Creative Evolution, Chapter 3, "On the Significance of Life."

Creative Evolution, Chapter 3, "On the Significance of Life."

Chapter 3 of Bergson's "Creative Evolution" is devoted to "On the Significance of Life." As thought reaches its final stage through the formation of nature, order, and intelligence, the question is asked what is the significance of life. It is said to be "the accumulation of energy and its irregular and deep explosion. At the end of the chapter, the essential and accidental aspects of the life process are sorted out, and the discussion turns to humanity, the life of the body, and the state of the spirit. In other words, guidelines for the kind of life that human beings should lead are presented.

This chapter deals with the fundamental question, "What is human intelligence? Animals remain in the world of instinct, while humans externalize motor mechanisms and matter, and create tools. Geometry and logic are inherent in matter, and by using externalized matter, humans are able to reproduce multiple kinetic mechanisms and gain a margin of consciousness. This margin can be directed toward art and intuition or utilized in scientific processing. Both are essential to human emancipation: intuition as an opportunity for ascent and science as an opportunity for descent.

The more consciousness becomes intellectualized, the more materialized and spatialized it becomes. Bergson pointed out that talking about "what intelligence is" is itself a circular argument. Today, it is similar to the recursive process of artificial intelligence that keeps improving itself. Matter and intelligence occur simultaneously, and materialization occurs as consciousness flies into space, allowing for the re-creation of manufacturing and motor mechanisms. Matter, however, is not life itself, but only a reproduction. Animals do not have matter because they do not form concepts, and only humans live in a world that perceives geometric space and linear time and deals with matter. Even the principle of thermodynamics is a human principle.

Consciousness rises and falls. As it rises, it leads to art and intuition, and as it descends, it comes to fruition in science and mathematics. Life can be summarized as "a being that accumulates energy on the way up and dissipates it on the way down. This is a movement that occurs not only on Earth but everywhere in the universe, Bergson concluded, and life forms are bound to exist. The forms of life that have appeared on earth are only the product of chance, but the very possibility of life itself is spoken of as inevitable.

Furthermore, the human being is characterized by his ability to make tools. Animals have only a single motor mechanism, but humans are able to reproduce multiple mechanisms and create a margin of consciousness. It is important for human evolution that this margin be filled with intuition and that the intellect revert to intuition. The ideal life is one in which the time afforded by science and mathematics is devoted to art and intuition, and in which intuition is restored.

Chapter 3 of "Creative Evolution" thus depicts the significance of life through the relationship between matter and intellect. Life is all about the accumulation and emanation of energy, the movement of which is a universal phenomenon, and for human beings, it is necessary to aim for the recovery of intuition through the medium of both science and art.