Time, life & memory: Bergson and contemporary science

by Landeweerd, Laurens

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Title Statements

Full title :Time, life & memory : Bergson and contemporary science / Laurens Landeweerd.

Summary

This book revitalizes the relevance of the ideas of Henri Bergson (1859-1941) for current developments in exact sciences. The book explores the relevance of Bergson's thought for contemporary philosophical reflections on three of the most important scientific research areas of today, namely physics (time), synthetic biology (life) and neurobiology (consciousness and memory). Henri Bergson (1859-1941) was one of the most prolific authors of his era and one of the most widely read philosophers. The European public was frantically seeking for answers to questions of the soul and the nature of life and fitting within a historical niche, his writings drew much attention. This work focuses on the relevance of his philosophy for developments in exact sciences today. The discussion of physics in relation to the abstract and the concrete, biology in relation to concepts of life and emerging research fields in synthetic biology, and neuropsychology in relation to the technical nature of human identity, focuses on one main topic: time. Time, isolated from experience, as the measure of the events in the universe in modern physics; time as the measure of emergent systems in evolution as the backdrop of the theory of evolution in biology; time in relation to memory and imagination in neuropsychological accounts of memory. The author thus discusses the ideas of Henri Bergson as a basis to unveil time as a living process, rather than as an instrument for the measure of events. An exciting book for academics interested in the interplay between hard sciences and philosophy.

Edition Statements

Publication Date:©2021

Publication Statements

Publisher(s):Springer
Place of Publication:Cham, Switzerland
Language:eng
Publication Date:©2021

The Physical Object

Description:xx, 195 pages : : illustrations (some color) ; : 25 cm

Edition Identifiers

ISBN:9783030568528, 3030568520
oclc:on1244548763
LC Classification:CB478
Dewey Decimal:303.483

Intro -- Preface -- Contents -- Chapter 1: Introduction -- Literature -- Chapter 2: An Attempt to an Applied Metaphysics -- 2.1 Three Notions for an Applied Metaphysics -- 2.1.1 Immediate Concreteness -- 2.1.2 Vital Impulse -- 2.1.3 Duration -- Literature -- Chapter 3: Time and Life: Bergson and Physics -- 3.1 The Conceptual Disarray Between Space and Time -- 3.2 Tinkering with Time: The Debacle with Einstein -- 3.3 Bohr, de Broglie and the Unfreezing of Time -- Literature -- Chapter 4: Life and Time: Bergson and the Life Sciences -- 4.1 Mechanistic Thought and Evolution

4.2 The Vitalist Thesis -- 4.3 The Alchemy of Life -- Literature -- Chapter 5: Time, Life and Memory: Bergson and Neuroscience -- 5.1 The Mechanistic Mind -- 5.2 Memory and Imagination -- 5.3 Unlocking the Chamber of Consciousness -- Literature -- Chapter 6: Interlude: From Epistemic Debate to an Ethics of Technology -- Literature -- Chapter 7: To Become Gods, or to Perish in the Process ... -- 7.1 Imagining the Anthropocene -- 7.2 The Autopoietic Nature of Technological Systems -- 7.3 The Titanomachy Continued: From a Closed to an Open Morality -- Literature

Chapter 8: Conclusion and Notes on Various Themes -- …