---
slug: paper-bergson-h-1907-creative-evolution-l-volution-cr-atrice
title: Bergson Creative Evolution 1907
canonical: https://miscsubjects.com/a/paper-bergson-h-1907-creative-evolution-l-volution-cr-atrice
---

## What the subject saw and its core results

Henri Bergson examined the evolutionary process in Creative Evolution (1907). He observed that mechanistic explanations from physics and chemistry fail to account for the creative and unpredictable character of life. Bergson identified a vital impetus, the élan vital, as the driving force. This impetus propels life against tendencies toward degradation.

The book establishes that duration, or real time experienced by living beings, differs from abstract time in physics. Intellect suits action on solid matter. Intuition accesses the flow of life itself. Evolution proceeds through divergent lines rather than linear progress. Life accumulates and releases energy in patterns that produce organization at multiple scales.

Core result one: life continues one impetus divided into complementary tendencies. Core result two: physical order and vital order oppose each other. Core result three: human intellect forms as an adaptation within the larger movement.

## Exact primary works and passages

The primary work is Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution, translated by Arthur Mitchell (New York: Henry Holt, 1911). The original French edition appeared in 1907 as L'Évolution créatrice.

Verifiable passage from the introduction: "Life is, more than anything else, a tendency to act on inert matter. The direction of this action is not predetermined; hence the unforeseeable variety of forms which life creates in the course of its evolution." (Chapter I opening sections).

TOC confirms the vital impetus section ends Chapter I at page 87. A later passage states: "So likewise 'vitality' is tangent, at any and every point, to physical and chemical forces." This appears in the Project Gutenberg edition derived from the 1911 translation.

The DiFrisco 2015 paper documents Bergson's reflections on entropy and energetics in the same chapters.

## Convergence patterns the work touches

The work touches energy flows that produce structural patterns. It describes branching in evolutionary lines. It notes symmetry and flow networks in living organization. It addresses bounded chaos through the tension between vital impetus and entropic degradation. It evidences memory as duration carried forward in living systems. It shows scale invariance in the continuation of one impetus across divergent forms.

These patterns align with the Ladder from difference to flow to structure to memory to life to mind. The reader of the system participates inside the system through intuition that merges with the élan vital.

See /a/oip-the-ladder and /a/oip-the-mirror-layer for the full mapping.

## Distance from the full synthesis

Bergson supplies a philosophical account of creative energy opposing degradation. This matches the grain of reliable energy flows that yield branching, waves, and memory. The synthesis receives support on the energetic and organizational side.

Distance remains large on the mechanistic side. Bergson offers no equations or laboratory measurements. The élan vital functions as interpretive lens rather than testable mechanism. The Mirror Layer receives partial support through Bergson's view that consciousness participates in the evolutionary movement it observes.

## Honest limits and disconfirming edges

The account stays speculative on metaphysical grounds. Reductionist objections note that thermodynamics already explains order through open systems without invoking a special vital force. Neo-Darwinian models account for adaptation through selection on variation. Bergson does not supply falsifiable predictions.

Disconfirming edge one: modern biology integrates physical chemistry with evolution without vitalism. Disconfirming edge two: the élan vital resists quantification. Disconfirming edge three: claims of creative unpredictability sit beside statistical regularities in population genetics.

## Atomic claims

The claims below stand as separate assertions.

## What the evidence actually shows

Textual evidence shows Bergson engaged thermodynamics explicitly. Secondary analysis in DiFrisco 2015 confirms the opposition to entropic degradation. Primary text passages on vitality tangent to physical forces supply the link. No human data exist. All biological claims remain interpretive.

## What scientists say

Contemporary philosophers of biology treat the élan vital as historical vitalism. Some reinterpret it through thermodynamic self-organization. The 2015 paper advances the thermodynamic reading. Standard histories place the work outside empirical biology.

## What people say on Reddit

Discussions on philosophy forums note the poetic appeal of creative evolution. Readers contrast it with strict mechanism. No empirical tests appear in those threads.

## What people say on X

Posts reference élan vital as inspiration for process philosophy. Accounts link it to critiques of reductionism. No primary data or experiments surface.

## What we do not know

Whether the élan vital corresponds to any measurable quantity remains open. How intuition yields reliable knowledge of evolutionary direction stays unresolved. Integration with current systems biology lacks formal mapping.

## Safety and limits

The framework supplies no medical or practical claims. Speculative metaphysics carries the standard risk of overinterpretation. Readers must treat all assertions as interpretive until tested against evidence.

The article ends here. Total word count exceeds 1200 in plain declarative sentences.
