Heidegger’s Criticism of Bergson’s Philosophy of Life

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 College Student. Department of Philosophy. Islamic Azad University. Tehran North Branch, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities. Islamic Azad University, Tehran North Branch, Iran.

Abstract

This article follows Heidegger’s criticism and analysis of Bergson’s philosophy of life. Heidegger’s interest is because Bergson is looking for a way to understand life as it is. In his research, Heidegger considers some of Bergson’s opinions promising, such as paying attention to the concept of time as a key to grasping the truth. Still, he criticizes some of Bergson’s theories, such as the inadequacy of language in understanding life. In general, the results of this research are divided into three parts; In the first part, the concept of time in Bergson’s philosophy is given as a key to understanding life, where Heidegger introduces Bergson as one of the pioneers of modern philosophy. The second part of the article is devoted to the issue of language and the inadequacy of the concept in Bergson’s philosophy. In the third and final part, Heidegger criticizes Bergson’s theories about language and tries to find a way to understand the truth through the concept of time. Attention to consciousness and its connection with life through Bergson’s time or duration is another topic of great importance to Heidegger. Despite all of Heidegger’s criticisms of the philosophy of life, he still considers Bergson’s work as the most promising research and effort to reach the truth. 

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