Author:

Abstract:

My research aims at contextualizing Bergson's ethics within the early 20th century history. Through the example of Bergson's philosophy, this multidisciplinary work investigates the complex relation between historical events and philosophical thought, and underlines the often-underestimated impact of the Great War on philosophical thought. I take this influence to be both positive and negative: on the one hand, reflections on this first industrial and total war resulted in a number of relevant philosophical inventions; but on the other hand, it revealed the failure of many thinkers to understand their present situation adequately, and brought about a dissatisfaction with, and critique of the philosopher as a public figure. Bergson is an excellent case study in this regard, as he can be considered the very first mediatic philosopher. He was already extremely well known in his life time, and disappointed many with his problematic engagement in the war propaganda. The Two Sources of Morality and Religion, was written by Bergson fifteen years after the end of the war, is the main focus of my research. I read it as a philosophical response to this catastrophe, and as a critical re-examination of his positions in 1914-1918. I identify the concepts of "closed society" and "fonction fabulatrice" as the main inventions of this work, and consider them to be illuminating tools to understand the causes of the conflict, as well as the mental climate during the 1914-1918 years. While closedness can be applied to the nationalistic logics that divided Europe, "fonction fabulatrice" can help us understand how individuals psychologically coped with the sudden breakout of extreme violence within the Western, "civilized" world, through superstitious reactions and magical beliefs. The relation between history and philosophy, as I describe it in my work, is in this sense not merely a "reductionist" one, but one that could be called a "cross-fertilization": I claim that philosophical concepts have to be understood as originating from history and from a historical figure, and not from a pure and abstract mind thinking outside of the world; and that, in turn, those philosophical can be retrospectively projected upon our history, and used as tools to understand the latter. Methodologically, I am indebted to Deleuze's reading of Bergson, and to his definition of philosophy as a "creation of concepts". I also take a stance against Bergson's idealism and the mythologized vision of the philosopher's task, induced by his notion of "intuition". I consider my attempt to historicize philosophy as being somewhat anti-bergsonian. Nevertheless, I remain deeply influenced by his views on time, and in a constant dialogue with them throughout my research, be it explicit or not.