The final published book by Nobel Prize-winning author and philosopher Henri Ber
gson (1859 1941), "La pensee et le mouvant" (translated here as "The Creative Mi
nd), " is a masterly autobiography of his philosophical method. Through essays a
nd lectures written between 1903 and 1923, Bergson retraces how and why he becam
e a philosopher, and crafts a fascinating critique of philosophy itself. Until i
t leaves its false paths, he demonstrates, philosophy will remain only a wordy d
ialectic that surmounts false problems.
With masterful skill and intensity, Ber
gson shows that metaphysics and science mustbe rooted in experience for philosop
hy to become a genuine search for truth. And in the quest for unanswered questio
ns, the spiritual dimension of human life and the importance of intuitionmust be
emphasized. A source of inspiration for physicists as well as philosophers, Ber
gson's introduction to metaphysics reveals a philosophy that is always on the mo
ve, blending man's spiritual drive with his mastery of the material world."
