Review article
ÉLAN VITAL AND BERGSON’S THEORY OF EVOLUTION
Petar Jakopec
; University center Varaždin, University North, Varaždin, Croatia
Abstract
In this paper, the author starts from the assumption that Henry Bergson, also as the founder of the philosophy of life, offered a contrary view of the concept and theory of evolution. The concept of evolution began to appear in scientific circles, with the publication of Darwin’s work ‘The Origin of Species’, while until then the term transformism was used instead of the concept of evolution. Bergson himself resisted the notion of evolution understood in the Darwinian sense, that only the most physically capable beings in the world could survive. The yield of Bergson’s resistance to the Darwinian understanding of evolution is his work ‘Creative Evolution’, which was written in 1907. Bergson did not write ‘Creative Evolution’, as a rebel against Darwinism, Bergson did not write as an anti-Darwinist at all, but sought, by accepting Darwin’s discoveries and insights, to ennoble evolution and give it the act of creation, that is, the quality of the spirit. The basic intention of the author in this paper is to explain Bergson’s position on the theory of evolution.
Keywords
Henri Bergson; evolution; transformism; mechanism; finalism; élan vital; individual; intellect
Hrčak ID:
255067
URI
Publication date:
6.4.2021.
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