Editors' Preface vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction. Jankélévitch on Bergson: Living in Time / Alexandre Lefebvre xi Introduction 1 1. Organic Totalities 3 I. The Whole and Its Elements 4 II. The Retrospective View and the Illusion of the Future Perfect 11 2. Freedom 23 I. Actor and Spectator 24 II. Becoming 30 III.

The Free Act 49 3. Soul and Body 66 I. Thought and Brain 66 II. Recollection and Perception 79 III. Intellection 89 IV. Memory and Matter 94 4. Life 109 I. Finality 109 II.

Instinct and Intellect 119 III. Matter and Life 137 5. Heroism and Saintliness 151 I. Suddenness 152 II. The Open and the Closed 156 III. Bergson's Maximalism 159 6. The Nothingness of Concepts and the Plentitude of Spirit 167 I. Fabrication and Organization: The Demiurgic Prejudice 167 II.

On the Possible 179 7. Simplicity . and Joy 191 I. On Simplicity 191 II. Bergson's Optimism 203 Appendices 211 Supplementary Pieces 247 Preface to the First Edition of Henri Bergson (1930) 247 Letters to Vladimir Jankélévitch by Henri Bergson 248 Letter to Louis Beauduc on First Meeting Bergson (1923) 250 What Is the Value of Bergson's Thought? Interview with Françoise Reiss (1959) 251 Solemn Homage to Henri Bergson (1959) 253 Notes 261 Bibliography 299 Index 315.