Creative Evolution, Chapter 1 - On Organisms

Creative Evolution, Chapter 1 - On Organisms

Let's see. I'm talking about Bergson's "Creative Evolution," chapter 1, "Organisms," and the main role of chapter 1 is to distinguish the realm of inorganic matter, and then organics are further classified into plants and animals, and intelligence and instinct.

To begin with, the first thing we can say about organic matter is that it is isolated by what? Matter is something that is artificially isolated by chemistry, or human science, whereas an organism - that is, a living thing - is something that is isolated by nature itself. Thus, the way organisms are isolated is different from that of artifacts, which exist in isolation.

Science and nature. The contrast between the two makes a crucial difference. The individuality of the thing isolated by nature is that it is a gradation, with infinite stages. Moreover, what is in this gradation is never fully completed, and its existence as an organism requires constant contact with time. This is because the individual organism has a demand to "perpetuate itself in time," and for this reason, it is "designed to never be completed in space.

In other words, to have individuality or to reproduce is to "inevitably carry within oneself one's own enemy. Here, as an example, we have the hydra, the sea urchin, and the earthworm. These are cut up and regenerate in two pieces. In other words, they are unique in their individuality.

Another example comes up with the chest of drawers and the drawer. As far as the drawers of a chest of drawers are concerned, the chest of drawers does not contain anything more than drawers. But drawers do not interact with each other. But in the case of an individual - for example, the parts of a hydra - they are connected and interact with each other. So there is a crucial difference there. That is, whether there is interaction or not. And whether time passes or not. That is the difference.

Therefore, in the end, the "way of being isolated" makes a clear distinction between matter and living things. Matter is isolated artificially, and living things are isolated by nature. And this thing isolated by nature - that is, the organism - "has a history. It matures and ages. And since the parts interact with each other, accidental mutations occur in a certain direction, but the result is a convergence to a similar form. That is where the organic nature comes in.

Whereas modern information science is designed in a mechanistic way, with each part as an independent entity, the parts of an organism change over time as they interact with each other. The difference is clear. In other words, the fact that parts are independent is a characteristic of matter. And it is also a characteristic of science, and philosophy as formal knowledge, to build a system based on those independent parts.

In any case, time is like a scattered liquid: once it flows, it never returns. Time never regresses because of increasing entropy. I believe that Bergson's argument is that it is the organism that contains such "time that never returns.