I am on my second listen through of Yale professor Marci Shore’s series of lectures European Intellectual History Since Nietzsche (2026, https://youtu.be/fhIW-E9wZe8?is=cO7TYm7H1V-40djN). I found Shore’s lecture on French philosopher Henri Bergson fascinating for how a Christian like me understands time. I am PhD candidate doing qualitative research focused on exploring how people describe and understand their own experiences. So, I was intrigued about Bergson’s contribution to our understanding of quantitative versus qualitative knowledge. 

Along with Husserl, Bergson was part of a philosophical movement that rejected positivism, arguing that time cannot be divided. Bergson explored the dichotomy between the continuous and the discreet. Time is continuous in contrast to mathematical numbers which are discreet. Time is unmeasurable and therefore must be understood in qualitative terms. A flame can serve as a metaphor for this, which cannot be “cut”, or by materials that melt together. For example, the past lives on in the present in an interpenetrating way. As with so many philosophers since the Enlightenment, Berson was seeking to deal with the alienation sensed in the West after the intelligencia rejected God and revelation as sources of transcendent ethics, epistemology, and ontology (what we should do, how we can know anything, and what is?). 

Kant argued that we should act ethically because to not do so would be catastrophic. Hegel argued that our ethics should be based on an understanding that history is moving toward an ultimate telos which we are part of. But Bergson rejected the Hegelean notion of determinist arguing that there is space for human free will within time. Bergson injected free will into time against Hegelian determinism, human free will is always influencing the world. In this conception, time involves sequence without distinction – that is – there is movement but not fragmentation. To repeat, the past lives on in the present, an ever-present interpenetration. 

Bergson argued for a creative evolution contra Hegelean teleology (the world is moving towards a determined goal) and a mechanistic understanding of the world (everything in the world works like a machine than can be understood by disassembling and reassembling the parts). He draws upon the concept of élan vital (life force) describing it like a meteor that explodes fragmenting in particles. He uses duration or duré to describe the common human understanding of time. Bergson argued that we need both intellect and instinct / intuition to understand the world. Intellect, according to Bergson, is turned towards inert matter and the mechanistic. Intellect is insulated from what is animate and alive. Instinct or intuition, in contrast, is turned towards the animate world. Both Intellect and intuition are needed in human understanding, but Bergson argues that the Enlightenment had undermined the essential role of intuition to understand the world. 

As I stated earlier, I am drawing this description of Bergson’s philosophy of time from Marci Shore’s lecture. What I find fascinating as a Christian is how much of Bergson’s thought aligns with a biblical worldview. Both the Jewish Tanak and the Christian New Testament propose rational and intuitive knowledge as essential to human understanding of the world. The Bible describes human intellect as being part of man’s being created in the image of God. Jesus uses rational argument in many of his teachings. Biblical narratives also describe men and women coming to understand subjective knowledge of love, beauty, and virtue with the help of the Spirit of God. Recently I heard a sermon where the speaker stated, “the past is gone”. I appreciate what the preacher intended to say regarding not letting the past act like a shadow or burden to a Christian’s present. However, I also recognize that the influence of the past in many good ways sustains me and encourages me as I attempt to follow Jesus and fulfill his purpose for my life. The voices and examples of the men and women of God who discipled me continues to follow and inspire me today. 

Philosophers since the Enlightenment have attempted to address human alienation since the “death of God” as described by Nietzsche. And the biblical narrative continues to inspire me to seek belonging in the Triune God. I do not find the Christian life or worldview a simple path without doubts and contradictions along the way. But in my fragility and inconsistency, I say like Peter that I have not found another source of life-giving truth than Jesus. Following Jesus does not require disengagement from philosophical exploration. Secure and held by our relationship to Jesus, we can bring hope to those around us who continue to ask the primordial questions of human life and understanding our world. 

References

Shore, Marci (2026). European Intellectual History Since Nietzsche, https://youtu.be/fhIW-E9wZe8?is=cO7TYm7H1V-40djN