{"title":"Henri Bergson","description":"Henri Bergson was one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century, celebrated for his explorations of time, consciousness, and creative evolution. Born in Paris to a Polish-Jewish family, he taught at the Collège de France and became the first philosopher to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1927). His major works--Time and Free Will, Matter and Memory, and Creative Evolution--profoundly shaped modern thought, influencing writers and thinkers from Proust and Joyce to Deleuze and Merleau-Ponty. In Laughter, Bergson turned his distinctive blend of intuition and analysis to the comic spirit, uncovering the deep connection between humour, vitality, and the social life of the mind. Simon Critchley is a British philosopher and writer whose work spans ethics, politics, literature, and tragedy. He is the Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York and a frequent contributor to The New York Times. His many books include Very Little... Almost Nothing, The Book of Dead Philosophers, Infinitely Demanding, and, recently published by ERIS,  I Want to Die, I Hate my Life. Known for his wit and clarity, Critchley is one of today's most widely read and engaging public philosophers. Wyndham Lewis (1882-1957) was a British novelist, painter, and polemicist, and one of the most formidable figures of early modernism. Founder of the Vorticist movement and editor of BLAST, he combined radical visual experimentation with acerbic social critique. His novels, among them Tarr and The Apes of God, and essays such as The Art of Being Ruled made him both admired and feared in his lifetime. Lewis's writing on comedy reflects his lifelong preoccupation with the relation between laughter, aggression, and modernity.","products":[{"product_id":"matter-and-memory-paperback","title":"Matter and Memory - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrench philosopher Henri Bergson produced four major works in his lifetime, the second of which, \"Matter and Memory\", is a philosophical and complex nineteenth century exploration of human nature and the spirituality of memory. In this work, Bergson investigates the function of the brain, and opposes the idea of memory being of a material nature, lodged within a particular part of the nervous system. He makes a claim early in this essay that matter and memory are dualistic, leading to a careful consideration of the problems in the relation of body and mind. His theories on sense, dualism, pure perception, concept of virtuality, and famous image of the memory cone often make Bergson's essay a confusing and challenging existentialist work. However, the years of research and extensive pathological investigations spent in preparation for this and other essays have gained Bergson great distinction as a brilliant, though unjustly neglected, theorist and philosopher. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper and follows the translation of Nancy Margaret Paul and W. Scott Palmer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51367068139743,"sku":"9781420978124","price":17.26,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/ysR09h1ttH9781420978124.webp?v=1789102300"},{"product_id":"the-matter-and-memory-paperback","title":"THE Matter and Memory - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eMatter and Memory presents an analysis of the classical philosophical problems concerning this relation. Within that frame the analysis of memory serves the purpose of clarifying the problem. Matter and Memory was written in reaction to the book The Maladies of Memory by Théodule Ribot, which appeared in 1881. Ribot claimed that the findings of brain science proved that memory is lodged within a particular part of the nervous system; localized within the brain and thus being of a material nature. Bergson was opposed to this reduction of spirit to matter. Defending a clear anti-reductionist position, he considered memory to be of a deeply spiritual nature, the brain serving the need of orienting present action by inserting relevant memories. The brain thus being of a practical nature, certain lesions tend to perturb this practical function, but without erasing memory as such. The memories are, instead, simply not 'incarnated', and cannot serve their purpose.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51367731167455,"sku":"9788026892441","price":12.67,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/Qt2QZ1sHxW9788026892441.webp?v=1789113392"},{"product_id":"laughter-an-essay-on-the-meaning-of-the-comic-paperback","title":"Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eHenri Bergson was an early 20th century French philosopher. Bergson's essay on laughter states that laughter is an intellectual response. We laugh because we feel uncomfortable when the unexpected occurs. When in a situation over which we have no control laughter is a release.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51373912359135,"sku":"9781604242690","price":20.09,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/8SCr5lJ18s9781604242690.webp?v=1789164615"},{"product_id":"an-introduction-to-metaphysics-paperback","title":"An Introduction To Metaphysics - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51376680173791,"sku":"9789351287582","price":18.7,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/INtsau8PHJ9789351287582.webp?v=1789221676"},{"product_id":"laughter-an-essay-on-the-meaning-of-comic-paperback","title":"Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of Comic - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this philosophical work, Henri Bergson explores the nature and purpose of laughter, analyzing what makes things funny and how humor functions within society. Bergson delves into the mechanisms behind comic situations, human behavior, and social interactions, proposing that laughter serves as a corrective force to promote social harmony. His insights offer a timeless examination of humor, blending philosophy with psychological observation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51376730800351,"sku":"9781434470799","price":17.26,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/Ro4Bnzgpmm9781434470799.webp?v=1789221810"},{"product_id":"creative-evolution-paperback","title":"Creative Evolution - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eHenri Bergson (1859-1941) was a French philosopher and Nobel Prize winner in Literature, whose third major work, \"Creative Evolution\", provided an alternate explanation for Darwin's mechanism of evolution. The book focuses on four key steps: that there must be a vital impulse which explains the creation of all living things; that there must also be an impulse accounting for diversity and differentiation; that these tendencies can be defined as instinct and intelligence; and that intuition allows us to place ourselves back in the original vital impulse. Bergson addresses concepts of time, human intelligence and intuition, all of which illustrate his ideas on the meaning of life. The book was very popular in the first half of the 20th Century, and held a significant influence on modernist writers. Today, we read Bergson's work because of its profound contribution to the philosophical discussion of evolution.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51377648042207,"sku":"9781420940435","price":20.14,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/iGM61Pj4FD9781420940435.webp?v=1789236290"},{"product_id":"time-and-free-will-paperback","title":"Time and Free Will - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Time and Free Will\" is Henri Bergson's doctoral thesis, which was first published in French in 1889. In the work French philosopher Bergson introduces us to his theory of duration, a response to Immanuel Kant's ideas regarding free will as something only possible outside of time and space. Bergson argues that the traditional concept of free will is merely confusion among philosophers caused by an illegitimate translation of the unextended into the extended and a lack of understanding of mechanics. He contends instead that free will is bound to causality and could only be understood in reference to first-person experience and perception. Duration was a way of understanding free will as it referred to each individual person's experience of time, not as a linear mathematical progression, but as something that slows down or speeds up as the person experiences and reflects upon life events. Bergson was one of the most influential philosophers of his day and his ideas, beginning with the publication of \"Time and Free Will\", profoundly changed the direction of modern European philosophy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper and follows the translation of F. L. Pogson.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51377652793567,"sku":"9781420978131","price":14.38,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/KhmyqfQTx89781420978131.webp?v=1789236300"},{"product_id":"laughter-an-essay-on-the-meaning-of-the-comic-paperback-1","title":"Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhy do we laugh? What does comedy reveal about human nature, society, and the mind's strange elasticity? \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this classic 1900 essay, philosopher Henri Bergson anatomises the comic impulse with surgical clarity and lyrical wit. For Bergson, laughter is no mere reflex. It is a social gesture, a corrective, a way for life itself to defend its supple intelligence against rigidity and habit. From pratfalls to irony, from the mechanical in the living to the absurd in the everyday, his argument ranges effortlessly between metaphysics and vaudeville. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWith a new introduction by Simon Critchley, \u003ci\u003eLaughter\u003c\/i\u003e emerges as both a foundational text in aesthetics and a startlingly modern theory of humour--anticipating Freud, Chaplin, and memes alike. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn appended essay by Wyndham Lewis offers a bracing counterpoint: a modernist's rejoinder to Bergson's genial philosophy. Together they trace the fault-lines between laughter and cruelty, vitality and violence, thought and form. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA century on, Bergson's question still bites: what makes us laugh--and why does it matter?","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51377712398559,"sku":"9781967751846","price":41.38,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/7f6vuf1BzS9781967751846.webp?v=1789239993"},{"product_id":"matter-memory-paperback","title":"Matter \u0026 Memory - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn \"Matter and Memory,\" Henri Bergson delves into the intricate relationship between the physical world and the realm of consciousness, proposing a philosophy that bridges metaphysics and psychology. Through a rigorous analysis of perception, memory, and time, Bergson critiques mechanistic interpretations of reality and instead posits a dynamic interplay between matter and the living mind. His literary style is characterized by philosophical clarity interwoven with poetic expressions, marking it as a significant contribution to early 20th-century thought, where he challenges the Cartesian dualism that separates mind from body and offers a revolutionary vision of life as an evolution of consciousness. Henri Bergson, a French philosopher who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927, was inspired by the scientific advancements of his time, particularly in the fields of biology and psychology. His reflections on the nature of time and memory were informed by his interest in the evolving understanding of human experience and the workings of the mind. His works often emphasize the importance of intuition and lived experience over rationalism, suggesting a deep-seated belief in the fluidity of life and consciousness. \"Matter and Memory\" is a foundational text for those interested in philosophy, psychology, or the nature of human experience. Bergson's insights remain profoundly relevant, prompting readers to reassess their understanding of existence, perception, and the passage of time. This book is highly recommended for scholars and lay readers alike who seek a deeper comprehension of the interplay between the mental and the material.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51377733435615,"sku":"9788027278916","price":11.41,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/OtVvS_U8I09788027278916.webp?v=1789240048"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/henri-bergson.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}