Attention to life. Science, metaphysics and method in Bergson

Abstract

Throughout Henri Bergson’s philosophy, a number of differences are established between the objects of science and metaphysics and the methods that are proper to them. While science uses analysis to work in the realm of matter and in terms of quantity, metaphysics enters the world of the spirit and, using intuition, tries to penetrate the qualitative. At the root of this comparison is a critique of the use of the methods of the sciences as a model for philosophical work and of the conception of the theory of knowledge as a theory of representation. The reaction against the positivist conception of thought leads Bergson to rethink the nature, method and scope of metaphysics. Far from relegating science to the background, he considers it essential to define the limits of each discipline in order to establish a collaboration between the two. In this paper we will delve into the role that Bergson gives to intuition in his approach to knowledge and the place he assigns to metaphysics.