Bergson’s vitalism rejects both mechanistic and finalist accounts of evolution

Evidence

In contrast to “mechanistic” theories, which “show us the gradual building-up of the machine under the influence of external circumstances”, and to “finalist” theories, which say that “the parts have been brought together on a preconceived plan with a view to a certain end”, Bergson suggests that there is ’ an original impetus of life”, life being defined as “a tendency to act on inert matter”. The implications of this theory were an extreme voluntarism: “Before the evolution of life … the portals of the future remain wide open. It is a creation that goes on for ever in virtue of an initial movement.” Also an emphasis on chance: “The direction of this action [i.e. action on inert matter] is not predetermined; hence the unforeseeable variety of forms which life, in evolving, sows along its path.” — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2078

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

• XREF: This is the vitalism Gramsci will contrast with historical materialism and with Croce’s philosophy — relevant groundwork for the Islamophobia toolkit’s engagement with voluntarism versus structural determination.

Related

• Bergson’s elan vital defines life as a creative, non-predetermined action on matter (similarity 0.88)

Broader Connections

• Evolutionist doctrines translated middle-class ambition into biological race hierarchy #complicates (0.80) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 475