On the two sources of technology and invention in Henri Bergson

Abstract

This article is focused on the problem of technology in Henri Bergson, namely on his book The two sources of moral and religion, of 1932. In the first section of the paper I offer a historical perspective regarding the issue of technology in the mature Bergson, from its beginning till its bevelopment, and ultimately until its culmination, in 1932. In the second section I propose an interpretation of the philosophical problem as such. The first historical section adresses three evolutive conceptual steps. It starts from the considerations of the autor on intelligence and its relations with technology or the capacity of invention in Creative evolution, published in 1907. There we find an optimistic notion of technology. In the second step, I show the subsequent Bergsonian vision of technology like a threat for mankind that can be found in his anti-German political speeches during the First World War. After that, this inquire ponders the context of 1932, year of the publication of the central essay for us. In that book, technology is not only linked to the threat of a technological war, but also to the threat of an spiritual decadence. The second section of the paper has a doctrinal scope, regarding exclusively The two sources. The main thesis at stake here is that while moral and religión have two sources, as the title says, one biological source and another spiritual, also technology has two sources. In my view, they are intelligence and spirit. First, although the essay holds a negative vision of intelligence, it is posible to find another one more positive, which implies that intelligence is one of the two sources of the spirit of invention and technology. Besides, secondly, I show that the second source of technology is the spirit or open soul. At last, the paper ponders the philosophy of progress in Bergson regarding our issue.