Project MUSE - Bergson's Concept of Order (2024)

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Bergson's Concept of Order RUTH LORAND ORDER IS A CENTRALCONCEPT in Western philosophy. Order is connected to laws, predictability, and necessity, and these are what philosophy and science seek in most fields they explore. But in spite of its centrality, or maybe because of it, the concept of order itself has been accorded very little attention. Implied , though not explicit, assumptions on the nature of order can be traced in rationalist as well as in empiricist theories. Dispute among theories of order are mainly about the kind of order found in nature, its status and origin, but not about the concept of order itself. Bergson's criticism of traditional philosophy is directed against, among other major issues, the traditional concept of order. Bergson not only questions this traditional concept and exposes its deficiencies, but also suggests a kind of order complementary to the traditional concept. In fact, as far as I know, he is the first to suggest explicitly the existence of different types of order. In this paper I present Bergson's concepts of order and disorder, defending some of his observations and criticizing others. Although his ontology and epistemology are closely connected with his discussions of order, I do not intend to go into them in detail. On the other hand I cannot entirely ignore them as they are bound to crop up in my discussion. Bergson's theory of order focuses mainly on two arguments: References to Bergson's works are as follows:0 = Oeuvres, Textesannot6s par Andr~ Robinet (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1963); CE = Creative Evolution, trans. Arthur Mitchel (London: Macmillan and Co., 191l); CM = The Creative Mind, trans. Mabelle L. Andison (New York: Philosophical Library, 1946);MM = Matter and Memo~, trans. Nancy Margaret Paul &W. ScottPalmer (London: George Allen&Unwin Ltd., 1911). Bergson's theory of order is explicitlypresented mainlyin CE, but there are also relevant discussions in CM and others of his writings. [579] 580 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY 3o:4 OCTOBER x992 1. There are two types of order.' 2. Disorder does not exist. Both claims challenge traditional Western thinking as Bergson interpreted it. According to traditional Western thinking l) there is only one type of order (although this type has many subtypes) and 2) order is a triumph over disorder , a claim that implies the existence of disorder. For Bergson, these two claims are connected: the concept of disorder stems from the idea that there is only one type of order which must be opposed by disorder. The theory of two types of order supplies an alternative to the traditional order and thus makes "disorder" dispensable. Bergson's first argument presents an original and important observation, but it is not clear enough and not fully developed. Some confusion in its presentation slightly blurs the hard core of the original observation. The second argument I hold to be mistaken, albeit not completely. The problematic nature of the second argument on disorder is, in my view, a consequence of the confusion in the first argument. 1. TWO TYPES OF ORDER Bergson does not offer a general understanding of what order is, but he does offer a few remarks about order in general. 1. "Order is... a certain agreement between subject and object. It is the mind finding itself again in things" (O [223] 684; CE 235). The order we find in things is not objective, but neither is it entirely subjective. It is an "agreement " between the two necessary components--the thing (the object) and the mind (the subject). Order reflects the way our mind operates, but the fact that this reflection is made possible carries information about the object as well. Order in general, therefore, is not entirely subjective or objective, and yet one type of order is described as more real than the other.3 This is so because of the two orders, the vital order, reflects, according to Bergson, the natural direction of the mind, while the other is opposed to it. In other words, one order is more real not because it is more objective or independent of the subject's point of view, but because it is more natural to the mind. ' Although Bergson speaks about two kinds...

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