What Moves Survives Philosophy of Animal Evolution and Movement 1900-2025
Bergson viewed animal evolution as a "refinement of movement. Plants can obtain nourishment without moving, but animals must move to survive, and the development of this ability to move has facilitated the evolution of the nervous system and sensory organs. Animals are beings that must move, and those that can move more skillfully have won survival. At the extreme end of the spectrum is the human being. Humans have invented "motor devices outside the body," such as tools and machines, and have succeeded in extending their motor functions to the outside world. While other animals are bound by instinctive movement, humans are different in that we can design and choose our movements at will. Furthermore, fire and cooking reduced the burden of digestion and directed excess energy toward creation and thought. Bergson believes that thinking is also an "invisible movement" and that even human intelligence is an extension of movement. Evolution is not merely a change in the body, but
a process of deepening consciousness through movement, and humans have developed consciousness outwardly through the freedom of movement.
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