Bergson's anthropology as heterodox naturalism: history, brain, language and society

Abstract

The idea of man suffered a great impact with the advent of evolutionary theories. Interrogated from its natural origin and no longer from its essence, the human being is the object of intense debates at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. The philosopher Henri Bergson (1859-1941) is not immune to such events, and in his work Creative Evolution the human species is conceived not through Reason, but by its practical-technical capacity. But if Bergsonian anthropology naturalizes man by replacing Homo Sapiens for Homo Faber, it is also peremptory in giving humanity a privileged place in nature due to four attributes: history, brain, language and society. The research intends to investigate the way in which such attributes allow Bergson to think man within the evolution of life and, simultaneously, as the only animal endowed with freedom. (AU)