Bergson, "Creative Evolution," Chapter 2: The Divergent Directions in the Evolution of Life - Early Twentieth Century

Bergson, "Creative Evolution," Chapter 2: The Divergent Directions in the Evolution of Life - Early Twentieth Century

Chapter 2 of Bergson's "Creative Evolution" deals with the "divergent directions of the evolution of life," that is, the divergence between animals and plants, and between intellect and instinct. In a sense, Chapter 2 is central to the entire theory of evolution, since Chapter 1 discusses the differences between inorganic and organic matter, while Chapter 2 describes the process of evolution splitting into two major paths, with instinct and intelligence being examined in earnest in the following Chapter 3.

Bergson's criterion for separating animals from plants is the way they take in nutrients. Plants take in nutrients through photosynthesis without moving, while animals must move to obtain nutrients. From this point, he divided the direction of evolution into the development of movement and sensation in animals and the mechanism of photosynthesis in plants. The more they moved, the clearer their consciousness became, and animals developed nerves and motor organs. Plants are immobile and therefore have an indistinct consciousness, while animals must constantly move in order to survive, and as a result, their consciousness has formed in a clear way.

Here Bergson compares the society of ants and bees to that of humans. Insects can only perform very limited actions based on instinct. For example, ants can only do the work of ants, and bees can only do the work of bees. Humans, however, are able to organize society through language, externalize movement and sensation, and combine multiple mechanisms. This is the crucial difference between animals and humans.

It is a mistake to view evolution as an objective plan, says Bergson. If there were a plan, there would be increasing harmony as evolution progressed, but in reality there is increasing disharmony. Harmony is not in the future, but rather in the background. Harmony is at the starting point where life was unified, and the more it branches off, the more disharmony spreads. Therefore, the path of evolution cannot be called a "plan."

The issue of sexual reproduction is also addressed. The fact that both animals and plants have sexual reproduction is considered evidence that life diverged from a single unity. Animals are characterized by "energy accumulation and explosion" due to the extreme development of sensation and movement, and man, at the end of the line, has come to be able to create tools and imitate organic workings with inorganic materials. This gave man the potential to combine multiple motor mechanisms and liberate consciousness, rather than being bound to a single function of a mere animal.

Here the difference between intelligence and instinct emerges. Instinct turns inward to life and guides behavior spontaneously without learning. However, it is fixed and limited to each organism. The intellect, on the other hand, faces outward and reproduces motion through matter and geometry. Like a movie film or a computer clock, the intellect can artificially mimic the rhythms of life. However, what is reconstructed in this way is not the original dynamism of life itself, but only a pseudo-external reproduction.

Bergson likens the relationship between instinct and intellect to that of sight and touch. Instinct is a tactile intuition embedded in life, while intellect is an externalized visual understanding. Why can instinct guide action without learning? It is because instinct is embedded in life and is in constant contact with the flow of life. Because the intellect can only handle the externalized world, it cannot reach the true function of instinct. But through the medium of intuition, the intellect can again approach the instinct. This is Bergson's core argument.

In the case of humans, instinct is transformed into intuition, which remains in the realm of art and aesthetic sensation. In art, instinct is sublimated into intuition in a way that transcends the interests of the individual and makes him conscious of himself. When the intellect is reabsorbed into intuition, the two are bound together and a higher level of creativity is born.

Ultimately, Chapter 2 concludes. Man is an entity that possesses intelligence, manipulates multiple motor mechanisms, and can further externalize them to sublimate the workings of instinct into intuition. As a result, the human being frees his consciousness from the constraints of movement to which animals are bound and opens up new intellectual possibilities.