web01.fireside.fm Tue, 16 Jun 2026 23:44:06 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Weird Studies - Episodes Tagged with “Henri Bergson” https://www.weirdstudies.com/tags/henri%20bergson Wed, 24 Jun 2020 10:00:00 -0400 Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality." en-us episodic Art and philosophy at the limits of the thinkable Phil Ford and J. F. Martel Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality." yes weird, art, philosophy Phil Ford and J. F. Martel admin@weirdstudies.com Episode 76: Below the Abyss: On Bergson's Metaphysics https://www.weirdstudies.com/76 fb26a97b-3d7e-4c71-96f5-60cdd98fe5f8 Wed, 24 Jun 2020 10:00:00 -0400 Phil Ford and J. F. Martel 76 Below the Abyss: On Bergson's Metaphysics full Phil Ford and J. F. Martel Phil and JF discuss Henri Bergson's 1903 essay, "Introduction to Metaphysics." 1:18:31 yes <p>According to the French philosopher Henri Bergson, there are two ways of knowing the world: through analysis or through intuition. Analysis is our normal mode of apprehension. It involves knowing what's out there through the accumulation and comparison of concepts. Intuition is a direct engagement with the absolute, with the world as it exists before we starting tinkering with it conceptually. Bergson believed that Western metaphysics erred from the get-go when it gave in to the all-too-human urge to take the concepts by which we know things for the things themselves. His entire oeuvre was an attempt to snap us out of that spell and plug us directly into the flow of pure <em>duration</em>, that primordial time that is the <em>real</em> Real. In this episode, JF and Phil discuss the genius -- and possible limitations -- of his metaphysics.</p> <p><strong>REFERENCES</strong></p> <p>Henri Bergson, <a href="http://www.reasoned.org/dir/lit/int-meta.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener">"Introduction to Metaphysics"</a><br> Weird Studies <a href="https://www.weirdstudies.com/13" rel="nofollow noopener">episode 13</a> -- The Obscure: On the Philosophy of Heraclitus<br> Weird Studies <a href="https://www.weirdstudies.com/16" rel="nofollow noopener">episode 16</a>: On Dogen Zenji's 'Genjokoan'<br> Bertrand Russel's <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Philosophy_of_Bergson_(Russell)" rel="nofollow noopener">critique of Bergson's philosophy</a><br> Dōgen Zenji, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Shobogenzo-Zen-Essays-Dogen-Eihei/dp/0824814010" rel="nofollow noopener">Shōbōgenzō</a><br> Wiliam James, <em><a href="https://psychclassics.yorku.ca/James/Principles/" rel="nofollow noopener">Principles of Psychology</a></em><br> Plato, <em><a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/theatu.html" rel="nofollow noopener">Theaetetus</a></em><br> Meillassoux, <em><a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/after-finitude-9781441173836/" rel="nofollow noopener">After Finitude: An Essay on the Necessity of Contingency</a></em><br> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley" rel="nofollow noopener">Aleister Crowley</a>, British occultist<br> Graham Harman, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Graham-Harman-Thoughts-Documenta-Gedanken/dp/3775729348" rel="nofollow noopener">"The Third Table"</a><br> Weird Studies <a href="https://www.weirdstudies.com/8" rel="nofollow noopener">episode 8</a> - On Graham Harman's "The Third Table"<br> Bergson, <em><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4352" rel="nofollow noopener">Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic</a></em><br> Wittgenstein, <em><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5740/5740-pdf.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener">Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus</a></em></p> Henri Bergson, introduction to metaphysics, analysis, intuition, duration, durée, reality According to the French philosopher Henri Bergson, there are two ways of knowing the world: through analysis or through intuition. Analysis is our normal mode of apprehension. It involves knowing what's out there through the accumulation and comparison of concepts. Intuition is a direct engagement with the absolute, with the world as it exists before we starting tinkering with it conceptually. Bergson believed that Western metaphysics erred from the get-go when it gave in to the all-too-human urge to take the concepts by which we know things for the things themselves. His entire oeuvre was an attempt to snap us out of that spell and plug us directly into the flow of pure duration, that primordial time that is the real Real. In this episode, JF and Phil discuss the genius -- and possible limitations -- of his metaphysics.

REFERENCES

Henri Bergson, "Introduction to Metaphysics"
Weird Studies episode 13 -- The Obscure: On the Philosophy of Heraclitus
Weird Studies episode 16: On Dogen Zenji's 'Genjokoan'
Bertrand Russel's critique of Bergson's philosophy
Dōgen Zenji, Shōbōgenzō
Wiliam James, Principles of Psychology
Plato, Theaetetus
Meillassoux, After Finitude: An Essay on the Necessity of Contingency
Aleister Crowley, British occultist
Graham Harman, "The Third Table"
Weird Studies episode 8 - On Graham Harman's "The Third Table"
Bergson, Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic
Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

]]> According to the French philosopher Henri Bergson, there are two ways of knowing the world: through analysis or through intuition. Analysis is our normal mode of apprehension. It involves knowing what's out there through the accumulation and comparison of concepts. Intuition is a direct engagement with the absolute, with the world as it exists before we starting tinkering with it conceptually. Bergson believed that Western metaphysics erred from the get-go when it gave in to the all-too-human urge to take the concepts by which we know things for the things themselves. His entire oeuvre was an attempt to snap us out of that spell and plug us directly into the flow of pure duration, that primordial time that is the real Real. In this episode, JF and Phil discuss the genius -- and possible limitations -- of his metaphysics.

REFERENCES

Henri Bergson, "Introduction to Metaphysics"
Weird Studies episode 13 -- The Obscure: On the Philosophy of Heraclitus
Weird Studies episode 16: On Dogen Zenji's 'Genjokoan'
Bertrand Russel's critique of Bergson's philosophy
Dōgen Zenji, Shōbōgenzō
Wiliam James, Principles of Psychology
Plato, Theaetetus
Meillassoux, After Finitude: An Essay on the Necessity of Contingency
Aleister Crowley, British occultist
Graham Harman, "The Third Table"
Weird Studies episode 8 - On Graham Harman's "The Third Table"
Bergson, Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic
Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

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