10, 2007.

Our conference on Henri Bergson's Creative Evolution will take place on Saturday the 10th of November at the University of Warwick. Although the work of a philosopher, its reaches are far wider. Bergson not only pleaded for evolution as a field of interdisciplinary study, in fact this work is itself part of it. The book is deeply infused with what were then the latest developments in evolution, Lamarckism, neo-Darwinism and cytology. Published one hundred years ago in 1907, Creative Evolution presented a sophisticated alternative to mechanistic evolutionary theory, greatly expanding the field of biological research beyond the neo-Darwinian emphasis on genetics. This pioneering yet neglected text opened the way for the development of both ecology and complexity theory during the twentieth century. It emphasized the importance of studying the evolution of ecosystems as well as individual species and it developed a general model of the emergence and self-organization of living systems. Speaking at the conference are all people with both a strong interest in Bergson and the natural sciences. The conference is grouped around the three central themes of Biology, Ecology and Complexity. Rather than having a number of quite separate presentations the speakers have been actively encouraged to discuss each other's texts. Speaking at the conference: Keith Ansell Pearson (University of Warwick) Paul-Antoine Miquel (University of Nice) Miguel De Bestegui (University of Warwick) Pete Gunter (University of North Texas) John Pickering (University of Warwick) Brian Goodwin (Schumacher College) Robin Durie (University of Exeter) For more information and to register please follow the link below: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/philosophy/news/creativeevolution2007/.