Bergsonism

noun

Berg·​son·​ism
ˈberg-sə-ˌni-zəm
plural -s
: the theories of the philosopher Bergson according to whom the world is a process of creative evolution in which the novelty of successive phenomena rather than the constancy of natural law is the significant fact, reality being regarded as time or duration that is the same as free motion and that is the expression of a vital impetus or creative force while the space world of science and common sense is taken to be an interpretation put upon sense images in the interest of practical activity and as a falsification of free-moving reality so that a true apprehension of reality is to be gained not by the analytic procedures of mathematics and science but by that intuition that can grasp wholes as such

Word History

Etymology

French bergsonisme, from H. Bergson + French -isme -ism

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Cite this Entry

“Bergsonism.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Bergsonism. Accessed 17 Dec. 2024.

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